Theatre: “The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged)”

Venue: dlr Mill Theatre, Dundrum Town Centre, Dublin

Dates: 19th – 20th Apr 2023 Show time: 8pm Admission: €15 Running time: 70min, no interval

Shakespeare may be turning in his grave, but the show that’s become a cult classic contains all 37 plays (plus sonnets) in just 97 minutes. As the comedies aren’t anywhere near as funny as the tragedies, all sixteen have been condensed with the history plays transformed into a game of American football, Othello is performed in rap and Titus Andronicus becomes a TV cookery programme. For the finale, Hamlet is staged first as a psychological exploration of Hamlet’s Ego and Ophelia’s Id, then performed in a matter of minutes and, for the finale, performed backwards. For lovers of Shakespeare everywhere.

[Info from dlr Mill Theatre website here]

Symposium: ‘Shakespeare the Irishman’ – 14 April 2023

A one-day symposium as part of the 400th anniversary of the publication of the first collected edition of Shakespeare’s plays.

The Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute at Trinity College Dublin will host a one day symposium under the title ‘Shakespeare the Irishman’ from 9am to 5pm on Friday 14th April.

The symposium is hosted by Prof Andy Murphy of Trinity’s School of English and it will feature papers from Neil Rhodes (University of St Andrews, UK), and from Mark Burnett, Emer McHugh and Molly Quinn-Leitch (Queens University Belfast); Patrick Lonergan and David O’Shaughnessy (University of Galway); Stephen O’Neill (Maynooth University); Jason McElligott (Marsh’s Library) and Marc Caball (University College Dublin).

The event is open to the public and is free to attend, but registration is required. See eventbrite for tickets.

The symposium is part of a week-long series of events at Trinity celebrating the four hundredth anniversary of the publication of the Shakespeare First Folio, including an exhibition in the Long Room of the Old Library, an online exhibition, and a public lecture by Prof Andy Murphy on the history and significance of the First Folio and of Trinity’s own copy of the volume on Wednesday 12th April. Attendance at the lecture is open to the public free of charge, but registration is required.

Symposium Program:
9:00-9:15 Introduction & welcome – Andy Murphy
9:15-10:00 Stephen O’Neill (Maynooth): ‘”This earth shall have feeling”: Looking for (Irish) Roots in Shakespeare’s Richard II’
10:00-10:45 David O’Shaughnessy (Galway): ‘Shakespeare and Irish Patriotism: Thomas Sheridan’s Coriolanus (1752)’
10:45-11:00 Break
11:00-11:45 Marc Caball (UCD) & Jason McElligott (Marsh’s Library): ‘Tralee, 1756: Shakespeare on the Atlantic Edge’
11:45-12:30 Molly Quinn-Leitch (QUB): ‘The Presence of Shakespeare Material Traces in Victorian Belfast (1837-1901)’
12:30-1:30 Lunch
1:30-2:15 Neil Rhodes (St Andrews): ‘Shakespeare and Yeats’
2:15-3:00 Patrick Lonergan (Galway): ‘Hamlet the Irishman’
3:00-3:15 Break
3:15-4:00 Emer McHugh (QUB): ‘Siobhán McKenna’s “Experimental Version” of Hamlet, or, Some Reflections on Writing About Irish Shakespeare Performance’
4:00-4:45 Mark Thornton Burnett (QUB): ‘Ireland’s Shakespeare: Cinematic Histories/Social Justice’
4:45-5:00 Close

Shakespeare’s First Folio in the Folger Shakespeare Library (This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication)

Talk: “The Book that Gave Us Shakespeare: Four Hundred Years of the First Folio” – 12 April 2023

As part of the celebrations of the 400th anniversary of the publication of the first collected edition of Shakespeare’s plays – the ‘First Folio’ – Prof Andy Murphy of the School of English at Trinity College Dublin will give a public lecture at the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute on the history of the volume and why it is so important. Trinity holds the only copy of the First Folio on the island of Ireland and Prof Murphy will also speak about the particular features of the Trinity copy, including examining some of the peculiar marks and inscriptions to be found in the book.

The event is open to the public and is free to attend, but registration is required – see eventbrite here.

Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland

Theatre: Richard Head’s “Hic et Ubique” (1663) at Smock Alley Theatre

Theatre: “Romeo and Juliet” at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast

Romeo & Juliet, a Lyric Theatre Production

Directed by Philip Crawford and adapted by Dr Anne Bailie

Dates: Sat 4 Feb – Sun 5 March 2023

From the website:

Romeo Montague is completely obsessed with Rosaline, but his love is unrequited. At a party, he falls head-over-heels in love with the hosts’ daughter, Juliet Capulet. This time, his love is reciprocated. But their love-story isn’t easy. Their families are arch-rivals in the city of Verona and if their relationship is to flourish, secrecy is vital. The odds are stacked against them, and the pair embark on a journey which ends in consequences far beyond their worst fears.

This contemporary setting of the story, with Shakespeare’s original text, takes audiences to Verona in the summer of 2022 in the world of Italian high fashion, with Lady Montague and Lady Capulet propelled to the forefront as the leading designers of two rival fashion houses.

The play has been adapted by dramaturg Dr Anne Bailie to create a fresh and modern version of this classic tale of two star-crossed lovers and their feuding families.

Please Note: This production contains depictions of suicide, moments of violence and references to drug use.

For details and tickets, see the Lyric theatre’s website here.

Theatre: “Lost Lear” at the Dublin Theatre Festival

[Info from Dublin Theatre Festival website here.]

Lost Lear – Previews: 28-29 September 2022. Dates: 28 September – 8 October see DTF website for details.

All at once fast paced and thought-provoking, Lost Lear lands us into the world of Joy, a woman with dementia, who is being cared for through a method where people live inside an old memory.

Following the national and international tour of A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings, Dan Colley and his company have turned their sights on a very (very) loose adaptation of King Lear, examining the self and that part of us that’s inaccessible to others.

“Who is it that can tell me who I am?” — King Lear, Act I Scene IV

For ages 14+

Talking Theatre – 5th Oct, post-show, with director Dan Colley and members of the company.

Lost Lear will also run from 13th-15th October 2022 in Wicklow at the Mermaid Arts Centre.

Co-produced by Mermaid Arts Centre and Riverbank Arts Centre and funded by the Arts Council of Ireland and supported by Fishamble’s New Play Clinic.

Theatre: “The Comedy of Errors” by Pilgrim Players

The Pilgrim Players will perform The Comedy of Errors at Edmondstown House (aka The Bishop’s Palace) in Ballaghaderreen, Co Roscommon, this weekend 12-14th August 2022. 

The Pilgrim Players return for a third year to the bishop’s Palace, with another stellar cast of stage and screen (stars of Poldark, Bohemian Rhapsody, Shakespeare’s Globe, RSC and BAFTA award-winners among them) who will be performing for just 3 days in the grounds of the house. The whole community are invited for the outdoor festival performances.

Tickets and info on the Pilgrim Players website: www.pilgrimplayers.co.uk

Theatre: “The Spanish Tragedy” by Dublin Youth Theatre

[From the Project Arts Centre website here]

Dates: Weds 17th – Sat 20th August 2022. ISL interpreted performance: 19 Aug, 7:30pm Relaxed Performance: 20 August, 1pm. Show Time: 7:30pm, 1pm Matinée (Duration 2.30mins incl. Interval)

Contains mature themes, violence and suicide. Suitable for audiences 14+.

Witness Thomas Kyd’s classic revenge tragedy, The Spanish Tragedy, brought to the Project Arts Centre stage in a bold contemporary production by Dublin Youth Theatre, directed by Aoife Spillane-Hinks.

Against a backdrop of warring kingdoms, two young lovers dare to steal a secret moment of forbidden tenderness. But when the murderous jealousy and ambition of powerful enemies leads to devastating violence, a grieving father is left to fight for justice for his murdered son.

Written in the late 16th century, Kyd’s play asks troubling questions that still ring true today: What is the value of justice in a system that seems designed only to protect the powerful and wealthy? What is the life of an individual worth compared to the fate of nations? And if justice is denied, is revenge the only alternative…and at what cost?

Tickets on the Project Arts Centre website here

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The Spanish Tragedy: Special Fundraising Opening Night

Celebrate Dublin Youth Theatre’s 45th birthday with a special fundraising Opening Night of Thomas Kyd’s classic revenge tragedy, The Spanish Tragedy. With a dress to impress dress-code, and a post-show discussion with dramaturg Dr Tanya Dean, a ticket to our Opening Night will be a night to remember and will support Dublin Youth Theatre’s programmes that focus on the personal, social and artistic development of young people in Dublin through the medium of theatre.

Theatre: “The Tempest” by Rough Magic at Kilkenny Arts Festival

[From Kilkenny Arts Festival programme webpage here]

Dates: 3rd – 6th, 8th – 13th August 2022, at 8pm. Venue: outdoors in the Kilkenny Castle Parklands

From Rough Magic and Kilkenny Arts Festival, the award-winning team that brought you A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Much Ado About Nothing, comes a new take on Shakespeare’s classic The Tempest, filled with magic, mischief, music and romance.

Shakespeare’s lyrical revenge fantasy comes to the Castle. Eleanor Methven, one of Ireland’s most celebrated actresses, takes on the iconic role of Prospero, the deposed ruler turned elemental sorcerer. The fury of the storm she conjures hurls her enemies onto her shores – but it also brings a sad young prince, to the delighted curiosity of her daughter Miranda. Is their attraction a trick of fate – or the spectacle and sorcery of the enchanted island? A dark comedy filled with magic, music, mischief and romance, told beneath the Kilkenny summer skies.

Book tickets on Kilkenny Arts Festival website.

Theatre: “King John” and “Two Gentlemen of Verona” by PurpleDoor at Smock Alley, Dublin

[Info from Smock Alley website here.]

Experience the best upcoming talent from the North of England as one cast stage two of Shakespeare’s least known plays…

What comes to mind when you think of King John? The Magna Carta? Forget it. Shakespeare’s rarely staged tragedy about Britain’s most useless king rediscovers this overlooked gem, relocated to the middle of Thatcher’s Britain amid the miner’s strike that led to a bloody revolution. Shakespeare’s play examines the responsibility of power, the need for war, and the inability of men to rule, in an uneasily patriotic play that raises as many questions about our leaders today as it did 400 years ago.

Paired in rep with King John, The Two Gentlemen of Verona takes you to mid-90’s Liverpool in a riotous production that celebrates the messy, filthy joy of young love. What happens when you fall in love with your best friend’s other half? Come on a sensory journey with us, in a production which seeks to bring the joy of togetherness after too many solitary years of Covid. Get your shellsuit and your pagers ready, it’s time to spice up your life.

Both productions alternate on different nights with the same cast. Book both shows for the price of €25.

TICKETS €15 | €13.50 CONCESSION (STUDENT/OAP) RUNNING TIME 120 MINS

WRITTEN BY William Shakespeare
DIRECTED BY Karl Falconer

About the company
PurpleDoor are a Liverpool based theatre (formerly PurpleCoat), whose work has toured the UK and Ireland and been produced in conjunction with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Nominated for a National Lottery Award, PurpleDoor have been hailed as ‘one of the UK’s fastest rising ensembles’ with a body of work that has been championed by figures including Stephen Fry and Judi Dench. They aim to champion undiscovered talent and help new audiences enjoy Shakespeare.

Theatre: The Tempest – South Bank Theatre, Belfast

Bookings are now open for the much anticipated production of The Tempest at Belfast’s South Bank Playhouse on 11-13 November and 18-20 November 2021.

The Shakespeare comedy of betrayal, prejudice, magic and revenge is reimagined by Southbank director Jolena Flett.

Doors open at 7pm. Curtain at 7:30pm.

Tickets free but donation recommended, see info at: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/south-bank-playhouse-presents-the-tempest-tickets-196955558377