Death at Intervals review: A wealth of talent wasted on a facile ideaThis adaptation of José Saramago’s novel treats death as merely a narcissistic threat to the individualThu Jul 21 2016 - 18:04
Longitude: 90s revivalists and originalists mingle in the sunFestival day three characterised more by guitar music than fresh beats and rhymesMon Jul 18 2016 - 10:43
Song From Far Away review: feats of stage poetry lighten the dark and unknowableIvo van Hove directs Eelco Smits as a lost soul in this moving one-man show by Simon StephensThu Jul 14 2016 - 17:48
Waiting for Godot review: The best production for 25 yearsDruid Theatre’s production of the Beckett classic is exceptional and miraculousThu Jul 14 2016 - 17:30
Arlington [a love story] review: Another room, another trapEnda Walsh’s despairing and dystopian work is a play woven from griefTue Jul 12 2016 - 18:04
‘It’s as if Saoirse Ronan was born in the theatre’ - Ivo van HoveAhead of a visit to Galway, the Belgian director reveals his vision for theatre, his admiration for Ronan and why he insists that actors tell him they love himTue Jul 12 2016 - 06:00
Culture Shock: ‘Food on sticks is not a meal’ – Brexit, the first time it happenedWant to know what can happen when different cultures encounter one another? Try an immersion course in the French arts world. Seven days of unremitting tortureSun Jul 10 2016 - 13:14
Theatre actress Anita Reeves dies aged 67Friends pay tribute to the actress, best known for her extensive theatre work and film roles including The Butcher Boy and Adam and PaulThu Jul 07 2016 - 17:39
Hugh O’Conor: from My Left Foot to working with Enda WalshThe actor talks about observing and to being observed, child acting and his role in Enda Walsh’s new playTue Jul 05 2016 - 05:00
Something Unspoken review: A genteel depiction of fading Southern sadomasochismThe frustration is almost tantric in this new production of Tennessee Williams' playMon Jul 04 2016 - 11:15
The Wake: Performance and design as pure poetryThis reprisal of Tom Murphy’s meticulous play is the Abbey’s best show in yearsWed Jun 29 2016 - 13:21
The Constant Wife review: superficially attractive, insincere and passionlessThe comedy is not a challenge to the status quo, but instead has a sociopathic indifference towards anything: love, betrayal or emotionTue Jun 28 2016 - 17:17
Peter Crawley on . . . indifference to factsHow information cascades from memes into memories, crushing fact checkersSat Jun 25 2016 - 04:00
On Corporation Street review: Anu explores what it takes to rebuild shattered cityThe theatre company’s latest show explores the legacy of the Manchester bombingMon Jun 20 2016 - 14:21
Manchester bombing, 20 years on: ‘Why did you do it?’Twenty years ago today, a huge truck bomb tore through the heart of Manchester. Irish theatre company Anu’s new show, which opens today in the city, looks at locals’ memories, their recovery and the aftershocks that still resonateWed Jun 15 2016 - 06:00
Smiley review: broad gags and grace notesA five-a-side team get caught up in a dodgy heist in Gary Mitchell’s undemanding football-cum-caper comedyTue Jun 14 2016 - 14:48
Artistic director Michael Colgan exits stage Gate after 33 yearsColgan has had towering successes but he leaves as subsidies and attendance dwindleSat Jun 11 2016 - 01:00
Town is Dead review: Kitchen-sink realism meets a spry chamber operaPhillip McMahon's new collaborative work is `a play within music' that looks to celebrate the unsung heroes among us allThu Jun 09 2016 - 14:10
Othello: The green-ey’d monster never quite lets looseThe staging of this Abbey production is adventurous, but the production as a whole errs on the side of the traditionalFri May 27 2016 - 12:26
Why artists are uniquely placed to make a fine art of protestArtists are in a unique position to make their voices heard – although, like the poet Maung Saungkha and the comedian Jan Böhmermann, they often pay a priceFri May 20 2016 - 15:15
Driving Miss Daisy review: a nostalgic look at the good old, bad old daysThere are few bumps in the road during this warm but slight journeyWed May 11 2016 - 14:46
Inhabitance review: Like a bleak pitch for the next season of the human raceGlass Doll’s new show asks what effect does reality TV have on real lifeThu May 05 2016 - 18:47
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? review: Total war in a theatrical battle like no otherAudiences are likely to be lacerated in the crossfire of this explosive revivalFri Apr 29 2016 - 14:26
Cillian Murphy and Eileen Walsh on 'Disco Pigs': 'It was the ignorance of youth’Twenty years later, Cillian Murphy, Eileen Walsh, Enda Walsh and Pat Kiernan talk about Corcadorca and the hit play that changed everythingFri Apr 29 2016 - 14:00
Cascando review: a subversion of immersive theatre that appeals to the egoPan Pan’s production sees the audience listen on headphones to a new recording of Beckett’s play, while moving in slow procession through a labyrinthFri Apr 22 2016 - 16:36
Four hundred years of Shakespeare: have we been blinded by ‘bardolatry’?Is the Bard, who died 400 years ago this weekend, on April 23rd, 1616, really the greatest playwright to have lived – or have we been blinded by ‘bardolatry’?Fri Apr 22 2016 - 06:00
Hoodwinked, tongue-tied, fair play: Everyday phrases Shakespeare gave usDogs of war, wild-goose chases, salad days: William Shakespeare, who died 400 years ago this weekend, on April 23rd, 1616, coined so many of our phrasesFri Apr 22 2016 - 06:00
Tina’s Idea of Fun review: An unpalatable sandwich in working-class DublinThis production seems unsure whether to treat Sean P Summers’s new play as political allegory or carnivalThu Apr 21 2016 - 19:09
Pan Pan co-founder Aedín Cosgrove gets into the mind of Samuel BeckettPan Pan’s new production of Cascando is a journey through the labyrinth of the mind - and a fascinating lens through which to see BeckettThu Apr 21 2016 - 17:59
Sunder review: In the eye of the Moore Street stormAnu’s latest performance traces a legacy of violence against civilians, from Moore Street barricades to modern-day terrorism. Will you choose death or glory?Thu Apr 21 2016 - 14:31
Parker on Parker: ‘Stewart’s work has been horrendously ignored’Productions of Stewart Parker plays have been among the biggest successes of his niece Lynne Parker’s career. For her latest tilt at Northern Star, she decided to ‘Brecht it a bit’Wed Apr 20 2016 - 06:00
Culture Shock: Humans need stories. So why don’t we believe them?From the Teresa Halbach case in ‘Making a Murderer’ to the Australian scammer Samantha Azzopardi, it’s easy to be dupedSat Apr 16 2016 - 05:00
Review: Pleasure GroundFregoli chase one performance style with another, but when it settles, it’s an intriguing character studyFri Apr 15 2016 - 17:36
Inside the GPO review: At the centre stage of the actionFishamble’s diligent, vigorous production pursues a simple question – what makes people do what they do – towards a complicated answerFri Apr 01 2016 - 17:22
Shackleton review: A cold eye cast over a legendary survival storyThis Blue Raincoat production is fascinatingly uninterested in the thrills of the survival storyThu Mar 24 2016 - 17:35
The Plough and the Stars review: The poverty of our era put centre stageThe Abbey’s latest production of Sean O’Casey’s Easter Rising drama brings his characters into the light of the present. During the centenary of the event, has it made a familiar play any more illuminating?Mon Mar 21 2016 - 10:49
Culture Shock: ‘The Plough and the Stars’ is back. Must be time for a riot, soSeán O’Casey’s play and its staging have always been cultural and political lightning rodsFri Mar 18 2016 - 15:00
‘People might be cross that some English bloke has desecrated a classic’Director Seán Holmes had never seen The Plough and the Stars staged – until his current version went up at the Abbey TheatreWed Mar 16 2016 - 18:49
Patrick Marber: ‘I’ve never had a good idea I didn’t immediately regret’He’s worked on Alan Partridge, adapted Fifty Shades of Grey, and is evangelical about ‘deliciously evil’ vaping. But when it came to tackling August Strindberg, Patrick Marber says his ‘infidelity might be an act of love’Sat Mar 12 2016 - 06:00
After Miss Julie review: An overly polite take on Strindberg in FermanaghPrime Cut’s version is more like a tastefully appointed costume drama than a cruel disrobing of gender and power strugglesFri Mar 11 2016 - 12:22
Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye review: profit versus principles in the newsroomAn overload of stories makes it easy to lose sight of what is importantFri Mar 11 2016 - 10:40
Druid steals show at ‘Irish Times’ Theatre Awards‘DruidShakespeare’ wins five awards, including Best Production and Best DirectorSun Mar 06 2016 - 21:46
Dramatic awakenings: the theatre that changed my lifeFive nominees for Irish Times theatre awards recall a performance that inspired them and informed their own approachesMon Feb 29 2016 - 06:00
Wild Sky review: a rebellion of ideasDeirdre Kinahan’s new play fits a love triangle over the forces of the Rising. But can it be contained?Fri Feb 26 2016 - 14:15
The Kings of the Kilburn High Road reviewThis is a purgatorial experience of emigration, where nobody is ever at homeFri Feb 26 2016 - 13:43
Blood, sweat and breasts: Derbhle Crotty’s bold approach to actingFrom her irreverent early work to ‘volunteering her breasts’ for DruidShakespeare and on to her fresh take on O’Casey’s Juno, Crotty has never been one for conventionTue Feb 23 2016 - 06:00
This Lime Tree Bower review: an engaging exercise in amoralityConor McPherson’s writing sweeps the audience along in this zippy productionMon Feb 22 2016 - 13:57
Culture Shock: Can video games improve more than hand-eye co-ordination?Last month, an US couple released a video game about their son who died from a terminal illness. Is the artform aspiring to a new maturity?Fri Feb 19 2016 - 16:00
Juno and the Paycock review: The jagged charm of an interrupted songMark O’Rowe’s stark production treats the the play almost as a documentary and cleverly casts against typeThu Feb 18 2016 - 13:03
Cyprus Avenue review: Stephen Rea delivers a masterful performanceDavid Ireland’s caustic new play is testing limits with plenty of unpalatable opinions and outrageous claimsWed Feb 17 2016 - 17:36
