Event of the week
Wexford Festival Opera
From Friday, October 17th, until Saturday, November 1st, wexfordopera.com
The 74th edition of Wexford Festival Opera features three main-stage operas: The Magic Fountain, by Delius; Deidamia, by Handel; and La Trouvère, by Verdi. It also includes “pocket opera” productions – The Dwarf, by Alexander Zemlinsky, and La Tragédie de Carmen, by Bizet – as well as sidebar events such as the Urban Legends late-night operas, which feature a libretto by Colm Tóibín. Additional events include the Dr Tom Walsh lecture, in which the folklorist Dr Bairbre Ní Fhloinn explores the festival’s themes of myths and fables, and the Impossible Interview, in which The Irish Times music critic Michael Dervan interviews Ulysses, king of Ithaca, a central figure in Deidamia.
Gigs
Billy Strings
Sunday, October 12th, National Stadium, Dublin, 7pm, €44.20/€39.20, ticketmaster.ie
The much-admired country-music performer William Lee Apostol got his stage name from his ability to master multiple bluegrass instruments. With a family background mired in hard-drug use, it was his love of music (everyone from Earl Scruggs and Bill Monroe to Jimi Hendrix and Black Sabbath) that steered him away from addiction to a successful career. Since 2020 Apostal has released four LPs, of which the most recent, Live Vol 1, from 2024, won the Grammy for best bluegrass album.
Robert Forster & His Swedish Band
Wednesday, October 15th, NCH, Dublin, 8pm, €35, nch.ie
Robert Forster is known to fans of classic indie pop/rock as a former member of The Go-Betweens, the acclaimed Australian band behind albums such as Liberty Belle and the Black Diamond Express (1986) and 16 Lovers Lane (1988). The best of Forster’s solo work is equally good, not least his latest, ninth solo album, Strawberries, which has received some of the best reviews of his career. Expect more than two hours of lean, innately melodic indie pop/rock.
RuthAnne
Wednesday, October 15th, Sugar Club, Dublin, 7.30pm, €27, ticketmaster.ie
It’s the quiet, behind-the-scenes artists you have to look out for. One is the Dubliner RuthAnne, who has co-written songs for the likes of JoJo, Britney Spears, One Direction, Sugababes, Niall Horan, Westlife, Kelly Clarkson and Rita Ora. About 10 years ago she decided to take matters into her own hands, and she released her debut single, The Vow, in 2018. This week RuthAnne releases her second album, The Moment, which, she says, reflects on humanity’s “celebrations, declarations, failures, lessons, joys and pain”. Solo shows from this excellent songwriter are rare, so this album-launch event is an up-close-and-personal must-see.
RM Block
Stage
Imigrante da Silva Santos – A Theatre of the Oppressed play
Sunday, October 12th, Pearse Centre, Dublin, 4pm and 7pm, €12.50, eventbrite.com
Set against the backdrop of the Dublin riots in 2023, this collaborative play from Revolutionary Stage uses the techniques of Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed – which creates dialogue and interaction between audience and performers – to explore the lived experiences of Brazilian migrants living in Dublin, and how anti-immigrant sentiment has grown in Ireland in both personal and public spheres. Created, written and performed by Balzacian Bacchi, Fernanda Lyden, Gaudiê Martins Otero, Karina dos Santos, Patrícia Dias and Rodrigo Risone, under the direction supervision of Orla Devlin.
Literature
A Century of the New Yorker’s Irish Writers
Sunday, October 12th, Abbey Theatre, Dublin, 7.30pm, €48, abbeytheatre.ie
“Our stage is a place built on the conviction that stories matter,” Caitríona McLaughlin, the Abbey Theatre’s artistic director, on the occasion of an evening celebrating the association between Irish writers and the esteemed New Yorker magazine. Authors reading from their respective stories are Colin Barrett, Roddy Doyle and Anne Enright. They will also take part in a conversation, hosted by Belinda McKeon, with the New Yorker’s fiction editor, Deborah Treisman, and deputy fiction editor, Cressida Leyshon.
Murder One Festival
From Friday, October 17th, until Sunday, October 19th, DLR Lexicon Library, Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin, various times and prices, murderone.ie
The plot thickens, and so on, as the Murder One crime-writing festival returns for a series of masterclasses (Plotting and POV, with Prof Henry Sutton), author interviews (Andrea Mara, Chris Whitaker), crime-writing heritage (All About Agatha, with Dr John Curran), readings (Sam Blake, Jake Arnott), criminal psychology (Prof John Deane-O’Keefe on the grey areas of human nature) and themed discussions (including the role of women in crime writing). Events for children include Story Detectives, with ER Murray, and How to Create a Mystery Comic, with Alan Nolan.
Film
Kerry International Film Festival
From Thursday, October 16th, until Sunday, October 19th, various venues, times and prices, Killarney, Co Kerry, kerryfilmfestival.com
The 26th Kerry International Film Festival features four days of Irish and international features, documentaries, short films, panel discussions, masterclasses and post-screening interviews with directors and actors. The festival opens with the acerbic family drama Horseshoe, named best Irish first feature at Galway Film Fleadh. The closing film is Park Avenue, which stars Katherine Waterston and Fiona Shaw (who will be presented later in the year with the festival’s Maureen O’Hara award). An addition to the festival programme is the best music video award, curated by the music writer Nialler9 and judged by the Bafta-nominated director Dawn Shadforth.
Comedy
Are Ya Alright Getting Home?
Sunday, October 12th, 8pm, €22, Lark, Balbriggan, Co Dublin, thelark.ie
The serious topic of gender-based safety is tackled by an all-woman comedy line-up that aims “to recognise how we can build a safer place for all to live, turning daily survival mode into stand-up gold”. The evening’s theme means there’s no admission fee for men. Performers include Claire Roche, Justine Halpin, Amy Cassidy, Laura Greene and Louise O’Toole. All profits will go to Dublin Rape Crisis Centre.
Still running
Greg Davies
From Friday, October 17th, until Sunday, October 19th, Vicar Street, Dublin, 7pm, €58 (sold out), ticketmaster.ie
The Welsh comedian and actor Greg Davies is rarely off our small screens, with credits including Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Taskmaster and The Cleaner. These Dublin shows are part of his new stand-up tour, Full Fat Legend, which, according to early reviews, provides far too much funny, self-deprecating information about his personal life. You have been duly advised.
Book it this week
- The Coronas, 3Olympia Theatre, Dublin, December 10th-13th, ticketmaster.ie
- Dita Von Teese, February 8th, Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Dublin, ticketmaster.ie
- Jason Byrne, Vicar Street, Dublin, February 13th/14th, ticketmaster.ie
- The Cure, Marlay Park, Dublin, June 26th, ticketmaster.ie
