Event of the week
For the week that’s in it, two of Ireland’s most established Halloween-themed festivals deliver the spooky goods. Púca Festival (from Thursday, October 30th, until Sunday, November 2nd, Trim/Athboy, Co Meath, various times and prices, pucafestival.com) combines Celtic folklore, myth, tradition and heritage with music, comedy, spoken word, circus and theatre. Open-air folklore and heritage events include the Púca Procession, Beyond the Veil, Tours of the Hill of Ward, and Lighting of the Samhain Fire. Indoor events include Jason Byrne (Thursday, October 30th, Swift Cultural Centre, Trim, 7.30pm, €30), The Two Johnnies (Friday, October 31st, Púca Big Top, Trim, 5pm, €60.50), Blindboy (Friday, October 31st, Knightsbrook Hotel, Trim, 7pm, €35) and Moonlight: The Philip Lynott Enigma (Saturday, November 1st, Knightsbrook Hotel, Trim, 7pm, €37.50).
A different but no less intriguing programme of events features at the Bram Stoker Festival (from Friday, October 31st, until Monday, November 3rd, Dublin city, various venues, times and prices, bramstokerfestival.com), celebrating the life, work and enduring influence of the Dublin author who wrote Dracula. Its centrepiece is An Treun: The Summoning of the Lost, a street parade staged by Macnas, the renowned theatre company. Many of the festival’s ticketed events have already sold out, but do your best to get a ticket to A Dark Musical Tour of Dublin, the Walking Tour of Bram Stoker’s Dublin, Kwaidan (the classic Japanese horror film soundtracked with a live score by Matthew Nolan, Seán Mac Erlaine and Tomoko Sauvage), and the historian Donal Fallon’s tour of Mount Jerome Cemetery.
Gigs
Haunted Dancehall
Saturday, October 25th, NCH, Dublin, 3pm-11pm, €39.50, nch.ie
One day, one ticket, three rooms and a multitude of experimental, genre-fusing music. Haunted Dancehall returns to its natural home for the best part of nine hours with a sonic smorgasbord of spiritual jazz, pulsating dub, multilayered electronica and ambient folk. Artists performing include Róis, Andy Stott, Elaine Howley, Shabaka, Saoirse Miller, Quade and Jasmine Wood. The one-day event also incorporates a series of cultural conversations curated by Dr Liam Cagney, the author of Berghain Nights: A Journey Through Techno and Berlin Club Culture.
RM Block
Niall Breslin
Saturday, October 25th, St George Arts and Heritage Centre, Mitchelstown, Co Cork, 8pm, €30; Sunday, October 26th, Multyfarnham Friary, Mullingar, Co Westmeath, 8pm, €30, theabbeymultyfarnham.ie; Monday, October 27th, St John’s Church, Limerick, 8pm, €30; Tuesday, October 28th, Whale Theatre, Greystones, Co Wicklow, 8pm, €30, whaletheatre.ie; Wednesday, October 29th, Set Theatre, Kilkenny, 8pm, €27.50, set.ie
Niall Breslin (aka Bressie) is perhaps more accustomed to standing centre stage playing an electric guitar than sitting at a piano delivering pensive neoclassical melodies and motifs. His new album, The Place That Has Never Been Wounded is a surprising and serene about-face that presents a far more reflective side to the musician and mental-health advocate. As befits the music, these are intimate venues, selected to benefit both the music and the listener. Also Friday, November 7th, Pavilion Theatre, Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin, 8pm, €32, paviliontheatre.ie
Mary Gauthier
Saturday, October 25th, Linenhall Arts Centre, Castlebar, Co Mayo, 8.30pm, €29.50, thelinenhall.com; Sunday, October 26th, Hawks Well Theatre, Sligo, 8pm, €29.50, hawkswell.com; Monday, October 27th, Town Hall Theatre, Galway, 8pm, €30, tht.ie; Tuesday, October 28th, and Wednesday, October 29th, Pavilion Theatre, Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin, 8pm, €31, paviliontheatre.ie
From an adopted childhood surrounded by alcoholism, drug abuse and homelessness to teenage years of hiding her sexuality, rehab and jail, the New Orleans singer and songwriter Mary Gauthier has a riveting if upsetting background. She has chosen to channel her experiences into her songs, which, from her debut album, Dixie Kitchen, from 1997, to her most recent, Dark Enough to See the Stars, from 2022, contain hard, purposeful truths. Gauthier’s visits to Ireland are rare, so these shows come highly recommended.
In conversation
John Robb & Richard Jobson
Thursday, October 30th, Glens Centre, Manorhamilton, Co Leitrim, 8pm, €12/€10, theglenscentre.com; Friday, October 31st, Mike the Pies, Listowel, Co Kerry, 9pm, €10, mikethepies.com
Sitting down for a series of sparky conversations in intimate venues the length and breadth of Ireland, the British musicians and authors John Robb (The Membranes) and Richard Jobson (The Skids) reflect on their experiences of punk rock and its lasting cultural influence. Also Saturday, November 1st, Regional Cultural Centre, Letterkenny, Co Donegal, 8pm, €10, regionalculturalcentre.com; Sunday, November 2nd, Seamus Ennis Arts Centre, Naul, Co Dublin, 3.30pm, €16, tseac.com; Monday, November 3rd, Prim’s Bookshop, Kinsale, Co Cork, 8pm, €16, eventbrite.ie.
Comedy
John Bishop
Thursday, October 30th, and Friday, October 31st, 3Arena, Dublin, 7.30pm, €25 (sold out), ticketmaster.ie; Saturday, November 1st, SSE Arena, Belfast, 7.30pm, £25 (sold out), ticketmaster.ie
John Bishop performed his first ever gig, at the Frog & Bucket comedy club in Manchester, just over 25 years ago. Tickets for these anniversary shows are capped at €25/£25, which at least partly explains why they sold out months ago. Good for you if you have a ticket: Bishop works hard to make his justifiably praised comedy look easy.
Poetry
Circling the Square
From Friday, October 31st, until Monday, November 3rd, Source Arts Centre, Thurles, Co Tipperary, various times, €17.50/€14, thesourceartscentre.ie
Named after an autobiographical essay by the Thurles-born poet Dennis O’Driscoll (1954-2012), the fourth iteration of this festival features poetry readings by Moya Cannon and Mary O’Donnell (Friday, October 31st), Bernard O’Donoghue and Charlotte Buckley (Saturday, November 1st) and Linda Tavokali and John Noonan (Sunday, November 2nd).
Still running
Reunion
Until Sunday, November 2nd, Gaiety Theatre, Dublin, 7.30pm, €63.10/€52.30/€26.50, gaietytheatre.ie
Ten people – family members, their partners and unnerving outsiders – gather at a holiday home on an island off the west coast. Mark O’Rowe’s ensemble play, which premiered at last year’s Galway International Arts Festival, explores tense undercurrents of life. “Meaty characters, multilayered action, emotional entanglements ... A zinger,” we said at the time. What are you waiting for?
Book it this week
- Quiet Lights, various venues, Cork city, November 20th-23rd, quietlights.net
- The Big Star Quintet, Button Factory, Dublin, April 29th-30th, foggynotions.ie
- Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Malahide Castle, Co Dublin, June 10th, ticketmaster.ie
- Forest Fest, Emo Village, Co Laois, July 24th-26th, forestfest.ie
