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Although the Irish Writers Centre has long been a place for keen readers and writers to attend readings and launches, or to take part in one of the many writing classes on offer covering every topic from memoir to ghostwriting to autofiction, the centre can at times be overlooked because of its location, tucked away as it is away from the bustle of the city, beyond the trees of the Garden of Remembrance.
Ruby Walsh believes the Dublin Racing Festival "slots in beautifully" to the National Hunt calendar, and expects the fixture to be a major success. The festival - officially launched on Monday - will take place at Leopardstown in the spring, hosting the BHP Irish Champion Hurdle and the Unibet Irish Gold Cup over two days on February 3 and 4. It will boast seven Grade One contests in all with total prize money across the weekend amounting to €1.5m. Walsh believes it fills a gap in the schedule that will make it a popular addition. "If you look at the programme now, a lot of horses will be targeted at Down Royal and Fairyhouse in November and December, on to Leopardstown or England at Christmas, and then where do you go? It's Cheltenham in March," he said. "This slots in beautifully in early February. It does fit in to the programme. It's in the middle of the National Hunt season. The ground isn't going to be an issue; you know it's going to be soft. "It will be a big weekend. We're very strong on National Hunt racing. It will be great to showcase it."
A couple of weeks ago, astronomers at the Alma telescope in Chile discovered a supermassive black hole near the centre of the Milky Way. It is said to be one hundred thousand times more massive than the sun and roughly 1.4 trillion kilometres in length. When we read a science story, it is almost always sensational news. However, a lot of science stories go under the radar of the ordinary non-scientist, primarily because we simply don’t understand it; it’s too complex unless it’s a news story on a topical subject that we can relate to, like space or cancer research. A number of outreach programmes set up by the
Various Locations
Hard Working Class Heroes (HWCH) began with 40 Dublin bands playing in a single venue in the capital in 2003.Like all start-ups, it was rough around the edges, but there was heart and soul and the very best of intentions. Since that debut, HWCH has grown, morphed and developed into a much bigger and more wide-ranging event .Live music is still HWCH’s chief attraction. Last autumn, the festival hosted over 60 gigs per day from Irish acts in venues across the city over three nights. But that’s just the start of things. These days, HWCH also features a influential and highly regarded , intern
About two years ago, Bush Moukarzel, the writer and co-director of Dead Centre, went to meet Ollie West, an 11-year-old boy from a theatrical family, to pitch him an alternative theatre project. It was, for everybody, a leap in the dark: how do you explain Shakespeare to a kid – or, for that matter, life and death? Moukarzel had an idea for a solo show featuring Shakespeare’s son Hamnet, who died in 1596 at the age of 11, a footnote in history, with a name vastly overshadowed by the play Shakespeare wrote three years later, Hamlet. In Moukarzel’s version, the boy would speak about his relationship with his absent father, his father’s famous creation, about being or not being. For the meeting, though, Moukarzel decided to keep things light. That didn’t require him to be disingenuous. Like every production staged by the adventurous and now internationally well-regarded company so far – from Souvenir, a one-man riff on Proust that found room for myriad enlivening devices, to the playful recapitulations of Chekhov’s First Play, which gave its audience headphones, a demolished set and the possibility of playing the lead role – the new show would balance its literary inspirations with spry and playful staging techniques.
GROWN is a tiny Dublin company that prints beautiful simple designs on ethically-sourced, environmentally friendly shirts and t-shirts from a shop on Francis Street in Dublin’s Liberties. Its origins lie in conversations between three friends as they journeyed back and forth between Dublin and the West of Ireland, on swimming, surfing and scuba-diving trips. The ocean-loving friends were Neil McCabe, Stephen O’Reilly and Damien Bligh. They’d noticed rubbish in the water and on beaches. It made them think about the ecological impact of plastics and modern fabrics, and how we produce and consume everything from food and drink to coffee and clothes. That got them rese
Civic Theatre
by Iseult Golden and David Horan ‘Donna always shits a brick – I mean, she gets all nervous – comin’ in here. It’s like she reverts.’ Brian and Donna’s son is 9 years old and he's struggling. That’s what his teacher says. Says he should see a psychologist. But Brian and Donna - recently separated - never liked school, never liked teachers. So are they going to trust this one? And should they? A parent-teacher meeting goes very, very wrong in CLASS – a new play about learning difficulties: in school, in life, wherever. Produced by freelance theatre artists and screenwriting du
Pavilion Theatre
2016 Olivier Award Winner, Fishamble, and 2017 Costa Book of the Year Award Winner, Sebastian Barry, reunite for the world premiere production of On Blueberry Hill. Following the much loved The Pride of Parnell Street in Dublin Theatre Festival ten years ago, director Jim Culleton has assembled the same award-winning creative team for On Blueberry Hill. In Sebastian Barry’s unique style, On Blueberry Hill features best of friends and worst of enemies Christy and PJ, played by Niall Buggy and David Ganly. This new play is bursting with humanity, as it explores murder, forgiveness, survi
Project Arts Centre
Nora, a new play after Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, makes its world premiere as part of Dublin Theatre Festival. It’s 2025. A dangerous world for those who can’t afford to protect themselves. This house keeps safe a marriage, a partnership, a life of success and ease, a priceless collection and a daughter who has lacked for nothing; things seem perfect as a power couple prepares for a glitzy party among the art-world elite. But when the secret upon which this life is built threatens to push through the polished surface, questions about what is real and what is not can no longe
Various Locations
This year Dublin Theatre Festival is celebrating 60 years with 18 days of Irish and international world-class theatre from 28 September – 15 October. Established in 1957, Dublin Theatre Festival is Europe’s longest running theatre festival, and runs for 3 weeks each autumn. We bring world-class theatre to Dublin, support artists in creating outstanding work and provide a platform to showcase the best of Irish theatre to the world. Dublin Theatre Festival 2017 will take place from September 28 – October 15. At the heart of the festival is the city of Dublin – its people and its stor
Gate Theatre
With excoriating dialogue and sharp, compassionate insights, Nina Raine crafts a penetrating, deeply moving and shockingly funny play. The Irish Premiere of this award-winning play relocates the action from leafy suburban Hampstead to South County Dublin where Billy, born deaf into a hearing family, struggles to define who he is within his highly intellectual, yet emotionally possessive, clan. Oonagh Murphy, one of Ireland’s brightest directing talents makes her directorial debut at the Gate with this play about belonging, family and the limitations of communication. Presented as pa
RDS
An extreme walk-through horror event preying on your deepest fears and nightmares and twisting them into a deadly reality. Are you ready to face your darkest nightmares and experience the artistry of fear? We are Ireland’s most extreme scare attraction, and are masters at creating horror and fear. This is not your typical (boo) haunted house – there are no ghosts and goblins – our sets and live creatures prey on your darkest fears and bring your nightmares to life. Those brave enough to venture into the Realm are advised to keep their wits about them as danger lurks in every shadow
Walking through Temple Bar on a midweek afternoon, the sounds of céilí bands and lads on guitars belting out U2 covers tumble out onto the street every time a pub door swings open. Buskers are so much a part of Dublin culture that Glen Hansard starred in an Oscar winning film about them. Phil Lynott’s statue off Grafton Street is often draped in rocker pilgrims from around the world, a replica of Rory Gallagher’s rusty guitar hangs over his own designated corner near Meeting House Square, and Whelan’s is a mecca for any serious music lover. Dublin’s rock heritage is as legendary as its literary one, with the city punching well above its weight on the international scene
Anyone for capoeira? Fancy an evening of food and drink? Or how about spending time with some serious Harry Potter fans? Universities and colleges in Dublin have a strange and eclectic mix of student clubs and societies. Yes, there’s soccer and GAA, but what about caving & potholing or sepak takraw, a type of kick volleyball? Yes, drama and debating are to be expected, but did you know that you can also join student societies with a focus on comedy, animation or meditation? Sam Blanckensee graduated from UCD last year. In his final year, he founded the
Sometimes the queue for the Ruby Sessions is so long that it snakes down the stairs of Doyle’s pub and out the door around past the old plaque on the wall that says “Good times are coming/Be they ever so far away” and down into the dark and puddles of Fleet Street. If you find yourself that far back, your chances of getting in are very far away indeed. These are the nights when word has leaked out into the world that a ‘Very Special Guest’ will be taking to the mic of the renowned live music night, and for the price of a six euro charity donation, you too could be part of the intimate gathering that surrounds the candlelit stage. Ed Sheeran, Damien Rice, Paulo Nutini, T
You may not know it, but Capel Street is one of Dublin’s most historically significant streets. It was a fundamental part of an extension of the city north of the river by Sir Humphrey Jervis, who built a large chunk of his estate around St. Mary’s Abbey. In 1676 he built Essex Bridge, (now Grattan Bridge) establishing Capel Street as one of the main links between the north and south of the city. A great contrast to the Capel Street of today, in the 17th and 18th Centuries it was residential, lined with freestanding mansions, each of which had large gardens and courtyards. Later on in the 18th Century t
When Vanessa Daws moved to Dublin in 2011, she did something that might seem unusual to most people, but has become a habit for her: “The first thing I did was I arranged a swim down the Liffey at dawn – what I normally do when I go on art residencies or move somewhere: I find the nearest body of water and I swim in it.” She tells me that she does this to feel more at home in a place: “to bond with a place. To be accepted by the city. Connecting, submerging, in the city. And I knew if I swam I just knew I’d be able to relax in the city. I knew it would be alright
Down by the Secret Garden – Blessington Basin On the south side, the secret garden was always the Iveagh Gardens. But in recent years music, comedy and food festivals have meant that that garden isn’t so secret anymore. So these days to find the city’s true secret garden, you have to head north side. Up O’Connell St, then North Frederick, cross Dorset and on up Blessington until you come to the black wrought iron gates. In you go. And you’re there.