Young Curators Festival

This Summer four ‘Young Curators' take over the Peacock at the Abbey Theatre

The Abbey Theatre issued the first ever call out for 18 – 25 year olds to help programme a two-week festival at the Theatre. More than 120 people applied from all across the country. The selected Young Curators are – Luke Casserly (Longford), Martha Knight (Dublin), CN Smith (Louth), and Allie Whelan (Kildare). They have been travelling around Ireland to festivals, like the Cork Midsummer Festival, Galway International Arts Festival and Dublin Fringe, along with seeing local productions in the areas they're from. The Festival will see seven productions, world premieres, discourse events, workshops and DJ sets, with plenty of opportunity for the young, and young at heart, to get involved.

Opening Gesture – The festival kicks off with a launch party featuring music from Glasshouse – a new music ensemble in Dublin, who will perform a concert of contemporary popular music by artists including Bon Iver, Sufjan Stevens, LCD Soundsystem and many more. Musician Caoimhe de Barra of Wyvern Lingo will join in, singing and playing the guitar alongside the ensemble. July 29^th @ 7pm

Dublin Digital Radio Projects – A pair of interconnected projects presented by Dublin Digital Radio.
Project 1: Think you're Escaping, a radio play about highs, lows, the best of times, the worst of times. A tale of hedonism told through classic Irish texts.
Project 2: A durational performance piece for radio and theatre by Dylan Kerr & Clíona Ní Laoi. Clíona is an Irish multimedia artist based between Dublin and Berlin. Her practice includes photography, video, sound, light, text, theatre, music and immersive audiovisual installations and performances. Dylan Kerr is an Irish artist currently based in Poznan, Poland – working mainly in the mediums of live performance and sound. July 30^th – 31^st @ 2.30pm

My Dad's Blind – Anna Sheils-McNamee explores the dysfunctional relationship between a blind father and his sighted daughter in the Winner of Best Production at Dublin Fringe Festival 2018.  My Dad’s Blind uses audio recordings, irreverent comedy and real life memories to explore a father daughter relationship and all the awkward, embarrassing and ridiculous ways they struggle to navigate a sighted world with a guide dog that's just had a stroke. July 30^th – 31^st , 8pm

We Can't Have Monkeys in the House – From award-winning writer, Ciara Elizabeth Smyth comes We Can't Have Monkeys in the House, a new absurd comedy about tragedy, regression and death. All the fun stuff. Mammy's had a heart attack. Leslie is in denial. Cinnamon doesn't care. Neil just wants to dance. Estranged sister John is uncomfortable with all of this. Funeral preparations are underway. All that's left to do is pull the plug and wait for Mammy to die. Tempers flare and bad habits resurface as relationships disintegrate. August 1^st – 3^rd @ 8pm

Gash Collective DJ Set – A post-show DJ set by Gash Collective, a platform that encourages women to create, share and collaborate together in the field of electronic music in Ireland. August 2^nd – 3^rd @ 9.30pm

Summertime – An intimate performance installation for two voices who are struggling to stay together. Stash is an artist who works in a pub. Steve is her boyfriend. Their relationship is in trouble and they want to tell you how it happened. In unison, if they can.When one thoughtless comment knocks the pair out of sync, the fallout causes a rift that only deepens over the course of a summer. August 7^th – 8^th @ every 30 minutes from 4pm

Superstructure – An ambitious attempt to observe humans as an exotic species through scale. You, the watcher, are invited to take a bird's eye view of a city and to see how a day unfolds there. This observation game, using miniature models and figures, will look at how we dance in a busy room until sunrise, build tall buildings in tight spaces, play instruments on the street for strangers and work for money to pay the person who owns our bedroom. August 7^th – 8^th @ 8pm

DAS ARTS Feedback Method Workshop – The DasArts Academy from Amsterdam will hold a one day workshop exploring the art of giving constructive feedback in the arts. Participants from both within the festival and outside of the festival will be recruited to create a diverse working group.  20 selected participants will attend Summertime and Superstructure to use this experience as subject matter in the workshop. August 9^th @ 10am – 5pm

Where Are You From? – “Where are you from?” is a common question but its connotations and answers are often complicated. Through confession, movement and interviews with their father, Choy-Ping Clarke-Ng 吳彩萍 explores this, as someone who speaks only English, likes to dance and is looking for home. Previously presented as a work-in-progress at Smock Alley's Scene+Heard Festival 2019. August 9^th @ 8pm | August 10^th @ 2.30pm

Closing Gesture – The festival wrap party. August 10^th @ 8pm