There was an air of expectation amongst the crowd that gathered outside Dublin’s newest venue, the Liquor room under the Clarence hotel. It’s always fun to be there at the start of something, and with the release of the new brochure to the fringe festival, a host of odd ball, quirky and fun theatre, dance, comedy and music events are about to be unleashed onto an unsuspecting Dublin audience.

There was a strange feeling that you half knew everyone in the venue, but when you eventually placed the familiar face, it was from a two hander in one of the theatres or that they work in one of the various venues. All of the theatre world seemed to have descended onto the Clarence, and it was all the more colourful for it.

After an initial dash towards the bar, the crowd settled for a number of short speeches, which focused on the positives in the artistic community, while mentioning the on going battles due to the lack of funding. The big reveal came when the programme was released, and for many in the audience, it was their first chance to see massive variety of shows on display. It an imposing and intriguing programme, with events on all around the city from the 8th to the 22nd of September. Go check it out here, but if it’s just too big for you, we’ll try to break it down over the next few days.