Dublin Theatre Festival – Top Picks

With general booking for the Dublin Theatre Festival opening today at 12pm, we thought we’d see what is happening in the world of socially distanced theatre!

The Party to End All Parties – ANU and Dublin Theatre Festival, Ireland – Date(s) – 24-26 Sept, 28 Sept-3 Oct & 5-10 Oct

Throughout history, crises are often the catalyst for change. On April 18th, 1949, the night that Ireland became a Republic, a nation was ready for a momentous change. O’Connell Bridge, the epicentre of many such tides, has been the place to gather, to protest and to dream of the future. Hope is central, as we spin between then and now, our need to reconnect is palpable as we listen closely, to each other and the city.

To Be a Machine (Version 1.0) – Dead Centre & Mark O’Connell – Venue – Streamed live from Project Arts Centre – Date(s)
1-3 & 6-10 Oct, 7.30pm

An early release of a future project from Dead Centre. Adapted from the Wellcome Prize-winning book by Mark O’Connell, this event attempts to re-imagine theatre without the hindrance of the body.

A Thousand Ways- An Encounter – 600 Highwaymen, USA – Smock Alley Theatre – Date(s) – 24-27 Sept, 2pm, 4pm, 6pm & 8pm

Obie Award-winning theatremakers, 600 HIGHWAYMEN, known for exhilarating performances that challenge the very definition of theater, have created a quietly radical response to this new world with A Thousand Ways. Both performances present a new chance at making contact with a stranger. It is a chance at being heard, a brave moment to show up.

Embargo Fishamble: The New Play Company – by Deirdre Kinahan -Enterprise Waiting Room, Connolly Station – 2-4 Oct

Three souls caught up in the violent winds of change….

In September 1920, during the War of Independence, dockers and railwaymen refused to transport any armed troops, or to handle any weapons arriving from Britain. On the centenary of this act of civil resistance, Fishamble will stage a site-responsive production, in association with Dublin Port Company and Iarnród Éireann.

What Is The Word – Pan Pan, Ireland – Venue – IFI – 6 & 7 Oct, 6.30pm

WHAT IS THE WORD is an audio cinematic experience presenting a curated collection of Samuel Beckett poems, performed by some of Ireland’s leading actors.

After a fall in his apartment in 1988, Samuel Beckett moved to the Tiers Temps nursing home in Paris, France. It was here that Beckett, aged 82, wrote Comment dire in French. On the manuscript of his English translation, which he called what is the word and is considered to be his final poem, he wrote: ‘Keep! for end’.