Dublin Theatre Festival programme launched
Artistic Director Willie White has announced details of the programme for Dublin Theatre Festival 2019. Three weeks of performances, with world premieres of new work and reimagined classic texts, inspiring international projects and an expanded season of Theatre for Children. Performances will take place all over the city from 26 September - 13 October.
The works in this year’s programme deal with many contemporary topics but they also reach beyond those, to a poetic enquiry about the times we live in. The Festival is delighted that 10 world premieres are included in this year’s programme.
Priority booking for friends of the Festival is open now at dublintheatrefestival.ie General booking opens 14 August.
The programme includes:
- A major coproduction between DTF and the Lyric Theatre of Synge’s classic, The Playboy of the Western World, at the Gaiety directed by Oonagh Murphy.
- Following the smash-hit of 2016 Swan Lake/Loch na hEala, which has toured Ireland and the world, Michael Keegan Dolan and TeaÄ‹ Daá¹sa premiere a mythic yet timely new production – Mám.
- Other Irish productions include
- Last Orders At The Dockside by Dermot Bolger at the Abbey (world premiere)
- from Rough Magic Hecuba by Marina Carr (Irish premiere)
- a new work from Wayne Jordan and Tom Lane, commissioned by The Ark, The Haircut (world premiere)
- The Alternative by Michael Patrick & Oisín Kearney from Fishamble: The New Play Company (world premiere)
- The Beacon by Nancy Harris from Druid at the Gate (world premiere)
- from Decadent A Love Like That by Billy Roche (world premiere)
- Faultline from ANU Productions and the Gate Theatre (world premiere)
- The Sleepwalkers from Pan Pan Theatre and Dublin Youth Theatre
- a live redubbing of the Pier Paolo Pastil’s controversial film Saló or the 120 Days of Sodom from Dylan Tighe and the Abbey (world premiere)
- Ray Scannell’s festival writing debut with The Bluffer’s Guide to Suburbia,
- at the Gate, a production of Beckett’s Room by Dead Centre with Mark Halloran (world premiere)
- another new work for young audiences from Anna Newell, BigKidLittleKid (world premiere)
- from Moonfish, the Abbey & Galway International Arts Festival in assoc with Town Hall Theatre, Redemption Falls freely adapted from the novel by Joseph O’Connor.
- International work features strongly in the programme with productions from the UK, Australia, Sweden/Estonia, Portugal, Belgium and the USA including:
- Walking to Jerusalem a feat in virtuoso storytelling inspired by real events,
- Your Words in My Mouth, a conversation about love, reconstructed in a series of venues usually reserved for insiders: a football stadium, a hairdressers, a council chamber and a Freemason’s Hall,
- a hilarious, ripped-up musical How to Win Against History,
- the return of Nicola Gunn as she navigates the moral and ethical complexities of intervention in Piece for Person and Ghetto Blaster,
- a new play by Tim Crouch, Total Immediate Collective Imminent Terrestrial Salvation, fresh from its premiere at Edinburgh International Festival
- Forced Entertainment return to Dublin with Real Magic,
- OBIE award-winning Nilaja Sun casts new light on the phrase ‘it takes a village’ in Pike St.
- Us/Them retells, from the perspective of a child, three days when 1,200 people were held hostage by terrorists in Beslan.
- Burgerz from performance artist Travis Alabanza, one of the UK’s most prominent trans voices.
- An insight into the NI care system from Fionnuala Kennedy in Removed.
- The encounter is real, the flirtation is fiction in Collection of Lovers from Raquel André,
- Iggy Lond Malmborg fills the empty space of the theatre with fantastical theatre magic in Physics and Phantasma,
- Tiago Rodrigues, on his third visit to the festival, brings Sopro a triumph on its premiere at Avignon Festival in 2017. One for theatre romantics, the play tells the story of the theatre’s prompter who steps out of the shadows after for 40 years to take her place in the spotlight
- Two productions for younger audiences: Stick by Me, a joyful show about friendship and play from Andy Manley and Red Bridge Arts; and a new take on an old fairytale Baba Yaga from Windmill, performed by Christine Johnston and Rosemary Meyers.
“Our festival celebrates the collective experience of live performance and contributes to the social and cultural life of Dublin. However, it is getting more and more difficult to make art in the city. The landscape is changing all around us. There are fewer theatres in Dublin now than there were twenty years ago, studio spaces are closing and club nights are disappearing. It’s time to speak up for Dublin to ensure that it can continue to be a place that is diverse, creative and inspiring. We will get the city we ask for and I would like one that is made for people and for the future.” Artistic Director, Willie White.
The programme in detail:
J.M. Synge’s is one of Ireland’s greatest writers. His The Playboy of the Western World was met with controversy when first staged at the Abbey in 1907. DTF and the Lyric Theatre are proud to present a new production of this brutally hilarious masterpiece, directed by exciting young director Oonagh Murphy on the Gaiety stage (from 24 Sept- 5 Oct). Cast includes Eloïse Stevenson as Pegeen Mike and Michael Shea as Christy Mahon.
Following on the success of his acclaimed re-imagining of the famous ballet, Swan Lake/Loch na hEala, DTF are delighted to welcome back, and partner Michael Keegan Dolan and TeaÄ‹ Daá¹sa in a world premiere co-production of a new mythic yet timely production - Mám a meeting place between soloist and ensemble, classical and traditional, the local and universal. Bringing together concertina player Cormac Begley, the European Classical contemporary collective stargaze and 12 international dancers at O’Reilly Theatre (from 25 Sept).
Directed by Graham McLaren, the Abbey Theatre presents a new work by Dermot Bolger Last Orders At the Dockside, in which over the course of an evening hidden tensions expose fault lines in their complex relationships (from 26 Sept).
Hecuba, by Marina Carr is a passionate re-imaging of the aftermath of the Trojan War and the events surrounding its ionic characters. A drama of a complex and powerful woman from Rough Magic (from 25 Sept).
The Alternative by Michael Patrick and Oisín Kearney was chosen as A Play for Ireland by Fishamble: The New Play Company, following an extensive 2 year process. Asking questions such as, What if Ireland was still part of the United Kingdom? Based in 2019, it is the eve of the Referendum and British Prime Minister Ursula Lysaght is returning to her hometown of Dublin to convince voters to remain (from 24 Sept).
The Beacon, a new play commissioned by Druid marks Nancy Harris’ Druid debut and her return to the Gate after her adaptation of The Red Shoes. Directed by Garry Hynes, cast includes Jane Brennan, Rae Gray, Cillian Ó’Gairbhí and Marty Rea (from 2 Oct).
From Belgium, Your Words in my Mouth, a conversation about love reconstructed in a series of venues usually reserved for insiders : a football stadium, a hairdresser’s, a council chamber and a Freemason’s Hall. Members of the audiences are invited to lend their voices to other people’s words in this very unique experience from Anna Rispoli, Lotte Lindner and Till Steinbrenner (from 1 Oct).
Described as a love story, an investigation, an exodus, Faultline from ANU Productions and Gate Theatre propels audiences through a living history based on source materials from the Irish Queer archive (from 26 Sept).
After someone threw a burger at them and shouted a transphobic slur, performance artist Travis Alabanza became obsessed with burgers. Carving out a place for themselves as one of the UK’s most prominent trans voices, Alabanza presents a performance in Burgerz, that is timely, unsettling and powerful. From 9 Oct.
From Aine Flanagan productions & Seiriol Davies (UK), the multi-award-winning How to Win Against History at the Civic, is a frothy glossy costume drama about the 5th Marquis of Anglesey who burned brightly, briefly and transvestitely at the end of the 19th Century before he died at 29 and his family burned every record of him (from 25 Sept).
At the Gate, a production of Beckett’s Room by Dead Centre with Mark Halloran. This is the biography of a room. A play without performers, it tells the story of the apartment in Paris where Samuel Beckett live with his partner Suzanne during the Second World War (from 24 Sept).
Nicola Gunn (Australia) returns to Dublin Theatre Festival, with a simple premise - exploring in depth the moral dilemma of what to do if you see a man throwing stones at a duck. Shifting from anecdotes to comedy to the unexpectedly profound she dissects the excruciating realms of human behaviour and navigates the moral and ethical complexities of intervention in Piece for Person and Ghetto Blaster (from 26 Sept).
A live redubbing of the Pier Paolo Pasolini’s controversial 1975 film Saló or the 120 days of Sodom. Dylan Tighe and the Abbey Theatre’s production Pasolini’s Saló Redubbed, daringly transposes Pasolini’s notorious final film to Ireland (from 26 Sept).
Ray Scannell makes his festival writing debut with a new apocalyptic black comedy with live music and original songs The Bluffer’s Guide to Suburbia, which lovingly exposes a generation of adult children living back in the home. Directed by Tom Creed at Project (from 26 Sept).
Forced Entertainment (UK) return to Dublin with Real Magic which takes the audience on a hallucinatory journey, creating a compelling virtuoso performance about big systems, small traps and yearning for change (from 8 Oct).
Following sell out runs at Edinburgh Festival Fringe and London’s National Theatre, Us/Them is a thrilling piece of theatre which retells, from the perspective of a child, three days when 1,200 people were held hostage by terrorists in Beslan. BRONKS & Richard Jordan Productions with Theatre Royal Plymouth in assoc with Big in Belgium & Summerhall (from 8 Oct).
A bittersweet new play by Billy Roche, from Decadent Theatre, A Love Like That, is set in a provincial library on the cusp of its transfer to new premises. Senior librarian Ellen faces betrayal on all sides but her warrior self finds hope and light in the process of change. Directed by Andrew Flynn (from 1 Oct).
An amalgam of interviews gathered by Fionnuala Kennedy, Removed is a funny and affecting story told by ‘Adam’ that offers insight into the NI care system. FromPrime Cut Productions NI (from 9 Oct).
From Moonfish, the Abbey and Galway International Arts Festival in assoc with Town Hall Theatre, comes Redemption Falls freely adapted from the novel by Joseph O’Connor. A bleak and beautiful story, told through the folk music of Ireland and America (from 9 Oct).
From Portugal, Raquel André has collected more than 200 ‘lovers’ to date - people of all nationalities, ages and genders who have agreed to meet her and to build a fictional intimacy within the span of an hour. The encounter is real, the flirtation is fiction in Collection of Lovers (from 10 Oct).
From Sweden/Estonia, Physics and Phantasma is a study of the artist’s relationship with an audience, and the space in between. Iggy Lond Malmborg fills the theatre space with fantastical theatre magic (from 11 Oct).
Tiago Rodrigues AD of Teatro Nacional Portugal, tells the story of a prompter at the theatre who after 40 years reluctantly steps out of the shadows and shares stories from her decades of working in the theatre - Sopro from 11 Oct.
In 2017, 100 people set out to walk from London to Jerusalem calling for equal rights for all in the Holy Land - 9 walked the whole way. Walking to Jerusalem is a feat in virtuoso storytelling accompanied by video montage and live footage along the route. From Passion Pit Theatre, in association with Amos Trust, Hodder & Stoughton & The New Theatre (from 1 Oct).
Dublin City Arts Office brings OBIE award-winning Nilaja Sun back to Dublin following the success of No Child … (DTF 2010). The critically acclaimed Pike St casts new light on the phrase ‘it takes a village’, as a community comes together to help a desperate mother (from 2 Oct).
The Sleepwalkers, a new work from Pan Theatre and Dublin Youth Theatre collaboratively created from ideas generated by DYT members and found texts, asked the question: What does it mean to be awake? (from 2 Oct)
A new play by Tim Crouch, renowned for his profoundly moving plays that strip the theatrical event down to its purest form. Total Immediate Collective Imminent Terrestrial Salvation, is presented through combined stage action and illustrated text (from 2 Oct).
Festival+, continues the drama off stage with a series of talks, critical events, exhibitions, tours and work-in-progress showcases. This programme of events includes networking opportunities for theatre practitioners, young critics panel, a theatrical walking tour and an audio journey through 14 Henrietta Street. Work-in-progress showcases this year features:
Booking details:
Priority booking for Friends of the Festival is now open. To become a friend contact +353 1677 8439.
Public Booking opens 14 August at 10am.
Online: dublintheatrefestival.ie
Phone: +353 1 677 8899
In person: DTF box office, Festival House, 12 East Essex Street East, Temple Bar, D.2.
Making theatre accessible to ever more audiences:
The Festival continues to try to reach as wide an audience as possible with a range of discounts including ‘Final Call’, where a limited number of €10 tickets for selected shows are available on the day of the performance and ‘Open House’ where you can register your community organisation (e.g. welfare groups, special needs groups and registered charities) to avail of €10 tickets to selected performances.
Support Irish Theatre Artists:
DTF Futures is a new fundraising initiative created to support the next generation of Irish theatre artists through commissioning, developing and co-producing new work, creating a more sustainable infrastructure for the practitioners of today and future generations. To support contact development@dublintheatrefestival.ie
Supporters:
Principle funder The Arts Council
Grant aided by Dublin City Council, Fáilte Ireland, Dublin Fundraising Fellowship, Tourism Ireland and the Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs.
Proudly supported by sponsors including The Irish Times, RTÉ Radio 1, RTÉ Supporting the Arts, Blackwater Distillery and Olytico.