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4 events for... drama lovers looking for the best of Dublin Theatre Festival 2018
From Samuel Beckett to William Shakespeare, visceral stories come to life on the stage.
FOR 61 YEARS, Dublin Theatre Festival has staged exceptional productions of plays by beloved playwrights and rising talents.
Featuring familiar plays by Samuel Beckett and William Shakespeare alongside new work, this year’s programme hosts an array of award-winning directors, actors, writers and companies.
The festival runs for ten more days until Sunday October 14, so there’s still time to fill your calendar.
Here are four highlights to catch at Dublin Theatre Festival 2018.
1. “To be or not to be?” Pose literature’s most famous question with Oscar-nominated Irish actress Ruth Negga as Hamlet
When: Performances run until October 13
Where: The Gate Theatre, Cavendish Row, Dublin 1
Hamlet, staring Oscar-nominated actress Ruth Negga in the title role, is one of the highly anticipated plays programmed at this year’s festival. The Dubliner makes her Gate Theatre debut in Shakespeare’s influential drama filled with murder, politics and revenge. The story, originally set in Denmark, has been adapted to reflect current global unrest. Revered director Yael Farber is at the helm of the production – her work has garnered several prestigious awards from the Fringe Festival to Broadway.
Tickets for Hamlet available here.
2. Experience the premiere staging of Arthur Miller’s The Misfits
When: Performances run until October 7
Where: Smock Alley Theatre, 7 Exchange Street Lower, Temple Bar, Dublin 8
The Mistfits, best known as the 1961 film directed by John Huston starring Clarke Gable and Marilyn Monroe, is coming to town. Dublin-based theatre company Corn Exchange, present the premiere stage production of the novella written in 1957 by American playwright Arthur Miller. The plot focuses on a newly divorced woman, surrounded by friends and strangers, coming to terms with her new reality. Directed by Annie Ryan, The Misfits, starring Aoibhinn McGinnity, delves into the despair caused by the American dream set to Miller’s wonderful wordplay.
Tickets for The Misfits available here.
3. Watch a forlorn theatre critic befriend vampires in Conor McPherson’s St Nicholas
When: Performances run until October 20
Where: Smock Alley Theatre, 7 Exchange Street Lower, Temple Bar, Dublin 8
Conor McPherson’s recent stage productions have seen the Irishman adapt beloved pieces by Daphne du Maurier, Samuel Beckett and Bob Dylan. St Nicholas, written in 1997, is the second play by McPherson to be debuted to Irish audiences at the Dublin Theatre Festival. A one man show starring Brendan Coyle (you may remember him from Downton Abbey) tells the story of a man who has developed an unusual obsession with vampires. Influenced by the supernatural world, this unmissable monologue sees Coyle and McPherson reunite for the first time since The Weir almost twenty years ago.
Tickets for St Nicholas are available here.
4. Ponder the meaning of life whilst watching Samuel Beckett’s Company
When: Performances run until October 7
Where: Project Arts Centre, 39 Essex Street East, Temple Bar, Dublin 2
Company, a novella written by Samuel Beckett in 1979, deals with one of the recurring themes in the playwright’s repertoire: the point of our existence. This multi-sensory production, featuring projected text, movement and immersive sound design, investigates the reliability of memory. Raymond Keane’s solo performance of Company has been adapted and directed by Sarah Jane Scaife.
Tickets for Company are available here.
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