Music
New Year, New Experience
2017 is well underway so it’s time to start making plans for the year ahead. So why not plan a night (or more) and head out to the theatre? With shows happening in multiple venues across the year you’re sure to find something to suit your taste, wheater you’re a frequent show attendee or have never even been to a school play we’ve got the show for you. Here is a list of just some of the shows happening in 2017.
Hamlet
Running at Bord Gais Energy Theatre from 31 January to 4 February. This muscular production brings vividly to life some of literature’s most vibrant language and characters in a way you’ve never seen before: bold, exciting, and action-packed. The King of Denmark is dead. Consumed with grief, Prince Hamlet devotes himself to avenging his father’s death with devastating consequences for his family and the Kingdom. The spirit of a murdered king, the wrath of a vengeful son, and the turmoil of Denmark in 1601. Shakespeare’s most iconic and challenging play tells the tale of young Prince Hamlet avenging his father’s death and fighting the new King who stole his throne.
Get your tickets here.
The Pillowman
Running at Gaiety Theatre from 24 January to 5 February. A dark but brilliant tragicomedy, The Pillowman opens in a prison cell where a young writer is being questioned about the children’s tales he has written – grim tales which have inspired copycat killings in the streets outside. Two interrogators tease out the resemblance between real and fictional worlds while probing the personal responsibility of the writer. Story piles upon story as the evening progresses, and the tension mounts when parallel interviews taking place in the adjoining cell with the writer’s brother are revealed.
Get your tickets here.
The Successful TD
Running from 6-18 February at Gaiety Theatre. The Successful TD follows the trials, tribulations, misadventures and hilarious antics of Tull McAdoo as he seeks re-election to the Dail in the “October Elections”. Written by John B Keane in 1967 he displays his edge for humour and satire that are uncomfortably close to the politics of today…. Peppered with Keane’s gallery of madcap characters this show will have you laughing at politics (in a good way) from the start.
Tickets on sale here.
The Night Joe Dolans Car Broke Down
Running from 13-18 February at Olympia Theatre. The play is set on a stormy St. Stephen’s night as people gather to celebrate the 60th birthday party of the The Horse Munley. As the storm worsens and people head home, a knock to the door brings the night’s entertainment to a new level. As the play unfolds so too does personal secrets, the music and the craic.
Tickets on sale here.
Educating Rita
Running from 21-25 March at Gaiety Theatre. A wise-cracking, no-nonsense hairdresser from the working-class streets of Belfast, Rita is tired of her job, her prospects, her husband, her life. She wants to be the sort of woman who knows the difference between Shaw’s Bridge and George Bernard Shaw, and so enrolls in an Open Learning course in English Literature where she meets her tutor Frank – a lecturer from North Down who teaches at Queen’s – and begins her journey of self-discovery. Frank has his problems too. Divorced, an alcoholic, and sick to the back teeth of the pretensions of academic life, Frank finds Rita’s enthusiasm for learning and down-to-earth attitude refreshing. Frank and Rita make an unlikely pair, but could they really show each other a way to a better future?
Tickets on sale here.
Blood Brothers
Running at Bord Gais Energy Theatre from 28 March to 8 April. Written by Willy Russell, the legendary Blood Brothers tells the captivating and moving tale of twins who, separated at birth, grow up on opposite sides of the tracks, only to meet again with fateful consequences.
Tickets on sale here.
Not Dead Enough
Running at Bord Gais Energy Theatre from 18-22 April. On the night Brian Bishop murdered his wife, he was sixty miles away, asleep in bed. At least that’s what he claims. But as Detective Superintendent Roy Grace continues to deal with the mysterious disappearance of his own wife, he starts to dig a little deeper into the chilling murder case and it soon becomes clear that love can be a dangerous thing…
Once
Running at Olympia Theatre from 1 July to 26 August. Once is a funny, moving and life-affirming love story with glorious music that has captured hearts around the world. Seeing it where it all began, at home in Dublin, is very special. Based on the movie sensation of the same name, filmed and set in Dublin, it features music and lyrics by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová and a Tony award-winning book by Enda Walsh. The show has all the magical songs from the much-loved film, including the Oscar-winning Falling Slowly.
Tickets on sale here.
Angela’s Ashes
Running from 18-25 July at Bord Gais Enegry Theatre. In a major musical adaptation, Frank McCourt’s memoir Angela’s Ashes comes to the Bórd Gáis Energy Theatre in an emotional telling of a childhood in Limerick and beyond, featuring unforgettable songs and melodies, told with a rare lyricism and a warm inimitable sense of humour. As his parents struggle to provide for him and his brothers in 1940s Ireland, we follow young Frank’s escapades and experiences in a Dickensian landscape peopled by a drunken father, a helpless mother, pompous priests, bullying schoolmasters, money-lenders and dancing-teachers, culminating in his defiant escape to a new life in America.
Tickets on sale here.
