Radio: In a bleak week, the tragic tale of April Jones tests our emotional mettleReview: ‘Morning Ireland’, ‘Ryan Tubridy’, ‘The Anton Savage Show’Sat Apr 18 2015 - 04:00
Radio: The night is not Derek Mooney’s natural habitatReview: ‘Mooney Goes Wild’, ‘Drama on One: Deep’, ‘The Right Hook’ and ‘The Tom Dunne Show’Sat Apr 11 2015 - 04:00
Radio: Lugubrious Duffy uneasy with recent grim news talesLiveline host happier with more familiar gripes, as John Murray is bowled over by kid’s fighting talkSat Apr 04 2015 - 04:00
Radio: Brendan O’Connor misplaces his broadcaster’s instinctsReview: ‘The John Murray Show’, ‘The Last Word’, ‘Sunday With Miriam’Sat Mar 28 2015 - 04:00
Radio: Silence is golden for Pat Kenny – but still painful for Terence FlanaganReview: ‘Playback’, ‘Drivetime’, ‘The Pat Kenny Show’ and ‘Down to Business’Sat Mar 21 2015 - 04:00
Radio: Can Norman Tebbit, the Tory terminator, stop the Miriam O’Callaghan juggernaut?Review: ‘Sunday With Miriam’, ‘Breakfast’, ‘The Right Hook’, and remembering Tony FentonSat Mar 14 2015 - 04:00
Theatre review: The Good FatherThe sharp dialogue and narrative energy of this drama of unintended pregnancy mask the timelessness of its core themesFri Mar 13 2015 - 16:08
Radio presenter Tony Fenton dies, aged 53Tributes paid to Today FM broadcaster who was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2010Thu Mar 12 2015 - 16:52
Radio: Making a moral case for the elephant in the courtroomReview: Animal rights provoke debate on ‘Life Matters’, but it’s Niamh Cosgrave’s horrific story that makes presenter Sean O’Rourke sobSat Mar 07 2015 - 04:00
Radio: D’arcy’s room for improvement lies outside his comfort zoneRay D’Arcy’s show lacks fizz but motor enthusiast Anton Savage is heading in the right directionSat Feb 28 2015 - 04:00
Radio: Pat Kenny – formidable on the one hand, a bit like Alan Partridge on the otherThe Newstalk presenter’s waning pulling power is leading to an odd mixture of blandness and dramatic asidesSat Feb 21 2015 - 04:00
Radio: Ryan Tubridy feels the love, George Hook feels the heatReview: On 2FM, being laid back yields an attractive mix of froth and reflection. On Newstalk, the host’s anger rebounds on himSat Feb 14 2015 - 04:00
Radio: Ray D’Arcy’s old habits are a ray of sunshine on play-it-safe RTÉReview: Radio 1’s new presenter voices his opinions to bracing effect. The rebooted ‘Media Show’ could learn from such candourSat Feb 07 2015 - 04:00
Ray D’Arcy sticks with the tried and trusted on new RTÉ showTopics range from the frivolous to profound on new incarnation of radio programmeMon Feb 02 2015 - 21:51
Radio: Blessed are the meek? Not when it comes to bossing the airwavesReview: Anton Savage, on Today FM, and Rick O’Shea, on RTÉ 2FM, get off to slow, uncertain starts in their new slotsSat Jan 31 2015 - 01:00
Radio: Varadkar bombshell about as irrelevant as an elephant in the roomReview: The airwaves were full of an issue that refuses to shed its significanceSat Jan 24 2015 - 01:00
Radio: George Hook finds his faith but loses his perspectiveReview: Newstalk host’s need for controversy clouds his performance. Joe Duffy stays calm to better effectSat Jan 17 2015 - 01:00
Radio: Matt Cooper’s sober style brings perspective to storm in a pint glassReview: ‘Last Word’ host sees wider angles in story about cheap pints for unemployedSat Jan 10 2015 - 01:00
Radio: From the first days of disco to last orders at Copper Face JacksReview: ‘From Dance Hall Days to Boogie Nights’, Will Leahy’s documentary on Irish nightclubs, is more interested in groping in the shadows than dancing in the dark, but it’s still divertingSat Jan 03 2015 - 09:00
Radio: Tortoise Tubridy takes victory. Can Ray D’Arcy follow suit?Review: A good year for Ryan Tubridy, Pat Kenny and Sean O’Rourke. But where are all the women presenters?Sat Dec 27 2014 - 01:00
Radio: Good grief, Moncrieff – a high-wire artist loses his balanceReview: Newstalk host brings wry view to seasonal jollity but comes unstuck on women’s issuesSat Dec 20 2014 - 01:00
Radio: Chipper Alison Curtis emerges from Ray D’Arcy’s shadowReview: Canadian finds her voice in RTÉ defector’s old slot, while Pat Kenny loses his cool in a fractious confrontationSat Dec 13 2014 - 08:00
Theatre review: She Stoops to ConquerDavid Pearse steals the show amid a cast playing to the gallery with diverting, shameless slapstickThu Dec 11 2014 - 16:24
Radio: Grief and anger at needless, ‘depressingly familiar’ death of Jonathan CorrieReview: TDs steered clear of tragic case of homeless man. Sean O’Rourke and Joe Duffy brought humanitySat Dec 06 2014 - 08:00
Review: FusedThis intriguing and irreverent show brings point and click action on to the stage. Game over or next level?Thu Dec 04 2014 - 14:10
Radio: Ivan Yates is alive to nuance as Marian Finucane rumbles through on autopilotReview: Newstalk’s Breakfast presenter mixes wit and insight to win listeners, but even he cannot lift the lethargy as a guest on the RTÉ Radio 1 showSat Nov 29 2014 - 14:00
James Ellroy: ‘Whatever I can conceive I can execute’A man full of seemingly contradictory elements, the gritty, noirish writer says his new novel is a historical romanceSun Nov 23 2014 - 06:15
Radio: Ryan Tubridy scolds, but Ray D’Arcy takes the biscuitReview: Jelly stars might seem far removed from the Irish Water debacle. But they’re linkedSat Nov 22 2014 - 12:00
Radio: Cause for cheer captures appalling futility of TroublesThe cruel plight of the families of disappeared, from an era of carnage that also poisoned sportSat Nov 15 2014 - 01:00
Michael O’Brien: the reluctant publisher who ‘doesn’t tell lies’The O’Brien Press is 40. In that time, its founder has broken a lot of ground, from true crime to children’s booksTue Nov 11 2014 - 01:00
Radio: Astute questioning brings Irish Water debate to boiling pointReview: Brian Dowling brings a tetchy ministerial response on RTÉ Radio 1. Over on Newstalk, George Hook finds a panto partner in Vincent BrowneSat Nov 08 2014 - 01:00
Radio: Chris O’Dowd gets the ‘genuinely’ treatment from Miriam O’CallaghanMiriam O’Callaghan could learn a lot from Seán Moncrieff’s detached styleSat Nov 01 2014 - 01:00
Radio: Sinn Féin circles the wagons as Maíria Cahill case turns up the heat on Gerry AdamsReview: Party TDs stay on message in the IRA sex-abuse controversy, but others are less reticent during a week of compelling radioSat Oct 25 2014 - 01:00
Richard Ford: ‘I’m pretty content with nothing going on in my brain’The American writer has resuscitated Frank Bascombe for ‘Let Me Be Frank With You’, his new, very funny book. Its stories, like their author, eschew fulminating rage for an untortured attitude to lifeSat Oct 25 2014 - 01:00
Radio: There’s nothing like a well-aimed squirt of verbal paraffinCormac Ó hEadhra brings shock jock chutzpah to RTÉ’s panel show, while ‘Liveline’ shows the budget hasn’t ended people’s painSat Oct 18 2014 - 01:00
Radio: Kathleen Chada’s unforgettable testimony as she deals with the unspeakableReview: Heartbreaking moments as mother recalls her ‘bright, gorgeous, happy boys’Sat Oct 11 2014 - 01:00
DTF review: NotallwhowanderarelostAn actor’s pottering around a ramshackle stage may not be dramatic but it becomes quietly hypnoticFri Oct 10 2014 - 12:42
Review: Spring AwakeningFrank Wedekind’s 1981 drama gets a subtle upgrade in this enthusiastic DYT productionFri Oct 10 2014 - 12:26
Review: SpinningDeirdre Kinahan captures the claustrophobia of small town society and family life in a play that transcends its bleak premiseSun Oct 05 2014 - 11:52
Radio: A genteel sort of pub fight as Charlie Chawke and Ryan Tubridy discuss an Irish welcomeReview: The publican’s staff preferences rile the 2FM presenter, as Pat Kenny has a telling chat with Fine Gael’s humbled Seanad candidateSat Oct 04 2014 - 01:00
Review: The MarinerHugo Hamilton’s nuanced first World War drama looks at the family fallout after the return of an injured sailorWed Oct 01 2014 - 17:06
Radio: Would you look at that bull. What a beautiful pelvisReview: While Sean O’Rourke, on RTÉ, and Pat Kenny, on Newstalk, get stuck in at the National Ploughing Championships, ‘Breakfast Republic’, on 2FM, tries a different furrowSat Sept 27 2014 - 01:00
Radio: John Murray’s contrite guest shows that sorry is still the hardest wordReview: A banker’s remorse makes for rare radio when John Rusnak appears on the RTÉ presenter’s show. On Newstalk, George Hook makes no apologies for his opinionsSat Sept 20 2014 - 01:00
Review: Borstal BoyThe stage version of Behan’s classic lacks subtlety but makes for rollicking entertainmentFri Sept 19 2014 - 12:41
Review: The Belle BottomsThis pair might have sass to burn, but the lame jokes mean this comedy never quite gets off the groundWed Sept 17 2014 - 14:00
Review: Eating Seals and Seagulls EggsThis show, exploring the life of Peig Sayers, pushes the limits of decency to breaking pointWed Sept 17 2014 - 14:00
Mixed reaction from writers over death of intractable iconArts community praises Paisley’s vitality, but some find it hard to forgive his divisive roleSat Sept 13 2014 - 01:00
Radio: All that he can’t leave behind – U2 nostalga isn’t what it used to beThe band’s free album prompts cosy memories on ‘Liveline’, but Ray D’Arcy takes a more jaded viewSat Sept 13 2014 - 01:00
Review: Lurky! Lurky!This ‘live edited dance film’ undercuts its erotic charge with goofy comedyFri Sept 12 2014 - 13:22
Review: Dublin OldschoolIt fizzes, it cracks, it whips and raps: Dublin free styleWed Sept 10 2014 - 15:08
