The Guide: The events to see, the shows to book and the ones to catch before they end

Event of the week

Dublin International Film Festival 2023

Thursday, February 23rd to Saturday, March 4th; various venues/times/prices; diff.ie

For the first time in its 21 years, the Dublin International Film Festival doesn’t have a named sponsor, but did that inhibit the programme-makers from delivering yet another doozy of an event? Never mind the rhetorical question, look instead at the quality on offer. The festival’s opening film is the Donegal-set drama, God’s Creatures, which co-stars Oscar nominee Paul Mescal, and Emily Watson. Cinema from across Europe will be featured throughout and there will be strands across the festival – In Conversations, panel discussions, shorts – as well a rake of Irish cinema, including the long-delayed Dublin-based Barber, featuring Aidan Gillen, Helen Behan, Camille O’Sullivan and Steve Wall. And, lest we forget, there is the “Surprise Film” on Saturday, March 4th. (And, no, we have no idea what it is.)

Gigs

Clannad

Saturday, February 18th, 3Arena, Dublin; 6.30pm; €49.50; ticketmaster.ie

For once in recent times it wasn’t Covid that caused a concert to be rescheduled, but rather personal misfortune. In Clannad’s case, it was the sudden death in October last of founding member Noel Duggan (uncle to remaining members Moya, Ciarán and Pól Brennan). This concert, then, is tempered not only by family tragedy but also a deeper awareness that it lowers a curtain on a stellar career (it’s pitched as the “Farewell Dublin Show”) that began in 1970 in Leo’s Tavern in Meenaleck, Co Donegal, and concluded with a rake of awards, more than 15 million album sales and enduring respect.

Loyle Carner

Sunday, February 19th to Tuesday, February 21st, Vicar Street, Dublin; 6.30pm; all shows sold out; ticketmaster.ie

In 2012, London rapper Loyle Carner played his first official gig (as support to MF Doom) in Dublin’s Button Factory. Less than five years later, Carner’s debut album, Yesterday’s Gone, was nominated for the Mercury Prize, and since then he has continued to reach creative and commercial heights that he may have considered improbable when he was starting his career. As anyone that witnessed his Other Voices performance last December (broadcast on RTÉ2 on Thursday, March 9th) will tell you, Carner’s poise and delivery are equal parts mellow, fluent and impassioned. Tickets for these three sold-out shows? You’ll be lucky.

We Are Scientists

Monday, February 20th, Limelight, Belfast; 7pm; £22.50; Tuesday, February 21st, Whelan’s, Dublin; 8pm; €23.90; ticketmaster.ie

A mutual passion for stand-up comedy and pop culture is how California natives Chris Cain and Keith Murray first bonded (in 1997) but it wasn’t until 1999, when they both moved to Berkeley, that the idea of We Are Scientists cropped up. Fast forward 20 years and eight albums later (the most recent is Lobes) and the group’s music remains close to their original influences – Brian Eno, David Bowie, New Order and Pet Shop Boys – albeit with more funk-driven beats. Advance warning: Cain and Murray tell jokes between songs.

Matt Cooper: I’m an only child. I’ve always been conscious of not having brothers or sisters

A Dublin scam: After more than 10 years in New York, nothing like this had ever happened to me

Patrick Freyne: I am becoming a demotivational speaker – let’s all have an averagely productive December

Theatre

Manifest

Thursday, February 23rd to Saturday, March 4th, Project Arts Centre, Dublin; 7.45pm; €18/€16; projectartscentre.ie

Developed as part of a long-term project (by artist/writer Fiona Whelan, theatre company Brokentalkers and Rialto Youth Project), Manifest draws on qualitative research, testimony and personal experience to investigate themes of male violence, control and the suppression of tenderness. Presented as a workshop in which a group of men openly discuss traits of masculinity, co-writers/directors Feidlim Cannon and Gary Keegan consider how predisposed actions are continued from one generation to the next. The cast includes Ben Sullivan, Dara Clear and Noah Halpin.

Dance

Lord of the Dance 25th Anniversary

Wednesday, February 22nd to Saturday, February 25th, Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Dublin; 7.30pm (2.30pm matinee, Friday/Saturday); €62.50/€57;/€47; bordgaisenergytheatre.ie

Well, well, where did those 25 years go? Michael Flatley’s Lord of the Dance premiered in the summer of 1996 at The Point (now 3Arena) and since then has become one of the most successful touring productions in music/dance/entertainment history. While the commercial heydays of dance shows such as this (not forgetting Riverdance, out of which Flatley bounced and bounded) have declined, it seems people still love to watch flurries of feet fly in front of their faces. Blackbird the movie? Say nothing.

Exhibition

Patricia Hurl Irish Gothic

Until Sunday, May 21st, West Wing, Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA), Dublin; free; imma.ie

For almost 40 years, Dublin artist Patricia Hurl has expressed her awareness of emotional hurt, exasperation and isolation in artworks that are non-aggressively political and strongly influenced by feminist artists and activists from the 60s-80s. Hurl’s retrospective exhibition (the first major overview of her work) features more than 70 pieces, primarily derived from early paintings that cleverly and humorously explore the underbelly of what it can mean for women to live in a male-dominated society.

Literature

Limerick Literary Festival

Friday February 24th to Sunday, February 26th, 2 Pery Square/Belltable, Limerick; various times/prices; limerickliteraryfestival.com

Continuing to honour the life and works of Limerick writer Kate O’Brien, the Limerick Literary Festival presents a wide-ranging programme of events that includes panels and discussions, interviews and music (Riverdance composer Bill Whelan, with fiddle player Zoë Conway), the presentation of the Kate O’Brien Award and the popular Desert Island Books event. Authors featured include Donal Ryan, Emilie Pine, Doireann Ní Ghríofa and Seán Hewitt.

Still running

Scene + Heard: The Festival of New Work

Until Saturday, February 25th, Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin; smockalley.com

Over 100 presentations (involving more than 600 performers, directors, designers, producers, creators and writers) covering a wide range of creative outlets are gathered under the huge Scene + Heard umbrella – too many to list here. Best bet? Dive in before it ends.

Book it this week

Ghosts, Abbey Theatre, Dublin; April 15th-May 13th; abbeytheatre.ie

Kilkenny Roots Festival; April 28th-May 1st; kilkennyroots.com

Rod Stewart, Live at the Marquee, Cork; June 20th/21st; ticketmaster.ie

Night and Day, Lough Key Forest Park, Boyle, Co Roscommon; June 24th/25th; nightandday.ie