Event of the week
Galway Film Fleadh
Tuesday-Sunday, July 9th-14th, various venues/times/prices, galwayfilmfleadh.com
For over 35 years, the Galway Film Fleadh has been (as its website states) “a platform for Irish filmmakers to exhibit the work of their peers” and “a platform for the boldest new films”. Such a manifesto continues with a broad range of industry events, masterclasses, seminars, and Irish and International film showings/premieres (there are far too many to mention, but don’t miss Kneecap, The Teacher, Fidil Ghorm, Born to be Wild, Dreamtown, The Breaking Ice, Poison, and Two Strangers Trying Not to Kill Each Other). Further highlights include public interviews with British actor Tim Roth (Saturday, July 13th, 10am, Galmont Hotel) and Scottish actor Brian Cox (Sunday, July 14th, 3pm, Galmont Hotel, with RTÉ Arena presenter Sean Rocks). Full details are on the festival website.
Gigs
Nicki Minaj
Saturday, July 6th, Malahide Castle, Co Dublin, 4pm, €99.90/€89.90, ticketmaster.ie
Trinidadian-born Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty is one of the world’s most successful rappers and arrives in Ireland on the heels of her most recent, fifth, album, Pink Friday 2 (the success of which took her into the record books as the first female rapper to have had three number-one albums). The accompanying European tour, which began in Amsterdam on May 23rd (and included Minaj performing at various open-air festivals), features up to 30 songs. Her Irish date is the rapper herself complemented by a colourful show (yes, pink will feature) with high-end production values.
Nils Frahm
Saturday, July 6th/Sunday, July 7th, NCH, Dublin, 7.30pm, €49/€39/€29, nch.ie
Composer and producer Nils Frahm works out of Berlin-based studios known as Funkhaus. The studio name is an in-joke, as Frahm’s music, although occasionally playful and skittish, balances reflective ambient layers, wispy electronica, and restful neoclassical melodies. However, there is an extra special sense of experimentation here – unusually for a touring musician, Frahm has created music specifically for his two nights in Dublin. Both shows are close to selling out, so look sharp.
Arcade Fire
Sunday, July 7th, Malahide Castle, Co Dublin, 4pm, €71.05/€61.05, ticketmaster.ie
The previous time Arcade Fire performed in Dublin (late August 2022), support act Feist left the tour following allegations of sexual misconduct made against the band’s lead singer, Win Butler, by four people. This show sees the band revisit their debut album, Funeral, which celebrates its 20th birthday in September. The album will be played in its entirety and then supplemented with songs from across their back catalogue. Special guests are Echo & the Bunnymen, to which we can only add: Bring on the dancing horses!
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Stage
Dancing at Lughnasa
From Friday, July 12th, until Sunday, September 21st, Gate Theatre, Dublin, 7.30pm, €26, gatetheatre.ie
Brian Friel’s award-winning play, a tribute to the courageous spirit of a bygone era, is set in 1930s harvest season in a Co Donegal village, where the five unmarried Mundy sisters eke out a living from what is a sparse existence. Certain events alter the sombre yet loving mood, including the acquisition of a radio, which brings transformational music into the household, and the appearance of Gerry (Jack Meade), whose relationship with the youngest sister, Chris (Zara Devlin), pivots on faith and despair. The ensemble cast also features Lauren Farrell, Peter Gowen, Nicky Hartley, and Molly Logan. Caroline Byrne directs.
Visual art
Jean Curran: Godard Bardot
Until Saturday, July 20th, The Horse Gallery, Dublin, thehorsedublin.xyz
Irish artist Jean Curran is that rare thing: she is one of only several dye-transfer printers working today that use the dye-transfer technique as the basis of her art practice. Following 2018′s The Vertigo Project (based on Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 movie, Vertigo), Curran’s latest movie-centric exhibition is Godard Bardot, which comprises 13 original handmade dye-transfer photographic prints from the original camera negatives of Jean-Luc Godard’s 1963 Technicolor film, Le Mépris (Contempt), which co-stars Brigitte Bardot.
Arts festival
Cairde Sligo Arts Festival
Saturday, July 6th, until Saturday, July 13th, various venues/times/prices, cairdefestival.com
A compact arts-for-all festival that continues to pack a punch with a crammed list of events from start to end, this year’s Cairde Sligo Arts Festival features, among many events, a major exhibition of work by Jack Butler Yeats (The Wandering Gaze, curated by Dr Julie Brazil, The Model Sligo), the premier of a new composition, Around Here, the Birds Plant the Trees, by Natalia Beylis (Wednesday, July 10th, The Factory, 8pm), a public interview with Palestinian writer Adania Shibli (with writer Louise Kennedy, Thursday, July 11th, Clayton Hotel, 8pm), and a performance by Malian musician Boubacar Traoré (Saturday, July 13th, Hawk’s Well Theatre, 8pm). Full details are on the festival website.
Literature
West Cork Literary Festival
From Friday, July 12th, until Friday, July 19th, Bantry, Co Cork, various venues/times/prices, westcorkmusic.ie
Landing bang in the middle of what we hope is summer, the West Cork Literary Festival remains one of Ireland’s primary events for books, authors, readings, panel discussions, public interviews and workshops. Inevitably, highlights are many, but you surely can’t go wrong with Anne Enright and David Nicholls (Saturday, July 13th), Victoria Kennefick and Paula Meehan (Sunday, July 14th), Dolly Alderton and Elizabeth Day (Sunday, July 14th), Miriam Margolyes (Monday, July 15th), Colin Barrett and Kevin Barry (Thursday, July 18th), and the festival finale with Colm Tóibín (Friday, July 19th). Full details are on the festival website.
Still running
Boyfriends
Thursday-Saturday, July 11th-13th, An Grianán Theatre, Letterkenny, Co Donegal, 8pm, €16/€12, angrianan.com
Ultan Pringle writes (and co-stars, with Emmanuel Okoye) about a guarded three-month love affair between two unnamed men as they engage in what he terms a “modern situationship”. Insight and humour infiltrate topics such as music, sex, commitment, and the nature of romantic love.
Book it this week
Ballycotton Comedy Festival, Ballycotton, Co Cork, September 26th-29th, seachurch.ie
Crowded House, 3Arena, Dublin, October 14th, ticketmaster.ie
Niamh Bury, Liberty Hall Theatre, Dublin, November 8th, singularartists.ie
Pantera, 3Arena, Dublin, February 21st, ticketmaster.ie
