THEATRE

Pillowman

Town Hall Theatre, Galway. Ends Feb 28 8pm €16-20 tht.ie

Now here is a coup. Decadent Theatre Company has secured the performing rights to Martin McDonagh’s early play, which he has hardly ever let an Irish company near. It’s hard to know why (there have been acclaimed international productions), but perhaps it already lands a bit too close to home. Set a distant reach from his grisly parody of Connemara, it takes place in the prison cells of an apparently totalitarian state where the writer of disturbing children’s tales is interrogated about copycat killings in the streets, while his brother waits in a cell next to him. Has a writer of violent fantasy exposed too much? Andrew Flynn directs a cast that includes Gary Lydon, David McSavage and Michael Ford-FitzGerald.

NEO-CLASSICAL/EXPERIMENTAL

Ólafur Arnalds

Triskel Christchurch, Cork 8pm €22 triskelartscentre.ie Also Thurs, Dublin

It isn’t often that an ambient/ electronic composer graduates from the ranks of metal bands, but Iceland’s Ólafur Arnalds (above) has done precisely that. And so, more than 10 years after drumming for bands such as Fighting Shit , Arnalds is at the intersection of neo-classical and ambient/ electronic music. A rare-as-hen’s-teeth gig.

JAZZ

Joe O’Callaghan’s Electric Freeplay

Dolans Upstairs, Dock Rd, 9pm, €10, dolans.ie

Limerick guitarist O’Callaghan is one of the best- kept secrets in Irish jazz, an original player with fire in his belly and chops to burn. Best-known for his stint with Ronan Guilfoyle’s Microclimate trio, tonight he debuts a brand new trio, with bassist Derek Whyte and drummer Ben Wanders, promising their own fusion of jazz, rock and funk.