SZA, Mother Pride Block Party, Happy Days and more — what's on ...
Homegrown theatre, R&B royalty and the return of a Pride weekend favourite. These are our top picks for the week ahead…
Believe the hype. The artist born Solána Imani Rowe continues to break chart records left, right and centre. Her 2017 debut, Ctrl, has all but set up a permanent home on the US Billboard 200 list. Meanwhile, SZA’s long-awaited second LP, 2022’s SOS, spent an astonishing ten non-consecutive weeks atop the chart, making it the longest-running US number-one female album of the decade. Incredible stuff, and with hits like the awesome Kill Bill (a Spotify ‘Billions Club’ member) and the Grammy Award-nominated Good Days in her catalogue, we’re hardly surprised. We’re in the company of R&B royalty here – and she’s only getting started. Support comes from British singer-songwriter RAYE.
Wednesday June 21 & Thursday June 22. Doors: 6.30pm. Tickets from €85.25. For more, visit https://mcd.ie/.
Happy Days, 3Olympia TheatreNot to be confused with the 1970s sitcom favourite. What, exactly, is happening in Samuel Beckett’s Happy Days? That’s for Winnie (the wonderful Siobhán McSweeney) to know and the rest of us to try and figure out. Indeed, Beckett’s slippery, two-act head-scratcher tells of a woman who is literally buried up to her waist. How did she get there? Dunno. Will she eventually claw her way out? She doesn’t want to. It’s just another happy day says Winnie, although her oddball husband Willie (Howard Teale) might disagree. McSweeney and Co. delivered an acclaimed lockdown stream of the play in 2021 – now’s your chance to catch this celebrated masterpiece live on stage. Caitríona McLaughlin directs.
Until Saturday June 24. Time: 7.30pm (Sat matinee, 2.30pm). Tickets from €26.50. For more, visit https://www.3olympia.ie/.
Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, Pavilion TheatreOne of our favourite films of 2023 returns to the big screen. This funny, charming feature tells the story of a heartbroken documentary maker who discovers his new Airbnb is already occupied - not by humans, but by a couple of tiny talking seashells. One of them, a youngster named Marcel (voiced by the film’s co-writer Jenny Slate) is desperate to find his long-lost family. Luckily, the shell’s new human pal might be able to assist. Directed by Dean Fleischer Camp, this fabulously designed live-action / stop-motion treat is based on a series of beloved online shorts and was nominated in the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature category earlier this year. In a word? Unmissable.
Saturday June 24. Time: 4pm. Tickets: €6 child / €8.50 adult (€25 family of four). For more, visit https://www.paviliontheatre.ie/.
Mother Pride Block Party 2023, Collins BarracksDublin’s premier LGBTQ+ club night hosts its annual Pride celebration on the historic grounds of the National Museum of Ireland. Mercury Prize nominee Rebecca Lucy Taylor, aka the deadly Self Esteem shares headlining duties with Grammy Award-winning German DJ, Purple Disco Machine. Joining them on the bill are Brooke, Erica Cody, Kelly-Anne Byrne, Krystal Klear, Mother DJs, Tara Kumar, Conor Behan and Claire Beck to name a few. Meanwhile, our mainstage hosts for the weekend are Bianca Del Rio (a RuPaul’s Drag Race legend) and the undisputed Queen of Ireland, Ms Panti Bliss.
Friday June 23 & Saturday June 24. Doors: 6pm (Friday) / 4pm (Saturday). Tickets: €45 (day) / €80 (weekend). For more, visit https://motherclub.ie/.
GomBean, Bewley’s Café TheatreWriter and performer Niamh McGrath transports us to small-town Sligo where part-time wrestler and full-time coffee van proprietor Grace O’Malley is still reeling from a career-ending loss at the 1994 under 18s Community Games. Money is tight, but one last tournament could turn things around. Alas, Grace’s former rival - renowned wrestling superstar Ruby Stephens - is back in town and looking for trouble. McGrath performs multiple roles in this funny, energetic and undeniably poignant one-woman show. Seamus O'Rourke directs.
Until Saturday July 8. Time: Monday – Saturday, 1pm. Tickets: €10 - €15. For more, visit https://www.bewleyscafetheatre.com/.
Dancer from the Dance Festival of Irish Choreography, CitywideCurated by John Scott and produced by Irish Modern Dance Theatre, the fifth annual Dancer from the Dance Festival of Irish Choreography comprises 28 Irish-based choreographers from 8 countries in a series of live dance performances, gatherings, films, talks, classes and workshops at Project Arts Centre, DCU at St Patrick’s Campus and the Irish Film Institute. As usual, the festival boasts an eclectic range of styles, from aerial and circus, Sean Nós and contemporary dance to street, hip hop and classical ballet. This year’s festivities begin with free performances of Fidget Feet’s warmly anticipated outdoor show ‘A Handful of Dreams’, an aerial and circus arts / live Irish traditional music and dance hybrid inspired by the WB Yeats poem, ‘A Stolen Child’ (Saturday / Sunday, DCU).
Saturday June 24 – Wednesday June 28. For more, visit https://www.irishmoderndancetheatre.com/.
