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

Event of the Week

Hozier

Thursday, April 6th; Friday, April 7th; Sunday, April 9th; Tuesday, April 11th, Academy, Dublin; 7pm; (sold out); ticketmaster.ie

If you haven’t already noticed, Hozier is back from wherever it was he was resting his head, with a new EP, Eat Your Young, new album, Unreal Unearth (scheduled for release towards the end of summer), and big open-air gigs, including Malahide Castle, Co Dublin, on June 30th. In the meantime, as he did before he released his second album (2019′s Wasteland, Baby!), he is playing a short series of album pre-release rehearsal shows in this small venue. If you’re lucky enough to have a golden ticket, expect to witness a casual gigging atmosphere where musicianship is at its highest and tightest and a singer who is surely Ireland’s most committed and civil.

Gigs

Macklemore

Monday, April 3rd; Tuesday, April 4th, 3Arena, Dublin; 6.30pm; €80/€70/€56/€46; ticketmaster.ie

Seattle-based Macklemore returns after almost six years, not in the wilderness but working and living through the pandemic (and recovering from a brief relapse with alcohol addiction). In keeping with Macklemore’s honesty as a songwriter, his new album, Ben (his given name is Benjamin Haggerty, and yes, he is of Irish heritage), documents in part these personal struggles. Expect, then, a more reflective show amid the many solo and Macklemore & Lewis hits.

A Celebration of John Prine

Friday, April 7th; Saturday, April 8th, Vicar Street, Dublin; 6.30pm; €50; ticketmaster.ie

“This guy is so good we will probably have to break his thumbs.” That’s what Kris Kristofferson said when he first heard American singer-songwriter John Prine. On the third anniversary of Prine’s death, the crews at Irish promoters Hibernacle and Turning Pirate have gathered a premier posse of Irish musicians and tasked them with paying their respects. Prepare yourselves for three hours of Prine’s songs delivered by the likes of Lisa Hannigan, Mick Flannery, Gemma Hayes, Scullion, Wallis Bird, Declan O’Rourke, Susan O’Neill, Gavin Glass, Carsie Banton, Prine’s son Tommy, and special guests.

Exhibition

Magnum Chaos

Until Friday, April 28th, Hillsboro Fine Art, Dublin; adm free; hillsborofineart.com

It isn’t often that a hotel’s Afternoon Tea cake has been created in homage to one of its curated paintings, but Dublin-based visual artist Orla Whelan has that tasty honour. Her first solo exhibition at Hillsboro Fine Art (49 Parnell Square West) may not have such decorative treats but her work fully compensates. Featuring a series of paintings small (Moon Valley, Dew, Death) and large (A Powder of Moments), the works, said Whelan to The Gloss magazine, “have become a way to investigate the potential of colour and form to articulate what I can’t otherwise express”.

Speed-the-Plow

Wednesday, April 5th-Saturday, April 8th, Civic Theatre, Tallaght, Dublin; 8pm; €25; civictheatre.ie

David Mamet’s satirical play focuses on Hollywood’s whimsical/grasping treatment of film scripts and whether or not they should be awarded the “green light”. The play (described by Newsweek as “another tone poem by our nation’s foremost master of the language of moral epilepsy”) premiered in New York in 1988 with Joe Mantegna, Ron Silver and Madonna. Here, however (and for the first time with permission from Mamet), the gender of the three roles is reversed. Jolly Abraham, Tara Egan Langley and Macleod Stephen feature. Janet Moran directs. Tours throughout April.

Film

Federico Fellini Retrospective

Tuesday, April 4th-Sunday, April 30th; IFI, Dublin; various times/prices; ifi.ie

Fellini, recognised as one of the most influential filmmakers in the history of cinema, receives an IFI retrospective that presents works as vital as 1954′s La Strada (“a complete catalogue of my entire mythological world” – Fellini), 1960′s La Dolce Vita (“an awesome picture, licentious in content but moral and vastly sophisticated” – New York Times), and 1963′s 8½ (“Fellini’s film is complete, simple, beautiful, honest ...” – Francois Truffaut). There are a further nine films in the retrospective – full details of dates and times are on the IFI website.

Podcast

Celebrity Memoir Book Club

Thursday, April 6th, Liberty Hall Theatre, Dublin; 6.30pm; €29; ticketmaster.ie; Friday, April 7th, Sugar Club, Dublin; 6.30pm; €29 (sold out); ticketmaster.ie

In which New York comedians Claire Parker and Ashley Hamilton read mostly American celebrity memoirs (recent thumbed-through books include those by Matthew Perry, Pamela Anderson, Prince Harry, Amy Schumer and Paris Hilton) and select the choicest of cuts. If you’re looking for critical thinking deep-dives, forget it, but if you’re okay with (as Parker and Hamilton admit) “people who give opinions without authority” and with singularly breezy American hot takes, then have at it.

Comedy

Peter Kay

Thursday, April 6th-Saturday, April 8th, 3Arena, Dublin; 6.30pm; from €48.05 (all shows sold out); ticketmaster.ie

It’s a long, long way for a guy (the son of a Co Tyrone woman) who once worked in a toilet roll factory, but Lancashire comedian Peter Kay is now one of the most successful UK-based comedians of the past 15 years. On his first stand-up tour in 12 years, he played a few sold-out shows in Belfast a short while ago, and here he is again, back for more full venues. His shtick? Aside from close-to-the-bone anecdotes on some of the famous people he has met in the past 12 years, it’s nothing more and nothing less than observations on everyday life.

Still running

Tonic

In the year 2047, the world has been burnt to a crisp but, miracle of miracles, there is help on the way courtesy of the wonder tonic Halycon. Playwright Fionn Foley’s acclaimed musical is staged by Rough Magic, and visits Theatre Royal, Waterford, April 5th/6th; Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin, April 8th, and Backstage Theatre, Longford, April 13th.

Book it this week

David Keenan, NCH, Dublin; September 13th; nch.ie

Calexico, The Helix, Dublin; November 5th; ticketmaster.ie

Natalie Merchant, 3Olympia Theatre, Dublin; November 8th; ticketmaster.ie

Måneskin, 3Arena, Dublin; December 14th; ticketmaster.ie