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

Event of the week

Lavinia Fontana: Trailblazer, Rule Breaker

From today, Saturday, May 6th-Sunday, August 27th, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin; €16.20/€13.50/€10.80; nationalgallery.ie

Bolognese artist Lavinia Fontana was some woman, especially for the 16th century: she was the first female artist to achieve professional success outside the boundaries of a court or nunnery, the first female artist to administer her own studio, and the first to paint public altarpieces and female nudes. Pioneering is an understatement. The monographic exhibition, curated by Dr Aoife Brady, is the first in more than 20 years to focus on Fontana’s portraits, a selection of which are from private and public collections as well as those of the National Gallery.

Gigs

Duran Duran

Sunday, May 7th, 3Arena, Dublin; 6.30pm; €60; ticketmaster.ie

More than 45 years after they formed in Birmingham, Duran Duran are still around to lay claim to being one of the very few remaining pop bands of the post-punk/New Romantic music era that remain very much on high alert (it helped that their 2021 album, Future Past, had a bunch of songs co-written with Graham Coxon). Meanwhile, the band’s forthcoming album (recorded with original but not current member Andy Taylor, who was diagnosed last year with stage four metastatic prostate cancer) features cover songs that, says bass player John Taylor, were “meaningful to us when we were kids”. Special guests are former Scissor Sisters member Jake Shears and Berlin’s Lia Lia, each of whom is very much worth your attention.

Post Malone

Tuesday, May 9th/Wednesday, May 10th, 3Arena, Dublin; 6.30pm; €120/€99.50/€85; ticketmaster.ie

When teenager Austin Richard Post typed his name into a rap name generator, guess what popped out? Fast-forward 10 years and Post Malone – voted by his classmates in senior high school as “most likely to be famous” – is one of the most successful US music acts, with more than 80 million records sold and numerous awards on his mantlepiece. He returns to Ireland as part of his Twelve Carat tour (titled after his 2022 album, Twelve Carat Toothache), which also plugs the release of The Diamond Collection, a gathering of eight RIAA Diamond-certified singles as well as his latest release, Chemical.

Sam Amidon

From Wednesday, May 10th, The Grand Social, Dublin; 8pm; €22.50; Thursday, May 11th, DeBarras, Clonakilty, Co Cork; 8.30pm; €22.50; Friday, May 12th, An Taibhdhearc, Galway; 8.30pm; €22.50; Saturday, May 13th, The Duncairn, Belfast; 7.30pm; £15; samamidon.com

Many songwriters and singers patrol the perimeters of traditional American ballads, folk, work songs, and hymns, but few can locate their centres in the way that US songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Sam Amidon does. He returns to one of his favourite countries to perform in, with special guests for each show (check venues for confirmed names).

Thursday, May 11th- Monday, May 15th, Coughlan’s, Cork, various times/prices; coughlans.ie

Following Kilkenny’s successful (and long-established) celebration of roots, folk, and Americana, along comes Cork city venue Coughlans with four days of lower-profile but quality acts. The festival opens on Thursday, May 11th, with a pair of Cork songwriters – Clodagh Quirke and Kit Barrett – and continues across the weekend with The Lost Brothers (Friday, Saturday), and The Henry Girls (Sunday). Also performing are Malojian, Lisa Gorry, Freeman’s Country Carvery, and banjo/fiddle duo, Allison de Groot and Tatiana Hargreaves.

Theatre

Master Class: An Audience With Maria Callas

From Thursday, May 11th-Saturday, May 27th, Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin; 7.30pm; €25/€22; smockalley.com

Marking the centenary of the birth of opera singer Maria Callas, this new production of Terrence McNally’s Tony Award-winning play features Caitríona Ní Mhurchú as the acclaimed American-Greek soprano (the “Bible of opera”, according to Leonard Bernstein), whose influence remains steadfast. The play, set in Juilliard School in New York, presents Callas as both a perfectionist tutor and a vulnerable person.

From a Low and Quiet Sea

Saturday, May 6th, Hawkswell Theatre, Sligo; Wednesday, May 10th/11th, Garter Lane, Waterford; Friday, May 12th/Saturday, May 13th, Source Arts Centre, Thurles, Co Tipperary

Donal Ryan’s Booker Prize-nominated novel focuses on four people – an idealist, a penitent, a migrant, a mother – who are looking for a place of comfort, respite and sanctuary. In what is an interesting move in a theatre production, the author has collaborated on the adaptation not only with the play’s director, Andrew Flynn, but also with the cast (Aosaf Afzal, Eva Bartley, Denis Conway, Darragh O’Toole). The production tours throughout May and into June, finishing on Saturday, June 10th at Draíocht, Blanchardstown, Dublin. decadenttheatrecompany.ie

Classical

Irish Chamber Orchestra with Jonian Illias Kadesha

Thursday, May 11th, St Stephen’s Church Pepper Canister, Dublin; 7.30pm; €25/€22/€10/€5; Friday, May 12th, St Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick; 7.30pm; €25/€22/€10/€5; irishchamberorchestra.com

Albanian-Greek violinist Jonian Illias Kadesha (a prize winner at the 2018 Young Classical Artists Trust International Auditions and a graduate of the Kronberg Academy in 2020) presents a culturally resonant programme that includes String Symphony No 2 in D major (Mendelssohn, written at the age of 12), Rhapsody No 1 (Bartók), and Violin Sonata No 9 Kreutzer for Violin and Strings (Beethoven). Fun Beethoven fact: the technically complex Sonata was finally dedicated to the violinist Rodolphe Kreutzer, who declined to play it, calling it “outrageously unintelligible”.

Still running

The Shawshank Redemption

Gaiety Theatre, Dublin, until Saturday, May 13th; ticketmaster.ie

Based on a Stephen King novella (which was made into a universally acclaimed film), the stage version is adapted by comedians/actors Owen O’Neill and Dave Johns. Joe Absolom and Ben Onwukwe feature as 1950s prisoners Andy and Red in a well-paced and, you might say, escapist production.

Book it this week

Dalkey Book Festival, Co Dublin, June 15th-18th; dalkeybookfestival.org

New Order, 3Arena, Dublin; October 1st; ticketmaster.ie

Dream Wife, Grand Social, Dublin; October 11th; ticketmaster.ie

Greta Van Fleet, 3Arena, Dublin; November 16th; ticketmaster.ie