Festival inspired by Lockout and theme of citizenship

Football operas, acrobatics, the 1913 Lockout, 3D concerts and more: the 19th Dublin Fringe Festival launched in Temple Bar with all the energy of an alternative institution in the final year of its teens.

Róise Goan, who has led the fringe for five years, is handing over the reins to Canadian Kris Nelson after this year’s festival.

“The big theme we wanted to look at was citizenship,” Ms Goan explained. “We were also thinking about soft revolutions, industry, women and particularly their role in citizenship.”

There are three main pillars in this year's programme. First is ANU Production's Thirteen, perhaps the most ambitious piece in the festival. It will unfold over the course of the fringe as 13 different works taking their cues from events spanning the time from the 1913 Lockout to present-day Dublin. Tickets will be free.

HotForTheatre presents Break, by Amy Conroy, a play set in a school staffroom. "It's a nuanced, complicated and very enjoyable glimpse behind the staffroom door," Ms Goan explained.

The Trailblazery's Rites Of Passage is the third key component, an examination of Irishness past and present, laying the nation on the psychiatrist's couch with hedge schools, talks, a children's choir and more.

Between September 2nd and 22nd, nearly 100 artists will present 800 events in 45 venues across the capital.

Comedic turns include Maeve Higgins, who writes a love letter to Dublin, David O’Doherty and rising star Aisling Bea.

See fringefest.com.