Absolut fringe

Various venues, Dublin Sep 8-23 1850-374643 fringefest.com

This year marks the 18th birthday of Dublin’s biggest interdisciplinary arts festival. However, it’s fair to say that the Absolut Fringe came of age some time ago, when the alternative platform to the Dublin Theatre Festival struck out on its own and matured from an unpredictable sprawl into a coherent stage for all that is innovative, fresh and ambitious in the city. Under Róise Goan’s direction, the excitement remains, while her considered curation has encouraged artists to think bigger.

The slogan attached to this year’s two-week event is Occupy Your Imagination, and there are certainly political resonances among the works, including White Rabbit, Red Rabbit, a DIY piece from an Iranian theatre maker forbidden to leave his country, and Elevator, THISISPOPBABY’s state of the nation/end of the party musical drama. But there is as much room for a strand of immersive gaming (The Playground strand), or a probe into online dating and singlehood.

Elsewhere, return appearances from previous Fringe stars The Company, THEATREclub, WillFredd Theatre and Una McKevitt sit next to the Galway newcomers of the West Coast Cool programme: gestures of continuity, new discoveries and the encouraging sense that the Fringe can grow up without ever getting old.

Can't see that? Catch this:Seriously? Go sit in the corner for two weeks

PETER CRAWLEY