Culture Shock: When you’ve killed off drama, where can you go next?
If the Dublin Theatre Festival takes the pulse of Irish theatre, this year’s suggests that the life of the Irish literary play is fading
The rape of Lucrece
Camille O’Sullivan gives the wronged Lucrece a powerful voice as Shakespeare’s text is condensed into 12 songs
Neutral Hero
Richard Maxwell takes the individuality, drama, poetry, mimesis, emphasis and virtuosity out of the story of a hero . . . so what’s left?
The Hanging Gardens
Frank McGuinness’s new play gives a glimpse of the pathology of the Irish patriarch and how its roots thrive despite the poison
Margarete
Polish theatre director Janek Turkowski draws the audience into his mission to derive meaning from films he discovered depicting an unknown woman’s life
Taramandal
Delhi’s Tadpole Repertory, a company of modest means in one of the most populous cities on earth, tells the story of a face in the crowd
Behind the curtain: the dark arts of dramaturgy
Help the writer deliver the best play possible. Get the basics right early. Do very little for a successful show, then claim the credit. Welcome to the tricks of the dramaturg’s trade
Desire Under the Elms
Nineteenth-century New England comes closer to home in Corn Exchange’s austerely beautiful production of Eugene O’Neill’s tragedy
The Critic
It has terrific comic performances, put a number of competing angles bring confusion rather than clarity to this show
Ground and Floor
This delicate production offers no easy solutions and leaves room for the audience’s own interpretations
Culture Shock: A fearless plunge into pure performance
Olwen Fouéré’s ‘riverrun’ is a highlight of Dublin Theatre Festival 2013
Waiting for Godot
Gare St Lazare Players take Beckett’s masterpiece away from more earthly concerns. Does Godot need more gravity?
The young ones: brave new writing takes over Irish theatres
Irish theatre is bursting with energy – but youth is all these artists have in common
I’ve to Mind Her
This emotionally affecting portrait of a teenage carer uses a single story to tell a devastating broader truth
Three Fingers Below the Knee
Exploring nearly 50 years of state censorship, is director Tiago Rodrigues appalled by historic injustice or envious of a time when theatre was dangerous?
The Threepenny Opera
Director Wayne Jordan restores the satirical and human bite to an opera of opulence and economy
This Is Not My Voice Speaking
In this clever and diverting show, the only immediate tangible human input comes from the audience
Brecht effect: bourgeois bashing with catchy tunes
‘The Threepenny Opera’ began in disaster and grew into a triumph – a new Irish production hopes to burnish its agitprop credentials
The Bruising of Clouds
The third and final play for Fishamble by Sean McLoughlin has a gathering storm that is simply dispelled
Tom and Vera
A debt-ridden middle-aged Irish couple plot to rob a bank in Desperate Optimists’ financial crisis revenge fantasy
Wunderkammer: Thrills, spills and belly laughs in a show that will leave you dizzy
Australian company Circa’s athletic theatre is humorous and dangerous
Maeve’s House
Eamon Morrissey’s New York encounter with Maeve Brennan forms the basis of this show, and it struggles to escape its source material
Seven-day schedule: Make the most of Dublin Theatre Festival
Seven shows, seven restaurants, and seven options; here’s a week’s worth of suggestions and great nights out for this year’s festival
Video: All the ways we fell in love with Godot
60 years on and we're still crazy about Waiting for Godot, Beckett’s most famous play
Circus, the new frontier
With their new cabinet of wonders, the Australian company Circa beggar belief and transcend language
Dancing in the dark: Junk Ensemble brings on the blindfolds
‘Dusk Ahead’ asks its dancers to step into the unknown – ‘they genuinely don’t know what is ahead’
A Joycean stream of consciousness
Olwen Fouéré’s performance gives voice to the river in James Joyce’s unfathomable ‘Finnegans Wake’. It’s sink-or-swim time
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