Next week you need to know about . . . Dublin Fringe Festival

There is no greater proof of the vitality of the capital’s creative scene than the Absolut Dublin Fringe Festival, which begins today and runs until September 23rd. This is the 18th year of the festival, which has come out from the shadow of its big sister, Dublin Theatre Festival. In an interview with Sara Keating in this newspaper on Thursday, fringe founder Jimmy Fay described the two as effectively “a five-week theatre festival under two different banners”.

Highlights include Elevator, a new play from Thisispopbaby; Dogs, a dance piece from Emma Martin; a musical about Ikea furniture with the fitting title Flåtpäck (above); a smartphone- powered treasure hunt through the city called Just In Time; and Wine Goose Chase, by Susan Boyle, which combines monologue and wine-tasting. But picking out shows in advance almost defeats the purpose of the fringe: it's about diving in and finding the gems for yourself. There is more information on fringefest.com, and you can keep up with all the action through comprehensive coverage in The Irish Times and on irishtimes.com.