CultureIn a Word ... Stable‘Looking at her there in the stable he pondered on what might lie ahead’By Patsy McGarryMon Dec 23 2024 - 00:30
FilmThe 50 best films of 2024 – a full list in reverse orderThe 10 highest-grossing titles were all sequels – but none is in our 50-best list in a year audiences turned out in numbers for ‘cultural cinema’By Donald Clarke and Tara BradySun Dec 22 2024 - 05:30
Subscriber OnlyDecember’s YA picks: Genre fiction where horror tropes are subverted, thwarted and perpetuatedIncluding books by Susan Cahill; Bill Wood; Scarlett Dunmore; Rosie Talbot and Sarah Maxwell; and Bex Hogan
Subscriber OnlyThe best theatre of 2024: Blessed are the risk-takersGambling on longer runs of unfamiliar work paid off in a gratifying number of cases. But Irish theatre still isn’t as inclusive as it should be
Subscriber OnlyTop five Irish jazz albums of 2024, from Mary Coughlan to Adjunct Ensemble‘Thank God I’m alive,’ Mary Coughlan sings on her album Repeat, Rewind. Hear, hear
Find your ‘inner mystic’: Is this the answer to modern melancholy?Unthinkable: English philosopher and author Simon Critchley suggests we can learn to enjoy ‘idiot glee’ from medieval ChristianityBy Joe Humphreys
Top five Irish jazz albums of 2024, from Mary Coughlan to Adjunct Ensemble‘Thank God I’m alive,’ Mary Coughlan sings on her album Repeat, Rewind. Hear, hearBy Philip Watson
The music of 2024: Our critics’ verdicts on the best albums and acts of the yearFontaines DC top the 2024 Ticket critics’ choice lists, with Kneecap hot on their heels, but right across Irish music the profusion of excellence shows zero signs of stoppingBy Tony Clayton-Lea
One Leg One Eye review: Forget Fairytale of New York. This is a soundtrack of the real Irish ChristmasIan Lynch and George Brennan offer a wonderful ghost-train ride through droning electronica, warped uilleann pipes and spirals of unfiltered noiseBy Ed Power
The Pogues at 3Arena: Applause rang out into the night, the crowd singing their way out on to the quaysA stacked line-up including members of Fontaines DC, Lankum and The Mary Wallopers delivers a brilliantly infectious performanceBy Una Mullally
The 2 Johnnies Christmas Party at 3Arena: It’s easy to sneer at the triteness and crudeness, but are 13,000 happy fans wrong?Support for the podcast stars, whose guests include Marty Morrissey, Nathan Carter and Dustin the Turkey, is fanaticalBy Cian O'Connell
The 50 best films of 2024 – a full list in reverse orderThe 10 highest-grossing titles were all sequels – but none is in our 50-best list in a year audiences turned out in numbers for ‘cultural cinema’By Donald Clarke and Tara Brady
The Oscars aren’t fair. Just look at what’s happening to Cillian MurphyThe actor’s performance in Small Things Like These seems perfectly positioned for an Academy Award nomination. So what’s gone wrong?By Donald Clarke
The Six Triple Eight: Stirring tribute to the only black women’s unit to serve in Europe during the second World War By Tara Brady
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 review: A hunk of good honest rubbish for the festive season By Donald Clarke
December’s YA picks: Genre fiction where horror tropes are subverted, thwarted and perpetuatedIncluding books by Susan Cahill; Bill Wood; Scarlett Dunmore; Rosie Talbot and Sarah Maxwell; and Bex HoganBy Claire Hennessy
The Fall of Man: a Christmas short story by Donal RyanFrom Tidings: An Anthology of New Irish Christmas Stories, edited by Seán Farrell and published by Lilliput PressBy Donal Ryan
Christmas TV guide in Ireland: The best specials, festive movies and pick of RTÉ scheduleDecember 22nd-27th: including Christmas specials of Doctor Who, Mrs Brown’s Boys, Gavin & Stacey, and OutnumberedBy Kevin Courtney
The Young Offenders Christmas Special review: Where’s Jock? Without him, Conor’s firearm foxer isn’t quite a crackerChris Walley’s charismatic tearaway is still in prison on drug charges, leaving his best pal, the Knocknaheeny scamp Conor, flying soloBy Ed Power
When Claire Byrne confronts Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary on RTÉ, the atmosphere is seriously tetchyRadio 1 host clashes with airline boss over high airfares, while Ray D’Arcy captures a frazzled festive atmosphereBy Mick Heaney
‘We jumped the shark in the very first episode!’: 35 years of The SimpsonsThe fact that the era-defining 1990s cartoon sitcom is still in production today is a source of both wonder and despairBy Alex Reid
The best theatre of 2024: Blessed are the risk-takersGambling on longer runs of unfamiliar work paid off in a gratifying number of cases. But Irish theatre still isn’t as inclusive as it should beBy Chris McCormack
Beauty & the Beast review: On the way home, younger audience members re-enact scenes. There’s no higher recommendationAlan Hughes and Karl Broderick’s interactive pantomime, directed by Simon Delaney, features the promising Caoileann Woodcock as BelleBy Tara Brady
Hamad Butt: Apprehensions review – A prophet of dread wielding precise, precarious instrumentsArt: The British-Pakistani artist died 30 years ago, at just 34. His work is being rehabilitated with the help of the Irish Museum of Modern ArtBy Tom Lordan
The art of 2024: 10 of Ireland’s best exhibitions of the yearFrom big group shows exploring topics as vast as time to small but beautifully formed solo painting exhibitions, art has rewarded on many levels this yearBy Gemma Tipton
