The events to see, the shows to book, and the ones to catch before they end

Event of the week

Culture Night

Friday, September 22nd, various venues nationwide; free; culturenight.ie

What began in 2006 in 40 venues in Dublin is now an all-island celebration of culture with hundreds of events, all free. A full list of what’s happening on the night can be scrolled through on the event website. All cultural tastes and preferences are catered for in a range of venues (including art galleries, museums, sports clubs, libraries, arts centres, theatres, schools and universities) and on the streets of virtually every town in the country. This year, Culture Night celebrates its 18th birthday, a coming-of-age scenario that sees some events running into the early hours.

Gigs

Fall Right into Place

Saturday-Sunday, September 16th-17th; Claregalway Castle, Co Galway; 2pm; €36 for one day/€60 for two days; roisindubh.net

Is this the final shout-out for summer open-air gigs? Only the weather gods can decide that, but whatever the temperature, this two-day festival features a treasure chest of Irish music acts in one terrific self-contained venue. Tonight’s event, presented by Galway’s Strange Brew record label, is headlined by Pillow Queens, with a supporting cast that includes Junior Brother, Elaine Malone, Autre Monde and Slow Place Like Home. Tomorrow’s headliners are The Murder Capital, with Thumper, Daithí, Paddy Hanna and Sinéad White.

Shania Twain

Tuesday-Wednesday, September 19th-20th, 3Arena, Dublin 1; 6.30pm; €76.50; ticketmaster.ie

The unrivalled queen of country pop returns with a new album and tour. The set list for the shows features songs from across Twain’s 30-year career – from the early hits The Woman in Me (Needs the Man in You), You’re Still the One, and That Don’t Impress Me Much to more recent tunes such as Life’s About to Get Good, and this year’s Giddy Up! – while the gigs have been praised for their “masterclass in country music show-womanship” and for Twain’s interaction with her fans. A fine hoedown-pop time guaranteed. Cowgirl hats optional.

The National

Thursday, September 21st, 3Arena, Dublin 1; 6.30pm; €59; ticketmaster.ie

Is there anything The National can’t do? Well, they can’t do average or ordinary, for a start, but then that’s in the collective DNA. What they also can’t do, at least in the eyes of long-time fans, is inauthenticity. Even in their quieter moments (which their most recent album, First Two Pages of Frankenstein, has in abundance), The National make a point. Whether any fans of Taylor Swift or Ed Sheeran (two titans of contemporary pop whom the band’s siblings, Aaron and Bryce Dessner, have recently worked with) will take a look-see is debatable, but you’d like to think so. Special guest is Nashville singer-songwriter Soccer Mommy.

Charlene McKenna: ‘Within three weeks, I turned 40, had my first baby and lost my father’

Restaurateur Gráinne O’Keefe: I cut out sugar from my diet and here’s how it went

Ireland’s new dating scene: Finding love the old-fashioned way

PJ Harvey

Friday-Saturday, September 22nd-23rd, 3Olympia Theatre, Dublin 2; 7pm; €70 (sold out); ticketmaster.ie

New music from PJ Harvey has been heard more recently on television shows and theatre productions than on studio albums: in 2019 she scored Ivo van Hove’s West End production of All About Eve, and Shane Meadows’s Channel 4 drama The Virtues; last year she scored the Apple TV+ dramedy Bad Sisters. A few months ago, Harvey released her 10th studio album, I Inside the Old Year Dying, and to promote it embarked on a rare European tour, the first two shows of which are in Dublin. Beg, borrow, steal.

Musical

The Bodyguard

Tuesday-Saturday, September 19th-23rd, Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Dublin 2; 7.30pm; from €31.50; ticketmaster.ie

Frank Farmer, a secret agent turned bodyguard, is hired to safeguard the superstar Rachel Marron, but the job twists and turns from professional to personal as they quickly fall in love. This jukebox musical based on the 1992 movie opened in the West End of London in 2012, and since when (with numerous cast changes) it hasn’t stopped. It visits Belfast’s Grand Opera House Monday-Saturday, September 25th-30th. Songs include Greatest Love of All, I Wanna Dance With Somebody, Saving All My Love and I Will Always Love You.

Stage

And Then There Were None

Tuesday-Saturday, September 19th-23rd, Gaiety Theatre, Dublin 2; 7.30pm; from €21.50; ticketmaster.ie

Ten strangers are invited to a stately home on an island off the coast of Devon, but when they arrive there are no hosts to greet them. All too soon they realise that their respective sombre secrets will be disclosed and that they have been brought together for a specific dastardly purpose. Agatha Christie’s 1943 play, based on her retitled 1939 book (the world’s best-selling crime/mystery novel) has been given a contemporary makeover by acclaimed director Lucy Bailey.

Literature

Illustrated Talk

Sunday, September 17th, Doneraile Court, Doneraile, Co Cork; 4pm; €6; eventbrite.ie/doneraileestate.ie

In a talk subtitled Edmund Spenser, Kilcolman Castle & Irish Poetry, Jane Grogan, professor of Renaissance literature at University College Dublin, addresses how Irish poets such as WB Yeats and Seamus Heaney engaged with the celebrated work and oppressive politics of the 16th-century English poet Edmund Spenser. The talk is presented by the OPW as part of Doneraile Court’s 2023 cultural programme.

Still running

Write by the Sea

From Friday, September 22nd, until Sunday, September 24th; Kilmore Quay, Co Wexford; various venues/times/prices; writebythesea.ie

Small is good, small is quality, and that’s exactly what you get at this weekend literary festival, where the likes of Claire Keegan, John Banville, Marina Carr and the Grammy-winning composer Bill Whelan will be lightly grilled about their work.

Book it this week

Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds, 60th-anniversary screening with live score, NCH, Dublin 2; November 7th; nch.ie
The Coronas, 3Olympia Theatre, Dublin 2, December 14th-17th; ticketmaster.ie
Simple Minds, 3Arena, Dublin 1, March 18th; ticketmaster.ie
Al Porter, Vicar Street, Dublin 8, March 23rd; ticketmaster.ie