Event of the week
Wexford Festival Opera
From Tuesday, October 24th, until Sunday, November 5th; Wexford town; various venues/times/prices; wexfordopera.com
The theme for this year’s Wexford Festival Opera is Women and War, a topic that artistic director Rosetta Cucchi has held to her heart for some time. The main-stage productions, then, are Gaetano Donizetti’s Zoraida di Granata, Camille Erlanger’s L’Aube Rouge, and Marco Tutini’s La Ciociara (which is based on Alberto Moravia’s 1957 novel of the same name). Sidebar events include Lara Marlowe giving the 2023 Tom Walsh lecture, From Innocent Victims to Daring Warriors: Real-life Stories of Women in War, and a Q&A session with the playwright Marina Carr. The festival website has full details.
Gigs
Picture This
Saturday and Sunday, October 21st and 22nd, INEC Arena, Killarney, Co Kerry, 7.30pm, €46.90; Wednesday, October 25th, and Thursday, October 26th, 3Arena, Dublin, 6.30pm, €69.90/€59.90/€52.90; all shows ticketmaster.ie
In less than eight years, the Athy band Picture This have clocked up 16 Irish top 30 hits, an impressive record. There have been changes in the camp, however (new management, new Germany-based record label), that could see them looking more towards Europe. In the meantime, keep an ear out for new songs from their early 2024 album, Parked Car Conversations.
Hania Rani
Tuesday, October 24th; Vicar Street, Dublin; 8pm; €33.50; ticketmaster.ie
In Ireland as part of the Pavilion Theatre’s Between the Notes series, the Polish pianist Hania Rani plays her biggest headline concert in support of her recently released album, Ghosts. Despite Halloween being around the corner, there is nothing ghoulish about Rani’s music, which is as serene as only someone who has collaborated with Ólafur Arnalds and Nils Frahm can be. No talking at the back!
Guinness Cork Jazz Festival
From Thursday, October 26th, until Sunday, October 29th; Cork city; various venues/times/prices; guinnesscorkjazz.com
For its 45th year, one of the major festivals in the calendar aims to beat last year’s record of more than 100,000 visitors. Fair-weather music fans who couldn’t tell the difference between Dizzy Gillespie and Dizzie Rascal will be pleased enough with the likes of Macy Gray, Morcheeba, Tony Hadley, The Charlatans and Corrine Bailey Rae, while aficionados will surely appreciate the presence in the line-up of Oded Tzur Quartet, Marcin Wasilewski Trio, Fred Wesley & the New JBs, Sultan Stevenson Trio, Randy Ingram Trio, Amaro Freitas, John Carroll Kirby and Matthew Halsall. Irish music acts worth your time and attention include Øxn, Yenkee, Kean Kavanagh, Moondiver, Pillow Queens, Mås Exōdus and Negro Impacto. The festival website has full details.
Róisín Ingle: My profound, challenging, surprisingly joyful, life-changing year
The Big Irish Times Quiz of 2024
Megan Nolan: A conversation with a man in his late 30s made clear the realities of this new era in my dating life
Winter walks: 10 family-friendly trails around Ireland, from easy to challenging
Comedy
Galway Comedy Festival
Tuesday-Monday, October 24th-30th; Galway city; various venues/times/prices; galwaycomedyfestival.ie
Who doesn’t like to crack a smile at the time of year when the nights are getting darker and colder? Go west, people, go west, as the final big-name comedy festival of the season bids a giddy farewell to 2023 in the company of more comedians than you’d find in a funny farm. The top-notch Irish contingent includes Deirdre O’Kane, Ardal O’Hanlon, Sharon Mannion, David McSavage and Barry Murphy; international comics include John Bishop, Omid Djalili, Rich Hall, Milton Jones, Elena Gabrielle, Reginald D Hunter and Sally-Anne Hayward.
Arts festivals
Westival
Wednesday-Monday, October 25th-30th; Westport, Co Mayo; various venues/times/prices; westival.ie
We have two years to wait until Westival reaches its 50th birthday, but it’s certainly leading up to the big bash in fine style. This year’s event features music (The Scratch, Gemma Hayes, I Have a Tribe, The Gealán Quartet, and Donal Dineen, with Negro Impacto); theatre (Lost Lear, Blue Thunder, Am I Irish Yet?); comedy (Alison Spittle); visual art, poetry, photography, literature, kids’ workshops, and pop-up trails. The festival website has full details.
Sligo Live Festival
Friday-Sunday, October 27th-November 5th; Sligo town; various venues/times/prices; sligolive.ie
This community-focused music and arts festival features more highlights in a week than we could hope for. From music (Iris DeMent, John Grant, The Waterboys, Ralph McTell) and comedy (John Bishop, John Colleary, Gearoid Farrelly) to In Conversation (Sandy Kelly with Tommie Gorman, Paul Charles with Martin McGinley) and a rake of free gigs (including must-see shows by Muireann Bradley, Katie Nicholas, Paddy Dennehy and Polly Barrett), there is something for everyone. The festival website has full details.
Circling the Square Festival
Saturday, October 21st; Source Arts Centre, Thurles, Co Tipperary; various times/prices; thesourceartscentre.ie
The poetry of the Thurles-born writer Dennis O’Driscoll is celebrated by panel discussions, workshops, musicians/singers and a plethora of poets (including Anne Haverty, Enda Wyley, Thomas McCarthy, Kerry Hardie, Jessica Traynor and Peter Sirr). The venue website has full details.
Bram Stoker Festival
Friday-Monday, October 27th-30th; Dublin; various venues/times/prices; bramstokerfestival.com
This year’s celebration of the enduring legacy of one of Ireland’s most famous writers, whose creation Dracula is an icon of Gothic horror, features a daily interactive workshop with Dacre Stoker, the great-grandnephew of Bram Stoker. The line-up also includes a Three Castles Burning podcast on the links between Stoker and other Irish writers, and a live score by Matthew Nolan, in collaboration with Kevin Murphy and Ceara Conway, for Andrea Mastrovito’s horror-art film I Am Not Legend. The festival website has full details.
Still running
Kristin Hersh
Saturday, October 21st; Pavilion Theatre, Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin; 7.30pm, €27 (sold out); paviliontheatre.ie; Sunday, October 22nd, Court House, Bangor, Co Down, 7pm; £25; courthousebangor.com; Monday, October 23rd, Spirit Store, Dundalk, Co Louth, 8pm; €25; spiritstore.ie
Kristin Hersh, whose work with Throwing Muses and 50FootWave runs in tandem with her superb solo output, undertakes a rare sequence of (east coast) shows.
Book it this week
The Gaslight Anthem, 3Olympia Theatre, Dublin, March 29th, 2024; ticketmaster.ie
Becky Hill, Musgrave Park, Cork, June 14th, 2024; ticketmaster.ie
Rammstein, RDS Arena, Dublin, June 23rd, 2024; ticketmaster.ie
Manic Street Preachers and Suede, TCD, Dublin, July 2nd, 2024; ticketmaster.ie
