The Guide: The Ferryman, Jimmy Carr and other events to see, shows to book and ones to catch before they end

Event of the week

The Ferryman

From Monday, January 27th, until Saturday, March 15th, Gaiety Theatre, Dublin, 7.30pm, €45/€40/€35, ticketmaster.ie

The Irish premiere of Jez Butterworth’s ensemble play is so highly anticipated that its run has already been extended. It is inspired by the true family story of Butterworth’s wife, Laura Donnelly (who originated the award-winning lead role in the West End and Broadway productions and is currently to be seen in Say Nothing, on Disney+), who grew up in the North in the 1980s and 1990s. The play’s rural south Armagh location sets the tone of political conflict, disquiet, disloyalty and, according to Butterworth, “the excruciating distance between people living in close proximity”. The cast of more than 20 includes Charlene McKenna, Aaron McCusker, Alex Murphy, Bríd Ní Neachtain, Laurence Kinlan and Niall Buggy.

Poetry

Dead Poets Live

From Thursday, January 30th, until Saturday, February 1st, Gate Theatre, Dublin, 7.30pm, €31, gatetheatre.ie

Devised and supported by the TS Eliot Foundation, Dead Poets Live aims to turn poets and their work into compelling theatre. Across three evenings, the work of three remarkable poets – Emily Dickinson, WB Yeats and Louis MacNeice – will be dramatised by the Irish actors Anthony Boyle, Olwen Fouéré, Éanna Hardwicke, Peter McDonald and Justine Mitchell. The linchpin of the series is Three Ages of Yeats, featuring Boyle, Fouéré and McDonald (Friday, January 31st). On Thursday, January 30th, Mitchell depicts aspects of Dickinson’s life, while on Saturday, February 1st, Hardwicke performs Autumn Journal, MacNeice’s autobiographical long-form poem from 1938.

Comedy

Jimmy Carr

Friday, January 31st, TF Royal Theatre, Castlebar, Co Mayo, 6.30pm, €39.95, ticketmaster.ie

The British-Irish comedian Jimmy Carr is clear from the outset that if you’re easily outraged, his style of comedy – he’s a “politically incorrect equal-opportunities offender”, according to his website – is to be avoided. You have been warned. Also Saturday, February 1st, Leisureland, Galway, 6.30pm and 9.30pm, €39.95 (sold out); Sunday, February 2nd, Leisureland, Galway, 8pm, €39.95. (Carr returns to Ireland later in the year for a show at 3Arena, Dublin, on Wednesday, December 3rd.)

Gigs

Lloyd Cole

Monday, January 27th, 3Olympia Theatre, Dublin, 7pm, €45.70, ticketmaster.ie

You’ll never see Lloyd Cole at nostalgia-heavy Back to the 80s or Rewind festivals. The English songwriter, who’s now based in the US – and is more prolific than he was in the heyday of his best-known band, The Commotions – has no interest in retreading old ground. Cole’s 2023 album, On Pain, effortlessly continues his adroit songwriting style with songs that MusicOMH described as “an effective indication of an artist steadily on his own path, and doing very well out of it”. The 1980s hits won’t be ignored, of course – not even Cole wants to escape from his sophisticated pop classics Perfect Skin, Rattlesnakes, Are You Ready to Be Heartbroken?, Lost Weekend and Jennifer She Said.

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Dervish

Thursday, January 30th, National Concert Hall, Dublin, 8pm, €45/€40/€35, nch.ie

The Sligo-based traditional band have been through many highs (albums such as Spirit, from 2004, and The Thrush in the Storm, from 2013, are rightly held in high esteem) and one especially dispiriting low (finishing last in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2007), but their commitment to whip up a storm on stage remains undiminished. This one-off show based on The Great Irish Songbook, their 2019 album, features an array of special guests, including the US duo Indigo Girls (Amy Ray and Emily Saliers, who feature on Dervish’s new single, Passage West) and Moya Brennan.

The 4 of Us

Friday, January 31st, Wexford Arts Centre, 7.30pm, €28, wexfordartscentre.ie

Forged in Newry, Co Down, almost 40 years ago, the 4 of Us (now comprising two of the founding members, the brothers Brendan and Declan Murphy) have long since given up on the idea of world domination, but it’s a measure of their enduring popularity that they can go on tour once in a while and sell out shows around Ireland and Britain. Their creativity hasn’t stalled, either: Crescent Nights, the duo’s recently self-released (and sorely underrated) album, is a career high point. This nationwide tour continues into May.

Architecture

The Restoration of Notre Dame Cathedral

Saturday, January 25th, Printworks, Dublin Castle, 6pm, free (sold out), eventbrite.ie

Quite a coup for Angela Rolfe, former assistant principal architect at the Office of Public Works and president of Icomos Ireland – part of the International Council on Monuments & Sites – to have landed such a distinguished speaker as the chief architect who oversaw the spectacular restoration of Notre Dame cathedral in Paris for this year’s Maura Shaffrey memorial lecture. Philippe Villeneuve will deliver his illustrated talk on the €750 million project in French, and space is therefore at a premium, as only 400 simultaneous-translation headsets are available at the venue. You can join a waiting list for seats.

Festivals

Brigit 2025: Dublin City Celebrating Women

From Friday, January 31st, until Monday, February 3rd, Dublin, various venues, times and prices, dublin.ie/Brigit

More than 80 themed events across Dublin city pay tribute to the Celtic goddess St Brigid and emphasises the impact of women, past and present, on society, culture and creativity. Highlights include Brigit x Seanchoíche: Brigit’s Fire (Saturday, February 1st, Pepper Canister Church, 7.30pm, €25), a spoken-word, poetry and music event featuring the multidisciplinary artist Pippa Moloney, the poet Natalya O’Flaherty, the singer-songwriter Farah Elle and the women’s rights activist Natasha O’Brien. Many of the events are free.

ClassicsNow

Friday-Sunday, January 31st-February 2nd, Dublin, various venues, times and prices, classicsnow.ie

For the fifth consecutive year ClassicsNow explores the ideas, arts and literature of the ancient Greeks and Romans – through an Irish literary and cultural lens. The festival, curated by the culture writer Helen Meany, includes a conversation with the novelist Ferdia Lennon and the poet and playwright Clare Pollard (Saturday, February 1st, City Assembly House, 4pm, chaired by the dramaturge Tanya Dean) and a showing of Chi-Raq, Spike Lee’s 2015 movie, which updates Aristophanes’ comedy Lysistrata (Sunday, February 2nd, Irish Film Institute, 3.40pm, introduced by Dr Kerry Phelan, who teaches classics at Maynooth University).

Still running

David Kronn Collection

Until Sunday, January 26th, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Royal Hospital Kilmainham, Dublin, free, imma.ie

Kinder: Child (circa 1940) by Dominique Berretty

The Irish-born, US-based medical geneticist David Kronn has donated works from his extraordinary photography collection to Imma for some years. This exhibition of his fourth donation includes stunning images from Dominique Berretty, Herb Ritts, Amelia Stein and August Sander.