MONDAY
Atlas
Kathy Prendergast. Kerlin Gallery, Anne's Lane, South Anne St, Dublin Until December 10 kerlin.ie
Prendergast is one of the most esteemed and thoughtful Irish contemporary artists. In advance of her solo Douglas Hyde Gallery show, a major new piece that takes as its starting point 100 copies of the AA Road Atlas of Europe. All geographical information, save the locations of cities and towns, has been obscured by the painstaking application of Indian Ink. What we are left with are the tiny beacons of light in a world of darkness. The amended volumes are each laid out on a trestle table.
TUESDAY
Justin Bieber
3Arena Dublin 6.30pm €156/€96/€81/€76 (sold out) ticketmaster.ie Also Wed, Dublin
Will Justin Bieber's heartfelt pleas to his fans to stop screaming fall on deaf ears? Who can stop them from venting their mixture of wanton lust and wanting more? And what's a damn fine young pop star with more than 100 million record sales to his name to do, anyway? Such questions fade in the background when taking into consideration his most recent album (last year's Purpose). The truth is, it's full of superb pop songs with serious undertones – so serious that Bieber wants the words to be heard. Which is where we came in.
Kate Rusby
National Concert Hall Dublin 8pm €27.50 nch.ie
The woman known as "the Barnsley Nightingale" returns to Ireland for a rare concert. Kate Rusby also arrives with a recently released album, Life in a Paper Boat (a title inspired by the migrant crisis), which once again highlights her excellent way with traditional and contemporaneous folk material. One for the folk connoisseurs.
WEDNESDAY
John Behan: Past and Present
John Behan. Solomon Fine Art, Balfe St, Dublin Until November 19 solomonfineart.ie
A pioneering and celebrated sculptor in bronze, John Behan has helped shape the sculptural iconography of contemporary Ireland. His signature animal is the bull, which naturally features in this show of new and past work, built around the theme of 1916. The stubborn, durable character of his work has to do with more than the nature of the material. Each piece is closely argued and sure of its place in the world, while maintaining nuance and sensitivity.
Three Sisters
Lyric Theatre, Belfast. Ends Oct 29 7.45pm (Sat & sun mat 2.30pm) £24.50/£15 belfastinternationalartsfestival.com
More than 100 years later, the three sisters are still stuck, but in Lucy Caldwell's admirably free-handed adaptation of Chekhov's play for the Lyric, the siblings are now mired as much in 1990s Belfast as they are in a particular point in history. In Selina Cartmell's fluid production a fresh and uneasy peace is still stalked by soldiers, and army brats Orla, Marianne and Erin stand between a past they would rather forget and a future that has no obvious accommodation for them. Some cruelties are amplified (the sisters, defending their territory from a Chinese sister-in-law, are now flat-out racist), some subtleties are lost (the manner of the telling is unnecessarily forced), but Caldwell's elegiac take on people in transition is absorbing and affecting, squinting uncertainly towards what is yet to come.
THURSDAY
Metropolis
RDS Dublin 7pm €164.50/€145/€129 metropolisfestival.ie
The opening day of this three-day event features the imposing trio of DJ Shadow, Mount Kimbie, and Kormac, but it really kicks off the days after (Friday November 4th/ Saturday November 5th) with performances from the likes of Jack Garratt, Girl Band, Grace Jones and Shura – and loads of extras besides.
Alice in Wonderland
The Factory Performance Space, Sligo. Ends Nov 5 8pm €18/€15 blueraincoat.com
In 1999, when Blue Raincoat first staged Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, in an exploratory and spry adaptation by Jocelyn Clarke, they found room not only for Alice, the White Rabbit, the Mad Hatter and the Chesire Cat, among other familiar and fascinating visions, but also for Lewis Carroll – or Charles Dodgson to use his real name – the story's teller incorporated into his narrative, depicted with his discoveries in the same dance-like physicality. Returning to one of the company's most successful works to conclude its 25th anniversary, Blue Raincoat here replace Dodgson with an older version of Alice, the first explorer, which some will see as a satisfying throughline within the company's own explorations of sailors, adventurers and cosmonauts. They all keep seeking. PC
Larry Coryell
JJ Smyths, Aungier St, Dublin 9pm, €25, jjsmyths.com
Guitarists of all stripes will be forming a disorderly queue to see Larry Coryell up close in the hallowed confines of JJ Smyths. Coryell was one of the pioneers of jazz-rock fusion and an original member of the fabled Guitar Trio with John McLaughlin and Paco De Lucia. He has become a regular visitor to these shores in recent years, and has developed a particular rapport with A-team Dublin rhythm section, bassist Dave Redmond and drummer Kevin Brady, who join him for what will be a very intimate encounter with a jazz icon. Arrive early.
