MONDAY
Guy Garvey
Olympia Theatre Dublin 8pm €39.05 ticketmaster.ie
Although none of his Elbow bandmates is on hand to help him with his latest musical venture – specifically his recently released debut solo album Courting the Squall – a live show from Guy Garvey isn't going to be missing quality. Expect the full solo album and a few judiciously chosen, recalibrated Elbow songs.
The Pleasure Ground
Smock Alley. Dec 7-10 smockalley.com
First staged earlier this year as Fregoli theatre company's first main stage production at Galway's Town Hall Theatre, and planning to tour, Jarlath Tivnan's play tells the story of a group of estranged friends who meet back at their old teenage haunt, a playground known as the Pleasure Ground. All around the faded park, though, the old town is dying, and life hasn't matched up to their expectations, just as buried secrets are unearthed, past grievances boil over and old scores are settled.
TUESDAY
30 Years, Artists, Places
Glór, Ennis, Co Clare Dec 7th-Jan 21st glor.ie
Curated by Muireann ní Chonaill
Exhibition celebrating 30 years of local authorities collecting contemporary art in Ireland. Glór in Ennis is the first stage in its tour schedule and the line-up of artists is more than impressive, from Robert Ballagh to John Shinnors, Connolly/Cleary to Julie Merriman, Vanessa Donoso Lopez to Tadhg McSweeney.
WEDNESDAY
The Dead
Project Arts Centre. Previews Dec 8 €15 Opens Dec 9-12 8pm (Sat mat 3pm) €22/€18 projectartscentre.ie
Since the work of James Joyce came out of copyright, almost four years ago, we've seen several version of his work reach the stage in intriguing new shapes, including (but certainly not limited to) Olwen Fouéré's solo run on Finegans Wake, the Corn Exchange's Dubliners and the Abbey's The Dead. Here, Performance Corporation take his best-known short story, the concluding chapter of Dubliners, and give it a musical treatment in this new chamber opera from composer Ellen Cranitch and librettist Tom Swift. Through a bittersweet Christmas gathering in 1904, in which little appears to happen on the surface but all the while challenges flare, lives are falling apart and the chance of fresh beginnings fall as softly as the snow, Jo Mangan directs Clare Barrett, Lisa Lambe, Ruth McGill (above) and Rory Musgrave, accompanied by a string quartet.
THURSDAY
Therapy?
Button Factory, Dublin 7.30pm €28 buttonfactory.ie
While it has been something of a long haul for this Northern Irish metal/punk band, it's obvious they're still in the game for all the right reasons. And they're still good – as well as loud, innately melodic and very smart. Their latest album, Disquiet, is aptly titled.
J'Accuse: Brian Maguire
Void, Patrick Street, Derry. Free Until Feb 6 derryvoid.com
If your sense of moral outrage has slumped, brushing up on the sorry recent history of Ciudad Juárez in Mexico is likely to revive it. Brian Maguire has been drawn to the region since he heard of the rape, murder and disappearance of hundreds of young women there since 1993. Now he sees the violence as inextricably embedded in the global drugs trade. What to do? Legalise the drug distribution, he suggests. Pictured above is Maguire's Police Graduation (Juarez, 2012)
Rave 01
Secret location Dublin 7pm €10/€7/€4 facebook.com/ weathertop.musicfestival
The Weathertop party organisers join forces with the Rabbit Hole crew for a two-room bash dedicated to the UK free party scene of the 1990s. In the Octagon, you've psytrance, techno, house and grime from such names as Lectrosoul, Nathan Jones, Paddy Fitzpatrick and Snoozer, while the Rabbit Hole will have Bobofunk, Skaggie Maggie, Wastefellow, Paddy Jarkin, Mode 7 and more at play.
