Monday
In the Flesh
Bridget O'Gorman. The LAB, Foley Street, Dublin Until March 12
thelab.ie
New video work that emerges from a collaboration between artist Bridget O'Gorman, historian Brenda Malone and writer Sue Rainsford. One video, with Rainsford's descriptive text, focuses on the museum store at Collins Barracks and the fragile, perishable, unseen artefacts stored there donated by the relatives of those who were involved in the 1916 rising. Another studies the hands of conservator Hannah Power as she carefully attends to the body of a rifle.
Tuesday
Duality of Form
Solstice Arts Centre, Railway St, Navan, Co Meath Until Mar 11
solsticeartscentre.com
"In contemporary society," curator Mary Cremin writes, "we are defined by what we consume and collect . . .The invited artists explore and elucidate the idea of an object's plurivocality through sculpture, photography, drawing and text." Caoimhe Kilfeather and Barbara Knezevic play with the "notion of the artist as a collector" while "through her sculptural pieces Barbara Knezevic traces possible meanings that are trapped in material objects".
Laura Perrudin/Neil O'Loghlen
International Bar, Dublin (Tues); Bello Bar, Dublin (Wed); Triskel, Cork (Thurs)
Award-winning French harpist and vocalist Laura Perrudin (left) arrives in Ireland this week to debut a new duo with bassist Neil O'Loghlen. As well as his regular gig with guitarist Louis Stewart, O'Loghlen one of the few Irish jazz musicians to engage with Irish traditional music. With original material from Perudin inspired by texts from Yeats, Joyce and others, their short Irish tour is a chance to hear fresh sounds.
Wednesday
Ergodos Musicians
Mill Theatre, Dundrum Dublin 8pm €18/€15
milltheatre.ie
In which musicians Michelle O'Rourke, Seán Mac Erlaine, Kate Ellis, Benedict Schlepper- Connolly and Garrett Sholdice celebrate the form and art of the song. Cue a performance that includes a medieval hymn (Perotin's Beata Viscera), a baroque aria (Handel's With Darkness Deep), alt.pop (The xx's Angels), folk (Richard Thompson's Beat the Retreat) country/roots (Steve Earle's Goodbye) and traditional Irish (Turlough O'Carolan's Lament for Owen Roe O'Neill).
Big Maggie
Gaiety Theatre. Previews Jan 29-30. Opens Feb 1-20 €21-€46
0818-719388 gaietytheatre.com
It gives you a fair idea of the level of grief experienced by Maggie Polpin in John B Keane's fearsome 1969 play, that she haggles over the cost of his headstone. With her four children under her control and the family shop under "new management", Maggie is doing things her way. Even Druid's 2012 production, here revived with some cast changes, is a little cowed by this vision of the Irish Mammy, played as a stooped, surly schemer by the wonderful Aisling O'Sullivan. Director Garry Hynes makes her Maggie an icon of the nation; hardened by circumstance and betrayed by authority, now taking charge. The play's character dynamics can be a little too straightforward - from tragically obedient children to humbled rebels - but its understanding of the thin line between heroes and victims is not. "I can't say you're right," John Olohan's Byrne tells Maggie, "and can't say you're wrong." Even if you could, you wouldn't dare to tell her.
Thursday
Blossoms
Cyprus Avenue, Cork 9pm €12
cyprusavenue.ie
Seen previously in Ireland late last year as support to Paul Weller, this Manchester area band nip over again for headline dates. Keen students of classic British pop/rock songwriting, Blossoms will be plugging their recently released EP, At Most a Kiss. Lovers of blissed-out guitar pop can form an orderly queue. Quiet at the back!
Flook
The Sugar Club, Dublin 8.30pm €20
musiclee.ie
A welcome return to the live fray by English four piece, anchored by Sarah Allen and Brian Finnegan on flutes, with Ed Boyd on guitar and John Joe Kelly on scintillating bodhrán. Having literally wet their whistles last Sunday night at Ballincollig's Winter Music Festival, they wend their way to The Sugar Club for their second and final date on this short visit.
Song-Lines - Print works by Daniel Lipstein and Niall Naessens
Hamilton Gallery, Castle St, Sligo Feb 4-27
hamiltongallery.ie
Daniel Lipstein lives in the Midlands, Niall Naessens on the coast in the south-west. Both etchers, they also share an interest in their surrounding landscapes and each has an individual, lyrical approach to the world around them. In their different ways, both see the world around them as infused with a kind of magical vitality. A good match for a two-person show.
Linger
Dance Limerick 1-2 John's Square 8pm €10/12
Breandán de Gallaí and Nick O'Connell tackles issues of ageing, identity and sexuality in a contemporary Irish step-dance piece, with an original score by Zoë Conway and Paddy Mulcahy.
