Monday
Obsessions, Preoccupations, Themes & Variations
Galway Arts Centre Until Jul 2
galwayartscentre.ie
The title perfectly summarises Brian Bourke's modus operandi. As a gifted painter, sculptor, draughtsman and printmaker, he is obsessive in his pursuit of any given subject. The chief one here is Galway's Contempo Quartet: Bourke recently completed a residency with the group. Towards the end of the show's run (June 30th, 6pm, Nuns Island Theatre), Bob Quinn will introduce two films on Bourke, who will deliver a talk afterwards.
Tuesday
Rihanna
Aviva Stadium, Dublin 6pm €69.50
ticketmaster.ie
Rihanna's last album Anti, dropped suddenly earlier this year to muted applause, but it hasn't stopped its supporting tour (sponsored by Samsung via a multipromotional deal worth $25 million) from making lots of noise. Expect, then, a handful of subdued Anti tunes dwarfed by a bunch of hit bangers, amidst a stage show that has – by all accounts – little in the way of what you could safely call the spectacular. Special guests include Big Sean.
Sacrifice at Easter
Elizabeth Fort, Barrack St. Jun 17-Jul 2 10pm €22.50/€18 (previews €16.50)
corkmidsummer.com
For 25 years now, Corcadorca have been asking you to come away with them. It's always been a curious invitation for both the mind and body, whether Cork's innovative company ushered you into a nightclub for A Clockwork Orange, a pig pen for Disco Pigs, the bucolic Fota Park for Shakespeare, or empty luxury high-rises, factories, former banks . . . you name it. For the company's quarter-century anniversary production, as part of Cork Midsummer Festival, director Pat Kiernan collaborates with novelist and playwright Pat McCabe and composer Mel Mercier on a piece inspired by the Easter Rising and staged at the historic Elizabeth Fort on Barrack St. That site holds a former Guards barracks, which will be transformed and populated with a huge cast, drawn from professional performers and community volunteers. But Corcadorca's work has always depended on the individual and collective journeys of its audience, and here the promenade follows the footsteps of Irish history. That's as bracing a proposition as any of their work: If you want to feel closer to the protagonists our past, walk a mile in their shoes.
Wednesday
Starboard Home
National Concert Hall, Dublin 8.30pm €27.50/€25/€22.50
nch.ie
It's a novel concept – a suite of songs with the central theme of Dublin city/port connections, but it works a treat thanks to the songwriters and artists involved. All of them (including Paul Noonan, Lisa O'Neill, James Vincent McMorrow, Cathy Davey, The Blades' Paul Cleary, Gemma Hayes, Declan O'Rourke, Jape, The Dubliners' John Sheahan, Colm Mac Con Iomaire and Caitriona Lally) plus a band and strings perform over two nights.
The Weir
Town Hall Theatre, Galway. Jun 20-25 8pm €20/€18
tht.ie
"Ah now, you have to enjoy it. You have to relish the details of something like this, ha?" So says Jack, patron of an isolated bar in Leitrim, early in Conor McPherson's breakout play of 1997. That could also double as McPherson's treatise on storytelling, a precocious skill that supplies the energy of this work, which is not technically a monologue play – in much the same way that a tomato is not technically a vegetable. (You could have fooled us.) Three male patrons and one bartender are joined by a single woman, Valerie, a Dubliner in search of "peace and quiet", who has clearly come to the wrong place. The time is passed with well-rehearsed stories of fairy forts and apparitions, the vain swagger of a self-inflated property dealer, and a simple fellow who relays his tale like a fevered dream. Valerie, of course, is as rare and exotic in this bar as a glass of white wine, and she counters the men's tall stories with her own personal, anguished narrative. Whether this carries the tang of truth, or simply seems like another playwright's yarn, comes down to the spell of a good production. The auguries are good and director Andrew Flynn of Decadent Theatre has skills that any bartender might envy, always respecting to the ingredients, while serving them with a twist.
Thursday
Foals
Titanic Belfast 6pm £32.50
belsonic.com
With what amounts to a trilogy of albums – last year's What Went Down, 2013's Holy Fire, and 2010's Total Life Forever – under the belt, this textured, imaginative and sonically dynamic UK indie rock band (right) are now a bona-fide arena act. Special guests include Glasgow-based band Frightened Rabbit. As part of Belsonic 2016.
Would You Die for Ireland?
John Byrne. The Lab, Foley St, Dublin Until August 10
thelab.ie
A timely showing of John Byrne's 2002 video in which the multimedia performance artist took to the streets of Dublin, Cork and Belfast and asked passers-by whether they would be prepared to die for Ireland. Participants include members of the Garda, Defence Forces, Orange Order – and ex-taoiseach Bertie Ahern. A postscript looks to the history of the Monto in 1916.
