THEATRE
Pals
Collins Barracks, Dublin. Aug 4-Sep 6 Tues-Sat 11am, 12pm, 2pm & 3pm (Sun 2.30pm & 3.30pm) Various times pals-theirishatgallipoli.com
Who did the Irish soldiers who took part in WWI think they were fighting for? There was no single motivation for joining the so-called “Pals” brigades, as ANU’s affecting and illuminating performance suggests, which were often composed of rugby teams who either enlisted for the sake of King and Country, or to support Home Rule, or who were persuaded with shillings. But essentially they were men who wanted to belong. The tragedy, as we discover, is that they didn’t: “Do you think Ireland is proud of us?” asks one soldier, hollowed out by carnage and shock. Louise Lowe’s production vividly unearths those lives that were doubly disavowed, by national politics and by history, in an imaginative and sensitive summoning of some of the young Irish men who enlisted in the 7th Battalion of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers and lost more than their lives.
TRAD
Feakle Festival
August 5 - 10, Feakle, Clare. feaklefestival.ie
When you’re on Martin Hayes’ home turf, chances are you’re within striking distance of exceptional music, and this small festival proves that point time and again. A picaresque cast populates this year’s programme, including The Four Star Trio, Caitlín Nic Gabhann and Ciarán Ó Maonaigh, Oisín MacDiarmada and Seamus Begley and the inimitable Tulla Céilí Band. The village setting and gorgeous local venues make this a very special place to host these disparate musical encounters.
