Liberty Hall prepares for the fall

ArtScapeDays - and nights - are numbered for Dublin's Liberty Hall Theatre, which closes its doors for good some time this year. It will be demolished to make way for the city-centre tower's replacement. Anyone who was at the Liberty Hall panto at Christmas may have noticed an announcement at the end that the next panto won't be at the Liberty Hall, but at the Tivoli. Oh yes it will be.

Irish architects Gilroy McMahon are designing the redevelopment on Eden Quay in Dublin's city centre, and demolition was to begin this summer. Given that the design is not complete, nor planning permission applied for, this date may stretch. "It's difficult to call," says Tony Walsh, head of property at Siptu, incorporating responsibility for the performing arts centre, but they have not taken bookings for shows there beyond July. Next month he should know if they will be able to take bookings for the theatre later than that. Although the first-floor, 410-seater theatre isn't within the main Liberty Hall tower, it is directly adjacent and the whole structure is to be demolished. And because it is in a heavily built-up area, that demolition will be tricky and any could take the best part of a year, as it may involve the use of large machines which slowly "eat" buildings down, floor by floor, to a lower level so the rest can be safely demolished.

It could be four to five years before there is a theatre on the site again; the building specification includes a smaller - 250-seater - theatre or auditorium alongside a heritage centre that reflects the union's history, as well as offices for about 200 people, a Siptu national executive council suite, meeting rooms, cafe and kitchen, space for a Siptu college, a library, credit union and viewing deck with public access. The theatre will be the first to go, and after it has been stripped (and its contents sold off), it will become a "marshalling yard" for demolition of the main building, says Walsh.

So a large, comfortable auditorium in a central location, which is now available for theatre, panto, music, conferences and launches, will be lost to the city. The smaller, new theatre, which may be located underground with a dedicated entrance lobby, will, according to the brief, be suitable for "simple dramatic presentations, music recitals, lectures and conferences", as well as presentations associated with the heritage centre. It will have "a generous stage with lighting and audio-visual and film projection facilities", limited changing rooms, comfortable seating, "with good sight lines", but scenery flies are not necessary.

The venue will be missed, Walsh agrees. "Realistically, I think we will be there longer than July," he said this week. "We'll be trying to make a judgment," but they can't over-commit to bookings "or we'll end up disappointing people".

Stepping into the urban void

Those who didn't make it to the inaugural Lisbon Architecture Triennale last summer, can see the Irish entry, Line to Surface: Urban Void/Extended City, which is now open to the Irish public at the Atrium at the Office of Public Works in Dublin's St Stephen's Green. The exhibition revolves around the potential remaking of the abandoned spaces of the city and is the response of 11 multi-disciplinary practices to the potential of Dublin's urban void. It attempts to examine how Dublin city is currently being "made", asking the question: how do you make a city? "We hope the exhibition will reach a broad audience and be seen by members of the public, with a view to generating discussion about the city and its present and future development. Also we wish to propose another, alternative vision of the city, by asking how urban sprawl can be curtailed and contained and the city consolidated, its social and cultural and physical fabric improved," said curator Peter Cody. The Irish exhibit was part of Lisbon's international architectural festival, which aimed to bring professionals and the public together to debate questions about urban spaces and the role of contemporary architecture in making cities. The exhibition includes major projects, such as Ballymun Regeneration and proposals for the vast land bank at Dunsink as well as small schemes such as garden plots.

It runs at the Atrium until February 6th, then at the University of Limerick (February 14th to 28th) and Ballymun Civic Centre (March 6th to 28th), and is supported by the Arts Council's Touring Experiment. The exhibition openings are preceded by participant discussions, held in conjunction with the Architectural Association of Ireland.

•Choreographer Michael Keegan-Dolan this week won the prestigious UK National Dance Award for best modern choreography for Fabulous Beast's The Bull. The work, a physical, narrative dance/theatre piece based on The Táin, co-produced by the Dublin Theatre Festival and bite07, premiered at the Dublin Theatre Festival in October 2005 and played at London's Barbican in February 2007. The Critics' Circle National Dance Awards are the only professional awards in the UK specifically for dance, and were presented at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, on Tuesday. While some of Fabulous Beast's startling, imaginative, humorous and scatological work has had mixed critical reaction in Ireland - with The Bull particularly dividing audiences and critics - it has been acclaimed in the UK, and has built up a particularly good relationship with the Barbican in London.

Fabulous Beast's most recent work, James Son of James (which premiered at last year's Dublin Theatre Festival) has its UK premiere in Newcastle on Wednesday, starting an 11-venue UK tour.

•Limerick's 11th Unfringed Festival launched its programme this week, presenting new work from emerging and established international, national and Limerick-based performers. The multidisciplinary arts festival, programmed by Joanne Beirne, celebrates innovation and experimentation. In theatre, award-winning Big State combine film with live action in an Irish premiere, Fallen Angels, Galway-based Mephisto premieres two plays by Limerick-born playwright Pádraig Meehan, who is the Belltable supported artist this spring; and Limerick's Impact Theatre Company presents an Irish premiere of Canadian play Problem Child by George F Walker. Rooney prizewinner Kevin Barry will read from his collection of short stories, There Are Little Kingdoms; and the Stinging Fly will launch its spring edition with a night of readings and jazz. Music includes size2shoes' Word on the Beat, including Limerick's FabCity Rap Artists; and Conor Lenihan's new piano concerto commissioned and performed by the RIAM Jazz Ensemble. Belltable Box Office, 061-319866, boxoffice@belltable.ie. www.belltable.ie/unfringed.

•The Irish Architecture Foundation is looking for participants for the Irish entry in the 11th International Architecture Exhibition at Venice in September, to demonstrate "the diversity, dynamism and richness of Irish architectural culture to a global audience". Commissioners Nathalie Weadick (director of the Irish Architecture Foundation) and Hugh Campbell (senior lecturer in architecture at UCD) have as the theme for the Irish entry "the Lives of Spaces". Submissions deadline is February 1st. Information from www.architecturefoundation.ie, e-mail venice@architecturefoundation.ie.

•A new play by Patrick McCabe, loosely based on his novel Winterwood, is on BBC Radio 3 tomorrow (Drama on 3, 8pm). All the Colours of Love, directed by Eoin O'Callaghan and starring Dermot Crowley, TP McKenna and Karen Ardiff, with fiddle music by Cathal Hayden of Four Men and a Dog, is described as a "dark tale of isolation and violence, curdling behind the mask of an Irish welcome, as McCabe continues to mine the rich vein of what he refers to as 'Bog Gothic' in his work", and the BBC warns "this is not one for the faint-hearted".

•CoisCéim's young people's performance group has a showcase performance this weekend that has been six months in the making.

As part of the company's outreach programme Broadreach, two dozen young adults have worked under the umbrella Creative Steps with choreographer Muirne Bloomer to put together Dying to Tell (CoisCéim's studios, Sackville

Place, 6pm today, 2pm tomorrow. It's free, but booking at info@coisceim.com is necessary).

Broadreach, run by Philippa Donnellan, has seen CoisCéim members bring the joys of dance and movement to older people (Young at Heart), Dublin Bus drivers (Gutbusters) and the general public. www.coisceim.com.