THEATRE: THE SECOND WOMAN
For this year's Cork Midsummer Festival, local hero Eileen Walsh features in a single marathon performance of a 24-hour long play. The Second Woman is a durational theatre piece inspired by writer and director John Cassavetes' cult 1977 film Opening Night; over the duration of 24 hours, 100 different men will star opposite Walsh, as she performs over and over a dramatic scene between a man and a woman in a troubled relationship. While Walsh's character has scripted lines, the other performers are free to improvise. As theatrical events go, this one's for the ages - Eileen talks to RTÉ Arena below (Cork Opera House, Saturday June 14th)
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EVENT: BLOOMSDAY 2025
The 2025 Bloomsday Film Festival will take place across Dublin from Wednesday 11th to Monday 16th June, offering a programme that celebrates the legacy of James Joyce's life and work through film - festival highlights include Ulysses: A Magic Lantern Show, a theatrical presentation of scenes from Joyce's Ulysses using a restored Victorian-era magic lantern. Elsewhere, tthe Bloomsday Festival's flagship event returns to Meeting House Square on the big day itself (Monday June 16th), bringing Joyce's unforgettable prose to life with readings and songs from Ulysses, introduced by the inimitable Jerry Fish with Molly Bloom’s iconic final soliloquy, delivered this year by actress Clare Dunne and live music from Camille O’Sullivan and Feargal Murray (Various venues, Dublin, until June 16th)
MUSIC: OPERATING THEATRE
Operating Theatre, the legendary experimental duo featuring composer Roger Doyle and actor Olwen Fouéré, will play a rare live show on Wednesday, June 18th as part of this year's Musictown Festival at the National Concert Hall; elsewhere, in a series of multi-room live collaborations, Crash Ensemble will be paired with performers Anna-Mieke, Bren Berry, Róis and Goldbug with Glasshouse Ensemble performing the music of Scott Walker, and cellist Eimear Reidy and experimental producer Natalia Beylis will perform together (NCH Dublin, June 14th - 18th)
FILM: ONE NIGHT IN DUBLIN
A returning local hero is one of the many attractions at this year's Stoneybatter Festival; The Celtic Warrior himself, Steve Collins, who grew up in the area, is going to be in town on the Sunday of the festival for a screening of One Night In Millstreet, the acclaimed documentary about his 1995 title fight with Chris Eubank at 5.30pm at Light House Cinema; he'll also be having a chat with comedians Eric Lalor and Willa White up at Clarke's City Arms on Prussia Street that evening (Various venues, Stoneybatter, Dublin, June 13th - 15th)
THEATRE: HORRIBLE HISTORIES LIVE
Already a best-selling series of books and a hit TV show, Horrible Histories comes to the Dublin stage with a pair of fun-packed shows for families, The Terrible Tudors and Awful Egyptians; In the former, we take a trip from the horrible Henries to the end of evil Elizabeth, hearing the legends (and lies!) about the torturing Tudors, while Awful Egyptians reveals the foul facts of death and decay with the meanest mummies in Egypt, from the fascinating Pharaohs to the power of the pyramids (3Olympia Theatre, 18th - 22nd June)
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