Róise Goan is the new Artistic Director and CEO of the Dublin Theatre Festival, which returns this September with a feast of theatre from across the globe, alongside new productions from the cream of Ireland's theatre community - she introduces her inaugural programme below.
As I write this I am sitting in the Maldron hotel on Parnell Square waiting for the 16 members of Teatro La Plaza, whose luggage has been lost by the airline on the way to us from Lima in Peru via Madrid. A great start to the international arrivals for the festival! We will welcome companies from all over the world to Dublin over the next few weeks for Dublin Theatre Festival and believe me, the headache of lost luggage is worth it.
Watch the trailer for Her Father's Voice
I saw this production of Hamlet in January this year at a festival in Berlin and was utterly spellbound by the show. It's visually inventive, and uses the text of Hamlet to tell a story of social exclusion, and the desire for freedom and autonomy in the most moving and innovative production I have ever seen of the play. We are opening the festival with this show because in many ways it demonstrates the vision for this year’s festival – one that respects the classics, but challenges audiences to read them in new ways, largely because those stories in this year’s festival have been claimed and are being told by voices and bodies that have historically been on the margins, and who are now centre stage.
On our opening weekend, I am also thrilled to welcome Cade & MacAskill with their world-touring, multi-award winning production The Making of Pinocchio. This is not a show for children. It uses the story of Pinocchio as a metaphor for Ivor’s gender transition. It’s a funny, astute, visually sumptuous portrayal of the different social and cultural perspectives on a profoundly personal experience, but one that is delivered with wit, charm, hope and love. It’s a delightful show, with a hint of spice delivered via a trip to pleasure island with a bunch of naughty donkeys.
Watch the trailer for Pieces of a Woman
Rounding out the international shows opening the festival this weekend is Rébecca Chaillon and Aurore Déon’s Whitewashing, which is an unmissable show that viscerally demonstrates, with great skill, and sharpness, the experience of the white gaze from the perspectives of black women. When I first saw it, it was one of those 'text everyone you know who could come and see this show’ experiences, on leaving the show. It’s an urgent show that takes you on a journey through which you are guided by an artist at the top of her game.
We have so many more treats in store for audiences at this year’s Dublin Theatre Festival, from Dead Centre’s Deaf Republic to TR Warszawa’s incredible Pieces of A Woman, from Shane O’Reilly’s hotly anticipated exploration of the ethical implications for the Deaf community in the use of cochlear implants in Her Father’s Voice, to Lauren Jones’ incredibly funny what-if speculative sequel to The Seagull in Konstantin, Gosia Wdovik’s Deeper, which brings us into a dreamlike space to contemplate the implications of deepfakes in how teenage girls construct images of themselves, to Mallika Taneja’s short and sharp meditation on the lengths women must go to, to keep themselves safe in Be Careful. I think a great way to start your festival is to experience a slice of life in Lima, Glasgow or Paris, in your own hometown.
Dublin Theatre Festival runs from 27th Sept – 12th October - find out more here
