EVENT: ST. PATRICK'S FESTIVAL
The capital celebrates St. Paddy's weekend in style ahead of the country's largest St. Patrick’s Day Parade on 17 March, led by this year's Grand Marshall, Vogue Williams. The festival programme includes traditional music sessions, Irish language events, storytelling, theatre, and dance performances. Cultural activities highlight Irish heritage, folklore, literature, and visual arts; workshops and exhibitions present aspects of Irish crafts, history, and contemporary culture, with events taking place at cultural venues, museums, streets, and public spaces across Dublin, involving local artists, cultural organisations, and community groups. (Various venues, Dublin, 14–17 March)
STREAMING: SCARPETTA
The best-selling Kay Scarpetta novels by Patricia Cornwell (there have been 29 to date!) are finally adapted for the screen in a new Amazone Prime series starring reigning must-see TV queen Nicole Kidman as forensic pathologist Dr. Kay Scarpetta, leading a stacked ensemble that includes Jamie Lee Curtis (who also produces the series), Ariana DeBose, Bobby Cannavale, and Simon Baker. This one will run, and run (Amazon Prime, now streaming)
BOOK: A BEAUTIFUL LOAN
In 1985 Dublin, nineteen-year-old Anna Hughes is in thrall to Peter Gallagher, an older, worldly man. Anna is introverted and naïve, and Peter's experience, wide circle of friends and thirst for adventure captivate her. Her obsessive longing for him leads to marriage and, eventually, a crushing betrayal. The new novel by Mary Costello, author of The China Factory and Academy Street offers an intimate portrait of a woman embracing herself as she is, claiming the life she yearns for - Mary talks to RTÉ Arena below (Canongate, out now)
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
TV: AONTAS
Three unlikely thieves, led by a woman on the verge of a breakdown, rob a rural Irish Credit Union. Opening in the tragic aftermath of the heist-gone-wrong, Aontas unfolds backwards, chapter by chapter to unravel the events that led to this point. What starts as a poorly executed robbery becomes a portrait of a wilful woman trapped in her own past.... Directed by Damian McCann, this twisty-turny Irish language thriller stars Carrie Crowley, Bríd Brennan and Eva-Jane Gaffney, and receives its TV premiere on TG4 ahead of Paddy's Day (TG4, March 16th, and afterwards on the TG4 Player)
MUSIC: THE GRALTON BIG BAND
Step back into 1930s Ireland as The Gralton Big Band and dancer Edwina Guckian bring to life the music, song, dance, and stories of a nation caught between tradition and temptation. An era where jazz music drifted across the Atlantic and made its way into rural dance halls, where people waltzed and foxtrotted with the devil and dancing with someone from outside the parish was a rebellious act. It was the era of the 1935 Public Dance Halls Act, a law making it illegal to host a dance without a licence and when the church kept a close eye on who was dancing with who and how they were dancing. Featuring music, song, dance and drama from Guckian's production The Devil’s in the Dance Hall, this promises to be a St. Patrick's Day hoolie to remember (National Concert Hall, Dublin 17th March)
Hear The Culture 5 every Friday on Aedín in the Afternoon on RTÉ lyric fm, from 1 pm - listen back here
