Dublin Fringe Festival Reveals 29th Edition Set For This September

The behemoth that is Dublin Fringe Festival, returns this September for its 2023 issue offering the city limitless possibilities, and so much of the best in new art experiences and live performances from across the arts spectrum. Unveiling its mammoth festival programme today, Dublin Fringe renders itself like a pop-up town, breathing life into the city and setting the compass for how to navigate our identities in the playground of our recovered metropolis, while also exploring how we work, date, dance, and exist. Amplifying artists' voices, the 29th edition of Dublin Fringe will guide these visionary architects to infuse vitality into every nook and cranny of our thriving city, weaving a tapestry of boundless creativity, diversity, and vision. From pioneering theatre productions to mesmerising dance performances, from immersive installations to unforgettable nights out, each event has been meticulously curated to ignite your imagination and leave an enduring imprint on your soul. It is these brave storytellers who make the city worth living in. Let's go!

This year Dublin Fringe Festival hosts 79 events while giving 562 performances in 32 venues, boasting 45 world premieres, 18 Irish premieres and 9 Dublin premieres, where over 560 artists are set to take over the city. Welcome to the 2023 Dublin Fringe Festival, where art defies boundaries, and the possibilities are truly extraordinary.

As Dublin Fringe creates new spaces in the city for art and artists alike, the 2023 edition will bust us out of solitude in a ball of joyous, communal energy. The artists in this year's programme will draw us through the windows of cramped Dublin apartments, connect us to the bloom of nature in urban spaces and bring us to secret spaces. Expect audio experiences around Europe's largest enclosed park, intimate shows for one in a bathroom, and a show in the back of mini-cab. All of the artists will be making moves: thinking, dancing, laughing, scrawling sense into the streets, breathing life into this new little pop-up Fringe town. While showing us the forgotten gust and pulse of the beating ecosystem that is our city. We need to follow their lead!

New Festival Director at Dublin Fringe, David Francis Moore says: "This year we are beyond excited to reveal the 29th edition of Dublin Fringe Festival. With a staggering line up for audiences to join us on an exhilarating journey, this September, to revel in our new programme that is brimming with adventure and fascinating discoveries. The talented artists gracing this year's festival are the catalysts, expertly interweaving their narratives into the very fabric of Dublin, and we are so thrilled to be able to bring their unique and extraordinary work to the city - and of course to offer Dubliners and visitors to the capital many new gems of the best new live performances in the country, to enthrall and uplift the senses. Come, grab your pals and dive in!!"

This year's festival programme is divided into 8 CHAPTERS - BIG NIGHTS OUT / SOME PLACE NEW / IN STITCHES / RHAPSODIES / BODYSCAPES / YOUNG RADICALS / PLAYS PLAYS PLAYS / and LIMITLESS for audiences to explore - all grouped by theme or experience - here they are in more detail:

BIG NIGHTS OUT

Own the night with after-dark cabaret, clubbing and wrestling. This chapter champions bright, glittering art that's made for night owls:

Ahmed, With Love. make their Dublin Fringe debut with CLASH AT THE QUAYS. Supported by the PAN PAN Platform and fueled by Four Loko this show is where live music meets the whacky world of professional wrestling. Join some of Ireland's finest musicians; Ahmed, With Love., KhakiKid, Efé, Negro Impacto, Curtisy and Julia Louise Knifefist, for an all-out musical brawl inside the squared circle of the wrestling ring for this one-night-only experience; DISCO UTOPIA: PROTEST brings together some of Dublin's best young drag talent to express what the wonderful world of drag has to offer. Join Viola Gayvis, Lavender, Annie Queeries and Coco Ri and their guests to transport you to an unforgettable evening of glamour, glitter, art, sequins and show stopping performances in this Dublin Fringe commission; Dublin's spiciest queer collective present EGG: THE PROCLAMATION OF THE IRISH REPUBLEGG. This is part dazzling DIY cabaret, part musical political rally for a new EGG-shaped Irish Republic. Join non-binary revolutionary Aoife O'Connor and the first transgender member of Cumann na mBan Pea Dineen, plus a glittering line-up of movers, shakers and makers offering liberation through song, dance, comedy, drag and more, more, more!: Dublin's favourite party starters return to Dublin Fringe Festival with COMFORT CARNIVAL: CODA. Riding high on their Radical Spirit Award win in 2019, Selky, Roo Honeychild and the gang are returning for a bigger and better show spotlighting a cross section of the art and music from the dynamic Irish underground; One of Ireland's upwardly mobile pop culture pioneers, MarianMarythe6th brings us SONGS OF THEYS. Supported by An Grianán Theatre, Co. Donegal, join Marian' to say goodbye to the gender binary, and hello to non-binary finary as you join our choir of theyngels and sing along to your favourite queer hymns/hurrs/theys, all while worshipping our Theylord Shesus Christ. Can I get an A-Them!

SOME PLACE NEW

Get lost in some place new with awesome audio adventures, immersive experiences, live art installations, art spaces and translation:

The very special large-scale outdoor installations of Jony Easterby return this year after his sell-out Remnant Ecologies experience at the Botanic Gardens during last year's festival. Presented by Dublin Fringe Festival in partnership with National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin and axis: Ballymun, THE GARDEN OF SHADOWS will not disappoint. Experience Easterby's world where art and nature converge, as you explore a series of new immersive sound and light installations. This experience celebrates the beauty and interconnectedness of the natural world inviting you to appreciate a deeper understanding of our ecological surroundings. This exclusive night-time adventure brings you on a profound sensory journey through the mysteries of the night. Supported by the Welsh Government Office in Ireland and Wales Arts International, this unforgettable installation guides you around this intriguing garden; Multi-disciplinary artist Sal Stapleton invites you to immerse yourself in SVARA SEVEN at Temple Bar Galleries and Studios, an interactive sound and light installation that embodies freedom, featuring seven reactive light columns that trigger sounds, all of which, when played, have a symbiosis to each other. This new work offers the spectator a place of enclosure that provides support for the inner thoughts, desires and experiences of a gender fluid entity. Padraig Walsh's award-winning immersive play BLUE THUNDER brings an interesting site-specific work to Dublin Fringe. Staged entirely within a minibus at a city centre location, this show examines the complexities of family dynamics and what happens when the people who should be there for you have nothing left to give; Celebrity historian Bláthnaid Brennan embarks on an audio odyssey into the wild green yonder of the Phoenix Park. Blue House Theatre's play through headphones, TWO HUNDRED DEER TO EVERY LION, takes you on a magical and educational trip asking questions like 'where do one million Dubliners, six hundred deer and three lions cross paths'. Bláthnaid has the answers!; Theatre man, Conor Dowling and funny lady, Grace Mulvey partner up to take Ireland's only comedy anti-diet podcast, FAD CAMP PODCAST LIVE, to the stage, in their first irreverent, hilarious and revealing live show for Dublin Fringe Festival. Comedian Mulvey and co-host Dowling are self-proclaimed fad diet connoisseurs who are fully equipped to tackle diet culture, one crazy diet at a time; Collaborative artists and Fringe favourites since 2020, tasteinyourmouth return with YOU'RE NEEDY (SOUNDS FRUSTRATING). This offsite theatrical experience set in a cottage is an intimate performance for just one audience member at a time. The play is centered around Carrie who 'done with the world' now bases herself in her bathroom where she's living on slim noodles, chopped parsley baths and Snail-Mucus-Whale-Placenta Face Masks (TM). It's time for her to rip off the band aid, or cucumbers in this case, and take a long hard look at herself; Supported by Dublin Fringe Festival's Make Space for Art fund, A SYMBIOTIC SYMPHONIC MOVEMENT is research-led project initiated and curated by Laura Skehan, featuring composers Clíona Ní Laoi, Masaya Ozaki and Banu Çiçek Tülü, who will be performing experimental sonic and music responses to migrating plant data. Join them after hours in the historic Teak House glasshouse of the National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin; This year's Dublin Fringe Festival sees the foundation of an exciting new commission, with the ISL DEAF TRANSLATIONS PROJECT. Led by artist and Deaf interpreter Lianne Quigley. Aiming to bridge the gap between the stage and Deaf audiences, Lianne will lead a specialised team of Deaf and hearing interpreters as they offer an enriched, more inclusive Dublin Fringe for all, through interpreted performances of three productions. These unique events are a celebration of Irish Sign Language (ISL) and a vital step towards recognising the cultural heritage of the Irish Deaf Community; Self funded by artists for artists, PHASE is one of Dublin's newest arts spaces. Join them for a series of events including an exhibition of digital art which will present over the 16 days of the festival, film screenings, and three weekend gigs, showcasing the best of live music, digital art and sound.

IN STITCHES

Uproarious stand-up and alternative and interactive comedy experiences - so funny you'll be in stitches:

Winner of Dave's Best Newcomer at Edinburgh Fringe in 2022 and 2021 Funny Women Stage Award, Lara Ricote makes her Dublin Fringe debut with GRL/LATNX/DEF. Lara's show is about what it's like to be Latin and deaf and a girl who's now a woman at the same time. You know, minority jokes for majority crowds; Irish comedy hero David O'Doherty the disheveled prince of €10 eBay keyboards makes his Dublin Fringe comeback with TINY PIANO MAN. In his new show he tries to make you feel alive with a new pageant of laughter, song and occasionally getting up from a chair. It's gonna be a big one; New to the festival is Dublin's hottest all-women improv troupe Broadstrokes Improv, who invites you to their inaugural business summit for an improvised show unlike any other, BS INCORPORATED; Dubbed by Hot Press as 'The 2nd Best Comedian in Ireland', Tony Cantwell returns to his first love with a night dedicated solely to sketch comedy in aptly named, TONY CANTWELL'S SKETCH SHOW. Prepare to be captivated by a medley of music, surreal sketches, cinematic moments, and puppets! With special appearances from familiar faces; Alison Spittle is making her triumphant return to Dublin Fringe Festival fresh from a sell-out Edinburgh Festival Fringe and being voted one of British Comedy Guide's best reviewed shows. Her show SOUP is simmering with jokes and probably rage. Not to be missed!; One of Dublin's best comedy clubs and TV's notorious The Craic Den Comedy Club come visit Dublin Fringe this September with CRAIC DEN AS GAIELGE. In this all new Irish language line-up poking fun at our first language, this awesome gathering of top Irish comedians stretch out their comedy chops through the medium of Irish. Expect big names, big laughs and big Duolingo vibes; Another Fringe regular is Hannah Mamalis who brings the best scripted standup sketches around with her new show STARS, helping you to find your way back to the end; Rialto is a new destination for Dublin Fringe and funnyman and festival regular Colm O'Regan brings you THE SMALL PALE NERD AT THE END OF THE WORLD. His new comedy performance explores boyhood, manhood, fatherhood, neighbourhood, sound masculinity, and the looming apocalypse; In Grace Mulvey's second festival outing this year, her solo show FLIRT is about tragedy, strength, and resilience. Grace is sick of life being such a downer. So she seeks out fun, carbs and awkward flirting as a remedy. Explore life's greatest challenges; how to get out of bottomless brunch alive, become an adult woman and still be a legend; A fast rising talent on the Irish comedy scene is Fiona Frawley who enters your lives with ARE YOU MAD AT ME? Her comedic deep dive into one woman's paranoia, how it aligns with the paranoia of generations of women before her and why; Award-winning stand-up Shane Daniel Byrne is Irish comedy's new wonderkid. Once considered an exciting talent of contemporary performance art in Dublin he messed that up and now he's a comedian - he brings you his new laugh a minute show BUT HE'S GAY. Join him for his fierce and fiery début hour about whatever is wrong with him; Winner of the Panel Prize at the 2022 Edinburgh Fringe as part of "Best in Class" the working-class stand-up showcase, Northern Irish comedian John Meagher's success has gained him recognition as one of Ireland's top new comedians. In his new stand-up show CALM, Meagher explores what growing up in the North during the Troubles before moving to Britain does to you. But most of all, John has to find out why he's so stressed and how to keep his blood pressure down before a minor heart defect becomes a major one!

RHAPSODIES

Musical fantasias, high-octane gigs and mesmerising experiences:

Leading this new chapter at Dublin Fringe is the royalty of cabaret. Described as "the best cabaret artist of [their] generation", Justin Vivian Bond teams up with famed American counter-tenor Anthony Roth Costanzo for their show ONLY AN OCTAVE APART. Expressing their queer identities through unique interpretations of classical, pop, and hybrids of the two. This is a joyous and surprising musical fantasia that revels in everything strange and beautiful, while carving new pathways between opera and politically subversive cabaret; Fried Planatain Collective return to Dublin Fringe with a fresh lineup of Irish and International artists. This newest iteration of BLACK JAM is a showcase of powerful live music and ballads from an exciting group of alternative composers. Their experimental dark-wave, Afro-electro grime and hard hitting punk will explore themes of intimacy, esotericism and loneliness; Co-presented by Music Network & Dublin Fringe Festival, OSCAILT is a new work by Irish composer and vocalist Jennifer Walshe in collaboration with young secondary students from across the country and performed by Walshe, Irish soprano Elizabeth Hilliard, saxophonist Nick Roth and multi-instrumentalist, electronic musician Panos Ghikas. This exciting new multi-media composition for sound and video explores growing up in a world mediated by technology; Theatre artist and sound designer Martha Knight looks at our obsession with seeing ourselves from above in her fresh and playful trad gig for voice and vocoder, THE KING OF ALL BIRDS. This work picks apart our shared history with the sky. The years when it remained untouched, those first ventures into it, and now, our endless climbing: up, and up, and up; Developed at the Contemporary Music Centre, NOWHERE BETTER THAN THIS PLACE, composers and experimental musicians Andy Ingamells & Seán Clancy create solemn and seductive music for multiple synthesisers, live and recorded concrète sounds, physical theatre and projected poetry combining rich visual imagery with familiar domestic soundscapes; Queer Irish singer-songwriter ÓDÚ brings her one-woman album to Dublin Fringe Festival, LIKE, ITSELF. Brimming with anthemic pop songs, this is a concept album with a twist - a semi-autobiographical piece of gig theatre exploring the highs and lows of living life outside the norm - and a debut LP from one of Ireland's brightest new songwriting talents; Irish multi-instrumentalist composer and vocalist Abigail Smith together with chamber musician Lioba Petrie take you on a journey into a landscape of sound with music in PERMISSION GRANTED. The talented duo will provide a meditative space to relax and reflect in Dublin Castle's beautiful chapel. Audience participation is very much welcome as it will be used as source material for their improvisation. So they encourage you to send in your voice notes in advance or written notes at the event itself.

BODYSCAPES:

Thrilling feats of dance, circus and physical performance that you have to see to believe:

Dan Daw Creative Projects give Dublin a first look at their show, THE DAN DAW SHOW. Critically acclaimed and nominated for the 2021 National Dance Awards and the 2022 UK Theatre Achievement in Dance Award - this intimate evening of dance and play explores bodies, power and submission in a show that is intense, tender and about care, intimacy, resilience and joy - it is about letting go and reclaiming yourself!; The fabulous ladies of FemmeBizarre host a glittering explosion of gut-punching aerial and heart-pounding electronic music in their latest edition, HAUS OF FASH HUN. Don't miss this whirlwind journey of joyous transformation of circus fusion, dance and theatre; Dublin Fringe are proud to welcome the Irish choreographic debut of Diarmuid Armstrong Mayock. His show TEXTURE LIKE SUN, is a dance-theatre piece which follows three characters as they spiral through their cycles of substance dependency. It is an observation of the psychological process of addiction, with absurd flashes of humour and dark comedy, switching between feelings of gloomy despair and euphoric bliss; Ali Clarke is an Irish dancer and choreographer who will take you through contemporary dance and live music in her new show, WHAT IS NOT OURS TO CARRY - an immersive performance which challenges preconceived notions and invites reflection into the true self; Irish aerialist Kate Dunne stages her new show, SL(T)ÁINTE for Dublin Fringe audiences. Incorporating circus, theatre and installation art, this show immerses the audience into a 'body horror' telling of a culmination of personal experiences of Irish healthcare and broader systemic issues. Confronting gendered issues in the Irish healthcare system, and a general lack of listening and understanding to women's voices amongst others; Rachel Ní Bhraonain choreographs a new show called MOSH for the festival. With live music, real interviews, humour, heart and a whole lot of headbanging, five performers dive into the deeper meaning behind a misunderstood subculture of the moshing community. Is this violence or dancing? What are the rules? What do bacteria and moshers have in common? And why would anyone do it?; Told through circus, physical theatre, light and ISL (Irish Sign Language) Chloe Commins' show RESONANCE is a journey into a world of the unspoken, inspired by growing up CODA (Child of Deaf Adult). The show explores shifting roles and relationships, connection, and presence for someone living in two different worlds simultaneously; Annachiara Vispi & Giulia Macrì present PERSONA METROPOLITANA - a dance theatre show that is set on an imaginary Rome metro carriage / Paris RER line / New York subway / seat on the Tube / last Dart home. It is predicted that by 2050, almost 70% of us will live in a city - two thirds of the people on the planet. Giulia wonders if we'll all fit!; Contemporary circus and physical theatre take centre stage in Monika Palova & Sean McIlraith's RED LINES. Expect aerial feats, hair hanging, and women supporting women (literally), where the performers delve into nostalgia, inner conflict, acceptance and the complexities of what creates the self over time.

YOUNG RADICALS

Playful and thoughtful theatre, circus and dance made for audiences aged 0 -18 years:

A thrilling and unpredictable new show from Galway's acclaimed Moonfish Theatre who make their first ever Dublin Fringe show, THE CROWS WAY. This stunning production for audiences aged 8 and over, their families, and anyone who loves adventure, brought to life with Moonfish's signature brand of theatre magic, follows Gerda as she braves the dark and unpredictable world of the forest in a quest to save her best friend; Dublin based contemporary-urban dance artist, Mateusz Szczerek brings us MATT AND HAT, an interactive VR dance experience for audiences aged 12+ using Oculus headsets. This cutting-edge audience experience blending motion-capture technology with krump dance choreography and fusing the experience within a theatrical installation; Come on an imaginative journey with Fidget Feet and Ceol Connected in WHEN THE MOON SPUN ROUND - where dancers float beneath the moonlight, serenaded by Irish folk music's soft sounds. Inspired by the children's poetry and stories of W.B. Yeats.

PLAYS PLAYS PLAYS

Exciting new theatre from the playwrights you need to know:

Set in Dublin in the mid 1990s, and written by millennial Leanne Bickerdike, RETCH is an intensive and fast-paced, physical theatre one-woman show, told through the eyes of an angry, broke, young woman who is grief stricken after the death of her mother and unable to communicate with her father; Red Bear Company make their Dublin Fringe comeback with ONCE IN A LIFETIME, that deals with support for young women in crisis pregnancies, racism and social class within a same sex family context; Dagogo Hart is a Dublin-based poet, writer, playwright, performer, and spoken-word artist. In his new gripping play, MMANWU, he dives head-on into family ties, strange paternal relationships, explores healing and the power of self-discovery amidst life's challenges, all within his own Nigerian experiences and his hometown of Lagos; One of the first plays ever written about the Repeal the Eighth movement, MAY DAY by Holly Furey, is a rare and thought-provoking work of Irish theatre tackling two of the most controversial topics of Irish culture in recent years - the Repeal the Eighth movement and Conor McGregor. A brave piece of feminist writing by Irish playwright, Furey, it promises to challenge audiences and spark important conversations about gender, power, and Irish society; GIRL IN A CELL is about a young dancer on the cusp of pirouetting into her greatest glory yet - until she isn't. This is Niamh Ryan Productions first foray into Dublin Fringe where after an accident and putting her dance career on hold, she manages to find herself; Joe Wright returns to the festival after his Dublin Fringe outing in 2018 with his successful spoken-word theatre show, Astronaut, about a homeless man in Dublin city. This year, his new play, COLUMBIA MARCH, looks at the Northern Irish Troubles 25 years on from the Good Friday Agreement. This play follows one man with notions of his own who believes the war still exists, even though the troubles of Sectarianism in Northern Ireland have ended; DOG SHIT is a comedic and brutal portrayal of the fine line between friendship and competitors. Written by Bellaray Bertrand-Webb & Ursula McGinn, this play explores the conflict between the arts and tech industry in Dublin; A FRINGE LAB & Fishamble: The New Play company partnership, HAND OF GOD by Carley Magee & Aaron Finnegan, Is where magical realism and soft horror collide in this suburban noir as two women are forced to confront the painful truth of their relationship; Kirby Thompson & Orla Graham's new play FLOAT, is a quiet rebellion that looks at a sexual assault within the lives of four Belfast student housemates. Things unravel as the girls realise that maybe they don't know each other as well as they first thought; Philomena P's hard-hitting play, IN HEAT, is about a relationship that is on the rocks when the couple find out they are pregnant - for the second time, while living in a cramped flat in Dublin; Based on his own real life experiences, Louis Deslis stages MOSAIC, a show about generational gaps, going home, a longing to return to Dublin, the things we can't say and the things we hear even without being said; Leanne Devlin's SLIPPERY WHEN WET is a new theatre show that tells the story of an actor forced to move back to her parents after running out of work and money. To stay afloat she gets a job as a cleaner in a local supermarket; Loom presents THIS IS YOU, a thought-provoking new play exploring the roles we play, for ourselves and for others. A struggling actor, is hired by a man to play a role - to live in his house as his estranged daughter, Melissa. As the experiment plays out, the balance of power shifts in increasingly explosive ways; Noke Theatre presents DRAINAGE SCHEME. Set in the 18th century, this is a rural drama that mixes experimental music and performance techniques. It is the result of five years of research into a time of radical change, that saw Cork City balloon in size and rural Munster convert into a cow-based mono-economy. Focusing on a family living on the edges and struggling to survive, this play explores apathy, uncertainty and perseverance and how the ways life felt then, and how it still feels now; Kelly Shatter 's THE SCRATCHER looks at gambling addiction where a battle between truth and deception unfolds. This is a deeply human, hilarious show where love and addiction collide. It explores identity, connection and first lust.

LIMITLESS

Awe-inspiring artists who defy genres, push boundaries, and fearlessly carve their own unique paths:

Originally commissioned by THISISPOPBABY for Where We Live 2020 never seeing the light of day, Malaprop stage HOTHOUSE at Dublin Fringe, over three years later. This new play addresses climate breakdown and how our grandchildren can possibly remember us fondly for what we did to this world. Told through songs and a ship's captain pulling the strings - a parent 100 years in the future tells their child it gets better, even though we're pretty sure they're lying. Expect horny songbirds, parents, love, legacy, and wanting to change, but not knowing how; Springheel Productions premiere their new musical adventure, ENDINGS. - a show about love, loss, destiny, and legacy. Part concert, concept album, and musical, endings. is about Henry whose life isn't going too well. But a mysterious figure at a party offers him a deal which will change the course of his life forever. Come join the party!; Nathan Ellis' WORK.TXT is an interactive theatre show about work. But the worker isn't here, so it's down to you to be your own boss. This is a show performed entirely by the audience about the gig economy, financial instability and bullshit jobs; DUBLINLAND is a daring, biting and wonderfully bizarre satire of all what Dublin is and all that it's becoming. The makers of this new comedy show, seek to explore the uniquely modern sense of social alienation that comes when a city starts to feel like a performance of itself; Matthew Bratko brings his wonderfully nutty new cabaret show, KYLE KYLE KYLE KYLE KYLE KYLE KYLE HAS A COMPLICATED RELATIONSHIP WITH REALITY AND WITH HIMSELF to Dublin this September. This new show from the only act that dares to have seven of the same first names in a row, is a seductively hysterical show that knits together an aggressively nonsensical evening with needles made of original writing, yarn made of cultural ephemera, and also metaphors; Antrim Theatre-maker Colm McCready & SkelpieLimmer, the Belfast-based female led theatre company team up to stage, SCAREDY FAT. Set in a movie theatre, they poke fun at fat and queer representation in the horror genre of film, asking what it means to love a genre that doesn't love you back; Ayesha Syeddah leads a curated line-up of speakers to create conversation on themes of belonging, migration and displacement in her Dublin Fringe Festival talk PASSPORTS A CONVERSATION. Using the social construct of a passport as the compass, they will share experiences, observations and thoughts on how our passports, or lack thereof, have shaped our journeys, identities and ideas of home; Developed at Scene+Heard. Louisa Ní Éideáin's DOPA MEAN GIRL welcomes audiences to the musical journey of a woman with a late diagnosis of ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). In her cabaret-style show Louisa recreates the polyphony of a brain that must do at least two things at all times; Conor Murray's comedy play, JUST A MINUTE, is just the ticket if you're a recovering workaholic, a Colin the Caterpillar fanatic, or simply looking for a laugh. Join him for one life-changing day as he attempts to suppress his queerness in his office, but has a monumental crush on the straight boy there, as he attempts to rise through the ranks at the Greenwich Meantime Museum; SHAUNA CARRICK WANTS A DOG by Aon Scéal Theatre is an original musical comedy about life, love, and wanting a dog. Follow Shauna as she tackles her inner demons and embarks on a quest to take control of her own life; Jason Byrne writes and performs in his first play, PADDY LAMA THE SHED TALKS, directed by Feidlim Cannon of Brokentalkers. In this play, Jason brings the full life of his dad Paddy Byrne to the stage, keeping him alive in stories full of laughter and tears; Set in the world of Greek mythology and spoken with the voices of small-town Ireland, Fionn Cleary's comedy theatre show, CHIRON: A ONE CENTAUR SHOW, squeezes humour out of the possibility he may be chronically ill forever; Based on Gráinne Holmes Blumenthal real life experience of finding a photo of her own feet online at Wikifeet, being used for foot fetishists, and posted online without her consent, but worse, for completely free, come see what happens in her show FEET PICS AREN'T FREE!; For decades Trans people have been using hyperpop to shatter standards of genre, gender and good taste. Jaxbanded Theatres HYPER, gives a rip-roaring and unabashedly Queer theatrical deep dive into Trans identity and music. Told through live vocal modulation, find out what it means to speak, sing and, for the audience, to listen; Debuting the Zimbabwean-Irish Kayssie K.'s first poetry collection, RUVHENEKO, is a powerful performance that celebrates the strength and resilience of minority women. Through a mesmerising blend of music and spoken word, this multi-disciplinary experience explores themes of self-identity, women's rights, and creative expression; Síomha Hennessy's musical comedy for anyone who has ever downloaded Hinge and then immediately Googled: 'Am I asexual or just depressed?'. Her show THE COIL'S LAMENT basically outs Síomha's celibate era; Limerick poet and transgender activist, William Keohane's BOXING DAY, is a 52-poem sequence detailing his experience of gender transition, one poem written per week over the course of a year. Keohane's work is graceful, powerful in its restraint, and often startling in its honesty and candour. The performance is accompanied by visuals and text; Stray Lines are a collective of independent Irish comic creators, as they lift the panels from the page. BEYOND THE PAGE: STRAY LINES IRISH COMICS SHOWCASE features brand new original and indie comic books performed as live, in an atmospheric performance that takes images, spoken word, mythical Ireland and the rollerskating scene to the stage; Laura Allcorn & Jennifer Edmond explore the uses of AI and the sentient satisfaction of being a human in an automated world in WHO WANTS TO WRITE AN EMAIL?.

*These eight exciting chapters encapsulate the entire festival programme beautifully leaving you wanting more and more from this scintillating storybook. Dublin Fringe is excited for you all to join them on this captivating artistic journey, where the city of Dublin emerges as an expansive canvas for endless imagination and boundless potential. Let's go!

WEFT:

Weft is a Dublin Fringe Festival initiative that focuses on talent development and network building for emerging and early career Black artists and artists of the global majority*. Responding to the lack of support and holistic understanding for Black artists and artists of the global majority early in their careers in Ireland, the Weft studio creates space for these artists to learn more about their own creative habits, develop their artistic skills and take the lead in creating their own work on their own terms.

Weft Studio was first launched in 2022 to address this gap, by interweaving individual artist supports with practical project development opportunities within a community of peers who have experiences of what it is like to live and work in Ireland as a Black artist or artist of the global majority. This year a group of eight artists will participate in the Weft Studio programme from August 2023-February 2024. This will be led by award-winning writer and creative producer Shannon Yee, with provocations from international mentors.

In 2023 Dublin Fringe Festival and Earagail Arts Festival partnered for the first time on a new Weft residency programme with Afro-Brazilian dancer Alessandra Azevedo to support the development of her new work Terra and to build connections with communities and dancers of all backgrounds across Donegal. Terra will be presented as part of next year's festival with the support of our Break New Ground Bursary.

Want to join the Weft community? Become a member of the Audience Club and see shows at the festival for free hosted by Co-Ordinator Khanyisile Mbukwane. Visit fringefest.com for more information.

Dublin Fringe Festival is core funded by the Arts Council of Ireland and Dublin City Council, supported by the Office of Public Works [OPW] and sponsored by PromptPad.

Dublin Fringe Festival are excited to have PromptPad as a new sponsor this year. PromptPad is an innovative software management tool for production companies in the arts & entertainment industry. They aim to transform industry workflow by introducing a platform that specifically caters to the arts. This partnership has shared values of creativity and change, enriching the lives of the artists and theatre makers of our industry.

DUBLIN FRINGE FESTIVAL 2023 runs city-wide from September 9 - 24. The full 2023 programme is on sale now at fringefest.com or you can call our box office on 1800 374 643.

To post a comment, you must register and login.