Reunion, by Mark O’Rowe
Black Box Theatre, until July 27th, €25-€39.50
Landmark Productions gets together with Galway Internatioanl Arts Festival and Mark O’Rowe for ringside seats on what happens when an extended family gets together for a celebration. The stellar cast includes Cathy Belton, Simone Collins, Stephen Brennan and Robert Sheehan.
[ Mark O’Rowe interview: ‘Everything has to be new to me’Opens in new window ]
Duck Pond
Festival Theatre, July 19th-24th, €25-€37.50
Australia’s Circa and Yaron Lifschitz reimagine Swan Lake with a circus twist. Expect flipper-wearing, sequinned ducks, aerial dance, acrobatics and feathers aplenty.
Cultural Exchange Rate
Aula Maxima, July 16th-28th, €20
Lebanese artist Tania el Khoury examines borders, migration and citizenship in a powerful installation based on real-life recordings and family discoveries.
As We Face the Sun
Nun’s Island Theatre, Juntil 28th, €16-€19
A group of classmates are determined to remember their lost friend with an annual party. Warm-hearted theatre for ages 12+.
The Map of Argentina, by Marina Carr
An Taibhdhearc, Until July 27th, €23-€28.
Decadent Theatre Company and Galway Arts Centre premiere a new play by Marina Carr, directed by Andrew Flynn. Storytelling that tunnels into the complicated contours of family dynamics and promises a meditation on love and what happens when it is denied and betrayed, or pursued and hunted down.
Kneecap
Big Top, July 18th, €39.50
Irish punk-rappers Kneecap blending Irish and English language from West Belfast. Móglaí Bap, Mo Chara, and DJ Provaí are about to release their debut album and a feature film starring themselves and Michael Fassbender.
Patricia Piccinini
Festival Gallery, William Street, until July 28th, free.
One of Australia’s most acclaimed artists, Patricia Piccinini brings her startling sculptures, installations and digital environments to the festival – familiar yet fantastical sculptures of a possible future species, slightly unsettling mutants who blur the boundary between people and the animals.
[ Patricia Piccinini: ‘We’re hard-wired to be suspicious of difference’Opens in new window ]
Endgame
Town Hall Theatre, until July 28th, €28-€33
‘You’re on earth, there’s no cure for that!’ The Druid ensemble tackle Beckett’s masterpiece, a tragicomic tale of a man living with his parents and his servant in a world beyond time and place. Aaron Monaghan, Marie Mullen and Rory Nolan, Bosco Hogan, directed by Garry Hynes.
Stewart Copeland
Big Top, July 17th, €49.50
Police Deranged for Orchestra celebrates the music of The Police, with drummer and cofounder Stewart Copeland taking on vocals as well as the sticks, and Galway conductor Eimear Noone leading a 28-piece orchestra, expect a thrilling evening of anecdotes and the hits from The Police.
Unspeakable Conversations
Mick Lally Theatre, until July 27th, €25-€30
Can an argument be made for killing disabled babies? Expect provocative, entertaining drama from disabled actors Liz Carr (Silent Witness) and Mat Fraser (American Horror Story) in Christian O’Reilly’s new play, based on an encounter between philosopher Peter Singer and attorney and disability rights activist Harriet McBryde Johnson.
Rooms, by Enda Walsh
The Shed, Galway Harbour, until July 28th, €10
Not one but two, this year. The festival’s ongoing series of immersive theatre installations, with scripts by Enda Walsh revealing the intimate lives of each Room’s character. Directed by Walsh, designed by Giaf director Paul Fahy. Dining Room sees the life of the proprietor and sole employee of a B&B upended; while Changing Room focuses on a swimmer, his clothes folded beneath the bench.
West Wind
Eyre Square, July 19th and 20th at 4pm; July 21st at 2pm, free
Circus and aerial show by French company Les P’Tits Bras, with a dose of the American dream, a spot of rodeo and a splash of New Orleans as soundtrack.
Pegasus
Street parade, from Eyre Square to Spanish Arch, July 19th and 20th, free
From the people who brought you Dragon in 2023, Planète Vapeur’s latest extravaganza takes to the streets of Galway over two days.
Yungchen Lhamo
St Nicholas Church, July 18th. €30
The Tibetan singer’s first trip to Galway in 20 years brings spiritual sounds plus a promise of healing.
Yvonne McGuinness: What’s Left Us Then
Festival Printworks Gallery, until July 28th. Free
A thoughtful ode to that undersung material: concrete. This film by Yvonne McGuinness film mingles the bucolic with the brutalist.
Karen Cox: Women of the Thar Desert
Galway City Museum, until July 28th, free
The Galway City Museum have been hosting thought-provoking photographic exhibitions during the festival in recent years. Award-winning photographer Cox documents the lives of women in India’s Thar Desert. There’s also a gallery talk to the artist on July 20th.
First Thought Talks
Various dates and venues on the University of Galway Campus. €10
As ever, the festival talks series presents a creative line-up to ponder life’s big and pressing issues. Actor and activist Liz Carr, who also stars in Unspeakable Conversations at this year’s festival, discusses assisted suicide with playwright Christian O’Reilly in Better Off Dead? on July 18th. Elaine Burke and Adrian Weckler discuss AI in The Rise of the Machines on July 20th; and psychiatrist Brendan Kelly talks about resilience with Catriona Crowe on July 21st. All First Thought Talks at various venues on the University of Galway Campus. €10.
