It’s luvvie central in the capital this week as the Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival kicks off with 28 shows in 25 venues over 18 days. The programme includes 10 world premieres and, in the ReViewed section, five productions that were staged in the past 12 months.

Those in the know are looking forward to the irreverent comedy The Wild Bride, a production by the Cornwall theatre company Kneehigh, famed for “world- dominating theatrical spectacle”.

There is an increase in site-specific pieces, including Mark O’Halloran’s two-hander Trade, set in a BB. Other venues include a Magdalene laundry and the James Joyce house on Usher’s Island, where Camille O’Sullivan stars in The Lulu House.

Sideline events worth looking out for are the International Critics’ Forum, and Gate producer Michael Colgan conducting an interview with the author and playwright Joseph O’Connor. A highlight of the family programme is A Sonatina, at the Ark in Temple Bar, with a live chicken.

The busiest participant – apart from the chicken – is likely to be the playwright and actor Arthur Riordan who stars in his own version of Peer Gynt (above), and the programme also features his adaptation of Flann O’Brien’s unfinished novel Slattery’s Sago Saga. dublintheatrefestival.com.

Róisín Ingle