Threading the Boards - Peter O'Brien Retrospective

Peter O’Brien Gate Retrospective

Renowned International Fashion Designer Peter O’ Brien will be in conversation with Irish Times Fashion Editor Deirdre McQuillan in the Gate Lab.

Peter will discuss his designs for the Gate Stage which include Lady Windermere’s Fan (2005), The Constant Wife (2006), Private Lives (2007) and Present Laughter (2009) as well as his work for famed Fashion Houses Christian Dior, Givenchy, Chloe and Rochas, Paris and his signature collections.

Free but ticketed. Please contact Gate Theatre Box Office (01) 874 4045.

Letters from Chekhov

To complement Donka, A letter to Chekhov and 16 POSSIBLE GLIMPSES by Marina Carr on the Peacock stage, Marina chose a selection of Chekhov's letters for public reading. These intriguing and passionate letters provide an insight into the private life of the master playwright.

Tickets €6

BOOKING: Festival Box Office (Tel: 01 677 8899).

Keepers of the Flame

To celebrate the Abbey Theatre’s and The National Theatre in London’s co-production of Juno and the Paycock join us for conversations on Sean O’ Casey’s life and work with his daughter Shivaun, playwright Peter Sheridan and Abbey Theatre archivist Mairéad Delaney.

Price: €7

BOOKING: Festival Box Office (Tel: 01 677 8899).

In Development - The Maeve Brennan Project

A chance to see major Irish theatrical works in development before they reach full production on the stage - possibly in future programmes. Events are free but booking through Festival Box Office is essential.

HATCH Theatre Company / Landmark Productions / Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival

Following the worldwide success of her novel Room, the award-winning author Emma Donoghue returns to the stage with a multi-layered exploration of the life and work of the extraordinary Irish-American writer Maeve Brennan.

Commissioned and developed with the support of Irish Theatre Trust and an Arts Council Projects award.

BOOKING:  Festival Box Office (Tel: 01 677 8899)

In Development - Politik

A chance to see major Irish theatrical works in development before they reach full production on the stage - possibly in future Festival programmes. Events are free but booking through the Festival Box Office is essential.

Based on their disappointment with the current state of affairs, The Company's latest work questions how much our participation determines the system in which we live. Accepting the fact that over one million people didn't vote in the last election, The Company now wants to talk about that which they used to ignore: Maybe it's time to re-imagine our politiks.

BOOKING: Festival Box Office (Tel: 01 677 8899).

Tear Down The Walls

Project Brand New has found a non-theatre space, an unoccupied place of business, unused for its original purpose.

In collaboration with international artist Geraldine Pilgrim, who is renowned as the founder of site-specific theatre in the UK, Project Brand New has invited six artists to create a brand new piece of work responding to the factory.

Their playful interaction and forensic examination over one weekend will celebrate the past, present and future of this site and transform it in a daring and provocative way.

Thoughts From The Festival - More Berlin Than Boston?

A series of panel discussions presented in association with RTE Radio 1. All panel discussions are free and not ticketed. Please arrive on time.

In the midst of the boom an Irish politician ignited debate by claiming that Ireland was economically and spiritually closer to Boston than Berlin. Ireland's artists begged to differ. Some of the countless writers actors and visual artists who flocked to Berlin in recent years to avail of its lower cost of living and thriving arts scene return to discuss what Dublin has to learn from Berlin.

Hosted by Vincent Woods and joined by  panel guests:

• Rachel West
• Denis Staunton
• Eugene Downes
• Willie White

Presented as part of The Radical Mind, a programme of independent German theatre to mark the 50th anniversary of the Goethe-Institut in Ireland.

More Berlin than Boston? will be broadcast on Arts Tonight on RTÉ Radio 1 on Oct 3 at 10pm.

Thoughts From The Festival - Behind Closed Doors

A series of panel discussions presented in association with RTE Radio 1. All panel discussions are free and not ticketed. Please arrive on time.

Addressing issues raised by the Behind Closed Doors programme strand, the artists behind Laundry, Trade, Request Programme and World's End Lane discuss issues of intimacy, secrecy and marginalisation within Irish society.

Hosted by Vincent Woods and joined by panel guests:

• Frances Fitzgerald
• Louise Lowe
• Colm O'Gorman

Behind Closed Doors will be broadcast on Arts Tonight on RTÉ Radio 1 on Oct 10 at 10pm.

Thoughts From The Festival - Radical Thoughts

A series of panel discussions presented in association with RTE Radio 1. All panel discussions are free and not ticketed. Please arrive on time.

Leading German and Irish commentators and artists discuss the constant presence of radical thought and experimentation at the centre of German culture and society.

Hosted by Vincent Woods and joined by panel guest:

• Joachim Lux
• Rachel McNichol
• Denis Staunton
• Dr. Peter Arnds

Presented as part of The Radical Mind, a programme of independent German theatre to mark the 50th anniversary of the Goethe-Insititut in Ireland.

Radical Thoughts will be broadcast on Arts Tonight on RTÉ Radio 1 on Oct 17 at 10pm.

Thoughts From The Festival - Access All Areas

A series of panel discussions presented in association with RTE Radio 1. All panel discussions are free and not ticketed. Please arrive on time.

Artists involved in the seven site - specific Festival productions and Project Brand New's Tear Down the Walls join planners, developers and other gate - keepers to talk about empty buildings, ghost estates and NAMA, and investigate if they can work together to access and enliven buildings lying idle since the boom.

Hosted by Vincent Woods and joined by panel guests:

• Mick Wallace TD
• Lynnette / Louise Project Brand New
• Jo Mangan, Performance Corporation
• Dublin city planner Dick Gleeson
• The Irish Times environment editor Frank McDonald

Access all Areas will be broadcast on Arts Tonight on  RTÉ Radio 1 on Oct 24 at 10pm.

Rewarding Rewording with Emma Donoghue

Presented in association with the Gate Lab. In a series of public interviews, three of Ireland's finest writers display the multi-faceted nature of adaptation.

Rewarding Rewording encompasses Emma Donoghue in conversation about translating the literary life of Maeve Brennan to stage.

Emma Donoghue in conversation with Director Annabelle Comyn.

Price Free but ticketed

BOOKING:  Festival Box Office (Tel 01 677 8899)

Rewarding Rewording with Hugo Hamilton

Presented in association with the Gate Lab. In a series of public interviews, three of Ireland's finest writers display the multi-faceted nature of adaptation.

Rewarding Rewording encompasses Hugo Hamilton on adapting his award winning novel The Speckled People for the Gate stage.

Hugo Hamilton in conversation with Derek Scally, Berlin Correspondent, The Irish Times.

Price Free but ticketed

BOOKING: Festival Box Office (Tel 01 677 8899)

Rewarding Rewording with Joseph O'Connor

Presented in association with the Gate Lab. In a series of public interviews, three of Ireland's finest writers display the multi-faceted nature of adaptation.

Rewarding Rewording encompasses Joseph O'Connor on his adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier's novel My Cousin Rachel.

Joseph O'Connor in conversation with Michael Colgan.

Price Free but ticketed

BOOKING: Festival Box Office (Tel: 01 677 8899)

Questioning The Future

The Gate Lab hosts a special panel discussion and open forum composed of influential Irish Theatre Artists, Critics and Government Officials all united in questioning the future of Irish Theatre.

Panelists include: Mark O'Regan, Willie White, Roise Goan, Marina Carr and David Parnell. Chaired by Fintan O'Toole

Price Free but ticketed

BOOKING: Festival Box Office (Tel: 01 677 8899)

Acting Out - Breath, Space, Imagination: Movement Workshop

The Lir and Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival introduces a new series of participatory workshops designed to allow Festival audience to stretch their own creative muscles.

Led By Sue Mythen, Movement Teacher at The Lir

This workshop will be an introduction to the fundamentals of movement expression. The emphasis will be on freeing strengthening the body while liberating the imagination. There will be practical explorations of spatial dynamics, kinaesthetic response and movement analysis to work towards improvisation and ensemble movement. The objective is to formulate an articulate and varied physical vocabulary and to offer practical exercises which can be applied in many creative settings.

Workshop fee: €30

Acting Out - i a clown

The Lir and Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival introduces a new series of participatory workshops designed to allow Festival audience to stretch their own creative muscles.

Theatre of Clown workshop facilitated by Raymond Keane, Artistic Director Barabbas Theatre Company

The Clown mirrors and represents all that it is to be human in all our love, joy, brilliance, truth, vulnerability, gullibility, stupidity and failure. Through the clown we can laugh and cry at ourselves at our most comedic and most tragic.

The i a clown workshop begins with an introduction by Raymond Keane about his work and practice. Each participant will then be asked to give a brief introduction of themselves i.e. their name and perhaps something about their interests.

Raymond will then led the group through a warm up of theatre games designed to build concentration with the emphasis on fun and play. "After all play is what we do in the theatre".

The work then moves collectively and individually into the process of exploring each participants unique clown persona. This will happen under a very supportive atmosphere.

Workshop fee: €30

Acting Out - Introduction to Physical Theatre

The Lir and Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival introduces a new series of participatory workshops designed to allow Festival audience to stretch their own creative muscles.

Workshop led by Bryan Burroughs, Movement Teacher at The Lir

A workshop aimed at introducing, exploring and performing some basic principles employed in the creation and performance of professional theatre with a particular focus on the physicality of the actor. As a primary conveyor of meaning on stage, we discover how expressive our bodies already are and then utilise that awareness to express ourselves to our fullest potential resulting in present, dynamic and compelling performances willing to engage fully with their audience.

No previous experience necessary to take part, just a curiosity and interest in professional theatre practice and a willingness to come and play.

Workshop fee: €30

Acting Out - An Introduction to Acting

The Lir and Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival introduces a new series of participatory workshops designed to allow Festival audience to stretch their own creative muscles.

Led By David Horan, Acting Teacher at The Lir

An introductory workshop in acting, aimed at enhancing self-confidence, and creativity. Developing characterisation and creativity through the use of improvisation, scene study and directing. The workshop will begin with improvisation, to experiment with the playfulness that leads to creativity, before exploring some classic scenes and characters. Introducing principles like the playing of objectives and the stages of alarm, the workshop will also look at elements of basic stagecraft for actors.

Workshop fee: €30

Acting Out - An Introduction to Voice and Text

The Lir and Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival introduces a new series of participatory workshops designed to allow Festival audience to stretch their own creative muscles.

Led by Cathal Quinn, Voice Teacher at The Lir

This introductory workshop focuses on how to free the body to breathe better, then to use the fuller breath to support the voice. The workshop, for which no previous experience is required, then seeks to extend the range of the voice, boost its carrying power and clarity. Finally, participants will learn to apply this power and clarity to heightened text, bringing it off the page, uniting your energy and ideas with the writer's in order to speak it with ownership and authority.

Workshop fee: €30

Acting Out - Theatre Games and Improvisation

The Lir and Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival introduces a new series of participatory workshops designed to allow Festival audience to stretch their own creative muscles.

Led by Corn Exchange director Annie Ryan

A workshop incorporating game and techniques practiced by Annie's award-winning theatre company, The Corn Exchange.

Beginning with a touch of yoga, the day will introduce some of the key elements used in making ensemble-based physical theatre. The principles of this work focus on fully embodied play, group transformation, creating character and the excitement of moment-to-moment discovery. Come, jump into the abyss and play!

Workshop fee: €30

Drama In The Air - The Blue Hyacinth

Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival, in association with RTE Radio 1's Drama on One, presents a week-long season of public performances of radio theatre with Q & A discussions at The Mill Theatre.

By Maeve Brennan

Adapted and Directed by Joe O'Byrne

The recording will be made with an audience present and the play will be broadcast on RTE 1.

Recording will take place at The Mill Theatre, Dundrum.

Price Free but ticketed

Drama In The Air - Anything But Love

Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival, in association with RTE Radio 1's Drama on One, presents a week-long season of public performances of radio theatre with Q & A discussions at The Mill Theatre.

By Mary Coll

Directed by Joan Sheehy

Featuring a live soundtrack by Michael Ó Suilleabháin

The recording will be made with an audience present and the play will be broadcast on RTE 1.

Recording will take place at The Mill Theatre, Dundrum.

Price Free but ticketed

Drama In The Air - The Garden of Eden

Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival, in association with RTE Radio 1's Drama on One, presents a week-long season of public performances of radio theatre with Q & A discussions a The Mill Theatre, Dundrum.

By Paula Meehan

The recording will be made with an audience present and the play will be broadcast on RTE 1.

Recording will take place at The Mill Theatre, Dundrum.

Price Free but ticketed

Drama In The Air - Cuts

Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival, in association with RTE Radio 1's Drama on One, presents a week-long season of public performances of radio theatre with Q & A discussions at The Mill Theatre.

By Gina Moxley

The recording will be made with an audience present and the play will be broadcast on RTE 1.

Recording will take place at The Mill Theatre, Dundrum.

Price Free but ticketed

Drama In The Air - No Worst There Is None

Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival, in association with RTE Radio 1's Drama on One, presents a week-long season of public performances of radio theatre with Q&A discussions at The Mill Theatre.

By The Stomach Box

Directed by Dylan Tighe

Composed by Sean Mac Erlaine

Following the success of the 2009 performace at Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival, this award-winning production is re-imagined in sonic form as part of Drama In The Air. This pre-recorded piece will be played for the audience before Q&A session.

The play will be broadcast on RTE Radio 1 in December 2011 as part of the Drama on One Short Form Season.

Recording will take place at The Mill Theatre, Dundrum.

Performed September 23, 8pm

Price Free but ticketed

Young Critics' Panel

The National Association for Youth Drama (NAYD) presents the Young Critics' Panel involving young people from youth theatres around Ireland. This will provide a platform for youth theatre members to discuss and articulate their views on selected Festival productions. Chaired by Karen Fricker.

Price Free

International Critics' Forum

Presented in association with Irish Theatre Magazine

Irish Theatre Magazine hosts its annual International Critics' Forum, at which leading theatre critics from home and abroad offer lively discussion and analysis of the highlights of the Festival programme. The panel will be chaired by the academic and critic, Patrick Lonergan, featuring Peter Crawley (The Irish Times) and Helen Meany (The Guardian) and Mark Fisher (The Guardian & The Scotsman). Audience participation welcome.

Price Free and not ticketed, please arrive on time!

Curating Contemporary Performance: Making A Scene?

To coincide with Project Art Centre's publication of No More Drama, a new collection of writings about the shape of contemporary performance, this symposium sets out to consider the changing stages and shared concerns of alternative theatre. When theatre makers at home and abroad no longer consider that the play is 'the thing', how do reality, documentary techniques and the audience conspire to make meaning with the stage?

The voices of artist, curator and critic combine to ask whether theory or practice comes first, where the characteristics of alternative performances are born, how experiments turn into movements and where Irish theatre may be heading.

Price Free but advanced booking required

Irish Theatre Institute International Theatre Exchange

Since its inception in 1994, Irish Theatre Institute has pioneered international networking and promotion for Irish theatre companies and artists. The 18th annual International Theatre Exchange is a two day gathering of influential presenters and producers from across the world. Invited by ITI, they will engage with Irish companies and artists who have 'ready for export' productions or are working on projects with an attractive international dimension. Comprising bespoke one-to-one meetings, panel discussions on topical industry issues, networking events, showcase and in-development performances, the Exchange is a must for all Irish producers of professional theatre who have an eye to International platforms. In the past two years alone, Irish companies have been invited to perform in London, Edinburgh, Auckland, Sydney, Tampere, Paris, Wiesbaden, New York, Cape Town and Grahamstown - can you afford to miss it? 

Book early as spaces are limited.

The Gate Lab Directors' Symposium 2011

Following the success of the inaugural symposium in 2009, the Gate Theatre, in association with Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival, will hold a second two day Director's Symposium in the Gate Lab. This event will allow mid-career directors the valuable opportunity to engage in structured sessions with leading actors, designers, directors, playwrights and producers. The success of this Directors' Symposium has been widely recognised both within the Gate and further afield and many of the 2009 participants have formed significant relationships with the Gate.

Price €85 (including lunch on both days)

The Next Stage

Presented in association with Theatre Forum

Described by past participants as "career changing", a "rare amount of inspiration" and "a once in a lifetime opportunity," The Next Stage is the artist development strand of the Festival. This challenging programme, spanning all 18 days of the Festival, is an intense combination of exposure to the highest quality theatre and active participation, In addition to a nearly exhaustive schedule of performances, there is a series of talks, masterclasses and physical workshops led by some of the world's leading theatre makers. Past workshop leaders/speakers include Stephen Rea, Fiona Shaw, Deborah Warner, Lloyd Newson, Arpad Schilling, Declan Donnellan, Anne Bogart and Tim Crouch.

Up to seventeen Irish theatre and dance practitioners from all disciplines will be chosen to participate. The intention is to expose artists to a rare selection of world class art during the festival, to broaden and deepen their experience, to create an opportunity for engagement with the visiting artists through workshops and interviews and to encourage future collaborations between the participants.

Participation is by application only.

Maria Tecce - Strapless

As part of our Festival club programme at the Odessa Club, we are delighted to present a host of nights open to the public.

Maria Tecce's vibrant new show is a smouldering night of song steeped in raw sensuality, elegance and Spanish spice. The music of Eartha Kitt, Nina Simone, Johnny Cash and Led Zeppelin meets sizzling Argentinean tango, all served up in Tecce's fiery, visually stunning style. Strapless combines powerful vocals and the command of a leading actress with an electric stage presence that continues to bolster Tecce's burgeoning reputation. This performance has been designed especially for the Festival and has wowed audiences in Edinburgh, Boston, Dubrovnik and New York in advance of its Irish première at the Festival Club.

"A purring delight of velvet-voiced seduction...mischievous, melancholy... A remarkably talented artist and songs you wish you could hear more of". The Herald

Elevens

As part of our Festival club programme at the Odessa Club, we are delighted to present a host of nights open to the public.

Currently taking the Dublin music scene by storm, this four piece musical and visual concept, combines vocal and guitar with pulsating visual projections and makes for an unforgettable live experience.

Kaleidoscope

As part of our Festival club programme at the Odessa Club, we are delighted to present a host of nights open to the public.

Kaleidoscope is a night of ancient, contemporary and experimental music curated by violinist Cliodhna Ryan and cellist Kate Ellis. Described by The Irish Times recently as "one of those life-saving, spirit-lifting, pioneering cultural ventures we keep hearing about", Kaleidoscope returns to the Festival with a special programme responding to The Radical Mind programme in celebration of 50 years of the Goethe-Institut in Ireland.

Programme 4th October

Ben Cashell (Violoncello)
J.S Bach - Suite No.4 for Solo Violoncello in Eflat Major, BWV 1010
Cinematic Orchestra - 'To Build a Home'

Cliodhna Ryan (Violin), John Lynch (Viola)
W.A Mozart - Duo for Violin and Viola in G Major

Cormac O hAodian (Horn), Andrea Vonk (Trumpet), Steven Mathieson (Trombone)
Francis Poulenc - Sonata for Horn, Trumpet and Trombone

TARAB: Emer Mayock (Whistles), Nick Roth (Saxophone), Francesco Turrisi (Accordion), Kate Ellis (Cello)
Original and Traditional Material

Programme 12th October

Nick Milne (viola da gamba);
J.S. Bach- Suite No.5 for Solo Violoncello

Cliodhna Ryan (violin), Joachim Roewer (viola) , William Butt (cello);
Ludwig Van Beethoven- String Trio in C Minor op.9, No.3

Kate Ellis (cello);
Helmut Lachemann- Pression


David Stalling (music) and Olwen Fouere (voice);
new work based on text by Goethe

Julie Feeney (voice) Conor Linehan (piano);
excerpts from Bertolt Brecht/Kurt Weill "The Seven Deadly Sins"