Galway Theatre Festival begins next week with ten days of live performance across the city.
From Thursday, April 30 to May 9, this year’s programme taps into themes touching on identity, belonging, memory, connection and the pull between leaving and coming back.
There is also a strong focus on how theatre is experienced, with immersive and interactive work unfolding in different ways and spaces across the city.
With tickets now on sale, organsiers say their message is straightforward: Make the time. Go to a show. Try something new.
“Whether it is one performance or a few across the week, this is a chance to support local artists and experience the kind of stories that Galway and Irish artists do so well,” said a spokeswoman.
At the O’Donoghue Centre in UG, The Tightrope Walker offers a quietly affecting account of a woman moving through crisis and recovery. With humour and honesty, the piece reflects on serious illness while reshaping itself each night in response to the moment. Its immersive, live sound design draws the audience in, creating space for reflection and connection.
The Doomslayers podcasters take over Electric Night Club with a live show that leans fully into the chaos of the world right now. Annie Queeries, Donna Fella and Laylah Beattie bring an unfiltered, high-energy take on how they are coping with it all, in a theatrical live podcast show that is sharp, loose and very current.
GAN ULLMHÚ + OFF THE CUFF at the O’Donoghue Centre invites people to take part rather than just watch. Led by Neasa Ní Chuanaigh, this workshop uses improvisation to build confidence and encourage people to use Irish in a relaxed and supportive setting, no matter their level.
Wiggle Room Workshop at the Mick Lally Theatre looks at how audiences connect with performance. Led by Caoimhe O’Farrell and Lucy Bruton, it focuses on participation, access and what makes people feel included in a live setting, particularly for younger audiences interested in making work.
Also at the Mick Lally Theatre, HouseWork draws on the voices of Ireland’s female DJs and club-goers from the 1980s and 1990s. Built from real interviews, it brings music and memory together in a piece that looks at the dancefloor as a space for expression, change and community.
ITCH arrives at the Black Box Theatre from award-winning artist Christopher McAuley. It is a darkly funny and personal work that starts with the experience of living in your own skin and opens into a wider story about growing up queer in Belfast. Through physical performance and storytelling, it explores identity, pressure and what it takes to be yourself.
At the Town Hall Theatre, Bellow from Brokentalkers centres on the life and work of accordionist Danny O’Mahony. With live music at its core, the piece integrates sound, movement and text to examine dedication, creativity and the cost of a life in music.
Full details from galwaytheatrefestival.com
