The Arts Review​

Brendan Gleeson in Conor McPherson’s The Weir. Image, Rich Gilligan Another year closes, giving way to another new beginning. But first, easing out of another seasonal food coma, let’s commemorate the year that was 2025. Requiring a critical shift from spotlight to floodlight. Separating fairy dust from fairly dusty affairs. 2025 a year you had to kiss quite a few frogs to find your theatrical handsome. Thankfully, there were a few worth kissing. 2025 being a year of countles

Mission Critical. Image uncredited. I’d intended to weave this into my end of year review. But then I remembered I touched upon similar issues in last year's end of year review. Also, reading Jimmy Fay’s abridged speech in The Irish Times last week gave me additional pause for thought. Maybe it needed a space of its own. I’m referring, of course, to The Abbey Theatre’s Mission Critical. A day long, one night stand, co-presented with The Irish Times , to discuss the future

Maria Oxley Boardman, Risteárd Cooper and Nick Dunning in Uncle Vanya. Image, Olga Kuzmenko **** How much weight can the uneventful carry? Brian Friel's adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya at Smock Alley Theatre, directed by Cathal Cleary, offers a visceral answer. The titular Vanya (Risteárd Cooper) working a rural estate alongside his solicitous niece Sonya (Eavan Gaffney), sends all profits to Alexander (Nick Dunning). Sonya’s father and Vanya’s brother-in-law, Alex