Dublin’s rich
literary history has led to a flourishing film industry and varied
theatre repertoire of Irish classical and contemporary works. The
Temple Bar district is the cultural centre. The annual highlights
are the Dublin Theatre Festival in late September or early
October and Dublin Film Festival in March. Year round there
is a richly varied programme for one to choose from.
Tickets can be purchased on the night, costing anything from €5
to €70 and are also available at outlets of HMV stores, in
Henry Street and Grafton Street, from Dublin Tourism, Suffolk
Street (bookings in person only), or from Ticketmaster
(telephone: (01) 456 9569 (24-hour credit card booking line)
There is a very good web site for events in Ireland: www.entertainment.ie.
In Dublin, the fortnightly magazine, is good source for Dublin
events listings. Dublin
Tourism also has online listings that are updated daily.
Music
Opera
Ireland (telephone: (01) 478 6041) and the innovative Opera
Theatre Company (telephone: (01) 679 4962) perform regularly
at a variety of venues, including the Gaiety Theatre (see Theatre
section below) and the Hugh
Lane Gallery, Charlemont House, Parnell Square North (telephone:
(01) 874 1903). However, the main classical music venue is the National
Concert Hall, Earlsfort Terrace (telephone: (01) 417 0000),
is home to the National Symphony Orchestra.
The largest concerts (popular and classic) take place at The Point,
East Link Bridge (telephone: (01) 836 3633). This is a thriving
venue, where Riverdance, classical music and ballet performances
are held, as well as major pop performances. The
RDS (Royal Dublin Society) Concert Hall, Merrion Road,
Ballsbridge (telephone: (01) 688 0866; fax: (01) 660 4014; e-mail:
info@rds.ie), caters for both pop/rock
events and smaller classical concerts.
Dance
Dublin’s dance groups include CoisCéim
Dance Theatre, 14 Sackville Place (telephone: (01) 878 0838),
Rubato Ballet,
19 Stamer Street (telephone: (01) 453 8657), and Irish Modern
Dance Theatre (telephone: (01) 874 9616), who perform a potent
mix of poetry, music and drama at Dublin’s various theatres.
The Association
of Professional Dancers, 6 Henry Place (telephone: (01) 873
4573), provides information on performances and festivals, including
Riverdance.
Anyone can join in traditional Irish dancing after a pint or two
at the O’Shea’s Merchant Pub, 12 Bridge Street
Lower (telephone: (01) 679 3797).
Theatre
Ireland’s national theatre, The
Abbey Theatre, is located in Abbey Street (telephone: (01) 878
7222). Set up by W B Yeats in 1904, it is a historic and reliable
venue for high-quality Irish drama. The Peacock Theatre,
in the same building as the Abbey, has a more experimental repertoire.
Orson Welles and James Mason began their acting careers at The
Gate Theatre, 1 Cavendish Row (telephone: (01) 874 4085), which
is still going strong. The city’s first music hall, The
Olympia Theatre, 72 Dame Street (telephone: (01) 679 3323),
and Gaiety
Theatre, South King Street (telephone: (01) 677 1717), put on
anything from the Irish classics to pantomime. The
Projects Arts Centre, 39 East Essex Street, in Temple Bar
(telephone: (01) 679 6622), offers a variety of poetry readings,
drama and dance.
Film
Dublin’s first public screening took place on 20 April 1896
and it was James Joyce who opened the first cinema, Volta,
in 1909. Irish film culture is considered to be going through a
Golden Age, with Dublin at the forefront. John Houston adapted a
short story from James Joyce’s Dubliners into his final
film, The Dead (1987). Two years later, Jim Sheridan’s
film adaptation of Dublin writer-artist Christy Brown in My Left
Foot won international acclaim and an Oscar for Daniel
Day-Lewis. Educating Rita (1983), Michael Collins
(1996) and The General (1999) are among the best-known recent
films, together with Alan Parker’s The Commitments
(1991), telling Roddy Doyle’s life of gritty young Dubliners
to audiences worldwide. As for Roddy Doyle, he has his own production
company named Deadly Films.
Art films are shown at the Irish
Film Centre (IFC), 6 Eustace Street (telephone: (01) 679 5744),
and the Screen, D’Olier Street (telephone: (01) 672 5500).
Mainstream cinemas include the Savoy, 16-17 O’Connell Street
Upper (telephone: (01) 874 8487), and the vast Virgin Multiplex,
Parnell Street (telephone: (01) 872 8444). The Irish Times, Evening
Herald and Irish Film Centre publish listings.
Cultural Events
The most important cultural event is St Patrick’s Day,
on 17 March, when the entire city comes to a standstill
for the year’s greatest celebration of Ireland. During the
summer, the first two weeks of June see in the
AIB Music Festival, with top-class chamber music. Bloomsday,
16 June, is the literary event of the year, as
the works of James Joyce are celebrated on the anniversary of the
day that Joyce’s protagonist, Leopold Bloom, took his fictional
walk around the city. The first two weeks of October see yet another
cultural highlight, Dublin Theatre Festival, which takes
place at various venues around the city.
Literary
Notes
Dublin’s literary history dates back at least to AD800, with
the Book of Kells. The real Dublin heavyweights date from
the 19th and 20th centuries.
 In
the 19th century, Dublin-born Bram Stoker wrote Dracula (1897).
Vampire lovers will enjoy a tour of St Michan’s Church,
to see his family crypt. Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw and, most
of all, James Joyce, later took up the mantle for European literature.
James
Joyce’s difficult Ulysses (1922) is thought by many
literary critics to be the finest novel ever written.
The
Nobel Prize for literature was won by W
B Yeats in 1923, by George Bernard Shaw,
who authored Pygmalion (1916), in 1925, and by Samuel
Beckett in 1969.
The
McDaid’s pub on Harry Street inspired famed writer
and drinker, Brendan Behan, author of The
Borstal Boy and The Hostage.
Contemporary writers include Christy Brown, author
of My Left Foot, Maeve Binchy, with numerous
bestsellers, including The Lilac Bus and Circle of Friends,
and Roddy Doyle, whose novel Paddy Clarke Ha
Ha Ha won the Booker Prize in 1993. |
