Article Category: Reviews

SMALLTOWN – TV3

September 7, 2016
THE FIRST episode of the new three-part television drama by award-winning Kerry writer/director Gerard Barrett focused largely on the power of unarticulated feeling. It... Read more »

LYING IN WAIT – LIZ NUGENT (PENGUIN IRELAND)

September 7, 2016
BEFORE FINDING success as a crime novelist, Liz Nugent had written regularly for radio and TV drama, including RTÉ’s Fair City. There were obvious... Read more »

A DATE FOR MAD MARY – DIRECTED BY DARREN THORNTON

September 7, 2016
IRISH CRITICS have been falling over themselves to praise A Date For Mad Mary, the latest feature from director Darren Thornton. “A triumph,” declared... Read more »

OBSERVE THE SONS OF ULSTER … – ABBEY THEATRE

August 24, 2016
IN HIS decade-long tenure as director of the National Theatre, Fiach MacConghail has made a point of presenting diverse voices and points of view.... Read more »

WILD QUIET – ROISÍN O’DONNELL (NEW ISLAND)

August 24, 2016
THIS MUCH PRAISED debut short story collection by Dublin-based Roisín O’Donnell is the latest to tap into the experiences of Ireland’s multi-racial society. While... Read more »

VIVA – DIRECTED BY PADDY BREATHNACH

August 24, 2016
THE LATEST feature from Irish director Paddy Breathnach is a set in a world of preening exhibitionists. And no, it’s a not a documentary... Read more »

BOBBY SANDS: 66 DAYS

August 10, 2016
Directed by Brendan J O’Byrne BOBBY SANDS’S story has already been given the cinematic treatment in Steve McQueen’s acclaimed Hunger, though Brendan J O’Byrne’s... Read more »

SECOND CAPTAINS SUNDAY – RTÉ RADIO ONE

July 28, 2016
IN THIS latest version of their old Newstalk Off the Ball programme, presenters Eoin McDevitt, Ciarán Murphy and Ken Early aim to attract a... Read more »

THE PRIVILEGED – EMILY HOURICAN (HACHETTE IRELAND)

July 28, 2016
THIS DEBUT novel by Sindo hack Emily Hourican explores the lives of three female protagonists, focusing mainly on dysfunctional relationships between friends and lovers.... Read more »

THE WEIR – PAVILION THEATRE

July 28, 2016
LOOKS LIKE Andrew Flynn is on to something. The Galway-based producer-director is wrapping up his first major show of 2016. As usual, it has... Read more »

NOTHING ON EARTH – CONOR O’CALLAGHAN (DOUBLEDAY)

July 15, 2016
DUNDALK-born O’Callaghan is better known for his poetry, but here he tries his hand at Gothic fiction. The result is a haunting debut novel... Read more »

THE WAKE – ABBEY THEATRE

July 15, 2016
MOST THEATRES use their summer programming slot as a cash cow, targeting tourist audiences with predictable crowd-pleasers by Friel, Wilde, or Boucicault. The Abbey... Read more »

BYPASSED – RTÉ ONE

July 15, 2016
HAVING ENTERTAINED us no end with the Conor McGregor series, Notorious, the production company, Motive TV (Jamie D’Alton, Catherine McLoughlin and Michael Pilsworth), has... Read more »

REVIEW – CYPRUS AVENUE

May 5, 2016
PEACOCK THEATRE THE ABBEY decided that O’Casey could wait. For the first full production of its 1916 centenary season, which aims to explore the... Read more »