His Greatness

Set in 1980, this tragicomedy imagines what went on in Tennessee Williams’s hotel room in the hours leading up to and after the opening of a revival of his final play, The Red Devil Battery Sign. By then, the 69-year-old Williams was well past his creative prime, during which he wrote theatre classics including The Glass Menagerie, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and A Streetcar Named Desire. He was also addicted to booze, pills and casual sex with (hopefully, kind) strangers. Daniel MacIvor’s play (pictured above) explores Williams’ downfall with great wit and pace, and a great central performance.

May 14 to 18, Players Theatre, Trinity College, tickets here.

Memories We Lost in the Fire

Now that Charlie is going away to college, his relationship with girlfriend Jenny is going to change, especially when new flatmate, Taylor comes on the scene. Belinda Barrett’s play is a witty, poignant and sometimes moving insight into the world of young people coming to terms with who they are and how they want others to see them.

May 14 to 19, Momentum Acting Studio, tickets here.

2 HIStories

Two short plays from the Director of the Dublin Gay Theatre Festival make their debuts and ask some difficult questions. In The Second Miracle, a shocking discovery is made about founder of UCD Cardinal Newman on the eve of Pope Francis’ visit, while in The Off Switch considers what LGBT activists of old would make of gay world they campaigned to liberate.

May 14 to 18, The Teacher’s Club (Main), tickets here.

Passing On

Brian and Tom, together for ten years, would like to have a child, and when their friend, Jane, agrees to act as a surrogate, the dream seems about to become real. But pressed int into finding out about his biological parents, what Tom discovers will turn their dream of a family into their worst nightmare, threatening to destroy everything they have. The latest play from Dublin’s LGBT community theatre group, Acting Out, and written by Sean Denyer, gets to the nub of family values, without sacrificing plenty of humour along the way.

May 14 to 19, The Teacher’s Club (Studio), tickets here.

Are You Lonesome Tonight?

Colin and his grandfather are trying to get on as they live in their tiny, claustrophobic apartment. Their only respite is when Granda visits the pub and Colin can drag it up for The Graham Norton Show. But when Colin meets James online, things begin to boil over.

Robert Downes’ play is about friendship, love and how to cope when you seem stuck in the seemingly boring circle that is life.

May 14 to 19, The Teacher’s Club (Main), tickets here.