The Dublin Fringe Festival has kicked into gear, bringing with it a range of LGBTQ+ shows that are not to be missed. One highlight is the play BUTCH by Crithir Productions, a bilingual theatre company based in Galway.
The comedic and heartfelt one-woman show also serves as a video essay and lecture, exploring isolation, representation and finding your place in queer history. It provides answers to some of life’s most burning questions, such as: “What is a butch lesbian? What do they look like? Why do they love Subarus so much?”
Developed as part of Town Hall Theatre, Galway’s Blas Artist Development Programme and Scene+Heard, the show is written by Hannah Bevan and stars Niamhie Mullarkey. Speaking to GCN, Bevan said, “There’s a lack of representation in the media as a whole, but certainly on stage, exploring gender non-conforming queerness. So obviously that was just something that I want to see, and if I want to see it, I might as well make it happen.”
She explained that the play traces through butch lesbian history and culture, going as far back as the ‘female husbands’ who lived their lives as men, up to more recent times, whether it be the political movements of the ‘60s or into the ‘90s with lesbianism becoming fashionable. Of course, it also explores what all of this means today, and references some iconic figures.
“Any fans of the BBC show Gentleman Jack will be happy to know that Anne Lister makes another appearance in this show. She’s just too brilliant not to bring up and too ridiculous and absolutely ostentatious,” Bevan shared. K.d. lang also gets a mention, as do the likes of Leslie Feinberg, Shane from The L Word and Corky from Bound.
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When asked about why she wanted to incorporate the video essay format into the play, Bevan said that many of her first encounters with the butch identity came from archival footage and historical documents: “It was through old photos from the ‘50s of butches and femmes in a bar together. It was pictures of Le Monocle bar in Paris, and it was books like Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold and Stone Butch Blues, which are obviously set and based around the ‘50s, ‘60s, ‘70s.
“So I think this kind of historical, archival slant is quite a core part to butch-femme culture as a whole. It’s really easy then to take those threads and keep running with them on stage and take that to create this kind of lecture-theatre style of performance.”
BUTCH first showed in December 2025 as a 20-minute excerpt in the Town Hall Studio in Galway. From there, it went to the Scene+Heard Festival in Dublin in February 2026, before going to the Galway Theatre Festival in May as a longer, 50-minute work-in-progress.
The reception so far has been overwhelmingly positive, with Bevan sharing, “We had a few people saying that it felt like a piece of butch-femme community was being created on stage… It was lovely to see people saying how seen they felt, and how they recognised themselves in so many parts of the play.”
Now, audiences will once again get a chance to see the show at the Dublin Fringe Festival. In terms of how it has evolved to this point, the writer said, “It’s all about how we could get more ridiculous and more playful and more silly, to show off the kind of levity that is inherent to the butch experience, as well as just make it more engaging and make those bits of information go down even easier.”
She also praised her collaborator and the show’s star, Niamhie Mullarkey, for her input. The pair were in the same drama course and drama society in college, and have developed a close friendship over the years.
“I also trust her artistic vision so thoroughly because she’s also a brilliant playwright and a brilliant director,” Bevan added.
“It’s been brilliant having her on as this collaborator and this devising partner, and I think the show is a million times stronger for having her there in that capacity beyond that kind of traditional director and actor approach… I think it’s so beneficial and such a satisfying process to have someone you trust in there playing and pushing the boundaries of what the work can be.”
Don’t miss BUTCH, showing in Smock Alley as part of the Dublin Fringe Festival from September 16 to 19. Get your tickets here!
© 2026 GCN (Gay Community News). All rights reserved.
This post is sponsored by Dublin Fringe Festival
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