Katy Hayes

Charming solo show pays tribute to brothers who were Abbey Theatre stalwarts with colourful lives Actor Morgan C Jones has created this fascinating solo show out of the lives of his two great granduncles, Abbey actors Arthur Shields and Barry Fitzgerald. The show is an act of reclamation of ancest...

My review of The Quiet Men at Bewley's Café Theatre, Dublin.
www.independent.ie/entertainmen...

Sparks fly as the Irish mammy gets a theatrical reboot for an age of egotism In this world full of chaos and spiralling anxiety, it’s a relief to go to a show where the major creative ambition is to give you a laugh. And that is what Una McKevitt’s new play does. And if credib...

My review of Fair Deal by Una McKevitt on the Peacock stage at the Abbey Theatre@abbeytheatre.bsky.social
www.independent.ie/entertainmen...

Arthur Miller’s witch-hunt classic The Crucible has too much talk and not enough passion Arthur Miller’s 1953 play is based on the Salem Witch Trials in late 17th-century colonial America. The community of the town in Massachusetts became engulfed in a major persecution frenzy, where youn...

My review of Arthur Miller's The Crucible at the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin. Third American play in three weeks; we are getting our fill of USA drama at the moment...
www.independent.ie/entertainmen...

Eureka Day flips from laughs to loggerheads with cheeky skill as parents go to war over child vaccinations The Gate’s new show for spring is designed for laughs. It’s an American middle-class comedy that pokes liberal pieties in the eye and grapples with a serious controversy: the debate about childhood va...

My review of the Irish premiere of Jonathan Spector's Eureka Day at the Gate Theatre, Dublin.
www.independent.ie/entertainmen...

Harper Lee classic moves with times as Atticus Finch portrayed as a centrist dad Reinvented for a more agitated age, this is a provocative adaptation of Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about racism, with Atticus Finch (Richard Coyle) chided for his centrist dad tendencie...

My review of Aaron Sorkin's version of Harper Lee's To Kill A Mocking Bird at the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Dublin.
www.independent.ie/entertainmen...

Trying to encourage/appease the sun gods in Blackrock.

Googling garden plants to grow in a marsh since I now live in a marsh. #whatthefliuch

Theatre director Conall Morrison: ‘I don’t think there is any danger of the male voice being silenced’ Director Conall Morrison flops into the sofa opposite me in the coffee lounge of the Marine Hotel in Dún Laoghaire.

My interview with Conall Morrison, who is director of a new play, Fair Deal by Una McKevitt, which opens in the Peacock @abbeytheatre.bsky.social next week.
www.independent.ie/entertainmen...

Monkstown Dart/Canal

Wild and original performance art contemplating Irishness at the National Gallery can tie you up in knots When you arrive at the National Gallery of Ireland via the Merrion Square entrance, often the first port of call is the Shaw Room which is immediately to your left. One wall is dominated by the vast p...

My review of The Flag at the National Gallery of Ireland.
www.independent.ie/entertainmen...

The people I know who work this schedule are all artists. Often younger artists, but they do do this. But not the marry early bit.

Lol!

POWER BALLAD: WORLD PREMIERE | Bord Gáis Energy Theatre

Delighted to see a world premiere film screening at Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, which seats c.2000, as part of Dublin International Film Festival. Dublin's largest cinema is Cineworld 17 (c.403 seats); or Odeon 1 (c.380seats). Proper red carpet vibes!
www.bordgaisenergytheatre.ie/show/diff-cl...

15 January 2026 Any civilised country would sever all interactions with Israel - like the apartheid era boycott of South Africa. However our craven leader baulks even at the insipid occupied territories bill.

Having long abandoned Twitter (X) and not finding much local traction on Threads, I think I’ll start hanging out on Bluesky. I’ll also post my weekly Substack here.

open.substack.com/pub/johnposu...

I review Anne Gildea's standup show at the Viking Theatre in Clontarf in today's Irish Independent @independent.ie

Get measured up for a pillow (Harvey Norman do them here in Ireland) they cost about €70. Had major neck problem, months of physio, got the pillow at dentist recommendation, and I haven't looked back. (I look back all the time now with great ease)

Miscarriage and a rare glimpse at its effects on the male psyche explored in two-hander play Robin and Dawn We don’t get much from male writers on the subject of miscarriage and perinatal death – it’s an arena mostly left to the women. But men’s perspectives are equally interesting, and this new play from M...

My review of Robin and Dawn, lunchtimes at Bewley's Café Theatre on Grafton Street in Dublin. Runs until Jan 31
www.independent.ie/entertainmen...

At the Viking Theatre in Clontarf to review Further Adventures in Womaning, Anne Gildea's new standup show.

Crib with red light

Almost time to switch off the red light.

Saturday's Indo Review and my feature on Top Hat coming to Bord Gais Energy Theatre later this month.

Nativity crib lit by a red bulb.

Bulb blew in my crib, and I could only find a red replacement. Now baby Jesus is getting born in a brothel, not in a stable, and Christmas is ruined.

For anyone interested in my first two monographs - BERNARD SHAW'S IRISH OUTLOOK and IRISH ANGLICAN LITERATURE AND DRAMA - the publishers are selling them for only €23.99 between now and 31/12/25. Perfect stocking stuffers! ;-)

link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

Following our #MissionCritical symposium in collaboration with the Irish Times, we need your help.

🔗 Your responses will help us understand how audiences engage with reviews, and will feed into our report on the future of theatre criticism: https://bit.ly/4rrbptR

To clean a double duvet in those public self-service large washing machines costs €26,(12 wash; 14 dry). New duvet costs €25 in Woodies. Planet is going to hell in a handcart.

The Beavarians - Animated Short Film YouTube video by Merlin Roche

youtu.be/TaFLB06ifFY Check out this short film I made that was featured in the Dublin Animation Meetup's Annual Film Festival, DAMNATION. Made in under 10 days using After Effects and Clip Studio Paint, please give it a watch!

Irish bird-lovers: the annual Irish Garden Bird Survey starts tomorrow 🥳 🙌 🎉

If you need a reason to keep going in the darkest days of winter, count birds.

If you want to be a citizen scientist, count birds.

If breakfasts are boring, count birds.

Got a few spare moments? Just count birds.

The ­eccentricities of Dumbledore actor Michael Gambon from the woman who was his ‘earwig’ Acting is like quicksilver. It’s difficult to pin down exactly what makes one actor great and another merely good. As a critic, you can run the gamut of the thesaurus and it’s still hard to capture a ...

My review of The Great Gambon, Milly Ellis's book about actor Michael Gambon.
m.independent.ie/entertainmen...

Theatre review: A moving tribute to Amelia Earhart and the loss of a great hero of the sky Amelia Earhart is one of the great derring-do heroes of the early days of aviation: those foolhardy daredevils determined to shrink the globe as technological advances struggled to keep up with their ...

My Amelia review from Sligo's Blue Raincoat Theatre Company
www.independent.ie/entertainmen...

Celine Byrne is brilliant in sparkling modern take on Madama Butterfly Madama Butterfly by Giacomo Puccini is an opera of exquisite pain. A lovely Japanese girl marries the American soldier Pinkerton and bears him a child. She remains faithful to her absent man as he hea...

My review of Puccini's Madama Butterfly from Irish National Opera, starring Celine Byrne
www.independent.ie/entertainmen...

Theatre review: Millennials tackle their demons as the world hurtles towards catastrophe in Denouement It requires courage to plonk a world premiere by an emerging writer on a main stage. Theatre so often relies on the tried and true for box office. But if there isn’t constant new work and new talent, ...

My review of Denouement at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast
www.independent.ie/entertainmen...