This years Tiger Dublin Fringe Festival has a lot to roar about, they have a new title sponsor (the well fitted Tiger Beer), a new artistic director – Canadian Kris Nelson - and a mountain of new shows from theatre to spoken word to spectacles, performance art, music gigs and comedy. There are more than 600 events this year with 84 different shows and over 40 venues, so where to start in exploring this mammoth festival which takes place from the 5th – 20th September?
If one thing is for sure it’s that there’s certainly something for everyone…
Dipping Your Toe In
The Tiger Dublin Fringe Festival kicks off this week on Thursday and on Saturday there is a once-off spectacular event taking place on the Samuel Beckett bridge. Ulysses Opera Theatre in association with Tiger Dublin Fringe present 'Harp - A River Cantata' where the Samuel Beckett bridge will be transformed into Ireland’s largest instrument. Featuring opera singers, drummers and dancers with composition by Tom Lane inspired by the frequencies of the bridge and it’s supports.
This year the 'Tiger Beer Presents Dublin Made' strand of the festival has a rake of sure bets. Tiger Dublin Made aims to “explore new sides of Dublin, tracking some of the city’s most daring and exciting artists. Unforgettable performances by makers who envision big things and are connected to the city. Track your way through this stimulating series of theatre, dance, music and comedy. Meet those who reveal inner workings and who imagine bold new versions of how we live and where we are. Unflinching examinations. Cheeky jokes. Fluorescent celebrations. Dublin revealed, reimagined and rearranged.”
Included in this programme is: the brilliant musician Jape performing in Meeting House Square on Friday 12th; DJ Kormac will be performing solo a fringe special audio visual extravaganza in Meeting House Square on Saturday 6th; and Fringe favourites and much loved comedy trio Foil Arms and Hog return with new show Begorrah in Smock Alley Theatre from Sept 5th – 14th.
Fringe Festival winners The Company and Talking Shop Ensemble both return with shows upstairs in Project Arts Centre. The Company explore and reinvent one of the greatest tales of all time, The Oresteia, in their new show The Rest is Action. While Talking Shop Ensemble and Shaun Dunne take a conceptual exploration of disability service provision in Ireland in Advocacy a new play about “respectfully sticking your oar in, speaking up for yourself, sticking up for each other- and the importance of knowing what goes on behind closed doors”.
Diving In The Deep End
While there are sure bets there are, as always, an array of exciting and wild new performances pushing boundaries and stretching imagination.
Songs from a Car Park by Jessica Kennedy and John McIlDuff is a site-specific immersive dance piece performed on a rooftop car park with a drive-in movie feel. Audience members watch from the car and are treated to popcorn snacks from a roller skater. This takes place in Tallaght Car Park September 7th and Drury St Car Park September 12th- 14th
House of Comedians is a new comedy piece where you are invited into Tom Walsh’s home where they are filming a sitcom, over five nights five new episodes will be filmed and streamed online. This will take place in Tom Walsh’s house, the meeting point will be Fallons Pub Tues 16th – Sat 20th.
Stefan Fae: Cabaret Mattachine is a cabaret like none other by Stefan Fae. Stefan is a Radical Faerie and this magical creative feast takes place in the intimate downstairs setting of a functioning opticians on Kildare Street. This event takes place in Molloy and Dowling Dispensing Opticians on Kildare St 15th – 20th September.
For one night only there is an experiential event in The Morrison Hotel inspired by George Orwell’s novel 1984. The Party is a political party launch with a twist, buy your ticket to find out more and begin the adventure online before the main event. This event takes place in The Morrison Hotel on September 14th at 7pm & 7.20pm.
Spoken word collective Pettycash bring their new show Úr to The Mart this year after the sold out success of 'Grindr/ A love story' last year. The piece is an immersive celebration and will no doubt be a rollercoaster experience.
There is unsurprisingly also a strong Canadian influence in this year’s festival with one of the highlights being vocalist Tanya Tagaq from Northern Canada who has collaborated with the likes of Kronos Quartet and Bjork. She will perform in Meeting House Square on Sunday 7th September.
2Fik is a Canadian multidisciplinary artist who will recreate “The Marriage of Strongbow and Aoife” the famous painting by Daniel Maclise. He will pose as more than 80 characters to recreate the piece over 8 hours with the final reimaging being revealed on 12th September.
There is plenty to explore in this year’s Tiger Dublin Fringe Festival and something to everyone’s taste, have a browse through the full programme here: www.fringefest.com/festival or call in to talk to some of the team in Filmbase on Curved Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 2.
