Gigs, drama, art, dance... 10 highlights of Galway Arts Festival
Druid theatre company presents a double bill of JM Synge's Riders to the Sea and William Shakespeare's MacBeth. Both are directed by Druid founder Garry Hynes, feature actress Marie Mullen, and are staged in the theatre named for the late Mick Lally. It is 50 years since the three established Druid as the first Irish professional theatre company outside Dublin, a landmark anniversary that is also celebrated in an exhibition of photographs by Joe O'Shaughnessy, at the Kenny Gallery on Tuam Road, covering the broad sweep of the ensemble's achievements.
2 Kevin Barry, The Cave: Town Hall Theatre, Courthouse Square July 22 - 26
Kevin Barry is best known as the author of a series of inventive novels, including the International Dublin Literary Award-winning City of Bohane. Barry's adaptation of his short story collection, There Are Little Kingdoms, was produced to great acclaim by Meridian in Cork in 2008, and it seems extraordinary that it has taken so long to present his work on the stage once more. The Cave stars Aaron Monaghan and Tommy Tiernan as Bopper and Archie McRae, a pair of petty criminal brothers holed up in the mountains in Co Sligo, with Judith Roddy as their garda sister Helen.
3 Oh…: Galway Atlantaquaria, Salthill July 8 – 26
Mikel Murfi
Mikel Murfi's unforgettable one-man theatre productions have included I Hear You and Rejoice and The Man in the Woman's Shoes. Murfi trained at L'École Internationale de Théatre Jacques Lecoq in Paris, where the emphasis is on physical performance. Never one to shirk a challenge, he presents his new show - a reflection on new journeys, partings and the possibility of moving on - in the main tank of Galway Atlantaquaria.
4 Mogwai: Heineken Big Top July 24
Mogwai's eleventh album in 30 years, The Bad Fire, landed in January. The Scottish noise merchants' song titles are even better than Morrissey's – Fanzine Made of Flesh, Pale Vegan Hip Pain and If You Find This World Bad, You Should See Some of the Others are just some of the beauties on The Bad Fire – and their politics are far more palatable. Most of their oeuvre is instrumental, but possessed of a grandeur that belies their origins in the indie scene in 1990s Glasgow.
5 Mary Coughlan: Heineken Big Top July 23
Since her first album, Tired and Emotional, in 1985, the Galway-born chanteuse Mary Coughlan has interpreted everything from smoky blues to jazz and trad, Jacques Brel and Leonard Cohen to Jimmy McCarthy and Johnny Mulhern. Her sometimes tumultuous life has been grist to the mill for the tabloids, but at 69, she remains a formidable and much-loved talent. Coughlan's 40th Anniversary Greatest Hits Show features her full band, along with a string and brass section.
6 David Mach, Burning Down the House: Festival Gallery, William St July 14 – 27
David Mach's Cheetah 1
The Scottish sculptor and installation artist David Mach presents his fourth major project at Galway Arts Festival, after Precious Light in 2012, Rock'n'Roll in 2018 and The Oligarch's Nightmare in 2023. Mach, a Turner Prize nominee in 1988, is known for his large-scale public art projects, such as Brick Train, assembled from 185,000 bricks, at Darlington, Co Durham. Burning Down the House is one of several exhibitions at GIAF that address climate change. Mach will give a talk at the gallery at 11am Tuesday July 15.
7 Eman Mohammed, What Lies Beneath the Rubble: Studio 2, O'Donoghue Centre July 14 – 27
Eman Mohammed
Eman Mohammed was born in Tabouk, a small village in Saudi Arabia, in 1983 and educated in Gaza City, Palestine. She began her career in photojournalism at 19, and quickly cemented her reputation as the first woman war photojournalist in Gaza. Her work has appeared in the Guardian, the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal, and her memoir The Cracks in My Lens was published in 2022. Her photo essay, Layan's Steps, published in the Atavist Magazine in July 2024, helped reveal that Gaza is home to the world's largest concentration of child amputees, victims of Israeli attacks on the territory.
8 Aoife Dunne, Good Grief: Róisín Dubh, Dominick St July 24 & 25
Language teacher Aoife Dunne had amassed more than 100,000 followers for her humorous videos on Instagram before it ever occurred to her that she might be a comedian. And even then, it was only because she was invited to perform at the legendary Dead Rabbit club in New York. The Galway native is not shy about tackling contemporary issues such as toxic masculinity, and posted a memorable rebuke to Conor McGregor on social media after his appearance at the White House on Patrick's Day. Good Grief is billed as 'a unique blend of stand-up, storytelling and spoken word,' and deals with the death of Dunne's mother, the loss of her job and relationship during the Covid pandemic, and her efforts to rebuild her life thereafter.
9 Resistance to Trump: Bailey Allen Hall, University of Galway July 26
Journalist Fintan O'Toole interviews Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, the Democratic Party politician who has represented Washington's 7th Congressional District, encompassing most of Seattle, since 2017. Born in Chennai, India, Jayapal emigrated to the US in 1982, aged 16, to attend college at Georgetown University. She is the first Indian-American woman to serve in the US House of Representatives. A vocal critic of Donald Trump's presidency, she has condemned his budget reconciliation bill of July 2025 as 'one big, beautiful betrayal.'
10 Planete Vapeur, Microcosmos: Les Insectes Fantasiques: Eyre Square 9.30pm Friday July 18 / 6pm and 9.30pm Saturday July 19
Planète Vapeur's Microcosmos
French street theatre specialists Planete Vapeur present Microcosmos, featuring a twelve-metre grasshopper, a spinning spider and a swarm of mysterious stilt-walkers, musicians and acrobats. The hour-long spectacle begins at Eyre Square before proceeding to Lower Fairhill Road via Shop Street and Bridge Street. What could be more magical on a summer's evening in the City of the Tribes?
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