Tavistock Arts presents
Killer Joe
by Tracy Letts
Directed by Jim Ivers
Mar 1st - 13th @ 8pm
Matinee: Sat Mar 13th @ 2:30pm
Tickets: €18 / 15 (concs)
At the heart of Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species is the theory of natural selection: the process by which life accumulates random genetic changes resulting in the survival of the fittest. But what happens when there has been decay in values at the heart of the American Dream?

In No Country for Old Men Cormac McCarthy described Texas as a place that was able to soak up cruelty and dish it back at the same time. This was never truer than in Killer Joe, the first play written by Pulitzer Prize winner and Steppenwolf actor, Tracy Letts. The play focuses on the Smith family, a selfish, dysfunctional clan of trailer-trash Texans who hatch a plan to get themselves out of financial ruin. However, when you put a snake down a rabbit hole, only disastrous consequences can follow. More a force of nature than a human being, once Killer Joe Cooper enters their world, things are never as easy as they seem and in the grand tradition of film noir, events spiral relentlessly towards an inevitable ruthless finale.

Killer Joe is a pitch black comedy which subverts family values in a way which scrapes the darker depths of the human soul. Martin McDonagh has credited this play as the one which inspired him to revise his writing style and ultimately lead to worldwide acclaim. This production features graphic violence and adult content and is recommended for mature audiences only.

Starring Rachel Cooke, Ciara Donegan, Jeff Doyle, Anthony Kelly and Guy Leadbetter.

Mind’s Eye Theatre Company presents
My Best Friend
by Tamsin Oglesby
Mar 15th - 20th @ 8pm
Tickets: €15 / 12 (concs)
Brought to an Irish audience for the first time, My Best Friend is a provocative play that tells the story of three women with a shared yet secretive past. Humorous as it is sinister, it explores the fragile relationship between three old school friends, Bee, Emma and Chris. Set in a rustic French farmhouse, the three friends are set on a collision course which culminates in an unexpected and frenzied climax.

With overtures of paranoia, mistrust, excess and greed it examines the complexities of three very different personalities. Colored by elements of chronic individualism, the play questions the evolution and life of memories and the extent to which one can truly and accurately rely on one’s own memory.

What the Critics Say::
"sparky new writing ... confirms that [Oglesby] is a writer capable of combining sharp wit with deep feeling ... Oglesby has you laughing one minute and wincing with rueful recognition the next ... compelling" - Charles Spencer, The Daily Telegraph

The New Theatre presents
Why Men Cheat
by Peadar de Burca
Mar 22nd - 27th @ 8pm
Tickets: €15 / 10 (concs)

Ever cheated? Ever been cheated on? Ever wondered what compels men to stray from their partners? If so, then a trip to to see Why Men Cheat might answer some of your questions.

Following its sell-out success around Ireland, the hit comedy, Why Men Cheat comes to Dublin.

Based on 250 interviews with men who cheated and women who were cheated on, Why Men Cheat, explores the weird and not so wonderful world of male infidelity. Alternately honest and raucous, Irish writer and comedian, Peadar de Burca tells the stories that explores almost every facet of cheating ... just don’t sit in the front row ...

What the Critics Say::
"Four stars and a smile on your face" - Claire Sheridan, The Irish Times
"Well worth seeing, will probably attract audiences in their droves" - The Sunday World
"Intoxicating laughter, audiences were rolling in the aisles, well worth seeing for both male and female" - Ian O’Doherty, The Irish Independent
"Sexy, insightful, very funny ... basically gives the game away for all cheaters" - John Breen, author Alone it Stands
"the most down to earth comedy you will see in a long time" - Around Midnight RTE Radio 1
"the best show of the Dublin Festival" - Beth Tyrell, Sunday World
"This show should not be missed, no matter what theatre it is in" - Conor Morrow, The Sunday Tribune

The New Theatre presents
Put Out The Light
by Paul Kennedy
Mar 29nd - Apr 3rd @ 8pm
Tickets: €14 / 12 (concs)
€10 (Preview)
Put Out the Light is a play set in Dublin about a tragic relationship between an African immigrant and an Irish woman. Kenneth Tamunda came to Ireland from Nairobi and initially things went well for him. After he is detained and breathalysed by a corrupt Garda on the way home form a late night party, his life begins to spiral out of control. He battles against his own demons and tries to make sense of the evil he finds in his world. The play is about the insidious and corrosive effects of racism, but also about the difficulty of untangling truth from false perceptions. Kenneth descends into a hell that could be partly of his own making and partly a response to intolerable pressure, in a culture that he once thought he understood. He does desperate things because desperate things are done to him. This is a play about love, jealousy, deceit and the tragic frailty of love.

About George Seremba (Actor)
Ugandan born actor George Seremba’s acclaimed one man show Come Good Rain has toured internationally to hundreds of venues over the last number of years. He was nominated for the BEST ACTOR in the Irish Times/ESB Awards for his role in Master Harold and the Boys (Calypso Theatre Company) and has recently appeared in The Playboy of the Western World (ABBEY THEATRE) and The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (ABBEY THEATRE). Television work includes a substantial part in Fair City.

About Paul Kennedy (Writer / Director)
Plays by Paul Kennedy include: Stopping by the Woods (Dublin Fringe 2009), Desert Places (Druid Debuts), The Tenants (Project Arts Centre), Testimonies (co-authored with Mary Moynihan at Space@the Helix and the New Theatre), Gloria(International Bar/St Johns Listowel), Acquainted with the Night (Andrews Lane Studio), Beautiful Creatures (Andrews Lane Studio). Paul received an "Artist in the Community" Award form the Arts Council in 2003 for which he wrote and directed A Journey Through the Markets for Smashing Times Theatre Company.

Yapperhead Theatre Company presents
Three Short Plays:
Lennon v McCartney
The Wire on O’Connell Street
Keep the Devil Way Down in the Hole
Written and Directed by Stephen Kennedy
Apr 5th - Apr 10th @ 8pm
Preview: Apr 5th
Tickets: €12.50 / 10 (concs)
€10 (Preview)
The show runs for 60 minutes without an interval

LENNON v McCARTNEY
Since the dawn of time human beings have gathered in pubs and argued about who is greater - John Lennon or Paul McCartney. Now, finally, here at last (and not a moment too soon), is a short play that definitively sorts out the argument once and for all. Well. sort of. Lennon v McCartney is performed by Seamus Brennan and Gus McDonagh. This short play has been selected for performance at the 2010 Beatles Festival in Liverpool next August.

THE WIRE ON O’CONNELL STREET
Have you ever wondered what might have happened if the greatest TV show of all time (The Wire) had been set in Dublin, Ireland? No. Well, don't worry; not many people have. Still. here it is. The Wire on O’Connell Street. Good against Evil. Tall against Small. Westside against Eastside. Hey, it’s all in the game. So get ready to play or be played. You feel me? The Wire on O’Connell Street is performed by Sean Flanagan, Kevin McGahern, Trevor Browne, Enda Muldoon and Barra O’Duill.

KEEP THE DEVIL WAY DOWN IN THE HOLE
This is a play about a man who hates his job working in a cash-in-transit van. This is a play about a man with growing money problems. This is a play about a man who goes for a pint one Thursday night and finds himself talking to the wrong people. the very wrong people. In short, this is a play about the stupid gambles that we all take in life. even you. Keep the Devil Way Down in the Hole is performed by Padraic McGinley.

YAPPERHEAD THEATRE COMPANY was founded in 2008 to fight crime and keep young hoodlums off the mean streets of Dublin. Having failed hopelessly on both fronts, we then turned our attention to putting on plays instead. Our previous show - Sex! (Three Short Plays with very little to do with sex) - was presented at the New Theatre in late 2008, and it would have no doubt won a bucket-full of Tony Awards if we had been sleeping with the right people ... or any people.

Tabs Theatre Productions presents
A Year In The Life
by Niamh Cummins
Apr 13th - 17th @ 8pm
Tickets: TBA

A Year in the Life, directed by up and coming talent Vincent O’Reilly and performed by a fresh, dynamic cast of talented actors, promises to bring a smile to your face. This new play is an exciting and contemporary family drama which draws its influences from the traditional Irish kitchen sink plays of John B Keane and Brendan Behan. The play, which is performed in one act, puts the relationships of the Kelly family under the microscope, during a very eventful year in their lives. Throughout the lively and humorous production the audience gets a glimpse of a new form of family life which seems caught between the traditional and the contemporary. Relationships between siblings, parents, children, husband and wife, all struggle to find a balance in this ever changing world.

The New Theatre presents
Candy Flipping Butterfiles
by Karl Argue
Apr 19th - 24th @ 8pm
Preview 19th Apr
Tickets: €10 (Preview) €12 (concs) €15

"It's difficult to find a hero, When they're all off their heads ..."

"My blood races, All through my body, Spreading happiness to places, in my mind, BODY, and soul, that's where I want to go... I can feel it in me, pumping faster And Faster, Base loving, TECHNO. Oh here it comes, We're ready to go. He takes away the beats...and we flow...Bliss! Magical maladies. Make us reach to the sky. I FEEL SO GOOD. I feel so good! Makes me smile, All loved up. Head rushing. Body mushed. Everything is great. Living the moment, Hugs to a stranger. Kisses to a babe. Beat teasing D.J. Bring back the beats..."

Set in the mid 1990’s, around the rave culture in Ireland, as we follow the lives of four teenagers wherever they may be, over a weekend of drug fuelled debauchery on this lyrically rhythmic roller coaster ride of ecstasy. A play about the 90’s for the 21st century, combining the best of Electronica, laser light shows, dance, with mouth popping dialogue, and comedic and dramatic performances that will all have you on the edge of your seat, all mixed together in a poetic cocktail that will titillate your every senses.

About Karl Argue
Karl who is primarily an actor, has been developing as writer for the past number of years. With his debut writing credits including: Snot Face and the Monkey (Bus Project - Dublin Fringe 2007), The short film Lost In Hollywood, shot on location in L.A. in 2006, Cosmic Baby, a feature length screenplay in development, and this stage play Candy Flipping Butterflies. Some acting credits include: Savage, Craic Whores, A Dirty War, The Clinic, Head Rush, Three Crosses, Lost In Hollywood, A Dublin Story, Statistically Joe, Time and Again, When the Sky Falls, Waiting for O'Brien, Boys’ Life, Spoon Fed, Whose Veins Ran Lightening (New Theatre), Seven Brides for Brothers (Draiocht Theatre), Tissue (Crypt Theatre), Lovers (Crypt Theatre), Romeo v Juliet v Pablo (No Shame Theatre Los Angeles)