The 2025 edition of Dublin Theatre Festival offers an eclectic and global survey of the artform, from classical repertoire to work that pushes the boundaries of what theatre can be, and everything in between.
The festival will open at O’Reilly Theatre with Teatro La Plaza (Peru) where an ensemble of actors with Down syndrome take to the stage to share their desires and frustrations through a new version of Hamlet. Built between Shakespeare’s text and the actors’ lives it takes as a starting point the most existential question: To be or not to be?
Watch / Share the trailer for Hamlet HERE
Artists and lovers Rosana Cade and Ivor MacAskill (Scotland and England) created The Making of Pinocchio in 2018 in response to Ivor’s gender transition. A true tale of love and transition told through the story of Pinocchio (Samuel Beckett Theatre).
Whitewashing from Rébecca Chaillon and Aurore Déon (France) is an insightful and searing performance from one of Europe’s most in demand performance makers, exploring the white gaze as experienced by Black women in contemporary France. It makes an illuminating, and visceral performance not to be missed (Project Arts Centre).
Shane O’Reilly fuses theatre, opera and film in a bold and ambitious new work, Her Father’s Voice. A young girl is about to have cochlear implant surgery as her parents wrestle with the weight of their choices in this contemporary family drama (O’Reilly Theatre).
This new adaptation of the Chekhov classic Three Sisters by award-winning playwright Ciara Elizabeth Smyth, at The Gaiety Theatre, directed by Marc Atkinson Borrull and designed by Molly O’Cathain, is given a contemporary Irish take and features Megan Cusack (Call The Midwife), Saoirse-Monica Jackson (Derry Girls), Alex Murphy (The Young Offenders) and Máiréad Tyers (Extraordinary).
At O’Reilly Theatre, set against the backdrop of present-day Warsaw, 30-year-old Maja comes to terms with a traumatic loss. Pieces of a Woman is from the writer (Kata Wéber) and director (Kornél Mundruczó) behind the award-winning hit Netflix film adaptation; witness the Irish stage premiere from TR Warszawa Poland. This production is supported by Silvercrest.
WATCH / SHARE the trailer for Pieces of a Woman HERE
“I am thrilled to present my first programme at Dublin Theatre Festival this year. As an island nation on the edge of Europe, that punches above our weight with our global contribution to culture, Dublin Theatre Festival is a really important moment in the calendar for Irish audiences to see the outside world on our stages, and we have some really fantastic international shows in the programme this year that are not to be missed. With a world in turmoil, the shared experience of witnessing stories from artists from all corners, as well as excellent home-grown theatre, has never felt more important.” Róise Goan, Artistic Director
To book tickets, visit dublintheatrefestival.ie or call 01 6778899 (Mon-Fri, 12pm – 6pm)
