‘Challenging, fun and fearless’ programme for theatre festival

The programme for this year’s festival will be officially launched next Monday, March 31, at in the city’s Hyde Bar at 6pm.

Highlights will include Malaprop Theatre’s production of Hothouse, a play with songs, climate chaos, and a ship’s captain pulling the strings. Hothouse, which time-travels between 1969, the present, and 100 years into the future, is “a funny, exploration of love, legacy and the absurdity of life”. Audiences can expect drag cabarets about bees, tunes and laughter in the face of climate doom.

In Chop, Cian Kinsella uses physical comedy, slapstick, puppetry and dance to explore the life of a wood-chopper stuck in a surreal, purgatorial loop, endlessly chopping as the world crumbles around him. It’s billed as “a hilarious, heartbreaking exploration of humanity’s impact on nature and the struggle to break the cycle”.

The Lonesome Boatman from Colm O’Grady is a musical clown odyssey that turns climate change into an adventure, as a corrupt politician, Buttons, sets sail in his bathtub on rising tides.

But We’re Right from theatre-maker Morghan Welt and composer Saoirse Miller, is a politically charged two-hander exploring the rise of right-wing ideologies among young Europeans.

Mr Bergmann of Deadman’s Point, from Nth Degree Productions is based on the story of Peter Bergmann, a man who erased his identity before being found dead in Sligo. Told through the eyes of an embalmer with his own clock ticking, it’s a meditation on identity, legacy and death.

Pauline O’Driscoll’s JUMP!? is a comedy/drama that aims to tackle every hormonal taboo, from puberty to menopause

Jo Morrigan Black’s solo spoken-word show Carpet Muncher brings the urban legend of Mothman to life in a celebration of queer identity, body metamorphosis and drag.

Pre-Ops from Allta Productions is “a darkly funny play” about transphobia, healthcare and choices. It’s set in a maternity hospital, where two strangers awaiting hysterectomies navigate gender, identity and bias.

Aoife Sweeney offers an Evening with Wee Daniel – almost. In this absurdist autobiographical cabaret, Aoife celebrates queer identity, growing up in Donegal and “their unironic obsession with Wee Daniel”. This dates from their first meeting with Daniel when they were a baby, to his surprise appearance at their mother’s funeral.

“Galway Theatre Festival is about theatre that matters. It’s about stories that challenge perspectives, make us laugh and make us feel. It’s about keeping Galway’s cultural scene thriving and fearless,” says the event’s Artistic Director, Sarah Byrne.

As part of that, the festival is hosting the Queer Culture project, Tabú, which puts female, lesbian, intersex, trans and asexual (FLINTA) artists and audiences front and centre, and which will give people the chance to immerse themselves in queer club culture.

Meanwhile, as part of Monday night’s launch guests will walk to the Town Hall Theatre for a performance of the multiple award-winning Chicken from Sunday Child Theatre.

It’s the story of proud Irish man Don Murphy, a hopeless ketamine addict and one of his generation’s greatest actors. He’s also a chicken. Over one fateful night, the feathered Oscar winner shares his story – from getting his big break, to his first bird-on-bird sexual experience, to navigating life in the celebrity spotlight. Along the way Don will be confronted with harsh truths about himself, chicken-kind and humankind.

Galway Theatre Festival runs from May 2-10, in venues across Galway. For the full programme and tickets, go to galwaytheatrefestival.com.

Pictured: Colm O'Grady as Buttons the corrupt politician in The Lonesome Boatman.