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Irish Times
43 minutes ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Ireland event guide: Lana Del Rey, Alanis Morissette and the other best things to do this week
Event of the week Lana Del Rey Monday, June 30th, Aviva Stadium, Dublin, 5pm, €176.75/€126.25/€106.25/€89.50 (sold out) The queen of noir romance and melancholia returns for her biggest headline appearance in Ireland. It's perhaps a risk to bring her predominantly languid, low-key style to as enormous a setting as the Aviva Stadium, which is better suited to banger-oriented pop and rock. But Del Rey is used to big venues: when she played at the 3Arena in Dublin in 2023, it became a full-throttle love-in, the crowd belting out the lyrics to every song she performed. That show, which she announced only 10 days in advance, also featured a swirl of vocalists and backing dancers, there to make it more of a spectacle. So expect something similar on this short tour of Ireland and Britain, plus, with luck, some of the tracks from Del Rey's upcoming album. Gigs Alanis Morissette Sunday, June 29th, Malahide Castle, Co Dublin, 4pm, €69.90/€59.90; Monday, June 30th, Belsonic, Belfast, 4pm, £81/£71, Thirty years ago this month the Canadian singer-songwriter Alanis Morissette released her game-changing third album, Jagged Little Pill. Its explicit confessional thrust is viewed not only as a landmark moment for the music industry but also as a significant influence on emerging female acts, inspiring them to more forcefully voice their opinions. There is still a lot to be angry about, Morissette recently told Elle magazine, 'except now we're conscientious as fuck.' Support comes from the US songwriter Liz Phair (one of Morissette's pivotal early influences) and the ensemble group Irish Women in Harmony. Joe Bonamassa plays Rory Gallagher From Tuesday, July 1st, until Thursday, July 3rd, Live at the Marquee, Cork, 8pm, €82.55/€77.55, Arriving shortly after the 30th anniversary of Rory Gallagher 's death, these three shows pay tribute to one of Ireland's earliest internationally successful rock stars. Gallagher's influence on future generations of guitarists runs from Brian May of Queen and the Edge of U2 to Johnny Marr of The Smiths and James Dean Bradfield of Manic Street Preachers. Joe Bonamassa – 'arguably the world's biggest blues guitarist,' according to Guitar World – also fell under the spell of Gallagher's artistry, and these shows will see the US musician rip through selections from the guitarist's back catalogue. Special guests include Gallagher's long-standing bandmate Gerry McEvoy. Stage The Pillowman From Friday, July 4th (previews until Wednesday, July 9th), until Sunday, September 7th, Gate Theatre, Dublin, 7.30pm, €26.50, Martin McDonagh's Tony-nominated play from 2003 was revived in 2023 for a 12-week run in the West End of London, and the following year at the Lyric Theatre in Belfast. Now it's the turn of the Gate, in Dublin, to tell the sometimes unsavoury story of two brothers, Katurian (Fra Fee) and Michal (Ryan Dylan), and their dysfunctional family background. The Olivier Award winner Lyndsey Turner directs. Aidan McArdle, Julian Moore-Cook and Jade O'Connor also feature. READ MORE Festival Kaleidoscope From Friday, July 4th, until Sunday, July 6th, Russborough House, Blessington, Co Wicklow, 1pm, €97.55/€72.55/€56.25, Jerry Fish Ireland's largest family-friendly summer festival returns with a mix of UK bands (Texas, Ocean Colour Scene), Irish acts (The Coronas, Riptide Movement, Hermitage Green, Jerry Fish), DJs (the Line of Duty actor Vicky McClure, Kelly-Anne Byrne, Calum Kieran) and an abundance of kids-oriented activities. These include a mini disco, children's yoga, movie time, interactive workshops, circus, a reptile zoo, science and design. Literature Happy Ever After: Falling in Love with Irish Romance Fiction From Friday, July 4th, until November, Museum of Literature Ireland, Dublin, Happy Ever After: Falling in Love with Irish Romance Fiction The forgotten history of (and regular snide commentary on) Irish romance fiction is explored in this exhibition, which features work by pioneering writers (including Lady Morgan, Rosa Mulholland, Maeve Binchy and Edna O'Brien) and contemporary authors (including Deirdre Purcell, Kate Kerrigan, Patricia Scanlan, Marian Keyes, Sally Rooney and Cecelia Ahern). The exhibition is curated by Paige Reynolds, professor of English at Holy Cross College, in Massachusetts, and author of Modernism in Irish Women's Contemporary Writing: The Stubborn Mode. Exhibition From Dickie to Richard: Richard Harris – Role of a Lifetime From Friday, July 4th, until Sunday, November 16th, Hunt Museum, Limerick, €12.50/€10 (under 16s free), Drawing on the extraordinary family archive that was donated to University College Cork in 2022, this exhibition celebrates the formidable life and career of the Limerick actor Richard Harris. All key points are covered, from his Oscar-nominated breakthrough performance, in the 1963 kitchen sink drama This Sporting Life, and his roles in Camelot (1967), The Field (1990), Unforgiven (1992), the first two Harry Potter films (2001-2002), to his Grammy-winning career as a different kind of pop singer in the late 1960s. The actor's son, Jared Harris, will take part in a public interview nearby (at Belltable Arts Centre on Friday, July 4th, 6pm, €20) that will be followed by a screening of the documentary The Ghost of Richard Harris . Musical Only Fools and Horses From Tuesday, July 1st, until Saturday, July 5th, Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, 7.30pm, €63.40/€52.30/€24.50, Only Fools and Horses: Paul Whitehouse Del Boy, Rodders and Grandad: one of the most beloved of UK sitcoms of the past 40 years arrives in Ireland from a four-year run in the West End of London. Based on John Sullivan's television series (and featuring a script and original music by Sullivan's son, Jim, and the highly regarded comic actor Paul Whitehouse), it promises to offer Trotter fans a celebratory knees-up and a lovely-jubbly feelgood factor. Still running Hibernacle at Orlagh House From Friday, July 4th, until Sunday, July 6th, Orlagh House, Rathfarnham, Dublin, 5pm, €65, Lisa Hannigan, from Tony Clayton-Lea for The Guide, Saturday, June 28, 2025. This three-day event at Orlagh House, an 18th-century Georgian mansion in the foothills of the Dublin Mountains, is a byword for quality. An outdoor stage and various nooks and crannies will host music acts such as Villagers, Pillow Queens, Lisa Hannigan, Ye Vagabonds, Wallis Bird and Ailbhe Reddy. Over-18s only. Book it this week New Ross Piano Festival, New Ross, Co Wexford, September 24th-28th, Write by the Sea, Kilmore Quay, Co Wexford, September 26th-28th, David McSavage, 3Olympia Theatre, Dublin, October 2nd, Beverly Glenn-Copeland, Vicar Street, Dublin, October 7th,
Irish Times
2 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Gráinne O'Hare on Belfast's literary boom: ‘It's a city of great storytellers'
Tell us about your first novel, Thirst Trap. Thirst Trap is set in my home city of Belfast . It's about three best friends who live in a crumbling house-share together, still grieving the death of the fourth member of their group a year after her passing. The three women are struggling to move on from the home and the life they all shared together in their 20s. Nights spent partying have become a sort of desperate distraction from their losses and their fears about the future. How did the story evolve as you wrote it? Did it surprise you? The novel sort of grew up alongside me. It started as a patchwork of scenes about Belfast women just going out and about their lives in their mid-20s. The characters got older with each fresh draft of the novel, and as they – and I – approached 30, I finally worked out the story I wanted to tell. The novel isn't anywhere near the same one it would have been if I'd finished it when I was 25, and I'm glad. What or who made you want to be a writer? I grew up loving funny writers – Jane Austen and PG Wodehouse , Victoria Wood and French and Saunders. I started writing because I wanted to capture that kind of humour in my own words. Are you conscious of being part of a new wave of Belfast writers such as Michael Magee, Susannah Dickey, Rachel Connolly, Róisín Lanigan, Aimee Walsh, Wendy Erskine, Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin? Aimee Walsh and I actually met doing an MA at Queen's [University] ; we've been great friends for over a decade and it's such a joy to see our names together as part of a Belfast literary boom. Belfast is a city of great storytellers and it's heartening to see not just a proliferation of Belfast novelists, but the variety and multitudes within everyone's work. READ MORE You've been shortlisted for the Francis MacManus Short Story Competition and the Bridport Prize, and twice came in the top three of the Benedict Kiely Short Story Competition. Duchess is great! Can you see common themes emerging? Looking back on all my short stories, a lot of them have themes of female friendship similar to those in my novel. I also find I write a lot more about fertility, pregnancy , and motherhood in short fiction ( Duchess being one example). Tell us about your PhD on 18th-century women's life-writing at Newcastle University. My research is about the ways in which misogynistic tropes were used in British print media to undermine the Methodist church in the 18th century, and the ways in which Methodist women preachers used memoirs, journals and letters as a platform to argue for the legitimacy of their leadership. I'm not a Methodist but these women were so alive on the page that I wanted to dedicate my research to highlighting their lives and voices. I passed my PhD examination in May, which I'm really proud of. I got to fill in 'Dr Gráinne O'Hare' when I was connecting to free wifi in a pub last week. Delighted. You are media editor of Criticks reviews for the British Society of Eighteenth-Century Studies. Any recommendations? The Great is my favourite 18th century-based series, it's so funny and original. Sense and Sensibility (1995) and Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019) would be my top film recommendations. Which projects are you working on? Right now, I am working on my second novel. Have you ever made a literary pilgrimage? I did recently fulfil a long-term dream of going to Chatsworth House, which was home to Georgiana Cavendish in the 18th century and Debo Mitford in the 20th, as well as being a possible inspiration for Austen's Pemberley. What is the best writing advice you have heard? I always come back to this advice from Stephen King , when he said, 'sometimes you're doing good work when it feels like all you're managing is to shovel shit from a sitting position'. You are supreme ruler for a day. Which law do you pass or abolish? That's a no-brainer. I would legislate for a free Palestine . Which current book, film and podcast would you recommend? Naomi Booth's latest novel Raw Content is one of the best books I've read this year. A recent film I remember really enjoying was The Outrun – Saoirse Ronan can do no wrong. At the moment I'm enjoying a weekly pop-culture podcast called Everything Is Content. The most remarkable place you have visited? The Greggs Champagne Bar. It opens in Newcastle city centre over the Christmas period, you sit and eat a sausage roll with a knife and fork, and there is a £425 bottle of Cristal on the wine list. I would love to know who is pairing that with their steak bake. Which writers, living or dead, would you invite to your dream dinner party? Aimee Walsh and James Conor Patterson – great writers, great craic. Also Nancy Mitford, Carrie Fisher, Evelyn Waugh and Donna Tartt. The best and worst things about where you live? See above: the Greggs Champagne Bar. No, in all seriousness – Newcastle is a beautiful city and the people are great craic. The worst thing is that the crisps are not as nice as they are in Ireland. The English cannot be trusted with potatoes. A book to make me laugh? Reasons to be Cheerful by Nina Stibbe . A book that might move me to tears? I cried at I Hope This Finds You Well by Natalie Sue last year. It's a really funny book but I also found it very touching. Thirst Trap is published by Picador
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
Autism centre gets free glow up after social media SOS
"I need your help!" When Gerard Donaghy, from Millisle, County Down, shared those words on his Facebook page, he had no idea how people would respond. He had a vision of bringing together painters and decorators from across Northern Ireland to give a building that serves the community a much-needed glow up. On Saturday, a resource centre for families living with autism will be given a free makeover - thanks to more than 50 volunteers. "You don't have to look far to find bad news these days - it can weigh you down - but something like this reminds you that there's still plenty of good out there," the father of two told BBC News NI. As well as looking for volunteers, Gerard, who runs Paintworks NI with his wife Danielle, asked for nominations for a building needing a transformation. The successful nominee was Helping Hands Autism Resource Centre in Dundonald, on the outskirts of Belfast. "As a dad of a daughter with additional needs, this one's personal," Gerard said. "I walked into their space and saw what they were trying to do and I just knew we could help make it better. "A coat of paint might not seem like much to some, but when it's done with care and pride, it changes how a place feels - and that's what these families deserve." Caroline Birch, chairperson of Helping Hands, said the organisation is "incredibly grateful for this act of kindness". "It means the world to our family members and the local community as well," she said. "We are absolutely delighted that Gerard and all the other guys have generously volunteered their time, equipment and expertise to support our charity by redecorating our premises." "The makeover will create a brighter, more welcoming space for the children and families that Helping Hands supports every day," she added. Rising costs and funding difficulties can be stressful for charities. But Caroline says the transformation has lifted the atmosphere and will allow them to "truly reflect the care and inclusion we strive to provide". "The Paint It Forward initiative stands as an excellent example of local businesses giving back and making a meaningful difference - we cannot thank them all enough," she said. "Here's to a colourful brighter future for our charity." Paint It Forward was something Gerard said he had been thinking about for years. "What if we could get a crowd of decorators together, just for one day, to completely transform a place that really needs it? No hoops to jump through, no funding, just people showing up and using their skills to do good." Last year, he met the chairman of the Painting Contractors Association in the US, Nick Slavic, who told him: "It starts with one." "That conversation was the fuel that lit the fire," he said. "From the minute we mentioned it, people jumped on it. "I had painters messaging saying 'Count me in', without even knowing the full details. "Suppliers stepped up with no hesitation... They just said yes - along with loads of local businesses who are chipping in too. "At the heart of it, it's just people wanting to be part of something positive." "I'd love to see this spark something across the board," Gerard said. "Whether you're a roofer, a joiner, a landscaper, a plumber, we all have skills. "If every trade gave one day a year to a cause in their community, imagine what we could do?"
BBC News
6 hours ago
- General
- BBC News
Autism centre in Northern Ireland gets glow up after Facebook SOS
"I need your help!"When Gerard Donaghy, from Millisle, County Down, shared those words on his Facebook page, he had no idea how people would had a vision of bringing together painters and decorators from across Northern Ireland to give a building that serves the community a much-needed glow Saturday, a resource centre for families living with autism will be given a free makeover - thanks to more than 50 volunteers."You don't have to look far to find bad news these days - it can weigh you down - but something like this reminds you that there's still plenty of good out there," the father of two told BBC News NI. As well as looking for volunteers, Gerard, who runs Paintworks NI with his wife Danielle, asked for nominations for a building needing a successful nominee was Helping Hands Autism Resource Centre in Dundonald, on the outskirts of Belfast."As a dad of a daughter with additional needs, this one's personal," Gerard said."I walked into their space and saw what they were trying to do and I just knew we could help make it better."A coat of paint might not seem like much to some, but when it's done with care and pride, it changes how a place feels - and that's what these families deserve." 'Act of kindness' Caroline Birch, chairperson of Helping Hands, said the organisation is "incredibly grateful for this act of kindness"."It means the world to our family members and the local community as well," she said."We are absolutely delighted that Gerard and all the other guys have generously volunteered their time, equipment and expertise to support our charity by redecorating our premises." "The makeover will create a brighter, more welcoming space for the children and families that Helping Hands supports every day," she added. Rising costs and funding difficulties can be stressful for Caroline says the transformation has lifted the atmosphere and will allow them to "truly reflect the care and inclusion we strive to provide". "The Paint It Forward initiative stands as an excellent example of local businesses giving back and making a meaningful difference - we cannot thank them all enough," she said."Here's to a colourful brighter future for our charity." Paint It Forward was something Gerard said he had been thinking about for years."What if we could get a crowd of decorators together, just for one day, to completely transform a place that really needs it? No hoops to jump through, no funding, just people showing up and using their skills to do good."Last year, he met the chairman of the Painting Contractors Association in the US, Nick Slavic, who told him: "It starts with one.""That conversation was the fuel that lit the fire," he said."From the minute we mentioned it, people jumped on it. 'We all have skills' "I had painters messaging saying 'Count me in', without even knowing the full details."Suppliers stepped up with no hesitation... They just said yes - along with loads of local businesses who are chipping in too."At the heart of it, it's just people wanting to be part of something positive.""I'd love to see this spark something across the board," Gerard said."Whether you're a roofer, a joiner, a landscaper, a plumber, we all have skills."If every trade gave one day a year to a cause in their community, imagine what we could do?"
BBC News
7 hours ago
- Sport
- BBC News
Chambers hat-trick takes Linfield into second
A hat-trick from Cora Chambers saw Linfield to a 5-2 victory over Lisburn Rangers in the Women's Premiership at Midgley striker's treble means she has scored 30 times in 25 appearances for the Blues, who are now second in the table, two points behind Glentoran having played a game more. The 22-year-old opened the scoring in the first minute in south Belfast with team-mate Zoe McGlynn soon doubling the advantage. But the visitors fought back with goals from Gracie Conway and Faye Loughran ensuring Lisburn were level six minutes before struck from the penalty spot to restore her side's lead in the 43rd Reilly gave the Blues some breathing room with a goal to put them 4-2 ahead, while Chambers completed her hat-trick to round out the scoring with a quarter of an hour remaining.
