by Saoirse Anton

Somehow we are already in June and halfway through 2025! The past six months have been eventful, to say the least, and I think we are all hoping that when the summer sunshine returns it might bring along some calm with it. In the meantime, though, it is pouring rain outside the window where I’m writing this, and I reckon we all need a bit of escapism this month to fuel our souls and imaginations for the next half of the year.

Where better to find that than in the Neverland that is your local theatre? Flit out of daily life, suspend time for a bit, and escape into the magic of the stage for a few hours. Read on for some of my suggestions of what to enjoy on stage this June.

Carlow Arts Festival

Carlow has been awash with theatre, circus, music, crafts and more for the past few days as Carlow Arts Festival has gotten underway. This column is coming a little to late to give you recommendations for the whole festival programme (personally I would love to have seen The Long Shadow of Alois Brunner and Taranto Aleatorio, had I been able to make it down to Carlow during the week), but there are still a few gems to catch today and tomorrow. Two that particularly caught my eye were Ugo Dehaes’ Simple Machines, in which Dehaes tells the thought provoking story of his robotic dance troupe, and a double-bill of works from Cikada Circus and Lacunavicci. Cikada Circus’ Symbiont is an acrobatic performance and living exhibition that shines a spotlight on the interaction of living organisms and technologies, alongside Lacunavicci’s No One, Realistic as You which also explores the relationship between humanity and technology.

Simple Machines is at Cobden Hall, Carlow College on the 7th and 8th of June at 16:00 and 18:00.

Symbiont & No One, Realistic as You is at the Geodesic Dome, Carlow College on the 7th and 8th of June at 16:30.

Bloomsday

I couldn’t write a column in June without mentioning the host of events that will be happening for Bloomsday. Celebrated on the 16th June, Bloomsday marks the Thursday in 1904 that is immortalized in James Joyce’s epic novel, Ulysses. Expanded now to be a festival running from the 11th to the 16th June, Bloomsday sees a smorgasbord of literary, theatrical and other delights to celebrate the work of one of Ireland’s most lauded writers. Some highlights of this year’s programme that stood out to me as I perused it include the world premiere of Lucia’s Room, a new ballet from Mariam Aleksidze and Professor David Maziashvili, and Volta Theatre’s performances of the Telemachus episode of the novel at the Sandycove Martello Tower and of Cyclops at the DLR Lexicon Theatre.

Lucia’s Room is at the James Joyce Centre on the 12th of June.

Telemachus runs at the Sandymount Martello Tower from the 9th to the 16th of June.

Cyclops runs at the DLR Lexicon Theatre on the 9th and 10th of June.

Escaped Alone

I have been a Caryl Churchill fan since first reading Top Girls in my second year of university, and I was very excited to see that Escaped Alone was coming to the stage at the Everyman Cork and Project Arts Centre in Dublin. Produced by Hatch Theatre Company, in association with Everyman Theatre and Once Off Productions, this staging of Churchill’s sharp satire of contemporary capitalist culture, and celebration of the underrepresented voices of aging women is sure to be a striking one with Sorcha Cusack, Anna Healy, Ruth McCabe and Deirdre Monaghan under the direction of Annabelle Comyn. Most recently hitting headlines for pulling an upcoming production of her play Far Away from the stage of the Donmar Warehouse in protest at their continued association with Barclays Bank who provide financial services to defense firms supplying Israel in the continued genocide in Palestine, Caryl Churchill has been a radical, pertinent voice in theatre for decades, and her writing reflects that.

Escaped Alone runs at The Everyman Cork from the 12th to the 14th of June and at Project Arts Centre from the 19th to the 28th of June.

H.O.M.E

H.O.M.E by Fidget Feet and Tobi Omoteso is the first aerial Hip H’Opera created in Ireland. Appearing at Carlow Arts Festival, Cairde Arts Festival and Earagail Arts Festival in the coming weeks, H.O.M.E brings together a powerful cast of aerialists, musicians and dancers to explore society’s limitations and what suppresses us as humans, under the brilliant direction of Chantal McCormick and Lynne Parker. Truly something new to our stages, H.O.M.E is one to catch!

H.O.M.E is at Carlow Arts Festival, Cairde Arts Festival an Earagail Arts Festival in June and July

Lies Where it Falls

Heading up to Belfast for our final June recommendation, we find ourselves in the Lyric Theatre for Lies Where it Falls. A one-man show from Ruairi Conaghan, Lies Where it Falls explores the Troubles through the personal lens of a violent incident in Conaghan’s childhood in which his uncle was murdered by the IRA, and the effect this memory has had on Conaghan throughout his life. Using poetry, song, humour and Shakespeare to explore trauma, history and recovery, Lies Where it Falls promises to be a moving, impactful piece of theatre.

Lies Where it Falls runs at the Lyric Theatre Belfast from the 24th to the 29th of June.