by Saoirse Anton

November is a month for remembering. Opening with All-Souls Day, and heralding the changing colours of the season, diminishing daylight and the last stretch of the year, it’s a month that prompts us to reflect on the past. So why not do the same in our theatre-going this month? Don’t worry, I’m not going to force you to revisit the plays you did for your Leaving Cert, pop a tea-towel on your head and set you onto the boards to reprise your role as Shepherd #3 from your school nativity play. There are plenty of opportunities to explore some classic works, often in new interpretations, across our stages this month.

Joxer Daly Esq.

Runs at The Viking Theatre, Clontarf from 23rd November to 5th December

Joxer Daly is an iconic character from Sean O’Casey’s Juno and the Paycock. The character first appeared on stage in 1924, and is being brought back to the stage under a new light in Eddie Naughton’s Joxer Daly Esq., originally directed by the late, great Karl Shiels in 2018. Naughton explores a tumultuous time in Irish history, from the 1913 strike and lockout through to the civil war through the character of Joxer, played by veteran of Irish theatre, Phelim Drew. Whether you already know the character, or this will be your first introduction, Joxer Daly Esq. promises an excellent evening’s theatre.

Recomposed by Max Richter: Vivaldi the Four Seasons

At Mount Saint Adolphous Redemptorist Church, Limerick on 7th November and St Peter’s Church, Cork on 12th November

Given the time of year, with a kaleidescope of colour in the trees and hedgerows at the moment, I couldn’t leave this one out. Even if you don’t know you know it, you definitely know Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. Turning up on screen from The Sopranos to The Simpsons and Pretty Woman to Flubber, and used to advertise everything from luxury cars to computers and jewellery, it is an iconic and ubiquitous work. In 2012, the acclaimed composer Max Richter undertook to recompose Vivaldi’s cycle, producing a beautiful new old classic. You can catch it performed by the Mystery Ensemble in Limerick and Cork this month.

Long Day’s Journey

Runs at Project Arts Centre, Dublin from 13th to 21st November

Pan Pan’s reimaginings of classic theatre works are always reliably engaging and entertaining. From a new insight into Hamlet with Playing the Dane, to an immersive experience of Samuel Beckett’s Cascando, I’m always excited to see what they produce. This month at Project Arts Centre they are bringing Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey into Night to the stage in Long Day’s Journey. A dawn to dusk hallucination of a family prone to bouts of addiction, depression and despair, Long Day’s Journey takes the themes and characters of O’Neill’s magnum opus but transports them 100,000 years into the future, promising a fascinating reimagining of a familiar play.

Disco Pigs

Runs at the Everyman Theatre Cork from 31st October to 14th November

A landmark of contemporary Irish theatre, what else can I say? Responsible for launching the careers of Cillian Murphy, Eileen Walsh and Enda Walsh with its premiere back in 1999, Disco Pigs is returning to the stage in Cork this month, directed by its writer, Enda Walsh, for the first time. The play tells the story of Runt and Pig, two Cork teenagers born on the same day in the same hospital, as they navigate adolescence through their insular friendship.

Faith Healer

Runs at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast from 10th October to 14th November

The big-hitters of contemporary Irish theatre are really coming thick and fast this month! Given he’s one of my favourite playwrights, I had to include this production of Brian Friel’s Faith Healer, running at the Lyric Theatre in Belfast as part of the Belfast International Arts Festival. Telling the story of Frank Hardy, a travelling healer, through monologues from him, his wife and his manager, Faith Healer weaves an extraordinary tale of faith, showmanship, memory and tragedy.

The Human Voice

Runs at the Derry Playhouse on 13th and 14th November

From Irish classics, to French ones, we head over to Derry for Prime Cut’s production of a new version of Jean Cocteau’s The Human Voice, written by Darren Murphy. First premiered in 1930, Cocteau’s monologue play centres around a woman’s telephone call with her ex-lover who is due to marry someone else. Murphy’s reworking of the story brings it into the context of contemporary Belfast, starring Nicky Harley juggling different parts of her life as professional demands impinge on her final phone-call with her love.

Nōs

Touring nationally from 6th November 2026 to 18th February 2027

The cannon can be harder to pin down in contemporary dance, but there is no doubt that this triple bill from Luail takes in three milestones of contemporary dance history. Restaging Akram Khan’s 2002 Kaash, Oona Doherty’s 2016 work Lazarus, and two pieces from Liz Roche’s 2009 12 Minute Dances, Nōs brings to the stage a varied exploration of togetherness, transformation and transcendence through dance. Nōs is a night of dance not to be missed.

So what are you waiting for? Look back to find something to look forward to on stage this month!