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Performing Arts
Peter Pan given a dazzling Derry makeover at the Millennium Forum
Big musical numbers, pyrotechnics and pixie dust-like sprinklings of the city's trademark sense of humour takes the age-old panto to a magical new place
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Literature
Derry: The Irish Revolution, 1912-23
Historian Adrian Grant delves a century into the city's past and, with new facts and parallels to today, manages to makes a gripping read from events we already know the outcomes of
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Performing Arts
Myra's Story
A play so good they named it twice, Fionna Hewitt-Twamley not only fills Carmel McCafferty's shoes comfortably, but is bewitching as the rock bottom title character once known as Maire
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Film
Hear My Voice: film inspired by Colin Davidson exhibition 'offers a tribute to the human spirit'
Brendan J Byrne manages to further enrich the moving source material of Silent Testimony while extending the experience for those unable to see its portraits in person
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Literature
Her Name Was Rose
Claire Allan leaves 'Chick Lit' behind in favour of a dark thriller which, for the Derry-based author, signals a bright new chapter
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Literature
The Lost Soul of Eamonn Magee
While his wasted sporting potential is a source of frustration, the ex-world champion boxer's remarkable, still unfinished story makes for an absorbing read with as much tragedy as it has triumph
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Performing Arts
Hansel and Gretel
Featuring a role call of fictional favourites, the MAC's fairytale production places a feast of Northern Irish theatre talent firmly in the (sweet) shop window
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Dance
WICCA
The fifth Echo Echo Festival of Dance and Movement bows out with an entrancing multinational exploration of the female bond
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Literature
The Dead Beside Us
Tony Doherty wastes no time in following up his 'important' debut with a 'profound' adolescent account of conflict continuing to tear through 1970s Derry
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Film
Murder on the Orient Express
Kenneth Branagh keeps Agatha Christie's detective tale on the right track as both director and lead amidst a cast bristling with star power
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ReviewPerforming Arts Peter Pan given a dazzling Derry makeover at the Millennium Forum
Big musical numbers, pyrotechnics and pixie dust-like sprinklings of the city's trademark sense of humour takes the age-old panto to a magical new place
-
ReviewLiterature Derry: The Irish Revolution, 1912-23
Historian Adrian Grant delves a century into the city's past and, with new facts and parallels to today, manages to makes a gripping read from events we already know the outcomes of
-
ReviewPerforming Arts Myra's Story
A play so good they named it twice, Fionna Hewitt-Twamley not only fills Carmel McCafferty's shoes comfortably, but is bewitching as the rock bottom title character once known as Maire
-
ReviewFilm Hear My Voice: film inspired by Colin Davidson exhibition 'offers a tribute to the human spirit'
Brendan J Byrne manages to further enrich the moving source material of Silent Testimony while extending the experience for those unable to see its portraits in person
-
ReviewLiterature Her Name Was Rose
Claire Allan leaves 'Chick Lit' behind in favour of a dark thriller which, for the Derry-based author, signals a bright new chapter
-
ReviewLiterature The Lost Soul of Eamonn Magee
While his wasted sporting potential is a source of frustration, the ex-world champion boxer's remarkable, still unfinished story makes for an absorbing read with as much tragedy as it has triumph
-
ReviewPerforming Arts Hansel and Gretel
Featuring a role call of fictional favourites, the MAC's fairytale production places a feast of Northern Irish theatre talent firmly in the (sweet) shop window
-
ReviewDance WICCA
The fifth Echo Echo Festival of Dance and Movement bows out with an entrancing multinational exploration of the female bond
-
ReviewLiterature The Dead Beside Us
Tony Doherty wastes no time in following up his 'important' debut with a 'profound' adolescent account of conflict continuing to tear through 1970s Derry
-
ReviewFilm Murder on the Orient Express
Kenneth Branagh keeps Agatha Christie's detective tale on the right track as both director and lead amidst a cast bristling with star power
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ReviewLiterature This is Hame: Two Modern Ulster-Scots Poets
James Fenton and Philip Robinson have been recently re-published by Ullans Press. Their books offer a window into that world – its language, humour, culture, religion and politics
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ReviewVisual Arts Eddie Rafferty: The Pursuit of Happiness
South Africa's people and places are captured with colour and invention in this career-spanning showcase bringing intrigued masses to Banbridge
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ReviewLiterature Hopdance
Against a pre-Troubles Belfast, Stewart Parker's posthumous novel shows one of the city's favourite sons discovering what would become a seminal writing voice
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ReviewPerforming Arts Waves
Gentle movement and vivid storytelling make more than a few ripples in this poignant and understated play about one woman's remarkable resilience
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ReviewPerforming Arts The Train
While some elements lack steam, Rough Magic's musical has audiences on board for its retelling of a momentous, reproductive rights-fuelled journey
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ReviewPerforming Arts The Faerie Thorn
After a promising preview, Big Telly bring Jane Talbot's North Coast fables to the stage in a fully realised adaptation fit for the company's 30th year
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ReviewPerforming Arts The Importance of Being Earnest
Not everything works in this risky all-male revision, but ultimately the source material proves it to be still Wilde at heart
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ReviewPerforming Arts Famla
John McCann's brooding drama borders on the bleak, but a sense of hope mirrored by the youth of today points to a better tomorrow
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ReviewLiterature The Rule of the Land
With eloquence and tact, Garrett Carr charts a timely expedition along the line that divides and defines Ireland, its history and its people
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ReviewDance The Cove
Echo Echo's dizzying collaboration with climber Dan Shipsides reaches its peak in this hypnotic performance inspired by the cliffs of Donegal
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ReviewDance Maiden Voyage Dance Triple Bill
Brave and breathtaking interpretations of love, loss and living prove the power of three in this new package of works
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ReviewMusic Pound Music Club
The spirit of the Belfast institution lives on in the lungs of Kenny McDowell, whose voice still enraptures a faithful following after 50 years
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ReviewFilm Best (George Best: All By Himself)
Though arguably too linear in scope, the latest chronicle of our greatest footballing talent's tragic journey is nonetheless elegantly and fearlessly told
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ReviewFilm The Fits
This adolescent dance drama eschews coming-of-age tropes in favour of a more unorthodox yet fascinating slow burn
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ReviewPerforming Arts Dirty Dancing
Staying true to the original, this steamy stage adaptation is guaranteed to satisfy fans of the classic, feel-good film
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ReviewPerforming Arts Powder Her Face
Northern Ireland's first production of Thomas Adés's notorious, sex-fuelled opera holds a mirror to modern society and the perils of promiscuity
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ReviewFilm La La Land
Despite its artistic virtues, the limp narrative of Damien Chazelle's modern musical just won't leave audiences as jazzed as they were with Whiplash
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ReviewFilm Silence
Liam Neeson is the white whale of Scorsese's monumental 26-year passion project, which caps a career-long study of spirituality on the big screen
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ReviewFilm Two Angry Men
Toto Ellis leaves us longing for a feature length in his debut short outlining the theatrical censorship his father and Sam Thompson faced in Belfast 60 years ago
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ReviewVisual Arts Janet Mullarney: My Minds i
Multi-disciplined artist confronts a gamut of emotions in a twisted fantasy of sculptures, shadows and illustrations at the F.E. McWilliam Gallery
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ReviewFilm Hubert Butler: Witness to the Future
Writer, humanitarian and market gardener, 'Ireland's Orwell' is given due recognition for his years-ahead endeavors in this detailed documentary
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ReviewVisual Arts Future Artist-Makers: The Exhibition
This exciting showcase of works created using new skills in digital technology titillates the imagination with its sense of eye-pleasing, interactive wonderment
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ReviewPerforming Arts Hey You!
Joe Nawaz and Accidental Theatre combine for an immersive self-improvement satire which with a little finessing could take the comedy world by storm
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ReviewVisual Arts MAC International
With works by 18 artists from around the world, the biennial exhibition rewards its visitors with an experience as rich as its grand prize
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ReviewFilm Killer of Sheep
With its truthful depiction of racial issues in 1970s America, Charles Burnett's long-lost indie trailblazer is the perfect primer for BFI Black Star
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ReviewPerforming Arts Green and Blue
Premiering at a former British military base in Belfast, this challenging but tasteful dramatisation humanises the uniforms patrolling the border at the height of the Troubles
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ReviewLiterature Heaney, Sir! St Columb's Remembered
One-time peers including Phil Coulter recall the poet's college years with revealing anecdotes, recitals and an audience panel
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ReviewMusic City of Derry International Choral Festival
New Festival Chorus reaffirms the city's musical status in a pitch perfect opening gala performance
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ReviewLiterature The Way We Were
Dublin author Sinéad Moriarty gives shelter to fiction fans in Bangor with an intimate discussion around her latest novel and writing career
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ReviewVisual Arts Enough, and More
Jon Plunkett and wife Lindsay Turk explore the impact various naturally-occurring moments can have on our lives in a joint series of paintings and poems
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ReviewFilm Anthropoid
Jamie Dornan and Cillian Murphy excel as Czech army agents in a tense and compelling account of one of the Second World War's less heralded moments
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ReviewVisual Arts David Hockney: I draw, I do
Ireland's first exhibition of the influential artist's work is a fascinating insight into his life-long consistency and passion for getting the world down on paper
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ReviewLiterature This Man's Wee Boy
Debut author Tony Doherty lends a vital human voice to Derry's darkest period with a childhood portrait of life in the city
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ReviewLiterature The Wing Orderly’s Tales
Carlo Gébler’s new collection of short stories is an authoritative portrayal of life and death in a Northern Ireland jail
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ReviewDrama The Faerie Thorn on Stage
Big Telly Theatre Company hooks Open House Festival audience with scratch performance of their latest production
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ReviewVisual Arts Late Night Art Digest: August 2016
John Higgins takes a tour of studios and spaces across Belfast to drink in some of the key exhibitions currently on display
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ReviewPerforming Arts Closer
With its imaginative direction and competent cast, this modest adaptation has the charm to see past its lack of Hollywood gloss
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ReviewPerforming Arts Bill Burr
Though not every topic hits its mark, Belfast still revels in a masterful Northern Ireland debut from the no-frills Boston comic
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ReviewFilm The 400 Blows
François Truffaut’s pioneering French New Wave classic signals an encouraging start to a season of films to see before you're 30
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ReviewVisual Arts The Three Stories Are Flattened
Katrina Palmer challenges the notion of sculpture in a demanding yet enthralling exhibition which gradually makes its viewers participants
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ReviewVisual Arts Gerard Dillon: Painter, Dreamer, Clown
The great Belfast artist's centenary retrospective will have you leaving the Ulster Museum with a spring in your step, expecting to fly
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ReviewMusic I Was An Astronaut
Derry singer-songwriter Conor McAteer takes a giant leap forward in a controlled and cohesive fourth album bursting with love in all its forms
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ReviewVisual Arts Art in the A.M.
Naughton Gallery and Town Square café team up for a morning of coffee, conversation and soul-baring comic strips in the first of a stimulating new talk series
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ReviewMusic The Wild Swan
Recorded in Nashville and rich in variety, the third album from Foy Vance isn't just his finest yet, it bears all the markings of a contemporary classic
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ReviewVisual Arts Pig Shop
Anchored by the bygone boom of Limerick pork, Simon Fennessy Corcoran questions society's regard for living things with an arresting collection recalling Damien Hirst
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ReviewMusic Neil Young
He's taken half a century to get here, but backed by Promise of the Real the Canadian is still the hurricane force of old, and shows no signs of quitting
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ReviewMusic The Devil is a Songbird
Ports' long-awaited debut album is one to fall into and appreciate in full, placing them amongst the modern masters of sophisticated and heart-breaking alt rock
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ReviewPerforming Arts A Midsummer Night's Dream
The Royal Shakespeare Company recruit Belfast's Belvoir Players for a frothy but 'bags of fun' take on the timeless comedy
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ReviewFestivals Blues On The Bay
Van Morrison's appeal remains undiminished in his third year headlining, but elsewhere the Warrenpoint festival seems restrained by contemporary preconceptions
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ReviewPerforming Arts Here Comes the Night
There's no time like the present as Rosemary Jenkinson's clever and well-acted culture comedy finds firmer footing in the more modern of its two narratives