It’s almost Fringe Time!! The box office is already open on Lower Ormond Quay, the Spiegeltent is going up in Wolfe Tone Square and the first previews start tomorrow! It’s all so exciting!

In case you can’t tell, I’m a bit of Fringe fan. I love that I can go see four or five shows in one day. (Time and money permitting, of course. Generally I’m either working so I’ve no time, or not working which means I’ve no money. But in an ideal world….) I love that I get to go to venues I’ve never visited before or places I didn’t know existing. I love the wide variety of shows on offer. There’s everything from late-night cabaret shows in the Spiegeltent to small, intimate lunch times shows in The Cube and New Theatre. There’s comedy and music and dance, as well as lots of theatre and the 21st birthday celebrations. There really are lots of lovely things to suit everyone’s taste.

If you are feeling over-whelmed by all the choice, Chis McCormack does a good round-up of festival over on Broadway World or you can go and talk to the lovely box office staff. They know their stuff and want you to see good art!

Here’s some things that I am looking forward to over the next couple of weeks. It’s not an exhaustive list by any means. There’s so much on and I want to see all of it! I deliberately limited myself to six. I tried five, but I wanted one more!

Beckett in the City: The Women Speak
Company SJ have been doing wonderful productions of Beckett’s short plays over the last couple of years and this year they are focusing on the women. I struggle with the longer Beckett pieces so the short plays suit me, and it’s a chance to get into a building that I walked past on my way to work for years and years. The production is taking place in the historic Halla Banba on Parnell Square.

Middle of the Road by Bourgeois & Maurice and David Hoyle is my pick for the Spiegeltent because I have been faraway fans of Bourgeois & Maurice for many years and am really looking forward to seeing them live in Dublin instead of on YouTube!

I want to see Oh! What a Lovely Rose! because of that great title and the wonderful image of Erica Murray that accompanies it. I also think the crazy tradition of the Rose of Tralee is something worth exploring.

Mother You is another show in a disused building. It’s sounds like it’s somewhere between an installation, an immersive theatre piece and a promenade performance and will incorporate lots of different art forms. I’m looking forward to it because it sounds a bit different and a bit odd. It also explores issues of community which I’m very interested in.

It Folds is a collaboration between dance company junk ensemble and theatre-makers Broken Talkers. They are both interesting and innovative companies so I’m interested in seeing what they come up with. My theme for Fringe seems to be “weird stuff”, and I’m ok with that.

Harder Faster More is about “the intertwined stories of modern women in a world where sex sells” and is written by Stewart Parker Award-nominee Tracy Martin. I heard good things about it when it was part of Theatre Machine at the beginning of the year. I’ve heard good things about Red Bear Production generally but haven’t had a chance to check them out yet so I’m looking forward to this.

Let the festival commence!