No matter how long it’s been since you last donned a school uniform, September will always feel like the start of a new school year. As that last burst of Summer sunshine sees students back into the classroom, the inexplicable urge to buy stationery seizes us and that sense of a new beginning still echoes in our minds. And as we start this new chapter of the year, I suggest a resolution free from the pressures of the lycra-clad, vitamin-enriched, carefully-budgeted New Year’s resolutions we made back in January. This September, open your mind to learning or experiencing something new in theatre. Don’t worry, I’m not asking you to learn indices through Ibsen or trigonometry through Tchaikovsky, but just take a small step into the unknown and see what you discover.

If you like Hamlet…

Try a postmodern twist on it and delve into Heiner Müller’s postmodernist classic, Hamletmachine. First staged in 1979, Hamletmachine is less than a dozen pages long, and yet has generated fierce debate among audiences, critics and academics. Why don’t you give it a watch or a read and add your opinion to the mix?

If you enjoyed Waiting for Godot…

and you’ve just dipped your toes in the Beckettian waters, then this year’s Dublin Theatre Festival provides ample opportunities to wade a little further. If you want to brush up on your Irish while enjoying a play, then check out Company SJ’s production, Laethanta Sona (Happy Days), or if you are looking to explore some of Beckett’s darker prose, then immerse yourself in Gare St Lazare’s six-hour durational reimagining of How It Is for film.

If you love a good John Hughes film…

Then nab yourself a ticket to Dreamgun’s Film Reads: The Breakfast Club. Pulling together a cast of actors and comics who have never seen the script before the performance, Dreamgun reimagines and parodies classic films for the stage. Promising to provide a “semi-coherent 80s teen medley,” this production at Dublin Fringe Festival promises a fresh and hilarious take on a much loved cinematic classic.

If you usually cosy up with a good book…

Try taking your book for a walk. Ways of Walking With a Book in Your Hand, invites its audiences to rediscover and share the joy of reading in public spaces, where now we carry the work day in our pockets and resume it in quiet moments. Lola Arias’ work is a response to missing “reading in public and seeing others read everywhere: reading and falling asleep on the bus, reading someone else’s novel over their shoulder on a train, listening to someone whisper, or trying to see the title of the book of someone you like.” Book yourself a ticket and find new ways to enjoy a good book.

If you stick to the same old favourites…

Take a chance on something new this Culture Night. It’s always a gamble buying a ticket to something unfamiliar, but Culture Night showcases the diversity of arts and culture in Ireland for free to audiences across the country on the 17th September 2021. Arts venues and organisations across the country will be running specially programmed events and workshops, all free of charge, so you can sample the wide variety of arts happening across the country.

Who knows, you may just discover your new favourite thing.