by Saoirse Anton

This February brought Ireland’s first St. Brigid’s Day bank holiday. Not before time.

St Brigid was a formidable woman. Her life is full of stories of achieving her aims against the odds and of showing up those who underestimated her, whether that’s by stretching her cloak to cover a province in defiance or providing care to women who were left aside. We have a long history of underestimating women, and of not celebrating their achievements as we should.

Back in 2015, Irish Theatre faced a wake-up call, a reckoning. After the Abbey Theatre announced the glaringly imbalanced Waking the Nation programme, Waking the Feminists was born. A historic meeting was held in the auditorium of the Abbey Theatre, highlighting the systematic silencing of women’s voices. We’ve made many improvements since then, but there are always more steps to take.  This February, take the spirit of our new bank holiday to heart and find ways to support women, amplify their voices, and rebalance the scales. Read on to discover some of the fantastic work by women gracing our stages over the coming months.

The Patient Gloria

First staged at Dublin Theatre Festival 2018, Gina Moxley’s The Patient Gloria has been described as “bold, brilliant and highly original.” Interrogating psychiatry, misogyny and how we view female desire, this is a punchy work that is not to be missed. Playing at the Everyman Theatre, Cork on the 14th April

An Old Song, Half Forgotten

Sometimes, you read the description of a play and just know you are going to sob your way through it. An Old Song, Half Forgotten is one of those. Written by Deirdre Kinahan and directed by Louise Lowe, it is a play about an actor living with Alzheimer’s disease, performed by Bryan Murray, an acclaimed actor who is himself living with Alzheimer’s. A new commission for the Abbey Theatre, An Old Song, Half Forgotten runs from the 14th April to 6th May and promises to be a touching, insightful piece of theatre.

The Alphabet of Birds

I love work that blends artforms and tests the boundaries of theatre, and Sara Baume’s The Alphabet of Birds promises just that. Described as a live-scored audio-visual essay, interspersed with four short documentaries, about “Sunday Mass and sea swimming; bird alphabets and stone collecting; Goya and Monet; the Stations of the Cross and the Sacred Heart of Jesus; bedrooms and bedsits; insomnia and parental love,” this show promises to transport its audiences as it explores the rituals of our daily lives. At Project Arts Centre on the 18th February.

When Rachel Met Fiona

February is also host to Valentine’s Day, so why not check out When Rachel Met Fiona, a play by Collette Cullen, directed by Iseult Golden, which tells the story of the ups and downs of Rachel and Fiona’s relationship with “complexity, honesty and humour.” Running at the New Theatre from the 21st March to the 1st April.

The Last Return

Last, but not least, on this list, is Sonya Kelly’s The Last Return. The latest offering from the award-winning writer, whose past works include How to Keep an Alien, The Wheelchair on my Face and Once Upon A Bridge, continues her flair for incisive comedy.  A play in which “five people queue for a ticket to the hottest show in town. All they must do is simply wait in line. But what in life is ever simple?” promises insight and entertainment in equal measure. The Last Return tours to Roscommon, Limerick, Ennis, Letterkenny, Navan, Cork, Tralee and Galway between the 9th February and the 11th March.