This year’s festival kicks off on 10 September, and tickets are on sale right now.
From stand-up comedy to powerful theatrical dramas, beautiful nighttime excursions to online-only murder-mysteries, there is a huge array of art-filled experiences happening across the city this September as part of the 2022 Dublin Fringe Festival.
The alphabetical list below of our 10 eye-catching picks is far from everything on offer, and you can check out the full line-up and how to purchase tickets for the festival right here.
CLIMATE WORRIER
13/14/17/24 September, Bewley’s Cafe Theatre, €11-€13
Official synopsis: “Are you worried about All The Bad News On The Environment and laugh grimly at it all? Avoid despair and instead join Colm O’Regan in an hour of stand up comedy, memoir and even hope as he tries to grapple with Everything Being Broken and where he might start to help. Along the way find out what Greta has in common with Irish aul lads, how to harness the power of Liveline and a simple trick for the first step in Doing A Bit.”
DREAMGUN VIDEO
15-18 September, Smock Alley Theatre, €14-€16
Official synopsis: “The most iconic films you’ve never seen because we made them up. The team behind Film Reads let go of the wheel with a triple feature of original laugh-a-minute genre parodies: Brumpy Goes Vroom (a coming of age talking-car movie), Kiss the Jury (an erotic courtroom drama) and Amazon Wild Adventure (a cash grab based on a fictional theme-park ride).”
FLUFF
20-24 September, Smock Alley Theatre, €11-€14
Official synopsis: “What happens when men think they can buy women? When bodies are governed by someone else’s desire? Following two Dublin strippers through an evening’s work, this performance explores bodily autonomy, feminism, entitlement, power, and money in a setting which is usually kept safely behind closed doors. An insight into an otherwise concealed aspect of Irish life, Fluff will challenge your beliefs around sex work – and show you how it’s done.
KLANKETY KLANK
13/14/15/18 September, Smock Alley Theatre, €14-€16
Official synopsis: “Roll up and take your seat for this hilarious parody of the beloved gameshow Blankety Blank. Watch as a dazzling cast of Irish comedians, improvisers and drag queens impersonate global and local celebrities in this unique comedy quiz spectacular. The twist is, every night has a different cast, characters and questions, so ANYTHING can and will happen. It’s sure to be… BLANK!”
LOOK WHAT YOU’RE AFTER DOING
13-17 September, The New Theatre, €13-€15
Official synopsis: “A spoof This is Your Life-style chat show, each night a different comedian is brought down memory lane through photographs, film clips and special guests. The problem is that they’ve never seen any of them before and have to come up with explanations for them on the spot. The show is hosted by Luke Benson and Mark Cantan as their comic personas Colin Spress and Cillian Vermillion from the podcast Look What’s After Happening.”
REMNANT ECOLOGIES
21-25 September, National Botanic Gardens, €12
Official synopsis: “A large-scale outdoor light and sound installation across a 1.3km route that will give thousands of visitors exclusive access to the Botanic Gardens after dark. In this rare feast for the senses, the artist tries to make sense of a world, in which a passion for nature is mixed with the anxiety for its future.”
WAKE
8-17 September, National Stadium Dublin, €15-€45
Official synopsis: “The new show from the makers of international smash-hit Riot is a howling, raucous, soul stirring celebration of community, regeneration, and the magic of collective catharsis. Wake lifts the veil between worlds, where club culture meets Irish tradition in an exquisite frenzy of ritual, rave, grief and joy; conjuring up the spirits of the good times, of the marginalised, of everything that’s been and gone, toasting yesterday’s passing as we dream up tomorrow, together.”
WHODUNNIT? THE GREAT ART ROBBERY!
10/11 September, online, €5
Official synopsis: “How could it be? A self-portrait of our national treasure – Ireland’s most notorious pigeon – STOLEN. You! Yes… all twelve of you are suspects. You’re going NOWHERE until we figure out… whodunnit? Play a character, protect your secrets, and use your detective skills to catch the thief in this online multilingual mystery game for young people aged 8-12 years.” Note: This is a live digital performance. To attend this event you will need a device that is compatible with online applications such as Zoom and a stable internet connection.
THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE WIG
16/17 September, Smock Alley Theatre, €14-€16
Official synopsis: “A Queen ventures through the Emerald Isle on a queer crusade to champion the nation’s treasures, icons and ultimately save the masses from heteronormativity. Aided by Saint Marian Mary The 6th, Candy writes a love letter to Ireland’s pop culture pioneers and limelight lion-hearts while exploring her camp connection to the country she once felt ostracised by. Experience a glittering feast for the soul with craic agus ceol as our royal banríon discovers there’s no place like abhaile!”
WITHOUT SIN
10-15 September, Dublin Castle – Outside the Printworks, €8
Official synopsis: “You enter a private booth, alone. Someone else enters next door. Guided by light, sound, and a shared hymn sheet, you make a story together about change, loss, and redemption. A contemporary confessional for the modern sinner, this immersive one-to-one experience cultivates a space for intimate conversations among friends and strangers, rethreading the seams of a frayed social fabric one good yarn at a time.”
Clip via Dublin Fringe Festival
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge
