IT’S TIME TO party. That’s the message from this year’s Dublin Fringe Festival, which is a smorgasbord of energetic events to shake us into the autumn.
When they read the entries to the open call for submissions that the festival sent out, McGowan said the staff were struck by “how singular a lot of the ideas were, how unique they were”. Could it be that people used the pandemic times – tough as they were – to let ideas ferment? “I think that there’s definitely a sense of the people having been developing these over years – passion projects – and people have that spirit of ‘we’re going to go for it – if not now, when?’,” she said.
These year sees some common themes emerging from the festival, like climate change and the future of the city. Another is cabaret: “people are definitely craving that cathartic party”, says McGowan, with Thisispopbaby’s Wake and the Hive City Legacy cabaret being two of the highlights there.There are also some hybrid performances, like musician Talos and writer Emmet Kirwan teaming up for a show, Accents.
If you haven’t attended the festival before, McGowan says she’d love newcomers “to feel really welcomed and feel an open invitation to come to the festival”.Dublin Fringe Festival highlights. Visit the website for all the shows and details of tickets and timings.The new show from the makers of international smash-hit RIOT is described as a “howling, raucous, soul stirring celebration of community, regeneration, and the magic of collective catharsis”.