December 2019
MUSIC: MICK FLANNERY
Mick Flannery is widely regarded as one of the finest singer-songwriters to come out of Ireland in recent years. He began to write songs as a teenager in his home of Blarney, County Cork. He became the first Irish musician to ever win awards at the International Songwriting Competition in Nashville, aged 19. By the time he turned 21, he had signed to a major label and released his debut album, Evening Train. His critically acclaimed live performances have seen…
Find out more »CINEMA: BLINDED BY THE LIGHT
1987, Margaret Thatcher’s England. Javed, a 16-year-old British Pakistani boy, lives in the town of Luton. His father’s recent job termination and the neighborhood skinheads are a daily reminder of the difficult times he’s living in. What young Javed really wants is to be a writer—something his father doesn’t approve of or understand—and when a new friend loans him a few Bruce Springsteen cassettes, Javed is changed forever. The Boss’s working-class anthems and affirming lyrics seem to speak directly to…
Find out more »EARLY YEARS: Baby’s First Christmas
BABY’S FIRST XMAS is a gentle magical wonderland of gorgeous harmony singing, little lights and enticing textures. Created for babies under one year old by Anna Newell and David Goodall whose work for Early Years audiences has been seen on five continents. This Christmas show promises to delight and entrance the very tiniest of audience members. Each baby can bring one adult guest with them and, to make this a very special experience, audience capacity is very limited so please…
Find out more »EARLY YEARS: Baby’s First Christmas
BABY’S FIRST XMAS is a gentle magical wonderland of gorgeous harmony singing, little lights and enticing textures. Created for babies under one year old by Anna Newell and David Goodall whose work for Early Years audiences has been seen on five continents. This Christmas show promises to delight and entrance the very tiniest of audience members. Each baby can bring one adult guest with them and, to make this a very special experience, audience capacity is very limited so please…
Find out more »EARLY YEARS: Baby’s First Christmas
BABY’S FIRST XMAS is a gentle magical wonderland of gorgeous harmony singing, little lights and enticing textures. Created for babies under one year old by Anna Newell and David Goodall whose work for Early Years audiences has been seen on five continents. This Christmas show promises to delight and entrance the very tiniest of audience members. Each baby can bring one adult guest with them and, to make this a very special experience, audience capacity is very limited so please…
Find out more »SPECIAL SCREENING: Pavarotti
Created from a combination of Luciano Pavarotti’s genre-redefining performances and granted access to never-before-seen footage, the film will give audiences around the world a stunningly intimate portrait of the most beloved opera singer of all time. From the team behind the worldwide success The Beatles: Eight Days a Week comes two-time Academy Award® winning director Ron Howard's documentary celebrating the life of the beloved opera star Luciano Pavarotti, who sold over 100 million records in his lifetime. The 1990 World…
Find out more »MUSIC: HIGHLY STRUNG – All Wrapped Up
For fans of the foursome, this is an evening of festive highlights that’s not to be missed. The ladies are delighted to return to the Riverbank for their annual Christmas show of classics old and new all wrapped up with their signature twist. The four friends’ diverse, complementary musical backgrounds create a mellow blend of sound which hallmarks the spirit of Christmas for their audiences. Highly Strung sprinkles a little starlight on the darkest time of the year with a…
Find out more »FAMILY CINEMA: The Greatest Showman Sing-Along
Ladies and gents, this is the moment you've waited for...a special sing-a-long screening of The Greatest Showman. It's your time to shine – have fun, sing loud and 'Come Alive' – It's Showtime! Step right up and into the spellbinding imagination of a man who set out to reveal that life itself can be the most thrilling show of all. Inspired by the legend and ambitions of America’s original pop-culture impresario, P.T. Barnum, comes an inspirational rags-to-riches tale of a…
Find out more »FAMILY CINEMA: The Greatest Showman Sing-Along
Ladies and gents, this is the moment you've waited for...a special sing-a-long screening of The Greatest Showman. It's your time to shine – have fun, sing loud and 'Come Alive' – It's Showtime! Step right up and into the spellbinding imagination of a man who set out to reveal that life itself can be the most thrilling show of all. Inspired by the legend and ambitions of America’s original pop-culture impresario, P.T. Barnum, comes an inspirational rags-to-riches tale of a…
Find out more »January 2020
COMEDY: Farmer Michael and Kathleen – The Full Irish LIVE
Enjoy a culchie night out with Farmer Michael & his long-suffering wife Kathleen as they discuss all well-known world topics - from Donald Trump, to Caitlyn Jenner, Leo Varadkar to Lady GaGa, and a couple of their well-known cover songs too. The King & Queen of farming satire, after only three years on the comedy scene, Stevo & Sinéad have gathered a following of over 500,000 people worldwide, and over 100 million views on some of their single sketches. They've…
Find out more »FAMILY CINEMA: CBeebies Hansel and Gretel
CBeebies show Hansel and Gretel is coming to the big screen for a family-friendly feast of fun - and a perfect finale to Christmas festivities! This stage performance, recorded at Edinburgh Festival theatre, is an adaptation of the fairy-tale classic Hansel and Gretel and features many of CBeebies' most popular performers, including, for the first time - Waffle the Wonder Dog! Prepare to be taken on a winter adventure through an enchanted forest where Hansel and Gretel must overcome the…
Find out more »MUSIC: Jack Lukeman
The UK-based Kildare man and musical legend, Jack Lukeman, returns to Riverbank Arts Centre for a very special show. Jack Lukeman is a singer-songwriter, performer, raconteur and a whole lot more besides. He is a platinum-selling, a critically acclaimed artist who continues to win a worldwide fan base with his unique multi-octave voice. Jack has toured as a special guest with artists such as Sting, Imelda May, Jools Holland & The Proclaimers. Tonight's show will draw material from his back…
Find out more »MUSIC: Anxo Lorenzo, Jim Murray, Dónal O’Connor & Jack Talty
Over the past ten years Anxo Lorenzo, Jim Murray, Dónal O’Connor and Jack Talty have been at the forefront of highly creative Galician and Irish music-making – as players, composers, arrangers, accompanists, producers and record label owners. Their individual talents as working musicians have seen them initiate hundreds of thoughtful and innovative projects, and the set list on this tour will include a Music Network commission from all four performers, their virtuosity and profound understanding of the music underpinning any…
Find out more »FIRST FORTNIGHT: In One Eye, Out the Other
The first solo comedy show from Tadhg Hickey introduces you to Feargal; a downtrodden but cheery man who fulfilled his lifelong dream of becoming an alcoholic. Using the Catholic calendar as a roadmap, Feargal leads us on a surreal and hilarious journey with many poignant twists in the hope of arriving at a sort of light at the end of the tunnel for the 'bright man’. Written/Performed by Tadhg Hickey. Directed by John McCarthy. Original music by Brian Lane. Produced…
Find out more »COMEDY: JASON BYRNE – Wrecked but Ready
Jason Byrne has had a hard year. But he doesn’t want to talk about that. He’s wrecked but ready. Ready for a laugh. This show is a celebration. A celebration of triumph over adversity. A celebration of the fact that everybody’d got their own crap going on and they don’t need to listen to someone else moaning about their problems. So, leave your worries at the door and find out why the UK Times described Jason as ‘The Outright King…
Find out more »FAMILY MUSIC: THE SPEKS
The Speks present a lively show of nursery rhymes and sing-along songs set to acoustic Irish music which will have adults and kids jumping in their seats! Their hand-clapping, toe-tapping, hearty-laughing show is all about life on Glasses Island – a magical island off the coast of Co. Clare where everybody wears glasses! The Speks have won a Parents’ Choice music award in the US where their music has been described as “Riverdance for kids” and they encourage everyone to…
Find out more »February 2020
THEATRE: TINTOWN by Bob Kelly
With the outbreak of WW2, the Irish government introduces internment without trial for all suspected IRA members, and Bernard Carroll – a naive young Dubliner who believes he is a revolutionary - is swept up with hundreds of others and held in a ramshackle internment camp on the plains of the Curragh. The camp is packed with militant republicans, left-wing revolutionaries, civil war veterans. They can leave any time they want, but there’s one catch – they must first renounce…
Find out more »MUSIC: The Celtic Tenors – 20th Anniversary Tour
The Celtic Tenors – three tenors, one voice. This charismatic, globetrotting trio are the most successful classical crossover act to emerge from Ireland. The Celtic Tenors signed with Sony Classics in 2000 and have sold over 1 million albums worldwide to date, achieving Top 10 positions on Billboard Charts in the United States and Canada. They are the only tenor group with a truly global audience, playing to packed houses across the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia and Asia. The…
Find out more »THEATRE: CROWMAN by Katie Holly
Crowman is Dan Lonergan’s account of the hilarious characters that inhabit his life on a daily basis and a true love story that never was. By turns poignant and comic, Jon Kenny carries the audience on a roller-coaster ride from his childhood to middle-age, from the hurling pitch to the pub and from one uproariously funny character to the other. It is about lost love and the sense of belonging and not belonging to a small community. Most of all…
Find out more »March 2020
COMEDY: NEIL DELAMERE – End of Watch
Fresh from a sell-out tour, star of BBC’s The Blame Game, Fighting Talk and the Newsquiz, Neil Delamere returns to the Riverbank Arts Centre with a brand new show. Time waits for no man, especially one trying to buy a watch. Things always get complicated. “You’ll be hard pressed to find a more gifted comic at the Fringe. *****” The Scotsman “One lean, mean, comedy, killing machine. *****” The Herald
Find out more »April 2020
COMEDY: OWEN COLGAN – On The Dry
Owen Colgan, Irish cult comedy hero is best known for his role as Buzz McDonnell from Hardy Bucks. Hardy Bucks has seen Owen star in four hit seasons on RTE and the Hardy Bucks hit movie which media coined 'the Irish Hangover' and was produced by the mammoth Universal Studios. Owen Colgan is a life coach from the west of Ireland who has seen it all. After 25 years addicted to pints and smoking, it seems he has finally knocked…
Find out more »