A feast of songs, opera, and drama coming up on Cork stages

A delightful sequence of end-of-year shows are coming up at the Opera House over the next few nights.

It starts this evening with Rhythmic Feet, a much-travelled troupe formed from the McCarthy Hegarty School of Irish Dancing, based in Mayfield and Glanmire. That begins at 7pm.

On Saturday night, we have the welcome return of the Alan Foley Academy with Dance Offering 2025, one performance only at 6pm. The students will be accompanied by special guest artistes from Cork City Ballet and Studio D, and will showcase a range of genres from classical ballet to jazz dance.

On Monday, June 2, The Greatest Show by ELJ Academy of Dance, which has students from Mayfield, Carrigaline, Watergrasshill, Farranree, Ringaskiddy, Lisgoold, Rathcormac and Crosshaven, and which starts at 2pm, is already fully sold out!

But there are still seats (we think) for the Connolly Dance Studio making its Opera House debut with Seasons Of Love on Tuesday, June 3 at 6pm.

By way of complete contrast, Seven Drunken Nights: The Story Of The Dubliners is here on Wednesday, June 4, and again in strong contrast, there is a treat for opera lovers on Saturday, June 7, when the Irish National Opera presents Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore. A wonderful range of options at the Opera House! 021 427 0022 or www.corkoperahouse.ie.

At the Everyman tomorrow and Saturday night, there is an opportunity to see The Life And Times of Paddy Armstrong, a striking one-man show starring Don Wycherley as Paddy, inspired by Armstrong’s Guildford Four Memoir.

And on Thursday, June 5, another operatic treat when Northern Ireland Opera presents La Voix Humaine. 021 450 1673 or www.everymancork.com.

Views From A Couch, ten brand-new ten-minute plays, are being premiered at Cork Arts Theatre this week, offering an inspiring evening of amazing variety. The plays selected this year are:

S/Wiped Out, by Joanne Geary

Chameleon, by Raegan Payne

Death And The Couch Potato, by Susan Knight

The Preliminary Visit, by Eithne Horgan

Mi Casa, by Darren Hall

Tomorrow, by Scott Mullen

Diagnoses, by Alan McCormick

ion Therapy, by Rachel Feeny-Williams

Timesavers, by Barry Wood

Twofer, by Alan O’Regan

That runs to Saturday, 8pm start each night. Tickets are always in demand for this special event, which allows aspiring playwrights to see their work performed in public, so be quick to book!

Next week, Cork Arts Theatre hosts that wonderfully poignant Brian Friel two-parter, Lovers, from Lee Promotions. Set at just this time of year in the Tyrone of 1967, it first shows Joe and Mag sitting on a hill, awaiting their final school exams while planning their future together. But will all those plans ever happen? The second part shows a more mature pair of lovers, Andy and Hanna, doing their best to continue their affair

Directed by Aaron O’Keeffe, with set design by Hannah Lane. Call 021 450 5624 or see www.corkartstheatre.com.

Finally, something really special takes place this Saturday, May 31, all the way down in Beara, at the Lehanmore Theatre. The Crow’s Old Gold, by Carina McNally, directed by Ciarán MacArtain for Strive Theatre, is the story of a windswept rock, Crow Island, near Dursey, which holds a legend of gold left behind by a magical blacksmith, The Gaibleann Gabha, and his Cow of Plenty.

Is it a myth? Or is this rock home to some immortal force? Only Gavin knows the answer, but when he shares it with Gráinne, the practical and sharp-tongued local shop assistant, her scepticism of old superstitions leaves him questioning his own truth.

8pm start. Tickets at https://tcog.brownpapertickets.com/ or ring 086 8798802.