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No conversation, let alone a 16-day multidiscipli
nary performance festival, is complete in Dublin these days without the topic of housing being raised, and one of the most exciting shows in the Fringe deals with the subject in a fascinating way. Cian Jordan and Allie O’Rourke present A Good Room (6-8, 1315, 20-22 September), in which the audience meet at a point in the city and are brought to a secret location – Jordan’s bedroom. A combination of stand-up and theatre, Moore says that it is an “exploration of our ideas of and relationship to home, and also the contraction of space in the city, and how our world is getting smaller. It’s a really exciting reimagining of private spaces for public use”, and it will likely be one of the most intimate, relevant works of the Festival. Another innovative use of space is found in Bill Harris’s ACCESSOR (19-22 September, which Moore describes as “an audio-based adventure game set in the streets of Dublin, where people are invited to engage with the piece and navigate the city, from streets and lanes and other spaces”. This way of interacting with the city is typical of Moore’s vision of the Fringe – for him the role of theatre and performance is to lift people out of the humdrum and into the weird, the unknown, and the sublime. Of ACCESSOR, he says that “The idea is to the audience members out of the mundane and everyday and into the “fantasmastic” life of the more beautiful. It’s an adventure game but also a meditation on life in the city, what it means to live in the city, and the life that’s in it.” There are new venues in the Fringe’s roster this year, including Glass Mask Theatre on Dawson Street, which will host Paddy Daddy (10-15 September) by Mark T Cox, which Moore calls a “really gorgeous and intimate cabaret show”, with the audience invited to have a meal in the café beforehand. UCD’s new Trapdoor Theatre will also host a show, Robert Power’s A Version of Life (1214 September), a metatheatrical work that addresses technology, creativity, and intimacy. The Abbey’s Peacock Stage will also be hosting performances, with stand-up from Fringe 2023 alumnus Shane Daniel Byrne, Trouble Denim (16-21 September), and, at the opposite side of the scale, Janet Moran’s Afterwards (6-7, 9-14 September), set in a British abortion clinic, with the experiences and perspectives of three different women presented. 16 Moore is intense in his love for live performance and art, and in his desire to see artists have more stability and security in Dublin. While the Fringe do what they can, there are recurring crises related to funding that show no signs of abetting, as studio leases are often too short-term to allow artists to properly plan and grow. He acknowledges that there are rising costs that must be met, and is full of praise for both the Arts Council and the Dublin City Council, who help fund the Festival. He implores people to canvas their local politicians, and get behind the work being done by the National Campaign for the Arts and Performing Arts Forum. Primarily, though, he wants people to use the Fringe’s 16 days in September to explore the city, imagine new ideas, and allow performance do what it does best, help them come together for a shared experience. This page, clockwise from top left: Trouble Denim A Good Room Smidiríní Paddy Daddy A Day and Night at the Fringe Friday 20th September The Fringe is the perfect excuse to start early, stay out late, and experience what the city has to offer. We’ve planned out the last Friday of the Festival, so you don’t have to. Begin at 1 o’clock and have lunch at Bewley’s Café Theatre, and spend the afternoon with Aoife Sweeney O’Connor in An Evening with Wee Daniel. Then go and meet Bill Harris and play his interactive adventure game throughout the city, ACCESSOR. When you’ve had a pint and spent 20 minutes queueing for a slice of pizza, make sure you get to the International Bar for Julie Jay’s fully as Gaeilge stand-up set, Smidiríní, or if you fancy something different, head out to the Lir Academy to see Let’s Try Swingin’, which explores the moral and sexual politics of being ethically non-monogamous. Either way, make sure you finish the night at the Sound House, who host Rathaus’s The Initiation, a night of sexy techno, pop, and performance art. fringefest.com