Reviews

84, Charing Cross Road, a play about an antiquarian bookshop, is a fitting finale for the Andrews Lane Theatre.

The regular string of summer blockbusters are dominated by sequels this year. Along with the others, Shrek The Third disappoints, but Die Hard 4.0 makes a comeback.

The Abbey Theatre's current production of Arthur Miller's razor sharp allegorical play The Crucible, a complex piece of theatre, succeeds admirably with a finely dark and disturbing rendition of one of Miller's most cerebral plays.

In 1957, the first Dublin Theatre Festival was thrown into chaos when gardaí arrested the director of a new play, at a tiny theatre, on charges of profanity. By the time the charges were thrown out a year later, the theatre was practically bankrupt, its owners marginalised, and the second Dublin Theatre Festival was also in chaos. This is the story of The Rose Tattoo. By Colin Murphy

Arthur Miller's The Crucible is a masterclass in political drama, and the Abbey production is well staged and broadly well acted. But is it good enough for the National Theatre, asks Colin Murphy

Jason Biggs gets over the death of his fiancée by proposing to the first woman he meets in Wedding Daze, while in Brazil, the unhappy campers of Paradise Lost just want to escape with all their organs intact. By Declan Burke

The James Joyce Centre at 35 North Great George's Street is hosting a number of ticketed and non-ticketed events. The Joycean activities taking place on the day will include.

In 1907, James Joyce made brief notes for a short story about a Jewish character called ‘Mr Hunter'. He then abandoned this story but held onto the idea, believing that, with a little work, it might become something more.

Sweeney Todd is a mostly fictional tale emanating from the early 19th century, which may have begun life in a British penny dreadful before transforming later into a dramatic play, which then created the foundations of Stephen Sondheim's modern musical version. The story depicts the return of Todd (a pseudonym) from a long term spate in prison to find his wife missing and his daughter Johanna kidnapped and placed to ward in the home of Todd's former nemesis the devilishly fiendish Judge Turpin, played with appropriate malevolence by the constantly outstanding Barry McGovern.

Showing in the IFI from 18 – 31 May, Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten is a documentary on the life of the iconic front man of The Clash.