The countdown to the opening week of our 20th Festival began last week and we can't believe it is already heralding a second week of new LGBT+ plays coming your way next week!.

Our Box Office is open from 12-3pm daily except Sunday in Street 66, Parliament Street, Dublin 2. You can book matinees on Saturday 13th of May for just 10 euros per show (2.30pm/4.00pm).

Bring a group from your workplace or favourite LGBT+ group and get an additional discount direct from boxoffice@gaytheatre.ie. Join us nightly in a different LGBT+ friendly venue for our Festival Club to meet the cast crew and audience. 

Night-time shows (7.30pm/9.00pm) are only 15 euros but if you see both shows in the same venue – you get the two plays for 25 euros – discount is automatically applied in an online booking at checkout. So please share our online posts and tell your friends our 20th Festival is raring to go packed with drama, comedy, music and even some dance. Enjoy the programme of Irish and International productions specially selected for your entertainment!

Enjoy the drama and storytelling and don’t forget to pick up tickets for our exclusive audience raffle where you can win 4 tickets to Future Islands at Collins Barracks https://singularartists.ie/show/future-islands-wtp/ Thanks to Singular Artists.  The winning ticket will be drawn on Sunday May 14th in the Teachers Club Main Hall, doors 7.30pm. 

Teacher's Club Main Hall 36 Parnell Square,  D01T6V6.

The Dr Aiden Rogers Memorial Seminar (75 Minutes) 

"The International Dublin GayTheatre Festival a 20:20 Vision"

May 14th 2023 - 3.00pm

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A panel of guests will explore themes: What has this unique festival achieved in two decades and what can the next 20 years of LGBTQIA+ theatre look like? How has Ireland changed? How has our idenity changed? What voices still need to be heard? What stories should be told? What are our ambitions for programming and writing?  Play your part in the audience discussion, hosted by Nick White, specialist in diversity theatre and mental health, UK with special guests.

The 20th International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival's Gala Awards Night and Concert

May 14th 2023 - 7.30pm
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With musical, comedy and dramatic performances by the stars of this year's programme and special guests. Who will win our 8 'Rewards' for performance, production, writing, volunteerism and identity theatre, named in honour of Micheal Mac Liammoir, Eva Gore Booth, Oscar Wilde, Hilton Edwards, Amy Dalton, Sean Meehan, Patrick Murray and Doric Wilson. Celebrate with our casts, crew and volunteers an incredible 20 years of LGBT+ theatre. All welcome. Full bar service.

Grindr, Saghdar agus Cher (60 Minutes)

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The Teachers Club Main Hall 36 Parnell Square, Dublin 1 D01T6V6. Monday 8th to Wednesday 10th at 9.00pm. Three performances ONLY. Full Bar Service Upstairs. 

A play in Irish with English translation. Three interwoven monologues. Three LGBTQ+ characters. Three different perspectives on one fateful night at the queer bar.

Tógann fear tuaithe a chéad chéim riamh thar an tairseach isteach i mbeár aerach. Freastalaíonn leispiach ar chóisir na gcearc le scata ban díreach (‘díreach’ mar dhea). Tugann fear bearradh gruaige dó féin nach bhfeicfidh ach fear amháin eile...

A country man breathes deep and takes his first step across the threshold of the city’s gay bar. A lesbian grimaces her way through a Build-a-Willy event at her straight friend’s hen party. A scene queen gives himself a haircut that only one other man will see...

At Birth (60 Minutes)

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Ireland Institute 27 Pearse Street, Dublin 2 D02KO37. May 8th-13th. Show times are 2.30pm/7.30 pm. Matinees on Saturday only.

Comedy can have a dark side. This dark comedy asks what could possibly go wrong when one drunken night Anna, very gay, and Isaac, very very gay, have sex to heal from a breakup?

What follows is a journey covering themes of queer families, abortion rights in the US South, and the pursuit of building community, no matter how untypical. How far will you go for your chosen family?

The Heterosexuals (60 Minutes)

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Outhouse Theatre Capel Street, D01R290 May 8th-13th. Matinee on Saturday only. 2.30pm/9.00pm.

Toronto’s  Johnnie Walker presents the international debut of his newest solo show: a deep-dive into the shocking world of Heterosexuality. THEY WALK AMONG US! But where did they come from? And what do they think they’re wearing? To find out, Johnnie must go deep undercover and pose as one of their own! 

Combining elements of storytelling, satire, and deep personal humiliation, 'The Heterosexuals' is here to spill the T on what The Queers really think about The Straights.“A deft performer with brilliant comedic timing!” Uptown Magazine

Men’s Shorts: Homo(Sapien) / Seán Talbot’s Scintillating Self-Discovery Smut Show (15/40 Minutes)

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Mens Shorts (Double bill). Two short plays for one ticket. 

Things will be outrageously camp in DV8 our newest venue at the edge of The Liberties. Week Two DV8 (Deviate) 131 James Street D08HH96 May 8th-13th Matinee on Saturday only.  Show times are 4.00pm/7.30pm. Full bar service. 

(Homo)Sapien is a coming-of-age story of the struggles of growing up gay in Catholic Ireland. Joey’s romantic ideals are challenged when he discovers Grindr, and its array of characters, from faceless friends, to kinky racists. He becomes obsessed with the idea of losing his virginity. This is the story of what it means to be a gay Gen-Z in 2023. Performing with Seán Talbot's Scintillating Self-Discovery Smut Show.  

Are you feeling stuck? Getting bored? Seán is here to scratch your itch. One man. One dildo. All pleasure. Together you and I can explore all the possibilities. But who’s in control? This is a physical performance where flesh meets silicone, glitter, and reality.

Happy Ever Poofter (70 Minutes)

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DV8 (Deviate), 131 James Street D08HH96 May 8th-13th Matinee on Saturday only.  2.30pm/9.00pm Full bar service. 

Once upon a time in a kingdom far away, there lived a dashing prince who just happened to be gay. He tried dating Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Snow White, but deep down in his heart, something didn’t feel quite right. 

Follow Prince Henry, the only gay in the Kingdom of Far Far Away, on his royal adventure to find true love… because if Disney won’t write a gay love story, we’ll just have to write it ourselves!

"An absolute Triumph"  –– Gay Times.

"The best LGBTQ+ event" –– Evening Standard.

La Carn (60 Minutes)

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Teachers Club Main Hall 36 Parnell Square,  Dublin 1D01T6V6. Show times are 2.30pm/7.30pm. Showing from Monday 8th to Saturday 13th.  Matinee on Saturday only. Full bar service upstairs

Ferran has convinced everyone that he makes a living as a gaymer, but in reality he makes sexual videos and video calls. - a dance theatre piece born from the need to represent the body both in the physical sense and online. It shows the generational gap between parents and children in technology and how young people use these resources, sometimes against ourselves. La Carn is a gateway to a young man's intimacy, which puts a price on his own body.

18+ strobe lighting, nudity

I Didn't See That Coming (60 Minutes)

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Teachers Club Main Hall 36 Parnell Square,  D01T6V6  9.00pm. Monday 11th to Wednesday 13th at 9.00pm. Matinee Saturday only at 4.00pm. Four Performances ONLY. Full Bar Service Upstairs.

Derry, 1990s. Ann is a young teacher at the start of her career. Life should be exciting, however, Ann is a young woman who has grown up in a very Catholic area surrounded by the 'Troubles'.  She holds a secret about her true authentic self until she can no longer hide it.  Ann finds herself torn between her family’s lack of acceptance and living the life was born to. 

Angel on Eros (65 Minutes)

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May 8th-13th. Theatre@36, Teachers Club, 36 Parnell Square, Dublin 1 D01T6V6. Full Bar Service Upstairs, 4.00pm/7.30pm..

Angel on Eros explores the friendship between two men of differing sexual orientation and offers a view into the transactional nature of human interplay. Framed inside the business of the arts, this play journeys into a world of human sexuality and self-discovery, as it probes into the erotic truth of a queer artist’s work. Contains NUDITY. Awarded an IDGTF Bursary.

Enough With Your Lies (65 Minutes)

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May 8th-13th. Matinee on Saturday only. 2.30pm/9.00pm. Theatre@36, Teachers Club, 36 Parnell Square: D01T6V6. Full bar service upstairs. 

A chance encounter in the train station brings the author Philippe Besson to confront fragments of painful memories from a secret love story between two teenage boys in a small and conservative town in France in the 1980s. A poetic drama about life after abandonment, from the perspectives of three men who are connected to each other through tangled bonds of betrayal, regret, and perhaps love. The performances will be in Hebrew with English subtitles. 

At Birth (60 Minutes)

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May 8th-13th. 2.30pm/7.30pm. Matinees on Saturday only. Ireland Institute 27 Pearse Street, Dublin 2 D02KO37.

This dark comedy asks what could possibly go wrong when one drunken night Anna, very gay, and Isaac, very very gay, have sex to heal from a breakup?

What follows is a journey covering themes of queer families, abortion rights in the US South, and the pursuit of building community, no matter how untypical. How far will you go for your chosen family?

Everything is Grand and I'm Completely Okay (60 Minutes)

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May 8th -13th show times 4.00pm/9.00pm. Matinees on Saturday only. Ireland Institute, 27 Pearse Street: D02KO37.

Malachy has just turned 25, and he has a few things to say about that. Dealing with the death of his younger brother, he is struggling to come to terms with all that he is, and everything that he's not. Working as a customer support advisor in a call centre at a bin disposal company and experiencing many different escapades with his best friend Pauline, Malachy is eager to take some time to reflect and move on with his life. He quickly comes to realise, however, that it’s not as easy as it seems on paper.

Standing In The Shadow Of Giants (60 Minutes)

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Outhouse, 105 Theatre Capel Street, Dublin 1 D01R290 May 8-13th Matinee on Saturday only. 4.00pm/7.30pm.

A woman looks back on her youth as a struggling actress in early ‘00s London in a comic retelling of minimum wage jobs and auditions for laxative adverts. Unprepared for the sudden success of her younger brother The Libertines’ Carl Barât (traditionally the weed-smoking black sheep of the family), she’s forced to face her own failures. Dodging exes, a lecherous producer and a rehab admission, she finally arrives at the realisation she’s gay. 

The 21st International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival will take place from Bank Holiday Monday, May 6th to May 19th 2024. Submissions deadline December 1st 2023. 

After 20 great years, we need new blood. Join our Executive board. Have you skills in Finance, Artistic direction and programming, Administration, Pr and Marketing, Social Media, Events, outreach with LGBT+ and arts/community groups. We welcome everyone to donate their skills to our voluntary network. Please contact us with a brief skill description on info@gaytheatre.ie. Thank you, our audience, sponsors, companies and volunteers for your incredible contribution to helping us get to 20 years. We cannot do with without you. This is your last chance to see these great plays (and enjoy a Eurovision free zone) so get booking and let us entertain you!

The International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival is supported by the Dept. of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.

© 2023 International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival