Greetings from Under the Arch
Galway is running two things at once this week. The city's annual summer musical takes the Black Box for six days, and Heritage Week spends its last stretch opening doors around Galway that are usually shut.
Twin Productions have The Wiz at the Black Box until Sunday. Róisín Dubh has a booking every single night, including a live band scoring an audience Mario Kart tournament on Friday.
Palaeontologists are walking people around the city pointing out fossils in the building stone. Pat and Faye Shortt are in Clifden on Saturday, the Princess Proms take Leisureland on Wednesday, and there's a techno night, a jazz open mic and a television quiz to fill the gaps.
This is our pick of what's on in Galway this week. As always for a full event list check out the link at the bottom of the email.
Let's dive in 👇
EVENT HIGHLIGHTS THIS WEEK
The Wiz
Tuesday 18 to Sunday 23 August · 19:00 nightly, with Saturday and Sunday matinees at 14:30 · Black Box Theatre
Galway's annual summer musical this year is Charlie Smalls's Motown-driven rewrite of The Wizard of Oz, the one that ran on Broadway in 1975 and put rock, gospel and soul where the Judy Garland songbook used to be. Twin Productions are behind it, Seán Power directs, and Declan J. Gardiner has the choreography, which in this show is doing at least half the work. Two and a quarter hours with an interval. The weekend matinees are the family slots, and at €19 concession this is the cheapest big night out on the calendar.
Mario Kart Live: The Summer Cup, Race 3
Friday 21 August · 19:30 · Róisín Dubh
The audience plays Mario Kart on the big screen while a live band performs the score in real time, catching every drift, every blue shell and every photo finish as it happens. It should be a novelty and by all accounts it isn't, because the musicians are actually tracking the race rather than playing along to a loop. Galway is the third leg of the Summer Cup after Dublin and Cork. Half seven, and the room will be a mix of people who came for the game and people who came for the band.
Heritage Week, the closing stretch
Until Sunday 23 August · Venues across Galway city and county
More than 150 free events across the city and county, and the last of them run out on Sunday. Two are worth rearranging a day for. Palaeontologists from UCC start at Galway Cathedral's main entrance on Tuesday morning and walk the city showing you the fossils sitting in ordinary building stone, which permanently changes how you look at a wall. On Thursday evening, 7L Architects and the city's conservation officer open 45 and 47 Dominick Street Lower, two of the best surviving examples of Galway Georgian, and walk through the roof conservation work planned for them. Booking is required for most of the programme.
Céadaoin Collective
Wednesday 19 August · 19:30 · Monroes
A collective named for Wednesday, playing on a Wednesday, in Monroes. The Dominick Street end of town does this kind of loose ensemble booking better than anywhere in the country, and Monroes has the room for it. Early enough to be a school night.
GO Mahhh and Dankenstoned
Thursday 20 August · 20:00 · Róisín Dubh
Two bands with names that tell you exactly what kind of Thursday this is. Róisín Dubh's main room on a weeknight is where most Galway bands get their first proper audience. Cheap in, loud out.
TechnoParty with Shampain, Jim and Neil Meehan
Saturday 22 August · 22:00 · Róisín Dubh
Ten o'clock start, three DJs, and Róisín Dubh's late licence. Shampain has been one of the more reliable bookings on the Galway techno circuit for a while now. Late one.
Jazz Open Mic
Monday 24 August · 20:00 · The Dew Drop Inn, Mainguard Street
A backing band and a vocalist, and anyone who brings an instrument gets a go. Monday night jazz open mics either die quietly or become the best night of the week, and the Dew Drop has kept this one alive. Sitting and listening is entirely acceptable.
Urban Fossil Walk
Tuesday 18 August · 10:00 · Starts at Galway Cathedral main entrance
UCC palaeontologists walk you through the city centre pointing at limestone you've passed ten thousand times and explaining which sea creature is embedded in it and when it died. An hour, free, and the sort of thing that ruins ordinary buildings for you in the best way. Meet at the cathedral's main door at ten.
Textiles Workshop: Printing with Plants
Thursday 20 August · 10:00 · St. Nicholas' Collegiate Church
Ann Fleeton on natural dyeing, in a church that has been standing since 1320 and still runs a market outside its door on Saturdays. Plant dyeing is slow and the results are unpredictable, which is the whole point of doing it with someone who knows what they're at. Free, and places go.
Discover the Living Heritage of 45 and 47 Dominick Street
Thursday 20 August · 20:00 · 45 and 47 Dominick Street Lower
7L Architects and Galway City Council's conservation officer take a group through two Georgian houses on Dominick Street and set out the roof conservation work funded by the Historic Structures Fund. An eight o'clock start on a summer evening in an unrestored Georgian interior is a specific pleasure. Booking needed.
Curlew Lino Print Workshop
Thursday 20 August · 18:00 · Ballinasloe Library
Róisín Doherty runs an adults' lino-print workshop built around the curlew, a bird that has all but vanished from Irish bogs and left its folklore behind. Making a print of something that is disappearing is a heavier hour than a craft night usually is, and better for it. Free, adults, book ahead.
Pat Shortt and Faye Shortt: Shortt Stuff
Saturday 22 August · 20:00 · Clifden Station House Theatre
A father-and-daughter sketch show, fresh off a run through Australia and New Zealand. Pat Shortt has spent thirty years being the funniest man in any room in Ireland and Faye is not there on surname alone, which is the part that makes the double act work. Clifden is an hour and a half from the city, so make a night of Connemara out of it.
The Princess Proms
Wednesday 19 August · 15:30 · Leisureland, Salthill
Songs from Frozen, Wicked, Moana, Beauty and the Beast and K-Pop Demon Hunters, sung live by stage performers rather than mimed to a backing track, which is the difference between this and most touring children's shows. Half three on a Wednesday, and Salthill promenade is right there afterwards. Aimed squarely at the four to nine bracket.
Peter and The Wolf at Esker Festival
Thursday 20 August · Galway City
Prokofiev's orchestral introduction to how instruments work, in which each character gets an instrument and the wolf gets three French horns. It has been the standard way of getting children into an orchestra since 1936 because it still works. Part of the Esker Festival's family programme.
The Great BIG Small Screen Quiz
Sunday 23 August · 20:00 · Róisín Dubh
WOMP Events run a television quiz with photo, song, quote and trivia rounds, and prizes for the winners, the best dressed and the best team name. Sunday night quizzes are the only good reason to be in a pub on a Sunday night. Bring four people, one of whom watches too much television.
Tuesday Comedy Showcase with Terry O'Neill
Tuesday 25 August · 20:30 · Róisín Dubh Top Bar
Róisín Dubh runs comedy every Tuesday upstairs and it is one of the steadiest rooms in the country, which is why touring comics keep working out material there. Terry O'Neill hosts. Cheap, and the top bar is small enough that the front row is a genuine risk.
For a full overview of all events on this week in Galway check out our event listings page
UNTIL NEXT WEEK
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