Dublin Fringe Festival Announces 2021 Superflux Edition

Dublin Fringe Festival announces its 2021 programme today. The festivals 27th edition has been made on the theme Superflux, a surging flow of possibility brought about by the energy of change. This year's programme faces down the rushing spiral of chance and change we are living in, and invites artists to stand in the centre of the spin and sing. This festival line up is ablaze with radical acts of enquiry and wonder, centering work that inspires joy and prizes intimacy. Reaching for a catharsis, with art experiences that crack you up and crack you open, this 2021 collection of sensorial, searching performances is designed to draw friends and strangers together to see and feel something new.

There is an abundance of possibility in Ireland's most action-packed multidisciplinary arts festival which is brimming with ideas this year. Dublin Fringe Festival is home to the country's most creative makers, dreamers and inventors showcasing brand new ideas for the very first time. The festival will run for 16 days and nights as usual this year, staging 160+ performances of 30 events in 16 venues, including a return to beloved Dublin venues, outdoor stages at city landmarks and shows designed to be experienced at your place, or near home for audiences outside of Dublin. This is a festival of firsts with 26 world premieres and 3 further Dublin premieres.

Dublin Fringe Festival is staying devoted to artistic risk, active spectatorship and shared moments in time. The festival is working in a spirit of experimentation, with care and generosity as core values. With a resolute commitment to new voices and new ideas, this edition will offer an introduction to the radical makers and urgent voices whose work demands to be seen and heard. The Festival calls for audiences to stay intrepid and get involved - you will reap the rewards with revelation, beauty and intimate encounters that linger long after the curtain falls.

Ruth McGowan, Dublin Fringe Festival, Artistic Director & CEO, says: "We're delighted to share our plans for the 2021 festival. These brilliant artists are activating the city with acts of joy and intimacy. The programme sends up a flare to adventurous audiences, calling on them to join in this September. At your place, in the streets of Dublin or back in beloved venues, there are 30 new arts experiences to enjoy, crafted by some of Ireland's most exciting artists."

Maureen Kennelly, Director of the Arts Council of Ireland says: "Dublin Fringe Festival negotiated the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 with both flexibility and tenacity, ensuring that arts activity was available and enjoyed safely last September. Notably, the festival brings that same inventive spirit to its 2021 programme, encouraging audiences to seek out arts adventures across the city made by artists setting out to challenge and entertain us in unique spaces.

The Arts Council is delighted to support the work of the Dublin Fringe Festival, which in addition to its 16 day programme of events contributes significantly to the professional development of the performing arts and artists at different stage of their careers. This year Dublin Fringe Festival will also undertake its important Weft initiative (supported through the Arts Council's Open Call Award) which will support the development of artists from diverse backgrounds. The inclusion of this work highlights the vital role that the arts can play in supporting and enabling Equality, Diversity and Inclusion."

This year's festival programme is divided into 6 CHAPTERS for audiences to explore - all grouped by theme or experience - here they are:

Overrun the city and interact with radical acts of joy, pleasure, beauty and wonder:

Featuring, You Are Magic by Alicia Eggert, a live pop-up interactive sculpture activated by touch that celebrates the power of collaboration; Outdoor comedy in Dublin Castle with Film Reads: The Breakfast Club from the ever popular Dreamgun crew. This is their first Irish gig since 2020, so book early; TONIC by Fionn Foley & Rough Magic is a new outdoor all-singing all-dancing musical comedy satirising Ireland in the aftermath of a cataclysmic doomsday event; Sound Waves by Gxrlcode provides the soundtrack to your September from AM to PM. This Dublin Fringe Festival commission spotlights the fantastic work of Gxrlcode, a collective that amplify womens' voices in the creative industry; Abundance by Glitterhole's Beth Hayden & live artist Matthew Bratko is a wonderful first-time collaboration, craftingan ode to Queer joy, resilience, community and the power of a good party; Comedy superstar, Joanne McNally's first live hometown since before the pandemic delivers an hour of brand new material for six nights. DON'T MISS THIS!; FEHDAH is a future afro soul vocalist and multi-instrumentalist at the vanguard of the Irish hip hop and electronic scene - she plays one night only LIVE upstairs at Project Arts Centre.

Gripping live performances reckoning with harsh dualities, public personas and powerful influences:

This is a landmark international collab - leading Irish theatre makers Brokentalkers face off against global Fringe veteran Adrienne Truscott. MASTERCLASS is what is says on the tin, but its one that goes brilliantly wrong. Super provocative, this world premiere skewers the cult of the great male playwright; Malaprop return with Where Sat The Lovers. This new play staged 'in-the-round' investigates conspiracy theories and what to do when a family member has fallen pray to them; there's also a live theatre show about a dead woman, from Lauren Shannon Jones and Eoghan Carrick. Rescue Annie(part of the festival's DUETS programme) begins in an intimacy workshop and ends with an out of body experience.

Inimatable performances from one of a kind artists:

From TG4's Glas Vegas and world dance domination to Dublin Fringe, Sibéal Davitt creates a memoir of her experiences in Minseach (she-goat). This bilingual show tells her dancer's journey through time; Comedy fans will want to meet rising stand-up star Ian Lynam. Bringing his first ever hour long comedy show. Autistic Licence hilariously details Ian's autism diagnosis, creativity and explodes the myth that that autistic people can't connect with people through humour; Kirkoscompose a free contempory classical music concert in the Dublin docklands with Music For Cranes - riffing on the skyline resing the surrounding cranes as musical score; comedy sensation Paul Currie brings his absurdist stand-up show Teetto Smock Alley 1662 - fans of Andy Kaufman, Samuel Beckett and The Muppet Show wont want to miss out; Isabella Oberländer shows her first solo work Glisten, commissioned and co-produced by Dance Limerick. Immerse yourself in a sweaty fifteen minutes that explodes gender; don't worry - she'll be dancing, you'll be thinking.

Shows that pull you closer and encounters that dissolve distance - small capacities and intimate subject matter:

Experienced via WhatsApp voice note, I Feel You Apart From Me by Lark is about Irish expats missing home and what they love about home, and the soft power of a voice note from a loved one; Harry Butler is a Lir graduate making his playwriting debut. Changing The Sheets is a two-hander about one night stands, intimacy and pillow talk when strangers first meet; Belfast artists Orla Graham and Seón Simpson create Heave, a theatre-film hybrid that puts two fingers up to 2020 with a show about long distance love in lockdown. With animation by FEWK this show is also part of the DUETS programme; YOU'RE STILL HERE, by Murmuration is a Dublin Fringe Festival commission, co-presented by the Abbey Theatre. Performed in a tent in the grounds of Dublin Castle, it follows the impact on a family when a prodigal son returns home with all the siblings living together again, in a live theatre performance; New young theatre company Archway &tasteinyourmouth bring us a play about Queer friendship and lifechanging nights out in Narcissus; Co-commissioned by Dublin Fringe Festival and the Abbey Theatre, Speak Softly Go Far is a trio of covert theatre experiences from Maia Nunes, Hannah Mamalis and Oisin McKenna. Experienced alone, in public space near home, these audio encounters invite you to let an artist occupy your mind.

Art made for and by young people:

Dublin 8 Yer Lookin' Great by Emmalene Blake is a Tracks co-commission from Dublin Fringe Festival, Cork Midsummer Festival and Baboró International Arts Festival for Children. Emmalene is an internationally recognised street artist based In Dublin and she will create a new mural at Swifts Alley, inspired by the ideas and advice from children in that neighbourhood. Working in partnership with Marsh's Library, Emma has asked the young people from the local schools what makes Dublin 8 great and to share the positive changes in the area that have made it better for them and their friends; THE VEILED ONES by Junk Ensemble is a dazzling dance theatre production for young people featuring an ensemble of nine dancers and musicians from all over Europe who explore the identity of witches, and the powerful relationship between a grandparent and grandchild. Loosely informed by Roald Dahl's novel The Witches. This too is Tracks co-commission for Galway 2020 European Capital of Culture from Dublin Fringe Festival, Cork Midsummer Festival and Baboró International Arts Festival for Children.

Expand your horizons with a craic-based curriculum from the Dublin Fringe Faculty - ENROL NOW!:

FETISH 101 is Matthew Tallon's new stand up comedy experience that educates people about the world of fetish through an email newsletter; The wonderful Sarah Devereux (aka The Dirt Bird) devises an online creative club to show you how to 'make and do' in a new workshop entitled LET'S GET FUN-ERABLE. Zoom Zoom Zoom, she will show up in your room and she will send a package of art materials to you in the post for this unforgettable online craft event.

Live shows will return to beloved theatres like Project Arts Centre, Bewleys Café Theatre Smock Alley, Samuel Beckett Theatre who are looking forward to welcoming audiences back in to their fold safely. And the beautiful gothic Chapel Royal has some special events again this year too. Fringe are creating new outdoor stages across town like at the magical Dublin Castle courtyard and gardens, Grand Canal Docklands and at Swifts Alley. Social distancing measures and rigorous COVID protocols will be in place at all events as safety is paramount at this edition of the festival.

Earlier this spring, Dublin Fringe Festival launched Weft, a new project focusing on talent development and network building for emerging and early-career Black artists and artists of colour in Ireland, working in partnership with trail-blazing international colleagues Hot Brown Honey, visionary artists and organisers Origins Eile and acclaimed theatre maker and spoken word artist Dylan Coburn Gray.

Weft, is an 18-month body of work, that will support the creation and cultivation of:

• a visible, approachable entry point to the Irish arts industry for new Black artists and artists of colour

• a platform for exploratory and experimental works, made by emerging and early career artists breaking new ground in their practises

• new audience, network and community building activity

• enhanced links between Irish participants and their international peers

• thrilling new interdisciplinary performances in 2022

If you are interested in engaging with Weft, email weft@fringefest.com. 
Weft is proudly funded by the Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon through the Open Call initiative for 2021.

Dublin Fringe Festival's work doesn't work without you, the audience. There is a longing to hear ripples of laughter and collective gasps at the festival this year. Let Dublin Fringe fill your diaries and your hearts with an abundance of art and ideas. So, let's reunite this September, with all the favourite haunts and welcome back the thrill of happenstance. Let's overrun the city with artists, staking a claim for connection, community and the kind of Dublin we want to live in. It's within touching distance. Are you coming?

Core funded by the Arts Council of Ireland / An Chomhairle Ealaíon and Dublin City Council.

DUBLIN FRINGE FESTIVAL 2021 runs city-wide from September 11 - 26. The full 2021 programme is on sale now at fringefest.com and 1800 FRINGE (374 643).

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