Brought to you by Cork Midsummer. 

Forget the cinema date.

This summer, it’s time to ditch the everyday and embrace the delightfully peculiar: Cork Midsummer, a festival revered for pushing the boundaries of art and entertainment, is back for another year of audacious eccentricity.

The festival brings captivating theatre performances, mesmerising music, dazzling street spectacles, ambitious visual art, daring dance and so much more to Cork for 12 days from June 12th – 23rd, 2024.

Prepare for theatre at the swimming pool, late-night jaunts through dark parts of the city and enough whimsy to leave even the most jaded cynic with a twinkle in their eye.

Say bye-bye to beige and embrace the bizarre – Cork Midsummer awaits.

Here are six shows to nab tickets for now:

GOOD SEX

The Everyman Theatre, MacCurtain Street. Book tickets (€27/€22)

Tipped as a “sublimely funny love story for a loveless age”, every night, Good Sex will see two brand new actors try to answer a question: How do you have sex on stage? How do you even have sex?

Brought to us by the acclaimed makers of innovative theatre Dead Centre, with award-winning writer Emilie Pine, each raw and hilarious show will feature two new performers – some of the best actors in the country – to tell a story of desire, betrayal and loneliness. They have not rehearsed, and have never read the script.

But they are not alone – to help and guide them they’re joined by an Intimacy Director, trained in the art of teaching people how to touch.

KILTER, MATTER AND GHOSTS

Gus Healy Swimming Pool, Ballinlough. Book tickets here (€15/€12.50)

Performed in the unique setting of an actual swimming pool, Kilter, Matter and Ghosts embraces a breadth of poetic languages to present a story of wit and pathos about legacy, identity, transience and survival in an odd, chlorinated, urban womb.

The work of Cork artist Natasha Bourke, the 60-minute piece is described as a genre-defying solo performance using movement, film, and sound.

WIFF WAFF IS PLAYING AT MY GAFF

Crawford Art Gallery, Emmet Place. Book tickets here (free)

The fever dream of curator Davey Moor, King Ping Pong and the Krazy Tables come to Cork for the very first time.

Head to the Crawford Art Gallery to play artist-made Krazy Tables from the National Novelty Ping Pong Table Collection, installed as an interactive exhibition.

The tables have amused (and frustrated) participants and spectators alike since King Ping Pong started commissioning them. If you think your table tennis talent is up to scratch, watch out for surprise pop-up tournaments!

All the opening times are available here. You can even swing by on your morning coffee break or after work.

WINTER JOURNEY

A secret location in Shandon (emailed to ticketholders before the show). Book tickets here (€24/€22)

The original poems by Wilhelm Muller, which Schubert set to music in 1827, depict the dark, beautiful journey from summer to winter, from life towards death.

Now musicians and artists from Cork, Iceland, and beyond – in eight very different spaces around Shandon – will create responses to the iconic song cycle (exploring genres including folk, hip hop, opera, traditional and more) through which audiences are free to create their own Winter Journey, in cosy pubs, wild gardens, austere churches and other stops throughout the neighbourhood.

POSSESSION

The Granary Theatre, Dyke Parade, Cork City. Book tickets here (€25/€15)

Based on a script from the deaf artist Teresa Deevy telling the story of An Táin through the eyes of Queen Medb, combining Irish Sign Language with experimental sonic and vocal composition, this immersive opera production explores one of Ireland’s foundational myths with a fresh perspective on diversity in storytelling.

Created by artist Amanda Coogan and composer Linda Buckley along with collaborators Alvean Jones, Lianne Quigley and the Cork Deaf Community Choir, it’s suitable for spectators aged over 12 years old.

Tempesta

The Pav, Carey’s Lane. Book tickets here (€20/€18)

Acclaimed playwright Deirdre Kinahan unveils a powerful new drama: Tempesta.

Set against the backdrop of a rising Europe in the 1930s, two Dubliners find their love story engulfed by the storm of war. Live music composed and performed by Steve Wickham (The Waterboys) adds depth to this tale of resilience and the fight for what matters most.

Cork Midsummer Festival brings captivating theatre performances, mesmerising music, dazzling street spectacles, ambitious visual art, daring dance and so much more to Cork for 12 days from June 12th – 23rd, 2024. Plan your unforgettable Cork Midsummer Festival 2024 adventure today – browse the full programme here.