Enjoy a bite to eat while watching new plays at Cork Arts Theatre

THE Cork Arts Theatre Lunchtime and Supper Season has begun! This week it’s The Regina Monologues. Six women with one thing in common — marriage to a man called Henry — have passed into historical legend. Of course, it couldn’t happen these days… or could it? Six modern women have also married one man. Their lives are both separate and intertwined as they tell their stories from a room in which they have all once lived. Directed by Mary Curtin, The Regina Monologues features Jean Law, Vanessa Hyde, Lorraine Comiskey, Lucy O’Connell, Jenny Fennessy and Allison O’Flynn. Today and tomorrow, lunch at 12.15, show at 1pm. Evenings, Friday and Saturday, supper 7.30pm, show beginning at 9pm. Next week it’s going to be Fionuala Linehan in The Hairdresser’s Calendar, which will be a hoot. Booking on 021 450 5624 or www.corkartstheatre.com.

At the Firkin Crane tonight, the Presidio Dance Theatre from San Francisco will perform with Cork Youth Ballet Company and Keniry Cahill Academy in a triple dance bill. 7pm start. Next week brings the Theatrix 17th annual Performing Arts Summer Camp which runs for two weeks and caters for young people aged seven to 20. Most places will probably be filled by now, but try your luck on www.firkincrane.ie or 021 450 7487.

You might like to know that Cork actor Derek Murphy is currently touring in the UK with a professional production of Shaw’s Arms and the Man. Born and bred in Douglas, Derek trained in drama at Colaiste Stiofain Naofa and developed his acting career in our own Everyman, Opera House, Arts Theatre, Granary and Firkin Crane. Nice to see him on a UK tour.

The Clonmel Junction Arts Festival opens next Monday and runs for a full week, with touring theatre very much at its heart. Nóta Stóta, and Brendan Galileo for Europe, will both be showing at the White Memorial Theatre, with Strolling Through Ulysses, and Remember to Breathe, at Hickey’s Café, while A Slightly Isolated Dog from New Zealand will be staging Don Juan at the Cider Rooms Cabaret, behind The Coachman. Also at the cabaret will be Two, by local company Down The Rabbit Hole. Plus an intriguing art trail for families, The Secret Garden, at Raheen House Hotel, where afternoon tea will be on offer. Also for children is Twinkles, by Dansema Dance Theatre from Lithuania, while Stagecraft Youth Theatre’s 20th anniversary production, The Fight will return. Email boxoffice@junctionfestival.ie or 087 382 3000 for details.

You haven’t forgotten the Behind the Scenes Tour on offer at Everyman every Wednesday and Saturday during the summer, from 1 to 2pm, have you? It’s the absolutely ideal way to entertain visitors and young people. Call 021 450 1673 or www.everymancork.com.

Meanwhile pop singer and Dancing with the Stars winner Jake Carter returns to the Opera House this Saturday with his live band for what promises to be a fun-filled concert.8pm start.

And don’t forget two particularly big events coming up at the Opera House during the summer: The Lehman Trilogy, beamed direct from the National Theatre in London on July 25.

From August 6, also at Cork Opera House, Bill Kenwright’s multi-award winning production of Blood Brothers, telling the tale of twins who separated at birth, grow up on opposite sides of the tracks, only to meet again with fateful consequences. If you’ve never seen it, book right this moment. If you have, then you will undoubtedly want to see it again. It’s one of the unforgettables, with songs you will sing for the rest of your life. Contact 021 427 0022 or see www.corkoperahouse.ie for a full summer programme or bookings.