All the world’s a stage as the Blackwater Valley festival comes to Cork

THE 2024 Blackwater Valley Fit-Up Theatre Festival has got off to a flying start.

For the last two weeks, venues all over northeast Cork and west Waterford have staged The Empty Nest and The Ballad of Mossy Flood.

Record attendances have witnessed superb theatre craft from Seamus O’Rourke and Joan Sheehy: The pair are now on a three-week run with The Empty Nest in Dublin.

Week three of the festival, produced by Blood in The Alley Theatre Company in conjunction with Cork County Council and The Arts Council, commences this Wednesday night, February 7. Bartlemy Parish Hall will see Fishamble: The New Theatre Company present King, written and performed by Pat Kinevane and directed by Jim Culleton. King will be staged in Inch on Thursday, in Ballynoe on Friday, and the Palace Theatre, Fermoy on Sunday.

Week four starts in Ballynoe on Tuesday, February 13, with Michael Patric in Sean Moylan-Irish Revolutionary. Bartlemy Hall will host a Valentine’s night production (087 9538077). Sean Moylan-Irish Revolutionary will be on stage in Inch on Thursday, February 15 and in The Palace, Fermoy on the Sunday (8pm, tickets on the door).