What's on Cork's stages this week?

COMEDIAN Tom Allen is on stage at the Opera House tonight with his new show, Completely, and at time of going to press there were still a few tickets left, but they won’t last long. That’s 8pm.

A late night with Seanie Buttons on Saturday has experimental punk band I Dreamed I Dream, and Inchworm. That starts at 10pm and is strictly over 18s.

On Sunday night, it’s Belinda Davids and The Greatest Love of All, a tribute to Whitney Houston. Only a few tickets remaining for that too.

And on Monday, October 23, singer, songwriter, musician, artist, and best-selling author Josh Ritter is in town for just one night on his Hello Starling anniversary tour.

Next Thursday brings what is officially the Halloween Weekend, and that of course means The Guinness Cork Jazz Festival.

If you haven’t checked out everything already on guinnesscorkjazz.com, then why not?

We can tell you that the opening night at the Opera House, with Macy Gray, is already sold out! Otherwise, all bookings on 021 427 0022 or www.corkoperahouse.ie.

At Everyman tomorrow night, Gearóid Farrelly returns by popular demand with his show Glamour Hammer, in which he looks at the things in our lives that just don’t measure up. And aren’t there plenty of them?

On Saturday, that incredible bilingual musical from Alan Kiely, Kevin Connolly and Seán Óg Ó Duinnín, Tuairín Dubh, is repeated, but like its previous showing last Sat, it is fully sold out.

Let’s see more performances of this searing piece of theatre about 1920 and the ambushes of Keimaneigh in the near future!

On Sunday afternoon, especially for younger theatregoers, Joe the Magician is live on stage, with performances at noon and 3pm. A rollercoaster ride that reinvents children’s entertainment is promised. Tables will levitate, a friendly ghost will magically fly into the audience, and Joe will even make it snow live on stage!

Next week at Everyman, Lost Lear by Dan Colley tells the story of dementia in a family, from the viewpoint of the person affected, through the familiar lens of Shakespeare’s King Lear character. Using puppetry, projection and live video effects, layers of past and present, fiction and reality, overlap and distort.

That’s Tuesday and Wednesday next, October 24 & 25.

All Everyman bookings on 021 4501673 or www.everymancork.com.

Tomorrow night sees the opening performance of Heroes by the Irish Modern Dance Theatre at the Firkin Crane. Choreographer, dancer and operatic tenor John Scott creates a journey that is a dance embodiment of music, through the physicality of his astonishing voice, to show two selves, human and mythological. Unmissable. 7.30pm start.

Booking on 021 450 7427 or www.firkincrane.ie.

Twin Flames The Musical, an original musical comedy by Kevin Fitzsimons, opens at the Fermoy Palace Theatre this Saturday, October. 21. 

A family show set in Cork city in 1968, it features a gold digger from Rochestown, an obsessive ex-girlfriend, a gambling addict, an upcoming marriage, a 66-year-old widow from Ballyphehane and a man with an unusual fetish for older women!

Produced by Ann Dunne and directed by Valerie O’Leary with musical direction by Paul Linehan, the show runs Saturday to Saturday, October 21-28, excluding October 25. Booking on www. gr8events.ie/twinflames

Cyclone Rep, Ireland’s leading Shakespeare theatre-in-education company is bringing its adaptation of Shakespeare’s Merchant Of Venice on tour directly to schools this November and December.

If you want to include your school’s Junior Cycle students on their tour (as who would not?), get in touch fast by logging on to their website, https://www.cyclonerep.com/shylocks-revenge.

The inimitable Pat Shortt is at the Glen Theatre in Banteer tomorrow night, Friday, October 20, while the following Friday at the same venue you can enjoy A Night at the Theatre with Groucho. Two delightful evenings out! All shows start 8pm sharp. Booking on 029 56239 or 087 7558752.