The Watergate Theatre is a centre for the arts in the heart of Kilkenny City. Enjoy evenings of entertainment this winter with a fantastic selection of shows, concerts and films!
Kilkenny’s Lady Desart Choir have a number of performances throughout the city in the lead up to Christmas. Come out and enjoy the festive offerings of this 50+ strong choir. These are free events that the public are welcome to attend:
Saturday November 23rd, 2:30pm, Market Cross Shopping Centre
Sunday December 1st, 2:00pm, Yulefest Kilkenny, The Parade Kilkenny City.
Thursday December 5th, Time TBC, Mayfair Library
Saturday December 21st, 2:00pm, Town Hall
The Lady Desart Choir will also be performing in St. Canice’s Cathedral at 7.30pm on December 14th. This is a ticketed event.
Find out more and book your ticket here.
Support Butler Gallery this festive season and stand a chance to win a magnificent bespoke pendant, generously donated by Rudolf Heltzel.
This one-of-a-kind piece, valued at €1,400, is a testament to fine craftsmanship. It is inspired by Rudolf Heltzel's original 1974 design, meticulously crafted by Christoper Heltzel and features a 925 sterling silver handmade chain, set with an exquisite Connemara marble stone at its core.
By purchasing a ticket for just €10, you're not only entering the draw for this stunning piece of jewellery, but also contributing to a great cause. Butler Gallery relies on private fundraising for 40% of our annual budget to maintain our historic building and continue our free access to art programmes benefiting thousands of people every year.
Take this opportunity to own a piece of design history whilst supporting Butler Gallery. The draw will be held live on Butler Gallery's Facebook page on Wednesday 18th December at 1pm. Remember, every ticket purchased helps fund our 2025 Exhibition & Learning Programmes and our iconic building.
Tickets: €10 available online.
Made in Kilkenny is back again for Christmas 2024 with a pop-up shop on Johns Street. Buy local, buy craft this Christmas with the wonderful collection of designers from Made in Kilkenny. Authentic handmade crafts made in Kilkenny! Pop in to their Christmas Pop-up shop, browse their collections and pick up the perfect Christmas gift. Find out more at @MadeinKilkenny
Open November 30th to December 24th every day 10am-6pm. 75/76 Johns St Kilkenny.
This festive season, celebrate with creativity, tradition, and sustainability at our Teenager Art & Craft Workshops. Join us for a heartwarming experience where you can make beautiful Christmas decorations and gifts using local, traditional, and organic materials.
Through these workshops, you’ll learn to craft stunning holiday pieces that add a personal, handmade touch to your festivities. Using special techniques and festive designs, we invite you to create treasures that express love and thoughtfulness. Workshops are curated and hosted by The Happy Pottery.
Workshop Highlights:
Personalized Christmas Gifts: Design one-of-a-kind handmade gifts for your loved ones, making this holiday season even more meaningful.
Family Fun: Our workshops are designed to be a joyous family experience. Spend quality time together, crafting memories that last a lifetime.
Traditional Techniques: Explore heritage-inspired crafting methods and festive designs that capture the spirit of the season.
These workshops are for ages 12+ and participants do not need to be accompanied by an adult. However, an adult needs to complete the pre-attendance form for each participant.
The Stars of Irish Country Christmas Show makes a welcome return to The Watergate Theatre on Sunday 1st of December. With a super lineup of the best of Irish Country entertainers, this is sure to be another sellout concert. Artists including Brendan Shine, Trudi Lalor, John McNicholl, Olivia Douglas and TR Dallas will perform their best loved songs in the beautiful Kilkenny venue all backed by a top class four piece Country Band.
Come along and sing along to many of your favourite Christmas songs as well as your favourite Country classics.
Early booking is advisable.
Divine G (Colman Domingo), an inmate at Sing Sing prison, runs a theatre group as part of a Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA) program. Incarcerated for a crime he didn’t commit, Divine and his fellow RTA members escape the reality of prison life by putting on plays. When a wary outsider (John “Divine G” Whitfield) joins the group, the men decide to stage their first original comedy.
A stirring story of humanity, redemption, friendship, the power of art and the importance of community, Sing Sing stars an unforgettable ensemble cast of formerly incarcerated actors. The film beautifully weaves together the true-life story of friendship between the troupe and the transformative process devising a new play brings to them.
“I don’t let the old man in”, explains Phil Coulter, quoting his hero Clint Eastwood on how, at 82, he’s keeping his pedal to the metal with a brand new Autumn tour.
Commentators who thought that a sell-out run of shows celebrating his 80th year was a kind of grand finale certainly underestimated the man, his boundless energy and incredible staying power. It turns out that there’s a legion of loyal Phil Coulter fans who can’t get enough of the affable Derry man. They wanted to hear more of his music, his classic songs and his ever changing store of music biz stories. And what a store that is.
The Cream of Kilkenny Cats is back. The very best of Kilkenny’s young musical talent take to the stage to serve up a feast of festive cheer for their Christmas Jazz Spectacular; under the baton of their Musical Director, Eamon Cahill.
Come and watch the sparkling Dance performance by The Dance Club Kilkenny, choreographed By Kate O Brien. Watch in wonder and then get invovled by learning a few steps with the instructors and team!
Set up in 2022, The Dance Club is a community and school which teaches dance style/ Social dance styles such as Salsa, Bachata and Kizomba. With classes taking place in a host of different locations across Kilkenny. The club is for all ages and levels and their mission is to instill a great love of dance, while inspiring self-confidence, discipline and respect for the performing arts.
Find out more about The Dance Club Kilkenny at www.thedanceclubkilkenny.com
Returning to Yulefest by popular demand Music Generation Kilkenny presents ‘Jingle Bell Rockout’.
Join in the magic of Christmas, raise your voice in song and support Kilkenny’s rising young stars performing Christmas Classics!
A free open air concert taking place on Sunday 8th December, 12 noon. Young musicians from the Creative Music Space will showcase their singing, guitar, and drumming skills with some familiar Christmas tunes on the Yulefest Live Music Stage at the Yulefest Christmas Market on the Parade, Kilkenny city.
Winter’s Dream is a new family show by Echo Echo Dance Theatre Company.
It is an original story told without words, incorporating physical theatre, clowning, shadow play, interactions with the audience and dance.
A little snowman dares to dream of making the impossible possibleThis is a story of curiosity and hopeWhere the magic of winter meets the joy of springAnd reminds us to find the beauty and joy in all the seasonsGuiding you into a fantastical theatrical realm, Winter’s Dream takes us on unique and enchanting festive adventure.Suitable for all ages but particularly aimed at those who wish to experience a humorous and gently paced theatre event. Families and young audiences will be transported to a dreamlike world for a cosy and magical experience; the perfect antidote to the hectic and often over-stimulating festive season.
Set in the late 90s, Ellen and her new husband Van decide to take Ellen’s older sister Inger on a bus trip to Paris where Inger once lived. Inger is schizophrenic, and lives in a care home coddled by her overprotective mother. Ellen sees their holiday as an opportunity to reconnect, and to find out if Inger might be able to live more independently. Inger herself has a hidden agenda for the trip – hoping to track down a lost love.
Rose is based on director Niels Arden Oplev’s own family history and is full of feeling. Sofie Gråbøl’s performance is the film’s highlight. She inhabits Inger, bringing her to life and presenting all her complications, impulses and anxiety with grace.
Muireann Bradley is a 17 year old folk and blues guitarist and singer from Ballybofey in County Donegal. She specializes in performing acoustic fingerpicking country, piedmont, and ragtime blues styles from the 1920s, 30s and 40s as well as later folk, country and Americana.
"A wonderful player, I can now retire the torch has been passed."
Stefan Grossman
Her influences include Blind Blake, Rev Gary Davis, Memphis Minnie, Elizabeth Cotten, Mississippi John Hurt, Stefan Grossman, Ari Eisinger, John Fahey and Roy Bookbinder.
Her father started teaching her guitar when she was nine and then in 2020, she received an offer from Josh Rosenthal of Tompkins Square Records to record an album after he saw her on youtube. In December 2023 this album “I kept these old Blues” was released to rave reviews.
It’s always party time when ABBA comes to town but when it’s the Christmas show, then that’s a real excuse to let your hair down! This happy sing-a-long event is pure escapism. It celebrates ABBA’s music with a loud and proud production and terrific audio visuals of ABBA seminal moments on the giant screen!
It’s the perfect way to start your Christmas celebrations!
Exploring loss and preservation amid scientific research to improve native woodland, Marielle MacLeman’s solo show is a playful yet critical lament on Ireland’s built and natural heritage. Animating a scene change between the domestic and global, she veneers surfaces with diseased woodchips and fallen leaves, recreates the razed wallpapers of a ‘big house’ with invasive species, and dyes upholstery with ‘climate-ready’ ivy – ubiquitous underminer of walls and trees but essential in stabilising their rotting remains.
The Lady Desart Choir is delighted to have been invited again to perform at the iconic St. Canice’s Cathedral, Kilkenny on Saturday 14th December 2024.
This event has grown year on year and it is now and annual highlight on the event caledars of both St. Canice’s Cathedral and the Lady Desart Choir. It is an ideal way to get into the spirit of the season!
The concert sold out quickly in both 2022 and 2023, so get your tickets early!
Following the success of his ginormous 68 date run with 67 sold out shows (thanks Middlesbrough) viral sensation and all round great guy Vittorio Angelone is extending his tour into the Autumn!
Having started comedy in 2018, Vittorio has already cultivated a huge online following from stand-up clips and podcasts, regularly amassing millions of views on various platforms. As well as co-hosting Mike & Vittorio’s Guide to Parenting alongside fellow comedian Mike Rice, he released his first comedy special in September 2023 which has already amassed over 100 thousand views. Wow!
All Kevin McCallister wants for Christmas is for his family to disappear. So when he wakes to discover that they have accidentally left for their Christmas trip without him and that his wish has come true, he does what any kid would do - he parties! But when he learns that two burglars with a Christmas list of their own are working their way up the block, he is forced to defend the family home on his own and sets about decking the halls with ingenious traps to hold the thieves at bay until his relatives come home.
Little Bo Peep and her beloved pet Baa-Baa the black sheep take care of some very special sheep who give their wool to make Santa’s Christmas jumper, as he flies around the world on Christmas Eve.
Every year, Bo Peep, Baa-Baa and their great friend Dinda, take the sheep to the Christmas Fair to be shorn – but the beautiful Queen of Hearts has lost her phone and has turned up to open the Fair too soon. Things could be sorted...but Horror! – Bo Peep’s sheep are missing and soon - so is Baa-Baa! Just as a very strange witchy person arrives, who wants to win Master Chef with her recipe for roast mutton instead of turkey for Christmas Dinner can the boys and girls help find Baa-Baa and the sheep and ensure that Santa gets to stay warm and bring Christmas to the whole world.
A One Man Theatre Show Written and Directed by Mikel Murfi.
Commissioned by the Hawk's Well Theatre, Sligo and Sligo Arts Office as part of Bealtaine 2012.
Just outside of town, cobbler Pat Farnon lives on his own, contentedly aging in the cottage in which he was reared. Join him as he walks the five miles into his “metropolis,” populated with no-necked water diviners, sporting savants, loudmouths, and preachers.
Due to demand, Enya Martin ads more dates to her Irish National Tour 2024.
Martin’s new show, "Is it just me?" is Enya’s search for answers……Is it just my relationship that's like this? Was it just my upbringing that has me this way? Is it just me who experiences this on holiday!? And finally, where she gets most of her inspiration…. Am I the only one with friends like this, on and offline!?"
Join Enya Martin as she brings her unforgettable comedy show ‘Is It Just Me’ across seven venues in Ireland, this Autumn.
We are delighted to announce that Celine Byrne will perform in the Watergate theatre for the first time for her “Christmas Celebration”, packed full of captivating Christmas Carols as well as much loved songs from the world of Opera and Operetta. Programme includes O Holy Night. Silent Night, O Mio Babbino Caro, Nella Fantasia, Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas and In The Bleak Mid Winter …to name but a few. Early booking is advised.
Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin) is back. But this time he’s in New York City with enough cash and credit cards to turn the Big Apple into his own playground. But Kevin won’t be alone for long. The notorious Wet Bandits, Harry and Marv, still smarting from their last encounter with Kevin, are bound for New York City too, plotting a huge holiday heist.
Beset with personal and professional problems, George Bailey finds his previously happy life falling apart around him on Christmas Eve. Seeing no way out, George considers suicide from the edge of a bridge - but Clarence, his guardian angel, intervenes and shows George what his beloved hometown of Bedford Falls would be like without him.
Shocked by what he sees and at the unforeseen circumstances of his absence, George reconsiders and begs Clarence to return him to the problems of the present and the loving community he has fostered throughout his life.
Image courtesy of Park Circus/Paramount.
Discover how cults manipulate and control people, their non-religious forms, and their widespread prevalence in modern society. With Q&A.
When we hear the word ‘cult’, we might think about notorious religious groups such as Heaven’s Gate, Children of God, and Scientologists. But cults and other high control groups are everywhere, and they definitely are not always religious in character, with some luring people in under the false pretence of wellness and personal growth.
It’s estimated there are around 2,000 cults in operation in the UK today, and 10,000 in the United States. Research from The Family Survival Trust in 2022 called this phenomenon a “hidden epidemic” in the UK, estimating thousands of adults and children are being deceived into joining cult groups. This talk examines the psychology of cults: what draws people to join cults, why they might stay, and what cult leaders and leadership members get out of controlling people.
Doors open at 7pm, talk starts at 7:30pm – come down early to grab a good seat!
Bridget is a new short film which deals with "The burning of Bridget Cleary". In 1895 Bridget Cleary a seamstress who was a very independent prosperous young woman and whose murder case became known as the last witch burning in Ireland was murdered. Her husband believed her to be a changeling.
Was Bridget a witch or a fairy or was this merely another murder of a young woman who couldn't be controlled. Anne Williamson and Brian Clancy two local Cloneen writers in Tipperary where this all happened take a different view of events. Directed and produced by Anne Williamson and filmed by "Diceman Productions" from Kilkenny this is a lovely tribute to a woman who was way ahead of her time and this ultimately led to her demise.
Multi-Award-Winning Irish comedian Conal Gallen is back on tour this year with his hilarious one-man stand-up show. Conal is well known for his hilarious humour and has been entertaining audiences worldwide for over 30 years.
He's even had the pleasure of performing in front of the Duke of Edinburgh, The Prince of Wales,and several other well-known English pubs! Don't miss your chance to see the master of comedy at work as Conal Gallen brings his Funny Business to the stage this year. Book your seats now to secure your place at a night filled with unforgettable laughter.
Two years post-divorce and Blandine still finds it difficult to move on. Her only child, Benjamin, fears his mother will become a recluse after he also decides to leave home, and so reaches out to Blandine’s former school friend – the free-spirited Magalie.
After 10 years of spiralling into addiction in London, Rona returns home to the far-flung Orkney Islands in Scotland, hoping to maintain her recovery. Attempting to reconcile her complex family history as well as her destructive past behaviours, she takes a job with a wildlife conservation charity - allowing her to connect with the nature of her childhood home.
‘Has no one a skitter o’ dignity left?’
A unique collage of Kabuki dance and Irish storytelling, Forgotten has been a huge international success for Fishamble during the past decade. It is a captivating portrayal of four elderly characters living in retirement homes around Ireland.
Pat Kinevane’s haunting performance brings to life these sometimes forgotten voices of society.
CRITICS’ CHOICE, Los Angeles Times
Irish National Opera presents
Johann Strauss
Fledermaus
Man-about-town Eisenstein is supposed to report to jail, his wife Rosalinde will stay home for the night and their maid Adele needs to visit a sick aunt. Yet all three turn up in disguise at Count Orlofsky’s extravagant masked ball. The champagne flows as the waltzes play. Mistaken identities and heavy flirting lead to a night, and an early morning, of hilarity.
Famous for his “The Blue Danube” waltz, Fledermaus is Johann Strauss’ most popular opera. Best-known for its tunefulness, upbeat musicality and Viennese lilt, the story has hilarious twists and turns, with disguises, double crossings and rivers of champagne.
Ray Bubbles, an International Bubbleologist and Guinness World Record Holder, is on a mission to master the art of bubble-making and create the ultimate square bubble!
Sophie (Magalie Lépine Blondea), a 40-year-old philosophy professor, has been living with her partner Xavier for ten years. Their relationship is intellectually stimulating and stable, if somewhat passionless. However, when Sophie meets rugged carpenter Sylvain (Pierre-Yves Cardinal) - the strapping working-class contractor renovating their country house - an intense physical chemistry erupts between the two. It fuels a passionate affair and leads Sophie to question her life choices and her prior assumptions.
Baltasar Kormákur’s deeply moving film is based on the novel by Ólafur Jóhann Ólafsson, who also co-wrote the screenplay. This is a rich study of love and grief that’s both heartbreaking and achingly romantic.
Pucked returns to Irish stages after its sell out run in 2022. Pucked is a fast paced, comedic, theatrical, one-man blockbuster! PUCKED
Pucked tells the story of the young and ambitious Matty Daly. Immersed in the GAA from birth, Matty has one dream and one dream only, to play on his senior team. When Matty finally gets called up, we join him as he learns the hard way, that playing senior isn’t everything it’s cracked up to be. PUCKED is an electric comedy with exceptional theatricality for GAA and theatre fans alike.
70-year-old Mahin has lived as a widow in Tehran for over 30 years. She fondly remembers life in Iran before the Islamic Revolution, but now she cannot even visit her Europe-based daughter, because she is considered too old to be granted a visa by authorities. Refusing to accept a lonely future, Mahin takes matters into her own hands when she meets taxi-driver Faramarz. Throwing caution to the wind, an unforgettable and unpredictable evening unfolds for the pair.
In spring 2025, Druid are hitting the road once more for an 11-venue national tour of Three Short Comedies by Seán O'Casey.
Following a sold-out run in 2021, Druid return to Kilkenny’s Watergate Theatre with these classic rip-roaring one-act plays by one of Ireland’s greatest playwrights.
Set in a post office, A Pound on Demand (1939) is the tale of Jerry and Sammy who badly need a quick injection of cash to continue their night on the town.
In Bedtime Story (1951), poor John Jo Mulligan learns the hard way that inviting members of the opposite sex to Miss Mossie's lodging house comes with serious consequences.
All hell breaks loose in The End of the Beginning (1937) when Darry Berrill and his wife Lizzie agree to swap their household roles - and that's before Darry's clumsy friend Barry arrives.
When aspiring chef Almut and recently divorced Tobias meet as the result of a car accident, an instant spark leads to a full romance and a future life and family together. But their happiness and relationship is challenged when Almut receives some bad news…
Michael Harding’s father had a profound effect on his life. In 2023 Michael walked the Camino de Santiago, and wrote a volume of memoir entitled I Loved Him from the Day he Died. Join Michael as he brings to life the Camino walk and the father who shaped his life.
Michael Harding’s father had a profound effect on his life. In 2023 Michael walked the Camino de Santiago, and wrote a volume of memoir entitled I Loved Him from the Day he Died. Join Michael as he brings to life the Camino walk and the father who shaped his life.
The Foster & Allen 50 Years of Hits concert will be packed with all the songs that made them famous all over the world. They will be performing all their hit singles like ‘Bunch Of Thyme’, ‘Old Flames’, ‘Maggie’, ‘After All These Years’, ‘We Owe It All To You’, ‘I will Love You All My Life’, ‘Just For Old Times Sake’, as well as medleys of songs from their chart topping albums and DVDs. They will also be performing some of their new recordings from their latest album We’ll Meet Again.
International recording artists Foster & Allen look forward to celebrating an amazing milestone of 50 years in the music business with a concert tour of Ireland from December 2024 to March 2025.
The Foster & Allen 50 Years of Hits concert will be packed with all the songs that made them famous all over the world. They will be performing all their hit singles like ‘Bunch Of Thyme’, ‘Old Flames’, ‘Maggie’, ‘After All These Years’, ‘We Owe It All To You’, ‘I will Love You All My Life’, ‘Just For Old Times Sake’, as well as medleys of songs from their chart topping albums and DVDs. They will also be performing some of their new recordings from their latest album We’ll Meet Again.
Charismatic Anora "Ani" Mikheeva lives in Brooklyn and works as a stripper. When Ani meets Ivan - the young, party-loving son of a rich Russian oligarch - Ivan is smitten. He starts paying Ani to become his live-in partner. After a whirlwind few weeks of excess, they get married in Vegas. Everything changes when Ivan’s parents find out and send henchmen to arrange an annulment. Things swiftly turn chaotic, and Ani finds herself dragged along on a bumbling chase across New York City.
This stunning play is a blackly comic, rich and vivid tale of a life lived in secret, a testament to the people who live on the fringes, under the nose of everyday life. It explores the surface, and what lies underneath.
Rock Icons Show is the ultimate classic rock concert experience touring Ireland, the UK, Europe and beyond. The show takes you on a journey through some of the world's greatest classic rock bands and albums, featuring the music of rock icons such as Deep Purple, Free, Bon Jovi, Toto, Rainbow, Def Leppard, Thin Lizzy, Kiss, Alice Cooper, Pink Floyd, Status Quo, Van Halen and many more.
Since 1998, Kilkenny Roots Festival has attracted some of the finest names in the Americana/Roots canon, including Calexico, Giant Sand, Drive-By Truckers, Jason Isbell, Alejandro Escovedo, Guy Clark, Chuck Prophet, Ray LaMontagne, Richmond Fontaine, Rodney Crowell, Phosphorescent, Sturgill Simpson and Alabama Shakes.
Audiences wind their way through the medieval streets sampling the huge range of music in the 30 plus venues, hosting over 40 Irish and international acts, with over 90 ticketed and free shows from early afternoon until late into the night.
There’s a mixture of old and new acts on the free pub gig trail and all styles are catered for, from swing to bluegrass, rockabilly to cajun, folk, blues and beyond.
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