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VISUAL ART: Portal – an exhibition by Tina Claffey

Riverbank Arts Centre Main Street, Newbridge, Ireland

McKenna Gallery  - reopens 8th June Open Monday - Friday, 10am-2pm ADMISSION FREE Tina Claffey loves to get 'lost' in the bogs, eskers and wetlands of Ireland with her macro lens. Her latest solo show takes the viewer through a portal to other wondrous worlds that co-exist with us through her macro lens. Lichens become

Music Network presents 10 String Symphony

Riverbank Arts Centre Main Street, Newbridge, Ireland

Christian Sedelmyer fiddle, vocals Rachel Baiman fiddle, banjo, vocals Described as “The newest and most promising voices in Americana” by NPR, 10 String Symphony is a collaboration between Grammy-nominated fiddle player Christian Sedelmyer and acclaimed songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Rachel Baiman. Take ten strings, add two compelling voices and one shared sense of social justice, and

€10 – €20

FAMILY: Observational Storytelling with Sarah Bowie

Riverbank Arts Centre Main Street, Newbridge, Ireland

In this online tutorial with cartoonist, writer, and co-founder of The Comics Lab Sarah Bowie, Sarah will show how to take ordinary, everyday life and turn it into material for compelling storytelling! Use this as an opportunity to look beyond the surface of our seemingly mundane lives, and find the potential stories within. Sarah will

MUSIC: A Piece of You by Greg Sinclair

Riverbank Arts Centre Main Street, Newbridge, Ireland

Imagine telling a story about yourself and then having it turned into a piece of music. A Piece of You is an intimate performance for you in your home; a private concert for you alone or with your partner/friend/family member via ZOOM. Award-winning performance artist, cellist and composer Greg Sinclair turns your thoughts and feelings

€10

Music Network presents Patrick Rafter and Fiachra Garvey

Riverbank Arts Centre Main Street, Newbridge, Ireland

Patrick Rafter violin Fiachra Garvey piano  Violinist Patrick Rafter and pianist Fiachra Garvey join forces to present a stunning programme of music from France, Belgium and Ireland. “I'll get my coat!” cried Patrick Rafter when Maxim Vengerov phoned to invite him to study with him in Switzerland, and since then, Patrick's diary has been stuffed

€10 – €20

Opowiadania Super Paua: Audio Stories Launch Event

Riverbank Arts Centre Main Street, Newbridge, Ireland

Join Super Paua, Riverbank Arts Centre, and axis:ballymun to launch the 3rd series of Super Paua Stories, audio stories for young people ages 6-12. In Opowiadania Super Paua the spotlight is on the Polish community in Ireland, with seven brand new stories in Polish and English. You will have a chance to listen to clips

FREE (booking required)

FAMILY: Opowiadania Super Paua/ Warsztat Rodzinny

Riverbank Arts Centre Main Street, Newbridge, Ireland

In this workshop we’ll be listening to KLOSZ, one of the Opowiadania Super Paua, and doing a creative task together. KLOSZ is the exciting story of a child and their aunt on a train journey, who discover the train is filled with magical creatures on a mission of their own... This event will be delivered

€5

LIVE BROADCAST: ODD THEATRE COMPANY – The Last Five Years

Riverbank Arts Centre Main Street, Newbridge, Ireland

The Odd Theatre Company is proud to present its production of the award-winning musical The Last Five Years, a show widely regarded as one of the finest musicals of the 21st century. An emotionally powerful and intimate tale of two New Yorkers in their twenties who fall in and out of love over half a

€15

Outdoor Poetry Workshop with Nell Regan

Japanese Gardens Irish National Stud, Tully, Kildare, Ireland

We are delighted to present an outdoor poetry workshop with poet Nell Regan, in the beautiful surroundings of the Japanese Gardens. Starting with a tour of the famous gardens at the Irish National Stud, participants will be encouraged to capture their surroundings through writing exercises and to write their own short nature poems. No experience

€20

OUTDOOR POETRY: A Gap in the Clouds with Nell Regan

Japanese Gardens Irish National Stud, Tully, Kildare, Ireland

We are delighted to present an outdoor poetry reading from A Gap in Clouds with Nell Regan, in the beautiful surroundings of the Japanese Gardens. A Gap in the Clouds is a new translation by James Hadley and Nell Regan of Ogura’s 100 Poems by 100 Poets, one of the most important collections of poetry

€5

VISUAL ART: QUARANTINE PROJECT by Patricio Cassinoni with Nyree Yergainharsian

Riverbank Arts Centre Main Street, Newbridge, Ireland

70 photos in 70 days, made entirely at home while in lockdown during a global pandemic. Quarantine Project is a time capsule from one of the most unique periods of recent history. We never imagined we would be making more than a handful of images, assuming any ‘lockdown’ may last two or three weeks. As

VISUAL ART: Nomadic Series: Capturing Momentary Images – an exhibition by Olga Anacka

Riverbank Arts Centre Main Street, Newbridge, Ireland

This exhibition is a record of artist Olga Anacka's experience of the last 18 months, a time when when she returned to her regular art practice. In this body of work, the artist expresses feelings and thoughts about experiencing the real. Perception is limited by the intellectual associations built upon societal codes and values. Olga

MUSIC: The Esposito Quartet

Riverbank Arts Centre Main Street, Newbridge, Ireland

Mia Cooper, violin Anna Cashell, violin Joachim Roewer, viola William Butt, cello The Esposito Quartet comprises four of our most distinguished musicians with a combined wealth of experience as recital artists, orchestral leaders and teachers, who have been playing as a quartet since 2010.  This programme includes: Mozart - Quartet in F major K.590 Ian

€15 – €18

MUSIC NETWORK PRESENTS: Iarla Ó Lionáird, Úna Monaghan & Kevin Murphy

Riverbank Arts Centre Main Street, Newbridge, Ireland

Iarla Ó Lionáird voice Úna Monaghan harp, electronics Kevin Murphy cello You won’t want to miss this much-anticipated  new Music Network collaboration featuring vocalist Iarla Ó Lionáird, harpist and sound artist Úna Monaghan, and cellist Kevin Murphy Renowned vocalist and member of supergroup The Gloaming, Iarla Ó Lionáird is one of Ireland’s most distinctive voices.

€15 – €18

FAMILY: Kyle Riley – Little Folk On Tour

Riverbank Arts Centre Main Street, Newbridge, Ireland

Kyle is back with his engaging, entertaining, and energetic show Little Folk On-Tour. He leads your children on a musical adventure playing his catchy original tunes, pop songs and traditional children’s music. Here the kids don’t just listen to the music, they become a part of the show. Come and join Kyle and make BIG

€10

LIVE Network presents: Douglas Stuart & Elaine Feeney

Riverbank Arts Centre Main Street, Newbridge, Ireland

Booker Prize Winner Douglas Stuart talks Shuggie Bain with Irish author Elaine Feeney Douglas Stuart was born and raised in Glasgow. After graduating from the Royal College of Art, he moved to New York, where he began a career in design. Shuggie Bain, his debut novel, won the 2020 Booker Prize and was a finalist for the

€15

THEATRE: A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings

Riverbank Arts Centre Main Street, Newbridge, Ireland

Gabriel García Márquez's darkly comic tale, brought to the stage for children and adults to share. In a kitchen, in a theatre, two storytellers and their audience find something remarkable — a very old man with enormous wings. The wise neighbour woman tells us he’s an angel. The priest says he’s an imposter. Pilgrims flock

€10
Recurring

FAMILY: A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings

Riverbank Arts Centre Main Street, Newbridge, Ireland

Gabriel García Márquez's darkly comic tale, brought to the stage for children and adults to share. In a kitchen, in a theatre, two storytellers and their audience find something remarkable — a very old man with enormous wings. The wise neighbour woman tells us he’s an angel. The priest says he’s an imposter. Pilgrims flock

€8 – €28

CINEMA: Another Round

Riverbank Arts Centre Main Street, Newbridge, Ireland

Martin (Mads Mikkelsen) and his three teacher friends all seem to have hit a middle-age rut in their lives. When one of the group tells the others about an obscure philosophy proposing that humans aren’t born with enough alcohol in their blood and so cannot reach their full potential, the men decide to test the

€7 – €9

Work-in-Progress & Workshop: WATERBIRTH

Riverbank Arts Centre Main Street, Newbridge, Ireland

Waterbirth – A Work-in-Progress Performance Come and join Darn Skippy Productions for this work-in-progress presentation of Waterbirth, a new play about motherhood and climate change – and join the company live on ZOOM immediately afterwards for a feedback session and creative workshop. Marina is pregnant and the climate is in crisis. But she’s fine. Everything is fine.

FREE

FAMILY CINEMA: Peter Rabbit 2

Riverbank Arts Centre Main Street, Newbridge, Ireland

The lovable rogue is back.  Bea, Thomas, and the rabbits have created a makeshift family, but despite his best efforts, Peter can’t seem to shake his mischievous reputation … Adventuring out of the garden, Peter finds himself in a world where his mischief is appreciated, but when his family risks everything to come looking for

€5

CINEMA: NOMADLAND

Riverbank Arts Centre Main Street, Newbridge, Ireland

In Chloé Zhao’s multiple award-winning feature, Frances McDormand plays Fern, a displaced woman in her 60’s, who, having lost her husband and her home, sets off on the road to explore life as a modern-day nomad. A mixture of fiction and documentary filmmaking, Nomadland features a cast of real life nomads: people living on the

€7 – €9
Recurring

SCHOOLS: CELLO, Nice to Meet You! with Greg Sinclair

Riverbank Arts Centre Main Street, Newbridge, Ireland

We are delighted to present  a very special event for the classroom with musician and composer,  Greg Sinclair. A single class can join Greg LIVE on zoom for CELLO, Nice to Meet You! – a playful, interactive introduction to the cello and graphic notation. (suitable for 2nd Class-6th Class.) Greg Sinclair is an award-winning performer

€30

LIVE Network: Republic of Shame

Riverbank Arts Centre Main Street, Newbridge, Ireland

LIVE Network and Riverbank Arts Centre present a night of conversation and creative responses to the ongoing legacy of the mother and baby home institutions. Until recently, religious orders and the Irish state operated a network of institutions where thousands of women and children were disappeared into, separated from each other and exploited. Through breaking

€10

THEATRE: Seven Ages of Mam

Riverbank Arts Centre Main Street, Newbridge, Ireland

A new, heart-warmingly funny yet poignant play starring Pauline O’Driscoll (Smalltown, The Young Offenders) in which Mam shares her hilarious take on motherhood, sexuality, grief, infidelity, ageing, love, lust and loneliness.  A female-centric piece that will appeal to all. A contemporary reimagining of Shakespeare's most famous soliloquy - but from a Mam's point of view! 

€15 – €18

FAMILY: CBI Online Book Clinics

Riverbank Arts Centre Main Street, Newbridge, Ireland

Riverbank Arts Centre is partnering with Children's Books Ireland on FREE online book clinics on Saturday 2nd October, 11am-3pm. Are you a young reader? Looking for a new series to delve into? Feeling uninspired by your bookshelves at home? Do you need a prescription for an exciting new read? Then pop into the virtual Book

FREE, booking essential

CINEMA: Redemption of a Rogue

Riverbank Arts Centre Main Street, Newbridge, Ireland

After seven years in exile, prodigal son Jimmy Cullen (Aaron Monaghan) returns home to Cavan to make peace with his dying father. Within moments of Jimmy’s arrival, the old man breathes his last and the heavens open. All that remains is to organise the funeral, except his father’s will stipulates he cannot be buried on

€7 – €9

Kildare Readers Festival: Shelving

Riverbank Arts Centre Main Street, Newbridge, Ireland

Why do artists and writers shelve or abandon particular projects – books, artworks, ideas? What does this tell us about how artists and writers work? What does it tell us about the systems in which they work, the expectations placed upon them, the kinds of work considered viable, valuable, worthwhile? For this event as part

FREE, booking essential

SCHOOLS: Geansaí Ottó le Sadhbh Devlin (bilingual – Irish/English)

Riverbank Arts Centre Main Street, Newbridge, Ireland

Tá stíl ag Ottó agus is breá leis éadaí deasa. Ach ní thuigeann Mamó rud ar bith faoi chúrsaí faisin. Nuair a thagann geansaí gránna eile sa phost uaithi tá rogha ag Ottó - caithfidh sé rud éigin a dhéanamh... Léifidh Sadhbh óna leabhar úr-nua agus beidh deis agaibh bhur geansaithe féin a dhearadh freisin!

€30
Recurring

EARLY YEARS: Shimmer

Riverbank Arts Centre Main Street, Newbridge, Ireland

A dance show for audiences of babies aged 3-12 months. Full of silver, light and wonder, Shimmer is a unique, dream-like dance show for audiences of babies and their adults. Shimmer invites its audiences into an immersive reflective space created by Katie Davenport animated by a twinkling original score by David Goodall, gentle choreography by

€10

CINEMA: Annette

Riverbank Arts Centre Main Street, Newbridge, Ireland

Henry and Ann are famous, and madly in love. The tabloids and gossip columns are frenzied: he is a shock-jock, stand-up comedian, while she is a beloved operatic soprano. They marry and welcome a baby daughter; Annette. But all is not well … Henry struggles, resenting his wife and the monotony of family life. As

€7 – €9

MUSIC: Cassiopeia Winds

Riverbank Arts Centre Main Street, Newbridge, Ireland

Cassiopeia: a group of five bright stars, to be found in the northern sky in the shape of a W. Cassiopeia Winds: a group of five exceptional musicians whose sheer joy in performing together is contagious. Cassiopeia Winds is an Irish chamber wind ensemble formed in 2010, whose performances are marked by vivacity, panache and

€15 – €18

Kildare Readers Festival: John Bowman & Abie Philbin Bowman

Riverbank Arts Centre Main Street, Newbridge, Ireland

With a shared love of history and debate John Bowman and Abie Philbin Bowman are ideal interviewer and interviewee. KRF are delighted to bring you this exclusive interview as they discuss John Bowman's book Ireland the Autobiography:  One Hundred Years in the Life of the Nation, Told by its People. This absorbing and highly acclaimed

FREE, booking essential

Kildare Readers Festival: 10 Books You Should Read

Riverbank Arts Centre Main Street, Newbridge, Ireland

10 Books You Should Read continues to be a favourite event at Kildare Readers' Festival. Its format is a simple one - the guests choose five titles each – conversation ensues, as recommendations - and the advocacy of same - volley back and forth. On this occasion KRF thought to have the conversation be amongst the keepers

FREE, booking essential

Kildare Readers Festival: Luke Cassidy’s Iron Annie Cabaret

Riverbank Arts Centre Main Street, Newbridge, Ireland

The Iron Annie Cabaret is a celebration of music, theatre and literature. Based on Luke Cassidy’s debut novel Iron Annie, it tells the story of Aoife, a major figure in Dundalk’s small-town underworld, and her fatal attraction to Annie, a magnetic and elusive force that barged into her life. Think Reservoir Dogs meets Thelma and

FREE, booking essential

Kildare Readers Festival: The Alphabet of Birds

Riverbank Arts Centre Main Street, Newbridge, Ireland

Sunday Mass and sea swimming; bird alphabets and stone collecting; Goya and Monet; the Stations of the Cross and the Sacred Heart of Jesus; bedrooms and bedsits; insomnia and parental love. Writer and artist Sara Baume covers wide ground in this spellbinding audio-visual essay. Ultimately, it’s a show about our obsessions and passions – the

FREE, booking essential
Recurring

SCHOOLS: Fighting Words – Creative Writing Workshop

Riverbank Arts Centre Main Street, Newbridge, Ireland

Riverbank Arts Centre, Newbridge is the Kildare Partner of Fighting Words. We present creative writing workshops for primary and secondary schools. Fighting Words workshops are always free of charge to the participants. These interactive creative writing workshops will be conducted via ZOOM or Microsoft Teams (or from April - in-person workshops in our theatre available)

CINEMA: Limbo

Riverbank Arts Centre Main Street, Newbridge, Ireland

Omar (Amir El-Masry) is a young Syrian musician stationed upon a fictional remote Scottish island, where he and a group of new arrivals await the results of their asylum claims. Omar shares his accommodation with Farhad, a Freddie Mercury fan who fled Afghanistan; Nigerian Wasef, who dreams of footballing glory; and Abedi, a reluctant realist.

€7 – €9

SCHOOLS SCREENING: Gagarine

Riverbank Arts Centre Main Street, Newbridge, Ireland

A beautiful tale of community, friendship and dreaming big. Teenager Yuri lives at Gargarine, a housing project on the outskirts of Paris. He dreams of becoming an astronaut just like his and the building’s namesake, Yuri Gagarin. When the building is condemned for demolition, Yuri, along with his friends Houssam and Diana, embark on creating

€6

MUSIC NETWORK PRESENTS: Kit Downes’ Dreamlife of Debris

Riverbank Arts Centre Main Street, Newbridge, Ireland

Kit Downes piano, organ Tom Challenger tenor saxophone Lucy Railton cello Sebastian Rochford drums An unmissable opportunity to hear Kit Downes’ highly anticipated and critically acclaimed album Dreamlife of Debris in concert. The wandering mind is a curious thing, and Kit Downes' Dreamlife of Debris explores its tangents and threads, subtleties and secrets in this stunning project inspired by

€15 – €18

EARLY YEARS: I Am Baba

Riverbank Arts Centre Main Street, Newbridge, Ireland

I AM BABA a show for babies aged 0-12 months created by Anna Newell presented by The Civic, Tallaght I AM BABA is a theatre adventure for babies created by internationally renowned theatre director Anna Newell and composer David Goodall.  Their shows for early years have been seen on six continents, off-Broadway and in every

€10
Recurring

THEATRE: Arán & Im by Manchán Magan

Riverbank Arts Centre Main Street, Newbridge, Ireland

We need to find a way of talking about the Irish language - about the sublime beauty and profound oddness of this ancient tongue that has been spoken on the island for 2,500 to 3,000 years, and is now slipping slowly from our grasp. What can the word for the lonesomeness of a cow bereft

€12 – €15
Recurring

SCHOOLS: Fighting Words – Creative Writing Workshops

Riverbank Arts Centre Main Street, Newbridge, Ireland

Riverbank Arts Centre, Newbridge is the Kildare Partner of Fighting Words. We present creative writing workshops for primary and secondary schools. Fighting Words workshops are always free of charge to the participants. These fun interactive workshops will be conducted via ZOOM or Microsoft Teams by an experienced Fighting Words tutor, Pierina Campbell,  and supported by

Recurring

FAMILY: TREEHOUSE by Ceol Connected

Riverbank Arts Centre Main Street, Newbridge, Ireland

Join The Whistleberries in the treetops where a toe-tapping, tale-telling, hip-shaking hooley awaits! TREEHOUSE is Ceol Connected's unique big band music and puppetry performance for young audiences that is sure to have everyone singing along. With mesmerising original music and songs by some of Ireland’s finest musicians and performers, you can look forward to a

€2 – €16

FAMILY: My Smile Has Fallen Down

Riverbank Arts Centre Main Street, Newbridge, Ireland

Where has Mr Hoppity the rabbit gone?  Did he not want to be with his friends anymore? Did he run away?  Has he been eaten by the Bed Monster?! Gagglegoose thinks it might have something to do with Jelly Beans, Mrs Fox is very sure that the Bed Monster doesn’t exist, Mr Fox can’t get

€10