Street spectacle, theatre, music... 10 highlights of Cork Midsummer Festival

Cork Midsummer Festival runs from June 13-22 with dozens of events. Here's a selection of the best  

Highlights of Cork Midsummer Festival include Les Girafes, Stitch, and Helios.

1. Les Girafes: An Animal Operetta

 Outside Dunnes Stores, Patrick’s Street, June 22 at 2pm and 9pm 

French street theatre company Compagnie OFF will show off their towering red giraffes during a parade through Cork city, accompanied by performers and musicians. The parade will blend circus arts, opera, and street theatre into a display of colour and sound.

2. The Second Woman

 Cork Opera House, June 14 to June 15

 

Eileen Walsh stars in The Second Woman, a film that features 100 different men opposite Walsh over 24 hours, as she repeatedly performs a scene about a relationship that has lost its creativity and romance.

3. Helios by Luke Jerram 

St. Fin Barre's Cathedral, June 9 to June 21 from 9am to 5pm 

Light and sound combine to create an immersive opportunity as Helios invites people to explore the sun up close through a new artwork by UK artist Luke Jerram. Each centimetre of the six-metre sculpture represents 2,300km of the real Sun’s surface.

4. Caught In The Furze 

Cork Centre for Architectural Education, June 14 and 15 and June 17 to June 21 from 12pm to 5pm 

Caught in the Furze is a seven-day performance within an immersive installation of furze (gorse) bushes. The performance sees Coogan navigate the spaces between history and memory, myth and modernity by drawing on ancient folk traditions.

5. Cork Girl!, Camille O'Sullivan 

The Everyman, June 21 at 8.30pm 

On the evening of the summer solstice, Camille O'Sullivan presents a brand-new show which celebrates her hometown and its music through a mix of favourite songs and new gems.

6. Escaped Alone 

The Everyman, June 12 to June 14 at 8pm 

Directed by Annabelle Comyn, this new work from Hatch Theatre Company and The Everyman, in association with Once Off Productions, satirises contemporary capitalist culture and celebrates the voices of aging women.

7. Stitch 

J. Nolan Stationary, Shandon Street, June 13 to June 15 and June 18 to June 22 at 5pm and 9pm (9pm and midnight on June 14) 

Set on Shandon Street in 1989, Stitch digs deep into a world where the past lingers and the walls whisper. Described as sinister and unsettling, audiences are warned that this play is not for the faint of heart.

8. Burnout Paradise, by Pony Cam Dance 

Firkin Crane, June 19 at 8pm, June 20 at 9pm and June 21 at 4pm 

Known for their bold, high-energy performances, Pony Cam is set to bring an exhilarating and chaotic performance that exposes a system that demands more than we can give through pushes bodies, minds, and spirits to their limits.

9. Theatre for One: Made In Cork 

Emmet Place, June 14, 15, 17 and 22 

 The Theatre for One booth returns to Emmet Place as part of Cork Midsummer Festival, with a special instalment of five-minute plays performed by one actor for one audience member at a time. Pieces by Cónal Creedan, Katie Holly, John McCarthy, Michael John McCarthy, Gina Moxley and Louise O’Neill.

10. Songs and Souls by Deirdre Kinahan and Steve Wickham 

The Pav, June 14 at 2.30pm 

A celebration of music and storytelling, Songs and Souls features voices from the plays of Deirdre Kinahan and live music from fiddler Steve Wickham, bringing Kinahan’s funny and fragile characters to life.