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Acting Out will be returning to Brighton and Prague with new show called, ‘Best Served Cold

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Acting Out will take their new show, Best Served Cold, written by Sean Denyer to Brighton Fringe Festival from May 21-24 and to Prague Fringe Festival from May 26-30. Artistic Director, Howard Lodge said, ‘It will be our third time back in Brighton, at England’s biggest arts festival. We were lucky enough to be nominated for best new play there in both 2018 and 2019 so it’s a happy place for us! It will be our second trip to Prague- we had a great time there last year- it’s such a friendly and well-run festival. Writer, Sean Denyer said if his new play, ‘It’s a twisted comedy or maybe tragicomedy which looks at masculinity, sexuality and the difficulties men have in communicating with each other. None of the characters are particularly likeable, but they are all interesting I think! It’s the kind of play which will get people talking about what choices they would have made, if they were in a similar situation.’

Best Served Cold will be at Junkyard Dogs@The Bees Mouth 21-24 May. Tickets are on sale now at Press Ctrl-c to copybit.ly/Bestservedcold


Best Served Cold will be at Prague Fringe Festival May 26-30. Tickets on sale early in the New Year.

Acting Out Resumes Thursday October 3rd in Outhouse at 7pm

Acting out’s workshop programme will resume on October 3rd at 7pm in Outhouse on Capel St. Dublin. The programme will run for 8weeks and we have some exciting guest tutors this term. Newcomers welcome and no previous experience is necessary.
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Programme for Casa Valentina

casa_valentina_.pdf
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25/The Decriminalisation Monologues was nominated for the Inspiration Award at
​Prague Fringe Festival 2019

We were thrilled, to learn that 25/TheDecriminalisation Monologues was shortlisted for the Inspiration Award at the Prague fringe festival 2019, one of only four awards given at the event. Writer and Director of the show, Sean Denyer said, “It was a real surprise to be nominated given the high standard of international productions at the festival. We did have a great response from audiences, many of whom came up to us after the show, which is always humbling. The festival is brilliant and we certainly hope to return to it. This was the 18th year of Prague Fringe and applications for the 19th festival open in August.
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Photos by Cici Hu

Casa Valentina by Harvey Fierstein is our show for Pride 2019

Back in 1962, most men went to the Catskill Mountains to escape the summer heat, but others took the two-hour drive from New York to escape something else entirely. They went to an inconspicuous holiday resort that catered to a very special clientele: self-declared heterosexual men whose favorite pastime was dressing and acting as women. It was paradise for these men, allowing them to spend their weekends discreetly and safely inhabiting their chosen female alter egos.

But when their self appointed leader wants to make the organisation that supports them officially recognised, fractures in the group begin to emerge, and they find their ‘community’ can be a very fragile one. They have to decide whether the freedom they would gain by emerging from hiding is worth the risk of potential personal ruin, and whether the cost of excluding certain sections of the community is a price really worth paying.

Writer Harvey Fierstein wrote the book for the award winning musicals Hairspray and Kinky Boots and this play is infused with his trademark wit. This moving, insightful and entertaining play is based on real events, and offers a glimpse into the lives of a group of unforgettable characters as they search for acceptance and happiness in their very own Garden of Eden.


Casa Valentina is on at the Teacher’s Club at 7.30pm July 1-6 and tickets are available here
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25/The Decriminalisation Monologues is shortlisted for Best New Play at Brighton Fringe

25/The Decriminalisation Monologues has been shortlisted for the Best New Play award at Brighton Fringe 2019, which is England’s biggest arts festival.
It’s the second year in a row that writer, Sean Denyer has been shortlisted and reacting to the news he said, ‘ I’m delighted to be shortlisted for this play, which honours ordinary people, who were determined to live authentic lives at a time when the Irish State viewed them as criminals. Brighton Fringe is a brilliant festival and I’m really looking forward to seeing how audiences react to it there”.

25/The Decriminalisation Monologues plays at Junkyard Dogs:The Doghouse from May 15-18 at 7pm and you can book tickets here.


A short interview with Sean Denyer, the writer of 25/The Decriminalisation Monologues

We had a chat with writer, Sean Denyer about 25/The Decriminalisation Monologues coming shortly to Brighton, Prague, Manchester and London

25/The Decriminalisation Monologues, is coming to the King’s Head Theatre in London

We are delighted to announce that we will be bringing 25/The Decriminalisation Monologues to London as part of the Playmill Festival at the renowned Kings’s Head Theatre in Islington, London. This is one of the best known Fringe theatres in London, and is well known for it’s strong programme of queer theatre. You can get your tickets here.
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25/The Decriminalisation Monologues is coming to Prague Fringe

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We are delighted to announce that we will be bringing 25/The Decriminalisation Monologues to the wonderful city of Prague as part of the 18th Prague Fringe Festival. This boutique festival programmes mostly English language productions from all over the world and includes a significant LGBT thread. We will be performing in A Studio Rubín from May 29th to June 1st at 6.30pm.
​You can book your tickets for the show here



25/The Decriminalisation Monologues at the Brighton Finge

We will be bringing 25/The Decriminalisation Monologues to the fabulous Brighton Fringe! The show will be on in Junkyard Dogs: The Doghouse From May 15-17 at the Brighthelm Centre every night at 7pm. We had a brilliant time at the Fringe last year with Passing On, and look forward to presenting the new show in what is England’s biggest Arts festival.
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Acting Out is off to Scotland for the Big Burns Supper with 25/The Decriminalisation Monologues

Booking is now open for our production of 25/The Decriminalisation Monologues at the Container Theatre as part of the Big Burns Supper festival, On January 25th at 4pm. This ten day multidisciplinary festival has a huge range of events from music, to comedy to cabaret as well as theatre. You can book tickets for our show here.


25/The Decriminalisation Monologues is going on tour!

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We are delighted to announce that 25/The Decriminalisation Monologues which premiered at Dublin Pride in June is going on an international tour.
The show which was conceived to mark the 25th anniversary of the Decriminalisation of homosexuality in Ireland has been invited to the Big Burns Supper Festival in Dumfries, Scotland in January and the Brighton Fringe Festival and Prague Fringe Festival in May. More details shortly but booking for the Big Burns Festival is already open for the show on 25th January in the pop-up Container Theatre as part of a ten day multi-disciplinary arts festival commemorating the Scottish Bard.

Our Christmas show is now Sold Out!

Make the Yuletide Gay! our Christmas show for 2018 is now sold out. We will try to make a few tickets available on the door when we’ve configured the seating and these will be available on a first come first served basis, from 7pm at the Outhouse on the night of each performance.
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Acting Out takes
The Decriminalisation Monologues to Scotland in January

We are thrilled to be taking two of the Decriminalisation Monologues to the fabulous Big Burns Supper Festival in Dumfries in Scotland on 25th January, 2019 in the pop up festival Container Theatre.

Big Burns Supper Festival runs for 11 days at the end of January in the vibrant capital of South Scotland, Dumfries. The festival takes place in venues, bars, art galleries, museums and includes an 800 capacity Spiegeltent which includes a heady roster of international names taking place.

The line-up includes shows and events for all the family, as well as light installations and music presented in the pubs and taverns.

You can book by pressing the button below!
Book for the Big Burns Supper
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Make the Yuletide Gay!

Acting Out will be presenting its annual Christmas show at Outhouse on December 5th, 6th and 7th at 7.30pm. Expect a madcap mixture of new sketches and plays with a festive theme, and perhaps one or two songs! Tickets are €10 for adults and €5 for concessions, and on Wednesday 5th, tickets are two for the price of one!
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Book by clicking the button below.
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Book now

Acting Out restarts on Thursday 27th September

Here we go again! Acting Out restarts on Thursday 27th September in the Outhouse at 7pm. If you’d like to join then this is the time! You need to show up for one of the first couple of meetings, as we pretty quickly will get working on our traditional daft Christmas show! No experience necessary, as we think there is a potential performer locked inside everyone!
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25/The Decriminalisation Monologues

2018 marks the 25th Anniversary of the decriminalisation of homosexuality in Ireland. To mark this we are presenting a programme of new monologues which look at life before and after this historic event. You can either catch a lunch time show featuring a couple of them inclusive of lunch in the lovely cafe at the Outhouse or catch all of them in an evening show on Thursday 14th or Friday 14th at 7.30pm.

25/The Decriminalisation Monologues features four monologues:

In, The Special Friend, by Sean Denyer, a man reluctantly moves to Galway to be with his lover, but finds a surprising level of acceptance can’t help him, when tragic events reveal he has virtually no rights.

In, The Number, by Simon Murphy, a man reflects on growing up gay in Limerick, his heady first love, and what he’d like to say to his young self.

In, Out of the Shadows, by Colette Cullen, a man maps out his life against the key moments in LGBT liberation.

And finally in, I Know What You Art, also by Sean Denyer, an ambitious young women in 1970’s Ireland, finds herself facing a difficult choice when she is blackmailed at work.

The pieces are programmed as follows:
1pm June 11/12 The Special Friend + The Number (ticket includes lunch!)
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1pm June 14/15 Out of the Shadows + I Know What You Are. (Ticket includes lunch!)

​2.30pm June 16 Out of the Shadows + I Know What You Are + The Special Friend (Ticket includes lunch!)

7.30pm June 14/15 All four monologues. (No lunch but wine available!)

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In partnership with Outhouse as part of Dublin LGBTQ Pride Festival
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New promotional video for Passing On

Passing On, our new co-production with Blue Heart Theatre,
to open in
Dublin and Brighton

Passing On, our latest production, is a new play by Sean Denyer which will be heading to the International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival in Dublin and the Brighton Fringe Festival in May.

Brian and Tom, together for ten years, would like to have a child, to be as Tom says, ‘a proper family with two dads‘. When their friend, Jane, agrees to act as a surrogate, it seems they can really have it all. But after Tom is very reluctantly pressed into finding out about his biological parents, what he discovers will turn their dream of a family into their worst nightmare, threatening to destroy everything they have.

We are delighted that Howard Lodge, Artistic Director of Acting Out will be directing the play. Howard said, 'I'm really looking forward to directing this powerful and moving new play for Blue Heart, who have proven so adept at discovering and promoting new writing'.
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‘Passing On’, is a gripping new play by Sean Denyer and is being produced jointly by Acting Out and Blue Heart Theatre. Acting Out, Dublin’s LGBT theatre group recently won the 2017 National GALA Award for Irish Arts and Literature. It is Blue Heart Theatre’s second visit to Brighton following a successful run of, ‘Couples+Pairs’ at the festival last year.

Writer Sean Denyer, who is also a Consultant in Public Health Medicine said, ‘Now gay couples can, thankfully, have most of the same choices as anyone else in terms of family formation, I wanted to explore this in the context of the rapidly advancing developments in genetics and screening. We can now find out more and more about our genetic make-up, but is this necessarily always a good thing? More and more people create their own ‘family’, but are there things about our biological families that we just can’t escape from?’


Featuring a talented cast of Irish actors, this gripping and thought-provoking play will stimulate a lot of debate for audiences about genetics, ethics, surrogacy and the impact of nature and nurture. It places this in the context of a powerful and insightful examination of a close and loving relationship, tested to the limit by discoveries from the past.
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Rehearsals for Passing On
Book for Brighton 21-24 May
Book for Dublin 14-19 May
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Download Festival Brochure

Acting Out restarts
​7pm on Thursday 1st February

Happy New Year! Acting Out will be starting up for the new season on Thursday 1st Februaryin the Outhouse at 7pm. New members welcome, but you must have joined by 9th February as we will begin working on the new shows by then!
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A Fairy, Mary Christmas!
Our fundraising show for Outhouse is on at 7.30 pm Dec 6/7/8

Kick off your festive season with a laugh by going to, A Fairy Mary Christmas, Acting Out’s evening of sketches and short plays, all of which  have a gay twist on Christmas themes! Plus you will be raising funds for the brilliant Outhouse to continue their great work with the LGBTQ+ community. Tickets are €12/5 including booking fee, and wine will be available on the night too! Book tickets at www.actingout.ticketleap.com/xmas 

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Acting Out wins Irish Arts and Literature GALA award!

Acting Out has won a prestigious GALA award in the Irish Arts and Literature category for our shows, The Ref and The Paradise. The awards are bestowed every year by the NXF in the glamorous surroundings of the Mansion House in Dublin.
Artistic Director Howard Lodge said, 
“ We are thrilled and humbled by this award! To get recognised by our community for our work is the ultimate reward, and we’d like to express a big thank you to the people that nominated us.
We deliberately make theatre that is accessible. But being accessible does not mean it can’t challenge, provoke and sometimes ask difficult questions of the community. 
Huge thanks are due to the wonderfully talented people who made the shows. To Sean Denyer for writing The Ref and The Paradise and producing them too. To Mark Power and Ian Henderson for the insanely catchy songs in the Paradise, Nicola Mooney for her fabulous choreography and Hannah for her lighting design and Mark Power again, who with Cal Folger Day and Sean wrote the songs in the Ref. And finally to the fabulous actors in the group, who are like a huge extended family.”

Other winners included, Minister for Children, Katherine Zappone, who won Politician of the Year, and Broden Giambrone who won Person of the Year for his work with Ireland’s Trans community.

Acting Out are the guests on the
​Your Program is Your Ticket Podcast

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Acting Out's Artistic Director Howard and Writer/Producer Sean Denyer join Sean Chandler to talk about Acting Out, the Irish Theatre Scene and the importance of putting LGBT lives on stage. To listen, click on the link below.
Listen to the podcast
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The Paradise- a new electro-pop musical comes to the
​Dublin Gay Theatre Festival

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Dublin’s oldest gay nightclub is closing down. A group of old friends gather to see the place off, but before they can do that, some old scores will need to be settled. Are there some things that just can’t be forgiven?
Set in 1993 and the present day, The Paradise is a new immersive electro-pop musical, with fiendishly catchy songs by the Irish duo, Eden.

Brought to you by the team behind last year’s festival hit, The Ref.
Performances at The Complex from May 1-6 at 9PM with matinees at 4PM on the 1st and 6th.
Book at www.gaytheatre.ie
Book for The Paradise

If I Was A Pet Shop Boy

A video of one of the songs from The Paradise. Billy loves Colm but Colm loves electro-pop legends, The Pet Shop boys...

Award winning show,​ The Ref, returns to the Pearse Centre, Nov 1st-5th

Click here to book tickets for the Paradise
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The build up to the marriage equality referendum has begun, and for one family it's very personal!
Watch one Rainbow family battle against the dark forces of the sanctimonious Deirdre Kilbride, self-proclaimed leader of ‘Mammy's For God'.

See matters come to a frenzied climax in an all singing-and-dancing debate on National Television, featuring forged identities, a surprising coming out, and original songs including, 'I Love the Gays' and 'Stand Proud, Stand Tall'.

The Ref was the best selling show of the International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival 2016 and was the winner of the Hilton Edwards Award.

The Ref will be on at the Pearse Centre, 27 Pearse Street ay 8pm from Nov1st-5th. Tickets €15/12. Special student night on Tuesday 1st November, when entry for students is just €5!

And so the madness resumes! Acting Out will start up again on Thursday 1st September at the Outhouse on Capel Street from 7-9pm. We've loads of exciting things planned for the upcoming season! YOU MUST sign up on the 1st or 8th September as membership will close after that until spring €5 per session or €3 for students/unwaged.

The Ref is returning!

The hit show of the International Dublin gay Theatre Festival will be returning to Dublin in the Autumn. Dates and ticket details will be released shortly. we are even making some new badges! the Ref was the biggest selling show of the festival and won the Hilton Edwards Award at the festival Gala for its songs.
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RE.ENACT - A Cabaret for Dublin Pride

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Get into the Pride mood with an evening of sketches and songs and general mayhem with our cabaret for Pride at the Outhouse at 7.30pm on 23/24 June. Tickets €10/8 available by clicking the link below.
Book tickets for RE.ENACT

The Ref wins The Hilton Edwards Award at the International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival 2016

Acting Out were thrilled at winning the Hilton Edwards Award for the songs featured in our show, 'The Ref' at the Gala awards night of the International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival 2016. The songs with lyrics by SeanDenyer and music by Mark Power and Cal Folger Day were also performed as part of the ceremony. Sean was also nominated for his marketing campaign for the show which included animation, campaign posters and free badges! The songs are available for download via our website or band camp.
Book tickets for the ref!
The build up to the marriage equality referendum has begun, and for one family it's very personal!
Clive, Susanne and their son Oisin are in battle against the dark forces of the sanctimonious Deirdre Kilbride, self-proclaimed leader of Mammies For God, who forms an unlikely alliance with two gay men who are, like her, ferociously opposed to equal marriage.
Watch as matters come to a frenzied climax in an all singing-and-dancing debate on National Television featuring forged identities, a Eurovision-like ode to Voting No, a surprising coming out, and a rousing anthem for equality!

Featuring original songs including, 'I Love the Gays' and 'Stand Proud, Stand Tall' The Ref presents a funny but sharp view from the inside, on what it was like to have your right to love put to a public vote.


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In A World Upside Down
​
7pm Friday 15th April. Outhouse, 105, Capel Street, Dublin 1

A one off piece devised by the group and facilitated by Romi on placement from the Drama department of TCD. In A World Upside Down explores societal norms and expectations and flips them on their head. Sometimes funny, sometimes disturbing, but always thought provoking And it's free too! Just turn up on the night- but come on time to get a seat! Imagine a world gone upside down...
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Bollocks to Christmas! An evening of Christmas cheer!

Acting Out presents an evening of short plays and songs on a Christmas theme, including the much requested return of the terrible Susanne 'I'm Not Judging' O'Hara from our show, 'Tits Up!' A great way to get you into the festive spirit. All proceeds are going to support the wonderful LGBT community centre, the Outhouse.
Book now at www.actingout.ticketleap.com/xmas
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