Cork Midsummer Festival 2024
The Cork Midsummer Festival is back for 2024 by popular demand and will be running from the 12-23rd of June. This annual multi-disciplinary arts festival transforms the city into a stage, with both national and international arts events for audiences of all ages.
With a focus on public participation and engagement, the festival supports emerging artists and features a diverse range of performances, including theatre, music, dance, and visual arts. We took the liberty of checking the programme for you ahead of time and have decided on some recommendations that we think will give you the best sense of the festival’s huge variety of experiences.
Theatrical productions:
The summer I robbed a bank June 15th/16th
This is a play in the Everyman based on an award-winning children’s book about a boy in Achill Island for the summer whose uncle is planning a bank robbery! It’s a hilarious performance for all ages, and you can get tickets on the everyman’s website by clicking here.
Street Performances:
Kamchàtka Street Performers June 16th 2pm
Kamchàtka are a group of street performers that will be returning to Cork again for this year’s Midsummer festival. Their act will be starting at 2pm on Patrick St on June 16th and will consist of 7 characters lost in the city carrying briefcases and wreaking havoc among passersby!
Midsummer Parade June 16th 3pm
The Family Shenanigans, who are an amazing troupe of over 150 makers and performers are putting on a parade starting on Oliver Plunkett st at 3pm on June 16th, so you can head right over there after seeing the Kamchàtka groups street performance. This parade is for all ages and will be full of interesting floats, contraptions, hilarious antics and stunning costumes. The finale of the parade is a huge salsa workshop in front of the city library run by Tribe Academy and Cork Community Art Link.
Visual Art/ Theatrical Performances:
Killer, Matter and Ghosts by Natasha Bourke June 18th – 21st
This one is a wild card, and perhaps one of the most unusual performances you could see at this year’s festival. It’s a visual theatre performance which is described on Corks Midsummer Instagram as being a story about “legacy, identity, transience, vulnerability and survival in an odd, chlorinated, urban womb”. To make it even more intriguing, this solo performance by artist Natasha Bourke will be performed in Gus Healy swimming pool in Ballinlough! You can buy tickets on the Cork Midsummer website by clicking here.
Music and Dancing:
Solstice Ceili June 21st
This is a ceili through the ages that you can join in Elizabeth Fort, facilitated by the trad band Damhsa Liomsa and Fear an Spraoi Martin O’Donoghue. It’s a celebration of music and dancing from 2024 BC to 2024 AD to celebrate the summer solstice, and you can buy tickets by clicking here.
New Blood in St. Lukes June 21st and 22nd
Last but not least, we have an event on the 21st/22nd where some of Corks most exciting new contemporary musicians will be playing in Live at St. Lukes. You can buy tickets by clicking here.
That’s all form us this week, we hope you enjoy the festival as much as we will, you can see the full list of acts on the Cork Midsummer website by clicking here. If you are not in Cork, but our summer festival lineup has you tempted to visit, you can always arrange to take a language course with us by clicking here.