Extra performance of Midsummer Night's Dream to be staged at Carrick-on-Suir festival
The Bard in the Quarter Festival will take place in Carrick-on-Suir from August 14-16
Due to huge public interest, an extra performance of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream: The Reimagined Folklore Cut is to be staged in Ormond Castle's courtyard on the final evening of The Bard in the Quarter Festival on Sunday, August 16.
The outdoor production blending Shakespeare's much loved comedy play with ancient Celtic myth will be the grand finale of the new festival that has been selected for the Tipperary EU Ireland Presidency Culture Programme.
This special adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream, directed by Enda O'Driscoll, will now be staged at 6.30pm as well as 4pm on August 16, ensuring more people can enjoy the play.
Admission is free of charge but pre-booking is required.
Ticket booking opened on Thursday (July 23) for events at The Bard in the Quarter Festival, which is being organised by Carrick's Tudor Artisan Hub collective of artists in partnership with Ormond Castle, Brewery Lane Theatre, the Strand Theatre and Carrick-on-Suir Musical Society.
The festival brings together over 50 local actors, directors, and creatives to reimagine William Shakespeare's works.
Linda Fahy of the Tudor Artisan Hub said in recognition of the commitment shown by its 40-strong performing artist ensemble, organisers are taking a page from the Bard's own playbook by reserving the daytime and early evening performances as exclusive "Cast & Family Previews”.
“Following these intimate previews, the public performances will take centre stage each evening. Built from carefully selected extracts of Shakespeare's best-loved works, these accessible 60-minute productions provide audiences with rich context, humour and compelling storytelling, offering an engaging new way to experience the Bard.
The festival's main productions are:
Friday, August 14, Christy's Bar at Strand Theatre 8.15pm: The Citizen's Comedy – The Bard's Trilogy of Merriments – Directed by Suzanne Shine. A humorous, accessible production featuring extracts from Twelfth Night, Much Ado About Nothing and The Comedy of Errors. Tickets: €15 (includes booking fee). Cast: Colum Dunne, Paula O'Dwyer, Neill Bourke, Dermot Keyes, David Shee, Julie La Fontaine, Avril Keyes, Paul O'Keeffe, Walter Dunphy, and Sarah Dunne.
Saturday, August 15, Brewery Lane Theatre 8pm. The Human Condition – The Bard's Trilogy of Dark Cameos – Directed by Barry Comerford and Maria Clancy. It's billed as “an atmospheric black-box theatre experience featuring extracts from Macbeth, Romeo & Juliet and Othello. Tickets: €15 (includes booking fee). Cast: Dermot Keyes, Ray Nolan, Jacquie Ahern, Aileen O'Keeffe, Fiona Hennesey, Frances Connolly, Maria Clancy, and Barry Comerford.
Sunday, August 16, Ormond Castle Courtyard at 4pm and 6pm. A Midsummer Night's Dream: The Reimagined Folklore Cut. Cast: Eugene O'Keeffe, Jayne Tennyson, Neill Bourke, Neil Maclean, Jacqueline Delahunty Wall, Catherine Whelan, Jacquie Ahern, Walter Power, Enda O'Driscoll, Jake Tubbritt, Liam Hogan, Lyndsey Folye, Esther Byrne, Lucy Franey, Heath Foley, Lexie Fitzgibbon, and Ellie La Fontaine.
Free Festival Community & Heritage Events
• Saturday, August 15 at 11:30am: Shakespeare Surprises with Margaret O’Brien at Ormond Castle.
The public are invited into a world of trickery, venal self-serving rulers, jealousy, war, and complicated family dynamics to discover why the Bard still speaks to us centuries later. Expect interactive surprises. This event is limited to 20 places. Pre-booking mandatory.
• Sunday, August 16, Ormond Castle Long Gallery 12pm: The Empty Tunic: Echoes Across Waters – From Moyle to Avon to the Suir
Guided by a druid narrator, this deeply moving, intimate piece is structured as a live standing experience (not seated). It beautifully weaves together visual art, live music and spoken word to link William Shakespeare’s grief for his young son, Hamnet, to the legendary Irish tragedy of the Children of Lir, anchoring these universal experiences in selected poems by the late Michael Coady.
The event is limited to 25 places. Pre-booking mandatory.
Throughout the weekend, a Travelling Troupe of Bardic Performers will appear across the Ormond Castle Cultural Quarter when least expected.
Keep your eyes peeled; they may hold the key to uncovering some of the Bard's most famous everyday expressions in wonderfully unexpected ways.
Ticket booking for the festival's events opens this Thursday, 23 July 2026 at 10am. Tickets for Brewery Lane Theatre can be secured via ticketsource.com/brewery-lanetheatre.
Tickets for all other festival events must be secured via www.ticketsource.com/tudorartisan-hub. For further information, contact Tudor Artisan Hub on 086 2560609 and follow the Hub on Facebook.
The Cultúr 2026 programme supported by the Tipperary Arts office, is funded by the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport and Culture Ireland.