AN aNCIeNT FUNeRAL RITe, THe IRIsH WAKe Is The ULTIMaTe CeLeBRaTION OF LIFe
Best known as an ancient funeral rite, the Irish WAKE is actually a celebration of transformation, of moving from one realm to another. Ushering in fabulous change - caterpillar to butterfly - the WAKE is a timeless reminder to live fully.
Acclaimed Irish theatre company THISISPOPBABY invites you to witness this anthemic spectacle with the spirit of an epic trad session and the ecstatic energy of a stadium concert. After two sold-out, award-winning runs in Dublin, theatrical juggernaut WAKE is going global. Supported by Culture Ireland.
a WILD NIGHT OF COLLeCTIve CaTHARsIs
A co-commission from Irish Arts Center in New York, WAKE uses the structural backbone of an all-night Irish wake to honour and subvert the “Irish cultural toolbox” (trad, tap, storytelling, party pieces) as a mechanism for transformation, celebration, grief and collective catharsis.
This is a large-scale piece of ‘event theatre’ with a live band mixing trad with club classics to create the soundtrack to a wild night of aerial, cabaret, tap, poetry and pole dancing.
THIsIsPOPBaBY
THISISPOPBABY has been igniting stages around the world for two decades with an exhilarating mix of theatre, night club, festival and activism. The company has thrived at the cutting edge of contemporary live performance in Ireland, pioneering large-scale shows such as WAKE, RIOT and Alice In Funderland, incendiary multidisciplinary festivals Where We Live and Queer Notions, iconic underground performance like WERK and Salty, and via award-winning contemporary new writing.
THISISPOPBABY is the long-term theatre collaborator of the“Queen of Ireland” Panti Bliss, with seven shows, multiple world tours, and a Soho Live streaming special in the repertoire to date.
THISISPOPBABY’s shows have played to audiences of over 400,000 and counting, collaborating with an innumerable number of artists to light up the city and speak to the world through the lens of what it means to be Irish.
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