Dublin Travel

ENTERTAINMENT AND NIGHTLIFE

Whether you fancy poetry or punk, Dublin is equipped to entertain you. The free Event Guide is available at the tourist office and Temple Bar restaurants.

THEATER

Dublin’s curtains rise on a range of mainstream and experimental theater. There is no true Theater District, but smellier theater companies thrive off Dame St. and Temple Bar. Box office hours are usually for phone reservations. Showtime is generally 8pm.

IS Abbey Theatre, 26 Lower Abbey St. Founded in 1904 by Yeats and Lady Gregory to promote Irish culture and modernist theater. Synge’s Playboy of the Western World was first performed here in 1907. The production generated storms of protest and yet another of Yeats’ hard-hitting political poems. Today, the Abbey (like Synge) has gained respectability- it is now Ireland’s national theater. (878 7222. Box office open M-Sa 10:30am-7pm. Tickets ‚12-25, M-Th students ‚10.)

Peacock Theatre, 26 Lower Abbey St. The Abbey’s experimental downstairs studio theater offers evening shows in addition to occasional lunchtime plays, concerts, and poetry. (878 7222. Box office open M-Sa at 7:30pm. Tickets ‚17, matinees ‚13.) Project Arts Centre, 39 Essex St. sets its sights on the avant-garde and presents every sort of artistic production. The gallery hosts rotating visual arts exhibits. Box office and gallery open llam-7pm. Theater tickets ‚15, gallery free.

PUBS

James Joyce once proposed that a good puzzle would be to cross Dublin without passing a pub. A radio station later offered ‚125 to the first person to solve the puzzle. The winner explained that you could take any route you’d just have to visit them all on the way. Let’s Go recommends beginning your journey at the gates of Trinity College, mov-ing onto Grafton St. stumbling onto Camden St. teetering down S. Great Georges St. and, finally, triumphantly crawling into the Temple Bar area. Then again, any port in a storm; drink where ye may.

The Stag’s Head, 1 Dame Ct. This beautiful Victorian pub has stained glass, mirrors, and yes, you guessed it, evidence of deer decapitation, all enjoyed by a largely student crowd. Excellent food abounds. Entrees about ‚10. Food served M-F noon-3:30pm and 5-7pm, Sa 12:30-2:30pm. Open M-W 11:30am- 11:30pm, Th-Sa ll:30am-12:30am.

Whelan’s, 25 Wexford St. down S. Great Georges St. The stage venue in back hosts big-name trad and rock groups, with live music every night at 9:30pm (doors open 8pm). Cover ‚7-12. Open for lunch daily 12:30-2:30pm. Pub open W-Sa until late li The Brazen Head, 20 North Bridge St. off Merchant’s Quay. Dublin’s oldest and one of its liveliest pubs. Brazen Head was established in 1198. The courtyard is quite the pickup scene on summer nights. Open late.

Cobblestones, King St. North, is by far the best place in the city for trad music. No rock here, but live shows every night, a trad session in the basement, and many spontaneous performances. Open late.

The Porter House, 16-18 Parliament St. In addition to offering the largest selection of international beers in the country, Porter House also serves 8 self-brewed stouts, ales, and porters. Excellent sampler tray includes a sip of stout made with oysters (‚9). Open M-W 10:30am-ll:30pm, Th-F 10:30am-l:30am, Sa 10:30am-2am, Su 12:30-llpm.

Mulligan’s, 8 Poolbeg St. behind Burgh Quay. Upholds its reputation as one of the best pint-pourers in Dublin. Collect all 6 Guinness coasters to learn how pull a pint yourself. A taste of the typical Irish pub: Low-key and nothing fancy.

Davy Byrnes, 21 Duke St. off Grafton St. A lively, mid- dle-aged crowd fills the pub in which Joyce sets the “Cyclops chapter of Ulysses. Open M-W 11am- 11:30pm, Th-Sa llam-12:30am, Su llam-llpm.

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