This year’s Bealtaine Theatre Festival features a Ulysses adaptation and a solo show about a chicken
iPhoto caption: Eva O'Connor in 'Chicken.' Photo by Hildegard Ryan.
After debuting in 2025, the Bealtaine Theatre Festival is returning to Toronto this spring, featuring presentations for both young audiences and adults. Presented by the Canada Ireland Foundation, the festival brings contemporary Irish productions to Canadian audiences, with a goal of supporting cultural exchange between the two countries. It’s named after the Gaelic May Day festival marking the arrival of summer.
The 2026 edition will unfold at the Corleck, a new waterfront performance venue set to officially open in November. Bealtaine audiences will be among the first to experience the space.
“Not only will Bealtaine audiences get a preview of this vibrant cultural space, but they’ll also experience singular productions presented with great theatrical care, humour and spirit,” wrote Canada Ireland Foundation executive director William Peat in a press release.
This year’s slate of productions is listed below.
Chicken
A Sunday’s Child Theatre production
Co-written by Eva O’Connor and Hildegard Ryan
Directed by Hildegard Ryan
Featuring Eva O’Connor
May 21 to 24
In this solo show, O’Connor plays the fictional Don Murphy — a proud Irishman, a hopeless addict, and one of his generation’s greatest actors — who also happens to be a chicken. Over one fateful night, the feathered Oscar-winner recounts his rise to fame and confronts aspects of his past and identity.
Bellow
A Brokentalkers production
Written by Feidlim Cannon, Gary Keegan, and Danny O’Mahony
Featuring Danny O’Mahony, Gary Keegan, and Emily Kilkenny Roddy
May 27 to 30
Bellow centres real-life accordionist Danny O’Mahony. The play reflects on his lifelong commitment to Irish traditional music, revisiting early influences and key collaborators while considering the demands of sustaining a creative life over decades.
You’ll See
A Branar production
Adapted by Marc Mac Lochlainn and Helen Gregg
Directed by Marc Mac Lochlainn
Featuring Helen Gregg
June 6 and 7
This stage adaptation of James Joyce’s Ulysses follows events from a single day in Dublin through live performance, paper design, and original music, for audiences aged eight and up.
Tickets for all performances are available through the Canada Ireland Foundation website.
The Canadian Ireland Foundation is an Intermission partner. Learn more about Intermission’s partnership model here.
Krystal Abrigo
Krystal is Intermission's Publishing and Editorial Coordinator. A Scarborough-based writer of Philippine and Egyptian descent who enjoys reading bell hooks, Audre Lorde, and James Baldwin. At any given moment, you can probably find her at a concert, or on a long walk somewhere in Toronto (or elsewhere).
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