Katy Hayes
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katyhayze.bsky.social
Katy Hayes
@katyhayze.bsky.social
780 followers 230 following 85 posts
Scribe-of-all-trades: novels, plays, journalism. Mainly write about theatre, film and literature. Theatre Critic with the Irish Independent. independent.ie
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katyhayze.bsky.social
Katy Hayes @katyhayze.bsky.social · Feb 4
My comment piece in today's Irish Independent.
www.independent.ie/opinion/comm...
Katy Hayes: Sexy gunslinging girls disguised as nuns? Why depiction of the Troubles in Disney’s ‘Say Nothing’ is an insult
Say Nothing, the Disney+ series about the Troubles, is up for 10 Iftas next week and may sweep up in the TV drama category. So it’s obviously been well received by the Irish film community who make up...
www.independent.ie
Reposted by Katy Hayes
davidclareabu.bsky.social
For anyone interested in my first two monographs - BERNARD SHAW'S IRISH OUTLOOK and IRISH ANGLICAN LITERATURE AND DRAMA - the publishers are selling them for only €23.99 between now and 31/12/25. Perfect stocking stuffers! ;-)

link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

link.springer.com/book/10.1007...
December 12, 2025 at 11:23 AM
Reposted by Katy Hayes
abbeytheatre.bsky.social
Following our #MissionCritical symposium in collaboration with the Irish Times, we need your help.

🔗 Your responses will help us understand how audiences engage with reviews, and will feed into our report on the future of theatre criticism: https://bit.ly/4rrbptR
December 9, 2025 at 3:50 PM
katyhayze.bsky.social
To clean a double duvet in those public self-service large washing machines costs €26,(12 wash; 14 dry). New duvet costs €25 in Woodies. Planet is going to hell in a handcart.
December 5, 2025 at 1:53 PM
Reposted by Katy Hayes
housefullofup.bsky.social
youtu.be/TaFLB06ifFY Check out this short film I made that was featured in the Dublin Animation Meetup's Annual Film Festival, DAMNATION. Made in under 10 days using After Effects and Clip Studio Paint, please give it a watch!
The Beavarians - Animated Short Film
YouTube video by Merlin Roche
youtu.be
December 3, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Reposted by Katy Hayes
powersflowers.bsky.social
Irish bird-lovers: the annual Irish Garden Bird Survey starts tomorrow 🥳 🙌 🎉

If you need a reason to keep going in the darkest days of winter, count birds.

If you want to be a citizen scientist, count birds.

If breakfasts are boring, count birds.

Got a few spare moments? Just count birds.
birdwatchireland.bsky.social BirdWatch Ireland @birdwatchireland.bsky.social · 16d
Get ready for the Irish Garden Bird Survey, which kicks off on Monday 1st December! We need records from as many gardens across Ireland as possible, so please spread the word! birdwatchireland.ie/irish-garden...
November 30, 2025 at 11:54 AM
katyhayze.bsky.social
My review of The Great Gambon, Milly Ellis's book about actor Michael Gambon.
m.independent.ie/entertainmen...
The ­eccentricities of Dumbledore actor Michael Gambon from the woman who was his ‘earwig’
Acting is like quicksilver. It’s difficult to pin down exactly what makes one actor great and another merely good. As a critic, you can run the gamut of the thesaurus and it’s still hard to capture a ...
m.independent.ie
November 21, 2025 at 12:25 PM
katyhayze.bsky.social
My Amelia review from Sligo's Blue Raincoat Theatre Company
www.independent.ie/entertainmen...
Theatre review: A moving tribute to Amelia Earhart and the loss of a great hero of the sky
Amelia Earhart is one of the great derring-do heroes of the early days of aviation: those foolhardy daredevils determined to shrink the globe as technological advances struggled to keep up with their ...
www.independent.ie
November 20, 2025 at 9:18 AM
katyhayze.bsky.social
My review of Puccini's Madama Butterfly from Irish National Opera, starring Celine Byrne
www.independent.ie/entertainmen...
Celine Byrne is brilliant in sparkling modern take on Madama Butterfly
Madama Butterfly by Giacomo Puccini is an opera of exquisite pain. A lovely Japanese girl marries the American soldier Pinkerton and bears him a child. She remains faithful to her absent man as he hea...
www.independent.ie
November 12, 2025 at 5:11 PM
katyhayze.bsky.social
My review of Denouement at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast
www.independent.ie/entertainmen...
Theatre review: Millennials tackle their demons as the world hurtles towards catastrophe in Denouement
It requires courage to plonk a world premiere by an emerging writer on a main stage. Theatre so often relies on the tried and true for box office. But if there isn’t constant new work and new talent, ...
www.independent.ie
November 3, 2025 at 12:21 PM
katyhayze.bsky.social
My review of Le Trouvère at Wexford Festival Opera.
m.independent.ie/entertainmen...
Opera has fascism in its sights, but battle plan is too timid
Giuseppe Verdi’s opera, originally in Italian, dates from 1853. Wexford Festival Opera here offer us the slightly later reworked French version, complete with a ballet inserted. To make this kind of m...
m.independent.ie
October 22, 2025 at 2:12 PM
Reposted by Katy Hayes
housefullofup.bsky.social
More of these two. (Including a halloween profile pic)
October 4, 2025 at 6:56 PM
katyhayze.bsky.social
Also, my review of Waking The Feminists book from @ucdpress.bsky.social in today's Irish Independent @independent.ie . Lovely stormy day to go out to Coffee Shop and #buyapaper
October 4, 2025 at 1:02 PM
katyhayze.bsky.social
My first week of Dublin Theatre Festival reviews in today's @ReviewIndo independent.ie . The Boy at Abbey; The Quiet Man at the Civic; The Sound Inside at the Pavilion. Rich pickings in Theatreland.
October 4, 2025 at 12:57 PM
katyhayze.bsky.social
My review of Poor at the Gate Theatre, Dublin.
www.independent.ie/entertainmen...
Dublin Theatre Festival: Katriona O’Sullivan’s story of triumph over adversity makes a triumphant show
Katriona O’Sullivan’s bestselling memoir has a Dickensian feel: a young girl grows up in abject poverty in Coventry and Birmingham, in a household wrecked by parental heroin use, and gets pregnant at ...
www.independent.ie
October 3, 2025 at 1:18 PM
Reposted by Katy Hayes
housefullofup.bsky.social
October 2, 2025 at 1:52 PM
Reposted by Katy Hayes
oisinmcgann.bsky.social
The First Fire of Halloween is also:

No.1 in Multicultural Tales & Myths for Children
No.2 in Mythology
No.5 in Horror & Ghost Stories for Children
No.14 in Science Fiction & Fantasy for Children

Thanks folks!

#Halloween #Samhain #SpeirGorm
oisinmcgann.bsky.social Oisín McGann @oisinmcgann.bsky.social · Sep 30
The First Fire of Halloween is currently ranked on Amazon.ie.:
No.1 for YA Horror
No.1 for YA Fairy Tales and Folklore
No.1 for YA Myths and Legends
Thanks to everyone who's already bought a copy, and for all the reposts, it all helps!

www.amazon.ie/First-Fire-H...

#Halloween #Samhain #SpeirGorm
A screenshot of an Amazon.ie page showing The First Fire of Halloween at No.1 for YA Fairy Tales and Folklore, priced at €11.45. The front cover features a púca, the mythical Irish shape-changer, as a muscular human figure with a goat's head. He's standing in a field in darkness, with a fire blazing in front of him. Inset in the dark sky above and behind him are a pair of yellow goat's eyes. The title is in orange against the sky, and my name is in black against the fire. A screenshot of an Amazon.ie page showing The First Fire of Halloween at No.1 for YA Horror, priced at €11.45. The front cover features a púca, the mythical Irish shape-changer, as a muscular human figure with a goat's head. He's standing in a field in darkness, with a fire blazing in front of him. Inset in the dark sky above and behind him are a pair of yellow goat's eyes. The title is in orange against the sky, and my name is in black against the fire. A screenshot of an Amazon.ie page showing The First Fire of Halloween at No.1 for YA Myths and Legends, priced at €11.45. The front cover features a púca, the mythical Irish shape-changer, as a muscular human figure with a goat's head. He's standing in a field in darkness, with a fire blazing in front of him. Inset in the dark sky above and behind him are a pair of yellow goat's eyes. The title is in orange against the sky, and my name is in black against the fire. Screenshot of the book's ranks: #265 in Books overall. #1 in Horror for Young Adults #1 in Myths and Legends for Young Adults #1 in Fairy Tales and Folklore for Young Adults
October 1, 2025 at 11:33 AM
katyhayze.bsky.social
My review of The Seven Ages of Mam at Viking Theatre, Clontarf, Dublin.
www.independent.ie/entertainmen...
Sweet portrait misses chance to put the Irish mammy in the spotlight
People often take their mothers for granted. Especially if they are the ordinary, non-monstrous type, who lives a life of self-sacrifice and caring for others. The mam in this show is that kind of wom...
www.independent.ie
September 30, 2025 at 3:55 PM
katyhayze.bsky.social
My review of Jilly Morgan's Birthday Party, which I saw at Pavilion Dún Laoghaire, but it's now on a national tour.
www.independent.ie/entertainmen...
Story of failure in love in Limerick city needs more explanation
Jack is like a man who has strayed in from a Saw Doctors’ song: a western seaboard awkward male seeking love amongst regional city girls. Liam McCarthy’s play is the story of an unlived life, with a h...
www.independent.ie
September 22, 2025 at 11:15 AM
katyhayze.bsky.social
My review of Octopus Children at Project Arts Centre, Dublin.
www.independent.ie/entertainmen...
Dazzling show about growing up black and Irish in Longford town
Felispeaks is well-known as a spoken word poet and actor. They have a following amongst a young crowd into slam poetry and rap. But there is something utterly theatrical about their instincts and the ...
www.independent.ie
September 19, 2025 at 1:09 PM
katyhayze.bsky.social
My review of Synapses, new play by Liam Wilson Smyth, at Civic Theatre Tallaght, Dublin.
www.independent.ie/entertainmen...
Drama exploring a normal couple’s collapsing marriage feels like you’re stepping inside their lives
So many stories end with a wedding. It’s a staple of romance, that the journey takes you to the altar/register office. But what then? Here we have a play about what happens next, about how a marriage ...
www.independent.ie
September 16, 2025 at 9:27 AM
katyhayze.bsky.social
My review of Mortal Sin in Bewley's Café Theatre, Dublin.
www.independent.ie/entertainmen...
Mortal Sin review: JFK and a rich picture of life in 1960s Ireland for teens who dream
Mortal Sin is ostensibly about a pair of teenagers who stage a protest to try and get a day off school on the day of John F Kennedy’s funeral. The protest is half-hearted, and fizzles out. But Benjami...
www.independent.ie
August 31, 2025 at 1:40 PM
katyhayze.bsky.social
is My review of The Girl on the Train at Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Dublin. www.independent.ie/entertainmen...
Laura Whitmore shines as boozed-up Rachel in twisty whodunnit The Girl on the Train
When journalist Paula Hawkins made her first foray into thriller-writing in 2015, her book was a sensation. It’s a tautly written account of an alcoholic woman who is so out of control, she’s not sure...
www.independent.ie
August 30, 2025 at 12:12 PM
katyhayze.bsky.social
Go Cristín!
cristinleach.bsky.social Cristín Leach @cristinleach.bsky.social · Aug 20
Ooo! Just found out my story is longlisted for the 2025 Katherine Mansfield Sparkling Prose competition 🤩

Stories still anonymous at this stage. It’s for fiction of up to 1888 words – a ref to Mansfield's birth year – with the theme “double life”. Shortlist in Sept. atthebay.org/sparkling-pr...
Sparkling Prose: Katherine Mansfield story competition ~ At The Bay ~ I Te Kokoru ~ Aotearoa Stories
This year’s competition is for works of fiction up to 1888 words – a reference to the year of Mansfield’s birth. All submissions must follow the theme, however loosely, of ‘haunted’.
atthebay.org
August 20, 2025 at 3:26 PM
katyhayze.bsky.social
My review of The Lunch Punch Power Hour in Conference Room 4 at the Peacock Theatre in Dublin.
www.independent.ie/entertainmen...
Barmy, chaotic comedy ­tackles the world of corporate philanthropy
The Irish business world is having a moment on the Dublin stage, with this absurdist frolic into corporate shenanigans following on from Sugarglass’s production of Molière at Smock Alley. Caitríona Da...
www.independent.ie
August 20, 2025 at 7:33 AM
katyhayze.bsky.social
My review of Conor McPherson's The Weir at 3Olympia, Dublin.
m.independent.ie/entertainmen...
Brendan Gleeson’s star power shines in brilliant revival of haunting play ‘The Weir’
Conor McPherson’s The Weir is one of the most frequently revived plays of the modern Irish canon and has been widely seen over the years. But this new outing is so sharp, vivacious and heartfelt that ...
m.independent.ie
August 15, 2025 at 11:30 AM