Craic! The Improv Irish Play - Cork Arts Theatre

What to Expect

Craic! The Improv Irish Play is an audience-participation improv comedy show running for five nights at Cork Arts Theatre on Carroll’s Quay. The premise leans on classic Irish play tropes, family feuds, long-held secrets and surprise pregnancies, but the audience picks characters from a set of Irish stereotypes at the start of the night and the cast improvises the plot from there, so no two performances are the same. The company describes it as “every classic Irish play you’ve ever seen and yet nothing you have ever witnessed before,” which sums up the format well: familiar dramatic beats, but with an outcome nobody, including the cast, knows in advance.

The cast features Laura Harte, Laura O’Mahony, Dominic MacHale, John McCarthy and Declan Wolfe, with live traditional Irish music from Dylan Howe running through the show and helping to underscore the more melodramatic turns the improvised plot takes. Cork’s 96FM has called it a night that will “have you laughing til you cry.” Each performance runs at 8pm across the five-night run, and because the show depends on audience input at the start, the specific storyline and characters are different every night even though the overall structure and tone stay consistent.

Cork Arts Theatre itself is a long-standing amateur and community theatre space on Carroll’s Quay, and this run gives it a livelier, more comedic programme than its usual straight drama and pantomime seasons, making it a good option for anyone who wants theatre with the unpredictability of a live comedy show.

Good to Know

• Runs Tuesday 18 to Saturday 22 August 2026, 8pm nightly; Cork Arts Theatre, Carroll’s Quay, Cork city centre.
• €18 per person, or €15 per person for groups of 10 or more; booking fees apply.
• Fully improvised each night, so content and running jokes vary from show to show; suitable for a general adult audience rather than young children given the improvised, unscripted content.

Getting There

Cork Arts Theatre is on Carroll’s Quay on the north side of the River Lee, a short walk from the city centre and the main bus routes through Cork. It is within easy reach of the MacCurtain Street area and Kent Station for anyone arriving by train or bus.