← All events
theatre · Thursday 9 July 2026 · 8:00pm 
Derek Ryan - The Songwriter Show
At Birr Theatre and Arts Centre · Oxmantown Mall, Birr, Co. Offaly
At Birr Theatre and Arts Centre · Oxmantown Mall, Birr, Co. Offaly
Derek Ryan is one of the most consistent acts in Irish country music - a Carlow man who has spent the better part of two decades writing songs that end up on people’s most-played lists without them quite knowing how they got there. The Songwriter Show strips everything back: no full band production, no big stage show, just Derek and a small group of musicians in an intimate room, working through his catalogue and explaining where the songs came from. If you have followed his music for years and wondered what was going on when a particular track was written, this is the show that answers that. It suits anyone who cares about songwriting as a craft, not just the finished product.
The show format is deliberately personal. Derek performs acoustic versions of his best-known songs alongside the stories and anecdotes behind them - the circumstances, the collaborators, the moments that made a lyric click. The YouTube playlist he recorded at The Backstage Theatre ahead of this run gives a clear sense of the tone: unhurried, warm, genuinely funny in places, and musically tight. The same tour has already played Cashel, Listowel and Clifden, and audiences across all three reported a relaxed, listening-room atmosphere quite different from his festival appearances.
Birr Theatre is a 220-seat Victorian venue - one of the most characterful small theatres in the midlands. Built in 1888 as Oxmantown Hall by Cassandra, Countess of Rosse, it preserves the original proscenium arch and decorative plasterwork. At that size, there is no bad seat in the house, and it is exactly the kind of space this format is made for.
Birr sits in the centre of Co. Offaly, roughly equidistant from Dublin and Galway - about 1 hour 20 minutes from each by car via the M6/N62 or M7/N62 respectively. From Limerick it is around an hour north on the N52. Bus Eireann serves Birr from Dublin and other midland towns, though services are less frequent in the evening so it is worth checking return times before you go. The theatre is on Oxmantown Mall in the town centre, a few minutes’ walk from the main square. Street parking is available throughout the centre of Birr and tends to be straightforward on weekday evenings.
Birr is a Georgian estate town with more to it than most visitors expect - Birr Castle and its gardens are worth arriving early for, and the town’s pubs are easy-going if you want a pint before the show. There is more to see in Birr and across Co. Offaly.
Heading to Birr Theatre and Arts Centre in Birr? Offaly has plenty more to see. Read the Birr area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.