Venetia Bowe is an actress and theatremaker from Dublin.

Venetia has received acclaimed for a series of noteworthy stage roles that include Gina Moxley's Danti-Dan for Livin Dred; Landmark Productions adaptation of Louise O'Neill's novel Asking For It; and as Nora in a version of Ibsen's A Doll's House adapted by Belinda McKeon and Annie Ryan for Corn Exchange.

She is also one third of Chaos Factory, an experimental Dublin-based theatre company which she shares with two other female makers, including Fionnula Gygax and Rachel Bergin.

Now Venetia returns to her leading role in the critically acclaimed production Lost Lear, devised with Dan Colley, for a ten-stop national tour this October and November.

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We asked Venetia for her choice cultural picks...

FILM

The Farewell, written and directed by Lulu Wang. It’s an unflinching, honest and hilarious exploration of how we cope (or don’t) with death and loss in general, intertwined with moments of the wonderfully absurd and the painfully awkward. Revealing our weird idiosyncrasies and customs around mourning and celebration, there’s a brilliant scene with the whole family gathered around the grandfather’s grave peeling bananas and smoking cigarettes.

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MUSIC

Pillow Queens. I remember first hearing their single Rats and it was as if something electric went off in me. I wanted to listen to it over and over again (as was the case with their entire album Leave The Light On). Their lyrics cut to the soul and their songs have such heart and guts they feel cathartic - your whole body wants to sing along. Go see them live if you’re lucky enough, as they are not only sensational rock stars but the Queens of performance.

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BOOK

Olga Tokarczuk’s Drive Your Plough Over the Bones of The Dead. Part-mystery, part-crime noir, part-psychological drama. You’re flung into the depths of a snow fallen remote forest in Poland and despite the bitterly relentless conditions and occasional dead body the last thing you want to do is leave as you meet the delightfully eccentric protagonist Janina. A hermit by choice she doesn’t adhere to social or moral conformities, preferring animals to humans. I love how Tokarczuk’s writing opens up your mind, sometimes in a spiritual way but also on a fundamentally pedestrian level, questioning what it is to be human and what really separates us from animals and the earth.

THEATRE

I’m very much looking forward to seeing Tim Crouch’s Truth’s a Dog Must to Kennel as part of this year’s Dublin Theatre Festival. He is a bit of a theatrical legend both as an exceptional storyteller/performer and as a radical, experimental maker and writer. This new solo show of his has been prompted by the post-pandemic world we find ourselves in and by the Fool in Shakespeare’s King Lear (who, in the middle of the play decides to leave…). Undoubtedly a very different reworking of this classic to Lost Lear (the show I’m about to go on tour with this month), I’m all the more eager to see it.

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TV
I’ve just finished watching BBC’s dazzlingly gripping Blue Lights. (Nothing to do with the fact I’ve always wanted to be a copper!). It’s raw, tender, funny and brilliantly paced. Like any good crime drama it’s full of unpredictable swings and a heap of gnarly tension. Plus a great showcase of local talent.

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GIG

As part of this year’s Dublin Fringe Festival I had pleasure of attending Black Jam - a powerful and thrilling evening of experimental dark-wave, Afro-electro grime. Curated by the majestic performer and musician Osaro Azams (founder of Fried Plantains Collective) it featured the iconic Dutch lesbian rap duo LIONSTORM along with the very cool Coolgirl. Feet were stamping, pulses were raised.

ART

I’ve been enamoured by the work of Tipperary-born artist Alice Maher ever since my mother brought me to her epic 'mid-career retrospective’ Becoming (held in IMMA's temporary off-site space at Earlsfort Terrace). Theatrical and fantastical in scale and form yet viscerally primal with elements of ritual, her work is often rooted in mythology and uses the natural material of the land be it rosehips, nettles or sheep hearts (!). I love how she reimagines and subverts the human body (often using her own) with a playful curiosity, wild imagination and wicked sense of humour.

Memento Civitatem, her stunning new collaboration with book artist Jamie Murphy (of The Salvage Press) is currently on display in The National Gallery.

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PODCAST

There’s something about The Adam Buxton Show that I can’t get enough of and find deeply comforting. I don’t know if it’s his witty charm, endearing self-deprecation or genius quirky musical interludes. All that’s to say he is a master in the art of conversation - free of pretence and full of warmth. Not to mention his prestigious litany of guests from old pal Louis Theroux to Brian Eno and to homegrown legends like Maeve Higgins, Graham Norton and Tommy Tiernan.

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TECH

I can’t say I’d be an-apper as such (controversially still don’t have WhatsApp) although I do admire it all from afar. Truth be told I tend to get more excited about gardening tools!

THIS NEXT BIG THING...

Artist, director, musician, filmmaker and pole-dancer extraordinaire Laura Sheeran. Raw in her talent, refined in her skill with an explosive imagination which she is able to harness and express through whatever medium she works in. Not green to the scene by any means, she is about to launch Persona - her new solo project. Persona will be debuting on Oct 20th at the Button Factory, Dublin, supporting Jape. Her voice is other worldly and her presence is utterly mesmerizing. This is not to be missed!

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Dan Colley’s Lost Lear opens its 2023 tour at Riverbank Arts Centre, Newbridge, Co. Kildare, on October 20 and continues nationwide until November 29 – find out more here.