Karl Shiels is a broken man. It wasn’t the six-month, unpaid labour of love installing Dublin’s newest fringe theatre, the Theatre Upstairs at the Plough pub on Abbey St, that broke him. The excitement in the theatre community and rave reviews had long since repaid that. It wasn’t the bleak midwinter, when burst pipes cut… read more +

Karl Shiels was very nearly famous. Eleven years ago, he was cast in a new play by an obscure young playwright that was to open the new theatre in Tallaght. Shiels starred alongside Aidan Kelly; the playwright was Mark O’Rowe and the play was Howie the Rookie, and it was the most ferocious piece of… read more +