Five Very Corkonian (Very Cultural) Things to do This Weekend.

Is your soul feeling depleted after too many nights in Holy Cow? Extensive knowledge of Keeping Up with The Kardashians no longer useful when all your friends are discussing shit, low-budget indie films? Need a jazzy new corduroy jacket that smells like your grandad? Say no more, say no more: here are five very Corkonian, very cultural things to do this weekend to give you a little bit of cultural spice in your life (and pretentious bragging rights, naturally.)

1. City Limits presents: Noel James plus guests. His comedy has been called bizarre and absurd, he’s famed for his ‘devastatingly funny one-liners’ and now this weird Welshman is bringing his unique blend of surreal puns and wit to City Limits. Noel James will be performing in City Limits Comedy Club on Friday November 18th and Saturday November 19th. Tickets are €18 and can be purchased at the door from 8.30pm.

2. Cork Film Festival Presents: The Boy on the Train. In The Boy on the Train (from Hungarian director Roger Deutsch) a filmmaker, while attending a screening of one of his films in Budapest, is approached by the now grown-up subject of the film, who is outraged by the director’s incorrect portrayal of him as a budding fascist and Soviet youth. The Boy on the Train is a film that centres on the idea of morality in filmmaking, and is inspired by Deutsch’s own regrets about his inaccurate portrayals of subjects in his films. The Boy on the Train is being screened in Triskel Christchurch on November 18th, tickets cost €7 and can be bought online.

3. Mother Jones’ Flea Market. Located on York Hill, just off of McCurtain Street, Mother Jones’ Flea Market has it all; whatever you’re looking for- vintage sweater vests, obscure Seasick Steve records, weed cookbooks or tarot readings, you’ll probably find it in Mother Jones’. Open every weekend from Friday to Saturday, 10am to 6pm.

4. Cork Arts Theatre Presents - Debris: Debris by Dennis Kelly (Channel 4’s Utopia, Love and Money) is a one-act play about Michael and Michelle, a brother and sister trying to make sense of their dysfunctional childhood. The play, starring James De Burca (Juno and the Paycock) and Una O’Sullivan, revolves around the two characters recreating stories and characters from their chaotic past in a delightful, and sometimes unnerving fashion. Debris is being shown in Cork Arts Theatre from Thursday the 17th to Saturday the 19th of November, and tickets cost €15.

5. Trad night at Sin É: Sin É has been famous for hosting trad nights for years, and still remains fiercely loyal to the genre. Traditional music has always been played at the pub, even when it was seen as uncool (particularly between the 50s and the 70s). The pub has had live music every week for nearly fifty years, and shows no signs of stopping. Truly a cultural heritage site, Sin É hosts trad sessions seven nights a week from 7pm onwards. And if the trad won’t convince you to get down to the Coburg Street pub, maybe the reggae, atmosphere and the possibility of a chat with a great uncle you probably haven’t seen in ages will.