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The Even Hand

A blog for culture and the arts

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About

I’m Jane Coyle, a Belfast-based professional arts journalist and critic. Over the years I’ve been a regular contributor to The Stage, the Irish Times, Irish Theatre Magazine, BBC Northern Ireland and many other media outlets in Ireland, the UK and France. The Even Hand comprises features, reviews and comment on arts and culture across Ireland and beyond.

Reveal-ed

Prime Cut’s four-year programme of artist development shows how serious investment can boost the arts.

Read More Reveal-ed

The Elves and the Shoemaker

This candy-coloured adaptation of the Brothers Grimm’s subversive fairytale is given a modern yet traditional update, which appeals to audiences of all ages.

Read More The Elves and the Shoemaker

Alice: The Musical

This glossy, high quality revival brings Lewis Carroll’s colourful characters to contemporary new life.

Read More Alice: The Musical

Les Miserables

On tour in Ireland and the UK, a spectacular, gritty production of the long-running musical, inspired by Hugo’s brooding, mysterious paintings.

Read More Les Miserables

It’s a Wonderful Wee Christmas

Christmas is far from a barrel of laughs for many people, as this comedic stage adaptation of It’s a Wonderful Life seeks to show.

Read More It’s a Wonderful Wee Christmas

Jack and the Beanstalk

More folksy visuals and family friendly humour, less glam and glitter in this refreshingly traditional pantomime favourite.

Read More Jack and the Beanstalk

Alphonse Mucha: Musée du Luxembourg, Paris

A breathtaking exhibition at the Musée du Luxembourg throws a thrilling new perspective onto the work and life of an artist we thought we knew so well.

Read More Alphonse Mucha: Musée du Luxembourg, Paris

Musée du Parfum Fragonard, Paris

A morning with Fragonard at the museum set up by the iconic French perfumers to share their collection of beautiful objets d’art.

Read More Musée du Parfum Fragonard, Paris

The Lyric Theatre is 50

Brian Friel called it …”a playhouse, a house of play; a place of laughter and merrymaking and wit and comedy and raucous fun”. For 50 years, Belfast’s Lyric Theatre has been all that – and more.

Read More The Lyric Theatre is 50

Dear Arabella

Marie Jones reveals a new side to her writing style with this gentle, acutely perceptive trio of interlocking monologues.

Read More Dear Arabella

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Recent Posts

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