Dublin Theatre Festival has unveiled its 2026 lineup, and the standout for Irish film and theatre fans is undoubtedly the news that Ruth Negga is returning to the stage. The Academy Award nominee will star in the world premiere of RADIO BETTE at the Gaiety Theatre, a production mounted in collaboration with New York company The Goat Exchange. It marks a rare and exciting homecoming for Negga, who has spent recent years building an extraordinary screen career while remaining one of the most compelling stage performers of her generation, and having a major world premiere anchor the festival’s programme is a real coup for Dublin.

The production sits within a broader 2026 festival running from 24th September to 11th October, with 26 productions unfolding across Dublin venues over 18 days. Organisers have structured this year’s programme around four themes, Troublemakers, Irish Icons, The Matriarchy and It’s Complicated, weaving together international productions, Irish premieres, world premieres and new work from Irish theatre-makers. But it’s Negga’s involvement that will have audiences scrambling for tickets, giving them the chance to see one of Ireland’s finest actors take on a brand new role on home soil, in a piece of theatre nobody will have seen anywhere else in the world.