Just when we were beginning to lament the inevitable but looming end of summer the Tiger Dublin Fringe programme is announced - and it has lifted our spirits ten-fold. In fact, on learning what's in store for the 16 day festival we want September to hurry the hell up!

Taking place in over 30 locations around Dublin from September 5 - 20 the Tiger Dublin Fringe will host an incredible 84 productions throughout the run. The whole point of the festival is for audiences to experience new visionaries and discover new things and do that they will.

For a taste of things to come, we can reveal that the festival will start with a bang on the Samuel Beckett Bridge when Ulysses Opera Theatre present their free spectacle - HARP | A River Cantata.

In one of many twists, this year's festival has a distinct Canadian element; Inuk throat singer Tanya Tagaq will perform her extraordinary live score to the documentary classic Nanook of the North; Evan Webber and Frank Cox-O’Connell return with their intimate theatre-and-war plays; and lighting designer The Chop stages How to Disappear Completely.

The Fringe wouldn't be the Fringe without theatre a-plenty. Highlights this year include How to Keep an Alien presented by Rough Magic; The Well Rested Terrorist written and performed by Irish band Maud in Cahoots and Spirit of the Fringe and Best Production winners The Company who return with their first new show in two years The Rest is Action which re-imagines Greek tragedy, The Oresteia.

Music always has a secure place on the Fringe programme and this year some wonderful treats are in store with Camille O’Sullivan, Jape, The TD FAMILY (who present Together DISCO) among others.

Of course there's more, lots more - comedy (Foil Arms & Hogs to name but one act), performance art (including 2FIK DOES STRONGBOW (and AOIFE) ), circus (with Lords of Strut) - check out www.fringefest.com for the full, fascinating line-up.