Born in Dublin in 1971, playwright, director and screenwriter Conor McPherson studied at University College Dublin and co-founded Fly By Night Theatre Company in the early 90s. His plays include the Olivier award-winning The Weir, the Tony-nominated Shining City and The Seafarer and The Night Alive. He also wrote and created the 2017 BBC series Paula starring Denise Gough. His critically acclaimed production Girl from the North Country is at London’s Gielgud theatre from 10 December to 1 February; his adaptation of Uncle Vanya will be at the Harold Pinter theatre from 14 January.

1. Gig
Weyes Blood at the Button Factory, Dublin

I first heard her voice on Father John Misty’s God’s Favorite Customer – I immediately thought “Oh, who’s that?” and got her previous albums. I was thrilled to see she was coming to Dublin. I and my wife went along to see her, and we were saying: “Do you think she can possibly be as good as she is on her albums live?” But within the first few minutes, we knew we were in the presence of the real thing – if anything, she’s even better live. Every single moment was sung to perfection. It does your heart good to see somebody that talented.

2. Theatre
The Band’s Visit at Ed Mirvish theatre, Toronto

I’m not a big aficionado of musicals, but this was original and refreshing. It’s about a police band from Egypt who go to Israel to play at a music festival, but end up in the wrong town and have to stay overnight in people’s houses. The Middle Eastern music was incredible. The pace of the show was deliberately slow. When I’m doing shows I’m all over the cast about going faster all the time: this was an eye-opener for me, to see how bold it was with the restraint around that. It never felt needy; it just let the audience come to it.

3. Album
Bob Dylan, The Bootleg Series Vol 15

Every year or so they release bootlegs of Bob Dylan outtakes and rehearsals. This is the latest: it covers 1967-9, a year after he made Blonde on Blonde and became the biggest singer in the world. He’s doing his album John Wesley Harding, which is so stripped back, almost penitential and biblical, and the next one is Nashville Skyline, where he goes straight back to the basics of country music. He does a lot of rehearsals on this album with Johnny Cash, and it’s amazing to hear how deferential Bob Dylan is to him.

4. Documentary
Amazing Grace

In 1972, Aretha Franklin went to LA and recorded two nights of gospel music with the Southern California Community Choir; the album became the biggest-selling gospel album of all time. Sydney Pollack filmed these two nights but didn’t put any clapper boards on the takes, which meant they couldn’t sync up the sound and the pictures. So the film lay in a vault until earlier this year. It’s visceral, and moving; Aretha Franklin seems so humble – you can tell she’s not doing a concert: she’s in church, so she’s praying with these songs, really.

5. Place
Dún Laoghaire East Pier, Dublin

I walk this pier every day: it’s about one-and-a-half kilometres long and stretches out into the sea. Walking out there is incredibly therapeutic: it always helps if you’re trying to think about writing or ideas. I’ve worked out that I’ve walked it about 300 times a year roughly for the last 18 years, so it’s getting up towards 20,000 km. The circumference of the Earth is 40,000 km, so if I can get another 20 years walking up and down up that pier, I will have walked around the Earth thinking about how to write plays.

6. Film
Midsommar (Ari Aster, 2019)

Ari Aster has made two standout movies so far: Hereditary, which caused a big stir, and this. He’s in that tradition of William Friedkin, Roman Polanski and Stanley Kubrick, who all made horror movies that were also genuinely great dramas. Midsommar is about a group of students: there’s Jack Reynor and Florence Pugh – her performance is fantastic – whose character is grieving for her family. They go to a fertility festival in Sweden, where people are taking psychedelic drugs, and absolute madness ensues. He plays with pagan and Christian symbolism, going deep into those archetypes. It’s a very spooky, shocking movie.