The company won three awards - Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress and Best Costume Design - for DruidSynge productions staged last year and the company's Artistic Director Garry Hynes received The Irish Times ESB Special Tribute Award for 2004.

The Special Tribute Award was given to honour Ms Hynes for her services to Irish Theatre over the past 30 years. Past recipients have included Brian Friel, Tom Murphy, Patrick Mason and Phyllis Ryan. Congratulating Garry Hynes on behalf of Druid Theatre Company, Druid Chairman Seamus O'Grady said 'this is a well-merited award and fitting recognition for Garry Hynes' lifetime of leadership and creativity which has brought worldwide distinction to Druid, to Galway and to Irish theatre'.

Druid received three awards for the acclaimed DruidSynge productions of The Playboy of the Western World, The Well of the Saints and The Tinker's Wedding.

Marie Mullen won the award for Best Actress for her roles as Mary Byrne and Mary Doul in The Tinker's Wedding and The Well of the Saints; Aisling O' Sullivan won the award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Widow Quinn in The Playboy of the Western World and Kathy Strachan took the award for Best Designer for her Costumes Design for both the DruidSynge production of The Playboy of the Western World and the Rough Magic Production Improbable Frequency.

The DruidSynge Season directed by Garry Hynes and featuring productions of the entire Synge canon, will premier in Galway on Saturday 16th July during the 28th Galway Arts Festival, followed by national and international performances.