Druid announces Ambitious Three Year Plan “It’s not theatre until someone’s watching”

Druid today, Tuesday 8th October, announced an ambitious slate of events for the coming years, cementing their place as Ireland’s premier touring theatre company, with a vision to present ‘Performance for the World’.

At the event Artistic Director Garry Hynes announced a number of exciting events and initiatives:

• Presentation of new work with premieres of Brigit by Tom Murphy and The Irish Shakespeare Project by Mark O’Rowe
• Renaming of Druid Lane auditorium as the Mick Lally Theatre
• Reaffirmation of essential commitment to audiences as a national touring theatre company
• Announcement new ensemble cast, ‘Druids’ – Marie Mullen, Marty Rea, Rory Nolan, Aaron Monaghan, Maelíosa Stafford and Garrett Lombard

Touring

Touring productions are central to Druid, and The Colleen Bawn by Dion Boucicault will be the company’s flagship touring production for 2013. “Driven by the belief that people are entitled to see first class theatre in their own communities I want to reaffirm our essential commitment to this national touring audience,” said Garry Hynes. The production will tour to the Black Box Theatre Galway, the Hawks Well Theatre Sligo, Gaiety Theatre Dublin, Belfast Opera House and Lime Tree Theatre in Limerick.

Mick Lally Theatre

Druid Lane Theatre in the heart of Galway, is also at the heart of Druid as a company, and they are particularly delighted to announce plans to rename the auditorium The Mick Lally Theatre to honor the Druid founding member. The official naming ceremony will take place during a special event in the theatre in Galway in November.

The theatre will also become the home of the Druid initiative to make the theatre a resource for young theatre-makers, with a six-week residency scheme, details of which will also be announced in November.

New Work

As part of the ongoing relationship between Druid and Tom Murphy, Druid is delighted to announce the premiere of Murphy’s new play Brigit will take place in Galway in 2014. Murphy was previously Writer-in-Association with the company and his plays, Bailegangaire and Conversations on a Homecoming, received their world premieres in the theatre on Druid Lane and, in 2012 and 2013, the company presented their biggest project to date, DruidMurphy, celebrating the works of the playwright.

Druid’s next major-scale production, Mark O’Rowe’s new version of the four plays of the Henriad: Richard II, Henry IV Part 1 and Henry IV Part 2 and Henry V, currently titled The Irish Shakespeare Project, The production will premiere in 2015 and is a co-commission with the Lincoln Center Festival in New York. “This is a great story of families and wars and the making of nations,” said Garry Hynes, “the question we are asking is how, in the context of the historical relationship between Ireland and England, do we as Irish artists produce these plays today?”

The Company

Druid has always placed the actors at the centre of the company’s creativity, and is delighted to announce a permanent Druid Ensemble who will be associated with the company and productions for the next three years. Comprising this ensemble will be acclaimed actors Marie Mullen, Marty Rea, Rory Nolan, Aaron Monaghan, Maelíosa Stafford and Garrett Lombard.

Druid also has a new Chair, Cathal Goan, who succeeded a very successful tenure by Seamus O’Grady in February, and a new General Manager Sarah Lynch, who took on the role from her previous post as Company Manager.