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was founded in Werburgh St in 1637, although it was closed only four years later by the Puritans. Another theatre, named the Smock Alley Playhouse or Theatre Royal, opened in 1661 and continued to stage plays for more than a century. The literary revival of the late 19th century resulted in the establishment of Dublin’s Abbey Theatre, now Ireland’s national theatre. Its role is to present works by historical greats such as WB Yeats, George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950), JM Synge (1871–1909) and Sean O’Casey (1880–1964), as well as to promote modern Irish dramatists. Also in Dublin, the Gate Theatre produces classics and comedies, while the Gaiety and Olympia Theatres present a range of productions, as does the Grand Opera House in Belfast. Dublin’s Project Arts Centre offers a more experimental program.

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The word ‘quiz’ was allegedly made up in the 1830s by a Dublin theatre owner called Richard Daly who bet that he could introduce a nonsense word into common parlance in 48 hours.

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Under pressure to justify itself as a going concern, Irish theatre has subconsciously turned more and more toward the fizz-bang-wallop of spectacle, often at the expense of quality. Some of the most successful plays of recent years seem obsessed with recreating the high-paced neurotic energy of the action thriller on the stage, as though the audience isn’t patient enough to be engrossed by the slow build-up usually associated with theatrical drama. More noise, more guns and sharp dialogue out of an American pulp novel might keep the audience laughing, but it doesn’t make for lasting, quality theatre.

Theatre’s tattered flag is still kept flying, however, by some excellent writers and companies. Brian Friel (b 1929) and Tom Murphy (b 1935) are the country’s leading established playwrights, but the future has been enlivened by a bunch of new writers, including Michael Collins, John Comiskey, Oonagh Kearney, Gina Moxley and Arthur Riordan, playwrights who have been helped on to the stage by innovative production companies like Rough Magic. The present is also pretty shiny for the likes of Enda Walsh, author of Disco Pigs (1996) and Bedbound (2000), with the former made into a film starring Cillian Murphy. Mark O’Rowe, who presented an electrifying picture of gangland Dublin in his award-winning Howie the Rookie (1999) and followed it with Made in China (2001) and Crestfall (2003), is one of the very hot names in the contemporary scene, but he too has made the move into film writing, cowriting Intermission (2003); his latest play, Terminus (2007), was very well received. Eugene O’Brien’s excellent Eden (2001) was followed by the disappointing Savoy (2004), which reminded us a bit of Cinema Paradiso, only set in a provincial Irish town. O’Brien has since moved on to some questionable TV work.

Click here for details on when various arts and theatre festivals are held.

Dance

The most important form of dance in Ireland is traditional Irish dancing, performed communally at céilidh, often in an impromptu format and always accompanied by a traditional Irish band. Dances include the hornpipe, jig and reel. Irish dancing has received international attention and success through shows such as Riverdance and its offshoots, and while this glamorised style of dance is only loosely based on traditional dancing, it has popularised the real art and given a new lease of life to the moribund Irish dancing schools around the country.

Ireland doesn’t have a national dance school, but there are a number of schools and companies teaching and performing ballet and modern dance. The Dance Theatre of Ireland and the Irish Modern Dance Theatre are based in Dublin, while the Firkin Crane Centre in Cork is Ireland’s only venue devoted solely to dance.

Click here for information on when dance festivals are held.

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