AUGUST
Dear Ireland continues
A few short days into lockdown in Ireland the Directors of the Abbey Theatre created a moment for the country to reflect on itself where it is and where it, perhaps, could be. In April, 50 playwrights came together in a choir of voices to capture that moment in time. Dear Ireland was the beginning of a national conversation, connecting 100 self-isolating artists, with over 150,000 people in their homes, across the globe.
In June, the Abbey extended an invitation to its audience to respond and write their own letter to Ireland. Twenty of these letters will be performed on the Abbey stage by some of Ireland’s leading actors and streamed online in August. The readings will be interspersed with music and spoken word performances from thought-leaders and artists – a virtual ‘open house’ of letters, poems, and songs that express the many different hopes, experiences, and challenges facing Ireland at this time.
Dear Ireland is free on the Abbey’s digital channels. Donations to the Abbey Theatre can be made here.
This Beautiful Virtual Village
An innovative 60 minute, online, adaptation of Lisa Tierney-Keogh’s play This Beautiful Village for the Zoom age, reflecting the current realities of social distancing. Winner of “Best New Play” at the Irish Times Theatre Awards 2020, This Beautiful Village was due to return to the Abbey stage this summer, ahead of a nationwide tour. Now, set over one virtual residents association meeting, six people will confront their pride, prejudice and privilege. A wholly original Abbey Theatre production, This Beautiful Virtual Village is a razor-sharp exposé of what it means to co-exist in Ireland today.
Tickets are €5 and are on sale now.
Lankum
The ground breaking, award winning Irish band, Lankum will broadcast a live concert from the Abbey stage for one night only on Saturday, 15 August. Promising a unique set, Lankum will be joined by some very special guests on the night. Presented by Foggy Notions.
Tickets are now available from Dice FM.
SEPTEMBER
Dublin Fringe Festival
Stay tuned – Dublin Fringe Festival programme will be announced on 5 August 2020.
OCTOBER
The Great Hunger
A historic partnership between the Abbey Theatre and IMMA, The Great Hunger is a site specific, promenade production of the Patrick Kavanagh poem. Conceived by the Directors of the Abbey Theatre, this production is jointly directed by award-winning Irish theatre directors Caitríona McLaughlin and Conall Morrison. A large cast of actors and musicians will boldly bring Kavanagh’s tragic masterpiece to life on the grounds of the Royal Hospital Kilmainham. This production will premiere as part of the Dublin Theatre Festival and will run in October.
Tickets will go on sale in August.
Theatre for One
Theatre for One is a mobile state-of-the-art performance space for one actor and one audience member at a time. Conceived and created by the Olivier award-winning designer Christine Jones and designed by LOT-EK architects, it is part peep-show booth, part confessional, and completely visceral. Produced by Landmark Productions and Octopus Theatricals, it features short plays by six of Ireland’s leading writers – Marina Carr, Stacey Gregg, Emmet Kirwan, Louise Lowe, Mark O’Rowe and Enda Walsh – in ‘theatre distilled to its purest, most intense version, then injected directly into the vein’ (The Irish Times). Supported by the Abbey Theatre, Dublin Theatre Festival and Dublin City Council.
Tickets are free – booking details will be announced in the coming months
NOVEMBER
Dear Ireland continues
In November, Dear Ireland will continue with 25 three minute postcards from underrepresented voices in Irish society. Featuring will be a number of the Abbey’s 5×5 partners, along with pieces from other collaborators the Abbey has been forging relationships with, some of whom have been the most vulnerable during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Abbey works with groups that are disenfranchised and marginalised, giving them opportunities to develop theatre that needs a national voice. In these profoundly unsettling times for Irish society and the entire world, this evening of songs, stories and poems will try to make sense of the world around us.
Dear Ireland is free on the Abbey’s digital channels. Donations to the Abbey Theatre can be made here.
From Eden / Northern Lights
From Eden and Northern Lights are two compelling, darkly comic dramas from award-winning playwright Stephen Jones. Directed by the late Karl Shiels, Stephen also performs opposite Seána Kerslake in both pieces. These plays will be staged in the Peacock, with social distancing measures in place.
Tickets on sale now. Click here.
Fourteen Voices from the Bloodied Field
14 monologues, giving voice to the men, woman and children who were killed in Croke Park on 21 November 1920. This Abbey Theatre production, in partnership with the GAA, commissions 14 writers, 14 directors and 14 actors to come together to create a 14 minute play for the solo performer, to be staged live in 14 different GAA clubs and schools across the nation.
Tickets to the performances of Fourteen Voices from the Bloodied Field are free – booking details will be announced in the coming months. Donations to the Abbey Theatre can be made here.
DECEMBER
Dracula
“Welcome to my house. Come freely. Go safely; and leave something of the happiness you bring.”
The Abbey Theatre’s winter offering will see Irish playwright Sarah Hanly adapt Bram Stoker’s timeless and terrifying classic Dracula for the Abbey stage – but not as you know it. A socially distanced audience will enter the auditorium blindfolded, and then embark on a frightening journey into one of the world’s most compelling horror stories. Conceived and directed by Graham McLaren, the immersive production will be performed live by an actor, whose voice will be underscored and accompanied by a complete, binaural sound design. This world premiere will be an intimate sensational experience for the ears and the imagination.
Tickets will go on-sale in the coming months.
Updates
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