Tá an leagan Gaeilge ar fáil anseo
The Abbey Theatre has announced a centenary production of Sean O’Casey’s The Plough and the Stars, a 110th anniversary production of The Whiteheaded Boy by Lennox Robinson and three world premieres of fresh new work from Marina Carr, Frank McGuinness and Una McKevitt, in a season that unites the Irish canon with the best of contemporary playwriting. Programmed by Artistic Director of the Abbey Theatre, Caitríona McLaughlin, the personal is fiercely political in a slate of work that explores resistance at the level of individual, family and society.
On the Abbey Stage, Sean O’Casey’s The Plough and the Stars (Friday, 27th February – Thursday 30th April), ‘a jewel in the crown of Irish theatre’, according to McLaughlin, will be directed by Tom Creed, returning to mark 100 years since its first production at the National Theatre of Ireland on 8th February 1926. A masterpiece of Irish theatre, it sees competing perspectives towards the Easter Rising boil over in a Dublin tenement as violence sweeps across the city. It will be followed by Lennox Robinson’s The Whiteheaded Boy (Wednesday, 3rd June – Saturday, 18th July), directed by Annie Ryan. Produced 110 years after its premiere, this is a brash update with a wink at the past, re-imagined for the late 20th century. The coming-of-age comedy skewers the high-stakes game of meeting family expectations as a young person with a strong vision for their own life.
Mirandolina (Friday, 28th August – Saturday, 5th September), written by Marina Carr from La Locandiera by Carlo Goldoni, translated by Monica Capuani, and directed by Caitríona McLaughlin, is a world premiere co-production by the Abbey Theatre, Teatro Stabile Veneto Teatro Nazionale Italy and Croatian National Theatre HNK Rijeka. It follows a ferociously independent Italian woman in Dublin who risks everything as she faces down the indignity and dominance of patriarchal chauvinism. It arrives to Ireland following an Italian and Croation tour, featuring as part of the cultural programme of the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026. It also forms part of the cultural programming around Ireland’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
On the Peacock Stage, the season opens with the world premiere of Fair Deal (Wednesday, 11th February – Saturday, 28th March), written by Una McKevitt and directed by Conall Morrison. Dark, twisted and funny, this new play sees sex, family entitlement and the politics of care bear down on a sleepy Dublin suburb. It will be followed by the world premiere of Do You Come From Gomorrah? (Friday, 10th April – Saturday, 9th May), a new play written by Frank McGuiness and directed by Sarah Baxter, who makes her directorial debut at the Abbey. It takes an unflinching look at the life of a young gay man, the love and violence that has shaped him, and the momentum of strength that keeps him moving forward, as he negotiates sexual and sectarian politics, and unrequited longing.
Commenting, Co-Director of the Abbey Theatre, Artistic Director Caitríona McLaughlin said: “Theatre reminds us that national achievement is not just measured in headlines or statistics about foreign investment or public finances – it must be reflected in the lives of ordinary people. Our first season announcement for 2026 confronts inequalities, laughs at the absurdities of our times, and imagines a fairer, more connected society.
“The season celebrates writers who continue to push Irish theatre toward honesty, courage and complexity. Marina Carr, Frank McGuinness and Una McKevitt remind us that the most difficult personal and political questions are often best faced with unapologetic interrogation and humour. In McKevitt’s Fair Deal, the writer’s wit cuts straight to the truth of lived experience; McGuinness examines identity and power with sharp, generous irony in Do You Come From Gomorrah?; O’Casey skewers political pretence with fearless comic clarity in The Plough and the Stars; Carr drives us toward the darker edges of human need; and Robinson illuminates family and societal pressures with a laugh that lands close to home. They show us that theatre can challenge us fiercely — and still make us laugh as we reckon with who we are.
“At a time when our news is filled with people searching for shelter and dignity, theatre has a responsibility to reflect the world we inhabit — and to imagine something better. From homelessness and housing precarity, to gender-based violence, and economic inequality and political division, our stage must not shield itself from these realities.”
Tickets for Fair Deal, The Plough and the Stars, Do You Come From Gomorrah?, The Whiteheaded Boy and Mirandolina are now on sale.
The Abbey Theatre gratefully acknowledges the support of
The Arts Council / An Comhairle Ealaíon
The Department of Culture, Communications and Sport
