The Abbey Theatre is proud to announce ANIMALS (Wednesday, 23rd September – Saturday, 7th November 2026), an unmissable world premiere production from the short stories of Blindboyboatclub, adapted and directed by Dan Colley, and the world premiere of visions by Eoghan Quinn , directed by Claire O’Reilly (Friday, 2nd October – Saturday, 14th November 2026), a bold and sweeping new work from one of Ireland’s most exciting young playwrights for its Dublin Theatre Festival offering. This is joined by the news that the critically-acclaimed Irish Repertory Theatre (NYC) production of Ulster American by David Ireland (Wednesday, 12th August – Saturday, 22nd August 2026), starring Matthew Broderick, will visit the National Theatre of Ireland for a highly limited run, followed by the Irish premiere of Mirandolina by Marina Carr (Friday, 28th August – Saturday, 5th September 2026) which forms part of the cultural programming around Ireland’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
The programming is unified by new work that is alive, boundary-pushing and interrogates the structures shaping contemporary life. This is the first programmatic announcement since Co-Directors, Artistic Director, Caitríona McLaughlin and Executive Director, Mark O’Brien began their new terms of office earlier this month.
Beyond the building, the Abbey Theatre has partnered with Shedinburgh’s inaugural Shed Originals initiative, presenting two commissioned works-in-progress at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and Young Vic in London: an adaptation of Doireann Ní Ghríofa’s A Ghost in the Throat by Ursula Rani Sarma and BULK by Shaun Dunne.
Commenting on the announcement, Co-Director of the Abbey Theatre, Artistic Director Caitríona McLaughlin said: ‘I’m drawn to work that doesn’t behave itself, that refuses to sit politely in its time or its form. ANIMALS and visions reveal the absurd systems we move through without question; Ulster American, in its Irish Repertory Theatre context, turns the lens back on performance itself – on authorship, power, and the transaction between artist and audience; and Marina Carr’s Mirandolina reclaims a canonical text, exposing the cost of female autonomy across centuries. What brings these works together is a shared refusal – a refusal to behave, to resolve, or to flatter.
Bringing two new works-in-progress to Shedinburgh completes that picture. It allows us to place process alongside production, to show not just the argument fully formed, but the thinking as it emerges – unstable, contested, alive. This programme isn’t about offering answers, it’s about holding a space where conflicting ideas can coexist.’
Dublin Theatre Festival 2026
For this year’s Dublin Theatre Festival offering, the Abbey Theatre presents two unprecedented, boundary-pushing world premieres by singular voices in Irish writing. ANIMALS, based on the short stories of Blindboyboatclub, adapted and directed by Dan Colley, and visions, written by Eoghan Quinn and directed by Claire O’Reilly, are ambitious, confronting and formally inventive works that expose the systems we live inside and the quiet absurdities we accept. Through bold, risk-taking approaches to theatrical form, they propose new possibilities through the power of human imagination.
On the Abbey Stage, ANIMALS (Wednesday, 23rd September – Saturday, 7th November 2026) is an unmissable world premiere commissioned by the Abbey Theatre and based on the short fiction of Blindboyboatclub (The Gospel According to Blindboy, Boulevard Wren, Topographica Hibernica), adapted and directed by Dan Colley (Lost Lear, A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings). In this provocative and absurdist spectacle – writ large and set loose on the national stage – audiences can expect the bizarreness of life to be unmasked in a roaring and roaming new work, that wonders aloud if the rowdy kids down the back of the class might have been onto something all along. Cast announcement to follow.
Audiences will also witness the world premiere of visions (Friday, 2nd October – Saturday, 14th November 2026), a sweeping and bold new play written by Eoghan Quinn (colic, The Jesus Trilogy and Bears in Space) and directed by Claire O’Reilly (Hothouse, Emma and BÁN), on the Peacock Stage. Set in a historic ballroom in Dublin city centre, relationships fray, values are tested, and secrets spill out when a sparkling relic of the past threatens the launch of a tech start-up. A lyrical and timely exploration of modern life in a time of systemic collapse, visions examines what happens when five people must imagine what comes next. Confirmed cast includes Derbhle Crotty.
August & September
Today’s announcement includes the news that the Irish Repertory Theatre in New York will bring its critically-acclaimed production of Ulster American written by David Ireland, directed by Irish Repertory Theatre Artistic Director Ciarán O’Reilly and starring Matthew Broderick (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, The Producers), Max Baker and Geraldine Hughes to the Abbey Stage for a highly limited two-week run, from Wednesday, 12th August to Saturday, 22nd August 2026. A theatrical hand grenade disguised as a drawing-room comedy, Ulster American is a savagely funny play that dissects the intersection of identity politics, ego, privilege, and the Northern Irish Troubles with satirical precision. Tickets will go on sale in early June.
Caitríona McLaughlin commented that: ‘Ulster American, particularly in the Irish Repertory Theatre context, brings us into a transatlantic dialogue about power, authorship, and identity – who gets to tell the story, and at whose expense. It reminds us too, that there are always consequences. Personally, I love David Ireland’s work. He has a rare talent for making people laugh at worst parts of themselves. His collaboration with the Irish Repertory Theatre and the opportunity to bring Ulster American to the Abbey Theatre just felt right. Having seen the play in New York, the cast are exceptional and Ciarán, the director, presents the play with both a beautifully pitched, understated humanity and an unapologetic, brazen directness.’
As previously announced, Mirandolina written by Marina Carr adapted from La Locandiera by Carlo Goldoni, translated by Monica Capuani, and directed by Caitríona McLaughlin, will arrive in Ireland after its successful Italian and Croatian tour which included the world premiere taking part in the Milan-Cortina 2026 Cultural Olympiad. Running on the Abbey stage from Friday, 28th August – Saturday, 5th September, this co-production by the Abbey Theatre, Teatro Stabile Veneto Teatro Nazionale Italy and Croatian National Theatre HNK Rijeka follows the life of a young woman and the admirers and predators who surround her. Mirandolina is a play about fear – female fear, and the price paid by those lost girls who dare to fight back. It will be performed in Italian with English surtitles.
Funded as part of the Culture Programme for Ireland’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2026, with additional funding from the Arts Council, Culture Ireland, Embassy of Italy, Italian Institute of Culture and Mediolanum International Funds Ltd.
New work-in-development at the Abbey Theatre
At the world’s biggest performing arts festival, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the Abbey Theatre has announced a partnership with Shedinburgh’s inaugural Shed Originals scheme, which platforms extraordinary artists across the UK and Ireland. As part of the initiative, the Abbey will be supporting two theatre makers, to develop a script and present a work-in-progress performance of new work from our current commissioning slate at this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe, followed by a second presentation in London as part of Shedinburgh’s takeover of the Young Vic in London. The projects that will be presented include:
BULK, written and directed by Shaun Dunne (Thursday, 20th August at Assembly Checkpoint, Edinburgh, Wednesday, 7th October at Young Vic): A multidisciplinary work interrogating the intersection of gym culture and addiction. Exploring fractured relationships, body dysmorphia and stimulant abuse, BULK fuses documentary material with new writing, choreography and original song to create an unflinching portrait of young men in Ireland today.
A Ghost in the Throat, based on the novel by Doireann Ní Ghríofa, adapted for the stage by Ursula Rani Sarma and directed by James Riordan (Thursday, 20th August at Assembly Checkpoint, Edinburgh and Tuesday, 6th October at Young Vic): This urgent adaptation of one of Ireland’s most stunning recent literary debuts, the award-winning A Ghost in the Throat crosses centuries as it tells the story of one woman finding her voice by reaching into the past and summoning another’s.
