The Gregory Project

The Abbey Theatre Co-Directors,  Artistic Director Caitríona  McLaughlin, and Executive Director Mark O’Brien are proud to launch The Gregory Project, a body of work to mark 120 years of the National Theatre of Ireland and to honour the legacy of co-founder Lady Gregory.

Chun an leathanach seo a léamh i nGaeilge, cliceáil anseo.

This programme of celebration and collaboration will feature ambitious and unmissable new writing alongside gems from the Irish theatrical canon, and collaborations with important artists and partners. 

In a spirit of collaboration as championed by Lady Gregory, the National Theatre will be celebrating several significant milestones in Irish theatre: 

 

The 60th Birthday of playwright Marina Carr. 

The 40th Anniversary of Rough Magic Theatre Company, led by Lynne Parker. 

The 20th Anniversary of Landmark Productions, led by Anne Clarke. 

The 120th Anniversary of the Abbey Theatre. 

 

Seven major plays by Hilary Fannin, Elizabeth Kuti, Barbara Bergin, Mary Manning, Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill and Marina Carr embody Lady Gregory’s ideals of excellence, ambition, inclusion, risk-taking and celebration, taking their lead from her tenacious, passionate, and relentless support of Irish artists, storytellers and writers. Just as Gregory sought to help position the newly born Irish state as a dynamic, free-thinking, independent and European country, The Gregory Project will continue a similar interrogation of Irishness through theatre, examining who we are now – and asking who we might become in the future. Tickets for the first three plays go on sale today from the Abbey Theatre box office and website.   

 

As the Abbey’s Artistic Director and Co-Director Caitríona McLaughlin says “Lady Gregory’s taste in art was honed across Europe, but her passion for language and story was ignited when listening to the people she lived among in the West of Ireland. She encouraged playwrights, both at the Abbey, and in her Coole Park home which she opened to them, to pursue excellence from their own perspective and in their own vernacular. Her legacy is every playwright who writes about their experience of Irish life, in their unique Irish voice.  

  

“The six playwrights whose work makes up The Gregory Project are Hilary Fannin, Elizabeth Kuti, Barbara Bergin, Mary Manning, Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill and Marina Carr.  Through their seven utterly original plays we hope to begin a new dialogue with our audience. I look forward to sitting in the theatre, sharing the experience with them and hearing what they have to say.” 

 

You can view each of the 7 plays here. Patrons who purchase tickets in one transaction tickets to the three productions currently on sale (Audrey or Sorrow, Na Peirsigh / Persians and Children of the Sun) before the 24th of December will receive a 15% discount and start 2024 off with exciting cultural experiences ahead of them.