We’re inviting you to join us in the Abbey Bar to do your day’s writing work here, in community with other theatre artists. Pen to paper. Fingers to keyboard. However you like to get it done.

We have a different guest playwright with us every month as a host. They are trying to write something too. They’ll take some time out for a Q&A before lunch to share reflections about their writing process, answer your questions, and talk about how they like to get it done.

This isn’t a workshop – it’s a quiet, co-working gathering that ring-fences time for you to write. There aren’t any craft exercises or sharing of work. It’s an opportunity for inspiration, solidarity and for getting your idea down on paper. It’s free and open to playwrights and performance makers of any experience level. You can be writing a play, a blurb, a funding application or a secret something you aren’t ready to talk about yet.

What to expect 

10am – 10:30am: Pick your seat, have a coffee, get comfortable and chat to your fellow writers

10:30am – 12.30pm: Quiet writing time

12:30pm – 1:30pm Q & A with our guest playwright about their writing process

1:30pm – 2:30pm: Lunch break

2:30pm – 4.30pm: Quiet writing time

Please note: This event takes place in the Abbey Bar. We have tables, chairs, high stools and benches. You’ll need to bring your laptop, and we recommend you bring it charged as plugs are limited. We’re a busy working theatre so the work space won’t be silent – this will work best for you if you like a bit of background noise while you write. The Abbey Bar is only accessible via stairs. Tickets are limited to one per person.

2026 Dates 

• June 15 – Mark O’Rowe
• July 13
• August 10
• Sept 7
• October 12
• November 16
• December 7

June Guest Playwright: Mark O’Rowe 

Mark O’Rowe is an Irish writer and director.

His plays include From Both Hips (Fishamble Theatre Company), Howie the Rookie (Bush Theatre), Made in China (Peacock Theatre), Crestfall (Gate Theatre), Terminus (Peacock Theatre), Our Few and Evil Days (Abbey Theatre), The Approach (Landmark Productions), and Reunion (Landmark/Galway Arts Festival).

He has also adapted several works, including Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler (Abbey Theatre), DruidShakespeare, an amalgamation of four of Shakespeare’s history plays (Druid Theatre Company), and Ibsen’s Ghosts, (Landmark/Abbey Theatre co-production).

Screenplays include Intermission, Boy A, Perrier’s Bounty, Broken, and The Delinquent Season, which he also directed.

TV includes the series Temple and Normal People