The Abbey Theatre

The Abbey opened in 1904 as Ireland's national theatre, founded by W.B. Yeats and Lady Gregory to put Irish subjects and Irish speech on a stage. It did that with enough force that audiences disrupted the opening week of Synge's Playboy of the Western World in 1907. Synge, O'Casey and later Friel were all Abbey writers. The original building burned down in 1951 and the company moved into the present concrete block on Abbey Street in 1966, a building nobody has ever warmed to. The programme mixes revivals of the canon with new Irish writing, and the smaller Peacock stage downstairs takes the riskier work. Tickets are usually available close to the date.

History

The Abbey grew out of the Irish Literary Theatre, founded in 1899 by Lady Gregory, Edward Martyn and W. B. Yeats with the help of George Moore, and out of the Dublin productions of the brothers William and Frank Fay. It first opened to the public on 27 December 1904, became a nursery for the writers of the Irish Literary Revival, and moved out of its original building after a fire in 1951 (Wikipedia, Abbey Theatre).

What's there

• The main stage - revivals of Synge, O'Casey and Friel in rotation.
• The Peacock - the studio space downstairs for new and experimental work.
• New Irish writing - the commissions that make up much of each season.
• The 1966 building - a period piece of Irish modernism, for better or worse.

When to go

The season runs through most of the year with a thin patch in high summer, when touring work fills the gap. Evening performances start early by European standards, with matinees at weekends. Book ahead for the main stage in autumn and spring; the Peacock is small and sells out faster than its profile suggests.

What to expect

The building is cramped, the foyer is grim and sightlines from the cheaper seats are poor. Programming quality swings hard from season to season, and a weak revival of a classic makes for a long evening. Plans to move the theatre have been discussed for decades without result. Book by production rather than by reputation.

Nearby

O'Connell Street is around the corner; the Liffey quays are a minute away.

Key facts