Our Productions

Machinal

NUI Galway’s new theatre stages classic American play

The O’Donoghue Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance – Galway’s newest performing arts venue – will stage its first ever play this month when the classic American drama Machinal appears.

Sophie Treadwell’s 1928 play was inspired by true events, and follows a young woman suffocated by a restrictive, unfeeling machine-like society. Haunting and provocative, Treadwell’s expressionistic playis made immediately relevant in this new production that updates the piece to reflect our contemporary technology-saturated age. Produced and performed by undergraduates of Drama and Theate Studies at NUI Galway, this production  will showcase the talents of a new emerging generation of exciting theatre-makers.

The play is being directed by Ian R. Walsh, who is a Lecturer in Drama and Theatre Studies at NUI Galway. His books include Experimental Irish Theatre (Palgrave 2012)and The Theatre of Enda Walsh (Carysfort 2016).His professional directing credits include Purple Path to the Poppy Field (2006), The Magic Flute (2011), Orfeo ed Eurydice (2010),  The Wandering Scholar (2009) and Riders to the Sea ( 2009).

Speaking ahead of the production, Dr Walsh said that students were excited by the opportunity to perform in the new venue: “This will be the first full production in the new state-of-the-art O’Donoghue Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance, home to Drama and Theatre Studies at NUI Galway,” he stated. “Our students are delighted to stage this innovative play for Galway audiences”

Professor of Drama and Theatre Studies at NUI Galway Patrick Lonergan stated that the production of Machinal is part of the university’s commitment to staging new work. “We are staging four new productions this year with our students, two written by women and two written by men – with further details to be announced in the months ahead. Sophie Treadwell’s Machinal is a famous but rarely seen play that will showcase the best of our facilties and our students’ talents. As Galway moves towards 2020 and the capital of culture, we are delighted to play our part in contributing to the cultural richness of Galway and the wider region”.

The show runs from 1-3 March at 8 p.m. with a special Saturday matinee on Saturday 4 March at 3 p.m. Tickets are available from the SocsBox at NUI Galway (091 492852), Price: €5

For more information or interviews, please contact Ian R.Walsh  ian.walsh@nuigalway.ie  Ph: 0868589134.

The Inaugural NUI Galway Theatre Season 2014

NUI Galway Announce The First Theatre Season to Bring University and City Actors on Stage Together

NUI Galway Theatre Season allow students the opportunity to bring theatre into Galway city for all to enjoy, while having a major impact on their future careers

Friday, 7^th February 2014 As part of the ongoing development of Drama and Theatre Studies at NUI Galway, the university today announced the inaugural NUI Galway Theatre Season. From February to April of this year, NUI Galway Drama students will be working with Galway’s leading theatre companies and artists to stage both classic and brand new plays. These will include a new street theatre performance devised by Macnas, the Irish premiere of a play by the author of the West End hit musical adaptation of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and many other exciting events.  Performances will happen both on campus and at venues around the city.

The opening production will be an adaptation of the Spanish classic Yerma by Frederico Lorca. Produced in association with Core Theatre College, this play runs at the Mick Lally Theatre, Druid Lane from 13-15 February. Future productions include the Irish premiere of David Greig’s Monster in the Hall at Nun’s Island Theatre from 26-29 March and the Greek tragedy Electra (adapted by Irish dramatist Frank McGuinness) at The Cube Theatre, NUI Galway from 9-11 March. The season concludes on 2 April with a public performance by first year students with Macnas.

The season also includes the inaugural NUI Galway Theatre Residency, an annual event that will see a major Irish theatre company visiting Galway for a week of workshops, public lectures, and performances. The first Theatre Residency will be conducted by Brokentalkers, the Dublin-based group whose Have I No Mouth is currently completing a successful run in New York, where it was praised in The New York Times for being “Gentle and forlorn, angry and yearning”.

Speaking at the launch of the season, NUI Galway’s Professor of Drama and Theatre Studies, Patrick Lonergan said that this development marks an important stage in the evolution of Drama at the university. “Our first theatre season gives our students an opportunity to work with great Galway companies, directors and actors, and it allows us to bring theatre into our city for all to enjoy. Performing in professional venues, and working with professional artists, our students will gain invaluable skills and practical experiences that will have a major impact on their future careers.”

This is the first time that NUI Galway has produced a season of plays, but Professor Lonergan states that this development will continue into the years ahead. “As Drama grows at this university, so too will the number of productions we’ll stage each year. We want our productions to become an intrinsic and essential part of the Galway theatre scene, making sure that the university and our students are at the heart of Galway’s cultural life. With the recent launch of the Druid Academy at NUI Galway, our activities will expand significantly in the years ahead. This season marks an important first step for us.”

Tickets for Yerma available at the Socs Box on 091 492852 or Town Hall Theatre 091 569777. Tickets for Electra available at the Socs Box, and tickets for The Monster in the Hall available at Galway Arts Centre 091 565886. Brokentalkers will give a Public Lecture at the Siobhan McKenna Theatre, NUI Galway on 25 February from 5pm-7pm.

Full Listings of NUI Galway Theatre Season

Yerma by Frederico Lorca.

13-15 February

8PM

Directed by Max Hafler

Produced in association with Core Theatre College

Mick Lally Theatre, Druid Lane.

Tickets €10/€8 - Available at the Socs Box on campus in person or by calling 091 492852 or the Town Hall Theatre, Galway in person or by calling 091 569777

Yerma is one of the great world classics, written by Federico Garcia Lorca. The play concerns a woman who lives in a small village, who feels like she has done everything right. Yet she cannot have what she wants: a baby, with her husband.

Lorca was one of the most foremost of Spain's poets and playwrights. Max Hafler produced a successful touring production of Lorca’s Blood Wedding in 2007

The NUI Galway Theatre Residency: Brokentalkers

24-25 February

Performance Workshop*

24 February

6-10PM

Bank of Ireland Theatre

*By application only

Public Lecture

25 February

5-7PM

Siobhan McKenna Theatre

Brokentalkers have been called “one of the country’s most fearless and path breaking theatre companies” (The Irish Times) and “the undisputed rising stars of Irish Theatre” (The Irish Independent).  Fresh off an international tour of their acclaimed work Have I No Mouth (winner of the Edinburgh Fringe’s 2013 Total Theatre Award, named one of the top ten theatre productions of 2013 by The Guardian), Brokentalkers’ Gary Keegan and Feidlim Cannon will engage in intensive performance workshops with NUI Galway students and deliver a public lecture/presentation on their work.

Sophocles’ Electra in an adaptation by Frank McGuinness

9-11 March.

Directed by Charlotte McIvor

Produced by the Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance in association with Theatre Week, NUI Galway

The Cube Theatre

10AM (10, 11 March) and 8PM (9, 10, 11 March)

General Admission €10

NUI Galway Student Tickets €5

*Special group student and teacher rates for secondary schools available

Tickets Available at the Socs Box on campus in person or by calling 091 492852

“She waits for her glory till stone turns to water”

Sophocles’s Electra is the epic story of the House of Atreus.  Through generations, bloodshed, revenge and redemption always follow close upon each other’s heels. Electra mourns the death of her father, Agammenon, at the hands of her mother, Clytemnestra, and her lover, Aegisthus.  Convinced of her total solitude after the death of her brother, Orestes, Electra hungers for justice until a familiar-looking stranger arrives and transforms her fate and the history of the House of Atreus.

Frank McGuinness’s adaptation of Sophocles’ Electra has been described by New York Times critic Peter Mark as a “sleek and hypnotic text” which showcases “soul-satisfying drama at its most passionately, intensely alive.” NUI Galway’s BA and MA students in Drama, Theatre and Performance resurrect the history of the House of Atreus to ask what is our Electra and what can we learn by returning to the classics through the lens of the now?

The Monster in the Hall by David Greig

26-29 March 2014.

Directed by Andrew Flynn

Nun's Island Theatre

General Admission €12/€10

Tickets available at Galway Arts Centre, Dominick Street, Galway in person or phone 091 565886

The Monster in the Hall follows a young girl called Duck who is faced with the prospect of being taken from her father by Social Services. The play shows us her attempts to protect herself from the terrifying prospect of change.

David Greig is one of Britain’s most exciting dramatists. His adaptation of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is currently on in London’s West End, and his other plays include Outlying Islands, The Events, and the Galway Arts Festival hit The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Harte.

A new street-theatre performance

2 April 2014

Produced in association with Macnas

The streets of Galway

First year NUI Galway students stage a presentation of work following a twelve week performance module with Macnas tutors. The presentation will reflect the signature style of the company and its approach to the creation of a street theatre show. Devised over the course of the module, the performance draws on the ever-evolving repertoire of Macnas, placing an emphasis on the creation of story and character using a dynamic approach that incorporates poetry, visual art, music, and performance.

About NUI Galway

NUI Galway* is one of Ireland’s foremost centres of academic excellence. Over 17,000 students undertake an extensive range of studies at the University, which is renowned for the quality of its graduates.

NUI Galway is a research-led University with internationally recognised expertise in areas including Biomedical Science and Engineering, Web Science, Human Rights, Marine Science, Energy and Environmental Science, Applied Social Sciences and Public Policy, and Humanities, in particular literature, theatre and Irish Studies.

For more information visit www.nuigalway.ie or view all NUI Galway news here.

*The University's official title is National University of Ireland Galway. Please note that the only official abbreviation is NUI Galway.