Dublin’s independent playhouses
For a city with such a rich literary heritage, perhaps it’s no surprise that Dublin boasts a world-leading theater scene. But while London has Shaftesbury Avenue, and
New York, Broadway, Ireland’s capital city offers theater fans an altogether different experience: experimental, committed to nurturing emerging talent, and with resolutely independent productions. If you fancy a break from mainstream productions, this is the place to come – never more so than in the fall, when the Dublin Theatre Festival
(this year, September 28 to October 15) brings the best of modern Irish theater, music, and dance to venues across the city.
Theater in Dublin doesn’t shy away from big questions – you’re as likely to come across a new piece tackling gender politics, freedom of speech, or immigration as you are a reworking of Joyce or Beckett. The theaters themselves, on the other hand, tend toward the intimate. Tucked away on the waterfront or down the cobbled backstreets of Temple Bar, you’ll find gems of creativity and theatrical vision tourists often miss. Here are five of our favorites.
Bewley’s Café Theatre: Matinees aside, theater is usually an evening affair. Not so at Bewley’s, on the second floor of the famous Victorian-era café. Here, performances – from one-act classics by the likes of Shaw and Wilde to new Irish writing – begin at 1 p.m. and are usually over by 2 p.m., leaving the rest of the day free.
Smock Alley Theatre, 1662: Steeped in history – on the site of the 17th-century Theatre Royal, where Sheridan’s The Rivals premiered and
David Garrick trod the boards – the Smock Alley building was for a long time a Catholic church, offering early masses for the workers going to and from the docks (and in the swinging 60s, young men and women on their way home from a night out). In 2012 it became a theater once more, showcasing drama, music, dance, and other creative arts across three performance spaces.
The New Theatre: At the back of Ireland’s oldest radical bookstore, Connolly Books,
The New Theatre has just 66 seats, arranged in six steeply banked rows. It specializes in correspondingly tiny one- and two-man and woman plays, and what it lacks in drinks selection it more than makes up for in innovative performances – and unrivaled views of the stage.
Viking Theatre: Make your way to the wellheeled suburb of Clontarf, on Dublin Bay, to public house Connollys – The Sheds, and after buying a pint at the bar, venture upstairs. This diminutive theater was conceived as a home for small-cast plays with little or no funding, and when it comes to creative clout punches well above its weight – audiences travel from across Ireland to watch drama, stand-up, songs, sketches, and improvisation.
Samuel Beckett Theatre:
The campus theater of The University of Dublin’s School of Creative Arts is the place to come to discover future stars of stage and screen before the rest of the world catches wind. Visit in term time for performances from the student drama society, Dublin University Players, or during university vacations to catch some of the most prestigious theater and dance companies from Ireland and beyond on tour.