Theatre History Overview - Part 25 - Irish Theatre

Much of Irish theatre was at first influenced by British theatre. Irish playwrights would go to Britain to sell their work or to have it performed. Then the first Irish public theatre was built in Dublin in 1637 by John Ogilby. It was closed in 1649 during the Irish Campaign when Oliver Cromwell came to power in Britain.

In the late 1800s, Irish theatre relied mainly on spectacle. After the 1890s, there were writers in Irish theatre that focused on creating works with high standards. Part of the reason for this was that there were people involved in a Celtic revival and growing Irish nationalism.

In 1892, Oscar Wilde wrote Salome. In this year, he also wrote Lady Windermere's Fan, A Play About a Good Woman. The next year he wrote A Woman of No Importance. His plays The Importance of Being Earnest and An Ideal Husband were written in 1895.

Indigenous Irish Theatre was started by Lady Isabella Augusta Gregory and W.B. Yeats with the Irish Dramatic Movement. In 1904, the Abbey Theatre was opened in Dublin. This theatre was established by Lady Gregory and was created so that artists could perform a specifically form of Irish theatre. From that point, Irish theatre began focusing on Irish legends and contemporary Irish life.

On July 17, 1951, there was a fire that destroyed the Abbey Theatre. In 1966, it was rebuilt by Michael Scott. It still stands today and houses many important pieces of Irish theatre history such as scripts, posters, and costume designs.

(Sorry that this is late, May 22 is my birthday, so after doing some school work, I was out enjoying my day the best that I could!)

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