On this day, 50 years ago, Druid Theatre Company opened their first production, ‘The Playboy of the Western World’ in the Jesuit Hall on Sea Road. The following evening they staged “It’s a two foot six inches above the Ground World” and on the third night it was “The Loves of Cass Maguire”. It was an ambitious beginning.
They seemed no different to other groups, but even then, the discerning eye would have detected a seriousness of purpose, a boldness of invention, a capacity to develop which blended beautifully with a fresh and imaginative approach to theatre. There was a spontaneity about their work, a youthful energy and enthusiasm combined with a hard-headedness that helped them take artistic risks which, when combined with professionalism, changed the landscape of Irish theatre.
It all started when two young students who had worked together in UCG’s Dramsoc as director and actress, Garry Hynes and Marie Mullen, decided that they would like to set up the first professional theatre company outside Dublin. They ambushed Mick Lally, the star actor in An Taidhbhearc at the time, in the Cellar Bar and asked him to join them in this adventure. He had already decided to go to England for the summer but a few days later, he agreed to work with them. They called the company Druid because of a crossword puzzle clue about Asterix and his colleague, the Druid whose name in Celtic means “a weaver of dreams and spells”. Mairéad Ní Nuadháin designed their logo.
The idea of a summer theatre season had been tried in Galway before but had always failed, notably by the Galway Repertory Theatre and most spectacularly by the Celtic Arts Theatre organised by Frank Bailey, a native Galwegian with a lot of experience and some financial backing, whose project only lasted a week. Here were three young thespians, blow-ins with limited experience and no money starting up, and we hoped they would survive. As other groups were using the Jesuit Hall during their tenure, they had to rehearse between 11pm and 6am and set up and remove chairs before and after each performance. Cast members boosted ticket sales by selling the on the streets.
Within a few months, they were producing lunchtime theatre in the Fo’castle at the back of the Coachman Hotel in Dominick Street. This meant carrying the props and lights from the Jesuit Hall before and after each performance. In 1976, they leased this space and converted it into a 47-seat theatre where they put on many productions, but the area was too small. Eventually, they negotiated a lease, at a peppercorn rent, of a derelict building in Courthouse Lane with the McDonough Group. They now had a shell on which to build a real structure, it had a suitably high ceiling but was in poor shape. Actors became blocklayers, plumbers, carpenters, electricians and literally built the theatre with their own hands, making seats and sets at the same time and, all through this, they rehearsed! This level of commitment brought an excitement and a sense of occasion to each production. Their first show here was The Threepenny Opera which opened on May 19th, 1979.
By restoring a derelict building (for £8,000 ) and filling it with creativity, they ignited a spark that would have far reaching repercussions. This little theatre became a magic space. Crossing the threshold, one never knew what to expect – a black and white production for Dial M for Murder; a large comic strip painting for The Rivals; The entire theatre, side walls, ceiling and set all painted as a graveyard by Brian Bourke; the meticulous recreation of a 19th century sheebeen , creative sets matched by the superb ensemble playing of the actors.
They drew sustenance from the Galway audiences whose reactions were an indication that the public were gradually being caught up in a web, hypnotised, traumatised, maddened and saddened, provoked and above all – entertained while watching productions of the highest quality. Druid realised that there was a hunger for good theatre in rural Ireland so they organised their first Irish tour (of the Playboy ) in 1982. Later, they travelled to the Edinburgh Festival, to Dublin, London, Australia and New York, winning countless accolades and awards on the way. They were no longer a regional company, they were an international company, but every production began, and still begins, in Galway.
Their 100th production was The Black Pig’s Dyke in 1992
Bailegangáire by Tom Murphy was a major hit in 1985 with a legendary performance by Siobhán McKenna. In 1991, Maelíosa Stafford took over as artistic director for 3 years. In 1996, the McDonough Company donated the Chapel Lane premises to Druid. A new playwright, Martin McDonagh, came on the scene in 1996/7 with a trilogy of plays, The Beauty Queen of Leenane, A Skull in Conamara and The Lonesome West, all of which toured Ireland and moved to Australia. Beauty Queen was awarded four Tony awards on Broadway in 1999 including one for director Garry Hynes, the first ever female recipient of the award.
In 2000, they set up Druid Debuts, a series of rehearsed readings of new plays submitted through open call. Their first John B. Keane play was Sive in 2002. In 2004, they toured a new production of Playboy with Cillian Murphy in the lead role and the following year they launched the full DruidSynge. The lane premises underwent a major refurbishment in 2009. In 2012, they produced Druid Murphy, three Tom Murphy plays in one day and three years later it was the turn of ‘The Bard’ when they put on Druid Shakespeare.
They set up The Marie Mullen Bursary in 2018 for women working as theatre artists in the fields of design, directing and dramaturgy. So far, there have been eight recipients of this award. At the beginning of Covid, they came up with the idea of broadcasting a live production of The Cherry Orchard, Tom Murphy’s version of the Chekhov play, to cinemas in Ireland and in the U.K. That same year, they toured the audience around Coole Park to experience three Lady Gregory plays in the environment in which they were written.
Their first radio play, Sorry Wrong Number, starring Marie Mullen was broadcast in August, 2021, and in 2023, it was the turn of Seán O’Casey when his trilogy of plays about the revolutionary period were stage as DruidoCasey.
Those are some of the highlights of their 50 years but there were many other memorable productions and performances, all of which shows how productive, visionary, willing to experiment and to innovate the company is. It is all too easy to take excellence for granted. Druid have turned classics on their head, revitalised reputations, encouraged and nurtured new talents and strong voices; they took Synge back to Inis Meáin, M.J. Molloy to Milltown, The Black Pig’s Dyke back to Fermanagh, Brian Merriman to Flagmount; they introduced us to Dario Fo, Brecht , Raymond Chandler and Eugene O’Neill.
For many years now, they have, for obvious commercial reasons put their plays on in the Town Hall, but personally, I love the magic intimate space in the lane where one almost becomes part of the action.
Thank you Druid for all the magic. May your future be like your past! Happy Birthday. Go maire sibh an chéad!
PHOTOGRAPHS
The three founders, Mick Lally, Garry Hynes and Marie Mullen in the Lane
The interior of the Lane as they started working on it, 1979
The Cast of The Playboy on board the fishing vessel Guillmarn for their first trip to Inis Meáin, 1982. From the left, Maurice Shanahan, Yannig Guiomard, Marie Mullen, Jerome Hynes, Joan Sheehy, Garry Hynes, Maelíosa Stafford, Seán McGinley, Mary Ryan and David Colbert. Bríd Brennan is at the back
A ‘Punch’ cartoon of Maelíosa Stafford, Marie Mullen and Bríd Brennan in The Playboy, 1985
Some druids at the launch of David Burke’s ‘History of Druid’s First Ten Years’ in the Kenny Gallery, 1985.Mary McEvoy, Seán McGinley, Maureen Hughes, Michael Shannon, Jane Brennan, Garry Hynes, Ray McBride, Jerome Hynes, Pat Leavy, Mairéad Ní Nuadháin, Siobhán McKenna, Tom Murphy (at the back ), Moya McHugh, Marie Mullen, Padraig O’Neill, Ciarán Hinds. In front are Frank Conway, John Ashton, Aedhmar Hynes.
Siobhán McKenna in Bailegangáire , 1985
Marty Rea and Aaron Monaghan in Waiting for Godot, 2016
The company in Richard III. 2018
