Dublin Theatre Festival

Dublin Theatre Festival, annual event, usually in Oct., when the Dublin theatres combine in a festival of new plays, revivals, musicals, mime shows, and Fringe events. The first, in 1957, involved opera, concerts, ballet, and international folk-dancing, as well as theatrical events which included the Théâtre National Populaire from Paris and a visit from an English company in Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest. At local level there were revivals of Johnston's The Old Lady Says ‘No!’ at the Gate Theatre; O'Casey's Juno and the Paycock and Synge's The Playboy of the Western World at the Abbey Theatre; seven of Yeats's plays by the Globe Theatre company; and, at the Pike Theatre, a notorious production of Tennessee Williams's The Rose Tattoo. No festival was held in 1958, following a row over O'Casey's The Drums of Father Ned which resulted in O'Casey banning professional productions of his plays in Ireland, and from 1959 the festival narrowed in scope, concentrating mainly on Irish material and performers, though visits from such foreign companies as the Living Theatre continued to form an important part of the programme. Since 1960 the policy of encouraging new Irish writing has led to the discovery of many new playwrights, among them Brian Friel and Hugh Leonard.