Fishamble Theatre Company

Fishamble Theatre Company

 

‘To do new work in theatre deserves congratulations. To do work of this quality, Fishamble deserves celebration.’

Frank McGuinness






 

 

Fishamble

ABOUT FISHAMBLE: THE NEW PLAY COMPANY

The Company was founded in 1988 and, since 1990, has been dedicated to the discovery, development and production of new work for the Irish stage. Formerly known as Pigsback, the Company was renamed Fishamble in 1997. The name is inspired by Dublin’s Fishamble Street and in particular, its playhouse which, in 1784, became the first Irish theatre to pursue a policy of producing exclusively new Irish work.

Fishamble has produced plays by first-time and established playwrights in Dublin, throughout Ireland, in transfers to Britain and on tour internationally. The Company’s work has won a number of prestigious awards including The Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards, BBC/Stewart Parker Trust Awards, Dublin City Council Awards and In Dublin Theatre Awards.  It has also been nominated or shortlisted for the ESB/The Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards, International Radio Festival Awards, Entertainment & Media Awards, PQ07, The Irish Times Living Dublin Awards and Allianz/Business2Arts Awards.

Fishamble STAFF & BOARD

 

Fishamble’s work is categorised into three strands:

1 Fishamble: In The House

2 Fishamble: Interplay

3 Fishamble: Play Time

 

Fishamble: In The House
includes the commissioning, development and production of plays by new, emerging and established writers.  The Fishamble Firsts scheme focuses on first plays by new writers.  This includes recent productions such as Noah and the Tower Flower by Sean McLoughlin which was a huge critical and audience success in Spring 2007, and Monged by Gary Duggan which won the Stewart Parker Trust Award, was revived by Fishamble and toured to Liverpool in 2006, was produced in Autumn 2007 by the Belgrade (directed by Fishamble’s Jim Culleton) and is currently being developed as a screenplay.  New work currently in development includes plays by Robert Massey, Gary Duggan, Abbie Spallen and Gavin Kostick. 

Fishamble frequently works with publishers, including New Island Books, Nick Hern Books, Faber & Faber and Methuen, in order to extend the life of plays beyond production. 
Further details of Fishamble Publications.

 

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2 Fishamble: Interplay includes Fishamble’s range of conceptual, company-led work which is often presented in partnership with other arts and non-arts organisations.  This includes recent productions such as She Was Wearing…, the site-specific Whereabouts (winner of the Irish Times Special Judges’ Award at the 2006 Irish Theatre Awards) and Forgotten by Pat Kinevane.  Fishamble is working with The Irish Council for Bioethics to present a reading of the winning play from a recent playwriting competition.

Recent and current partners include development agencies, venues and festivals throughout Ireland, as well as Amnesty International, RTE lyric fm, British Council Ireland, International Theatre Festival of Sibiu (Romania), Prague Fringe Festival, TNL Canada, Ireland Newfoundland Partnership, The Gaiety School of Acting, Business2Arts, Accenture, National Association of Youth Drama, Liverpool Irish Festival, The Irish Council for Bioethics and Temple Bar Cultural Trust.

 

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3 Fishamble: Play Time incorporates all developmental initiatives and projects, such as play development workshops, dramaturgical support, discussions, seminars and readings of commissioned and unsolicited work.  Fishamble runs a programme of ongoing playwriting courses, facilitated by Gavin Kostick, which are open to the public.  For details of upcoming courses, please see the Writing page. 

This strand also includes a mentoring scheme for emerging theatre directors run in partnership with the National Association of Youth Drama, off-site playwriting courses for literary, arts and theatre festivals nationwide and the Fishamble New Writing Award, launched in 2007, awarded to the best new writing in the Dublin Fringe Festival.

 

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