Emmet Kirwan
Emmet Kirwan is an award-winning actor and playwright from
Tallaght in Dublin. He studied drama and theatre studies at the Samuel Beckett Centre, Trinity College Dublin.
Over the last twenty years Emmet has worked and collaborated as both actor and writer with both THISISPOPBABY and Fishamble: The New Play company. THISISPOPBABY has commissioned Emmet to write this new work What If We Get To Be Happy, and previously the poetry sections of both of their smash hit shows RIOT and WAKE and he has collaborated many times with Phillip McMahon on both of their work, including Straight to Video, Alice in Funderland, and Dublin Oldschool which was developed as part of the Fishamble/Dublin Fringe/ITI Show in a Bag initiative. He first worked with Fishamble on Gary Duggan’s Monged over twenty years ago this year, and has worked on Tiny Plays for Ireland and America in New York and Washington DC, and The Leap, as an actor with the company since. This is his first time collaborating with the company as a playwright.
In this anniversary year also, Emmet has had a long and incredible artistic partnership with Project Arts Centre. They have supported him throughout his career both as an actor and playwright and have staged or co-produced all of his plays. It is an incredible honour to bring this new work home to the Project Arts in it’s 60th year.
Emmet has worked in Irish and English Theatre performing many times on stages such as Project Arts Centre, The Abbey Theatre, The Gate, Donmar Warehouse, The National Theatre of Britain, and The Soho, as well as working with leading theatre companies such as Rough Magic, Fishamble, THISISPOPBABY, Guna Nua, Story Tellers, Semper Fi Barabbas, Island, Performance Corporation amongst many others.
He has numerous film and television credits most recently the films Magpie and Spilt Milk, and KIN season 3.
His most recent work as a writer and performer is Accents. A spoken word verse play in a musical collaboration with Eoin French (who performs as Talos) and directed by Claire O’Reilly of Malaprop theatre company. It was produced by Cian O’Brien and Caoimhe Whelan for COBA Productions. This played two sell out runs in Project Arts Centre and embarked on a sell out
nationwide tour in 2025. It was the first play to debut at the recently reopened Ambassador Theatre. His multi-character video shop set, hit comedy play Straight to Video, was produced by Landmark Productions and Project Arts Centre.
As a playwright performer Emmet’s play Dublin Oldschool directed by Phillip McMahon won the Stewart Parker award for playwriting, it was produced by Project Arts Centre and did seven
sell out runs there before touring internationally and transferring to The Dorfman in The National Theatre for a sell out run. It was adapted into a feature film with Element Pictures and opened in
Irish and British cinemas in 2018 and international festivals including the London BFI. It returned to The Olympia Theatre in 2024.
Emmet also wrote the poetry sections and performed in THISISPOPBABY’S RIOT, which has played Vicar Street in Dublin and toured internationally to The Sydney theatre festival and Skirball New York. His poem Heartbreak is taken from this show and was adapted in to a short film that won an Irish Film and Television Award for Best Short Film.
Other writing includes the radio drama Wild West (2018) for BBC 4, (nominated for Best Radio Drama Award 2019 from The Writers Guild of Ireland) and Queen of The Pyramids (2019) for
Landmark Productions. He was also funded by the Arts Council to develop his play The
Last Partholonian a play based on the first cycle of Irish Mythology. It received a performed reading directed by Oonagh Murphy.
He is also known for writing and starring in the RTÉ 2 comedy series Sarah and Steve for Accomplice television.