GPO 1818

Written by Colin Murphy Directed by Jeda de Brí

To coincide with the launch of a new stamp by An Post to celebrate the event, Fishamble staged GPO 1818, a short site-specific play by Colin Murphy, directed by Jeda de Brí, in the GPO to mark the 200th anniversary of the building.

In 2018, Dublin and Ireland’s General Post Office reached the 200th Anniversary of its opening, The GPO continues to be the oldest, still functioning postal headquarters in the world. Birthplace of a revolution, palace of commerce and communications, beating heart of a city, post office. An Post celebrated 200 years of this great building with a series of events which mark its place in history and its continued future at the centre of Irish life and business. This production was a continuation of the partnership between Fishamble and An Post which began in 2016 with the production Inside the GPO, staged in the main hall at Easter.

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Cast
Creative Team

Cast

Mary Murray

Actor

Website

Mary’s stage performances have toured Europe, China and the United States. She received Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress awards with MAMCA, The First Irish Theatre Festival in New York and The Irish Times.

She has over 60 screen credits. She was nominated for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress at the Irish Film and Television Awards for her role as Janet in Love Hate. Other notable productions include Valhalla, Penny Dreadful, Adam and Paul, The Magdalene Sisters, Dead Still and Let the Wrong One In.

She voiced numerous animations and radio plays and she’s the recipient of the Best Actress Award at the BBC Audio Drama Awards 2023 for her performance in the Pride of Parnell Street, produced by Fishamble Theatre Company.

Mary is the director of Visions Drama School.

Productions

Embargo Outrage GPO 1818 The Pride of Parnell Street Noah and the Tower Flower Tiny Plays for Ireland 2 Tiny Plays for Ireland The End of the Road Tiny Plays for Ireland & America Refuge

Rory Nolan

Actor

Rory Nolan’s theatre credits include DruidShakespeare: Richard III, Shelter, Waiting for Godot, DruidShakespeare: Richard II, Henry IV (Pts 1&2), Henry V, The Colleen Bawn, DruidMurphy – Plays by Tom Murphy (Druid). Northern Star, The Critic, Peer Gynt, The Importance of Being Earnest, Don Carlos, The Taming of the Shrew, Improbable Frequency, Is This About Sex? (Rough Magic); Chekhov’s First Play (Dead Centre); Postcards from the Ledge, Breaking Dad, Between Foxrock and a Hard Place, The Last Days of the Celtic Tiger, Sleeping Beauty (Landmark Productions); The Importance of Being Earnest, Bedroom Farce, A Christmas Carol, Death of a Salesman (Gate Theatre); She Stoops to Conquer, Aristocrats, The Government Inspector, Translations, Arrah Na Pogue, Macbeth, The Rivals, Last Days of a Reluctant Tyrant, The Comedy of Errors, Heavenly Bodies, Big Love (Abbey Theatre); Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme (Livin’Dred/Nomad); Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Corn Exchange); The Evils of Tobacco (Mangiare Theatre). Film & television includes: Acceptable Risk, The Delinquent Season, WILD, Charlie, Fair City, A Thousand Times Goodnight, The Baker Street Irregulars, Trouble in Paradise, Nothing Personal. Awards: Irish Times Irish Theatre Award, Best Supporting Actor (Waiting for Godot).

Productions

The Alternative GPO 1818

Liz Fitzgibbon Actor

Camille Lucy Ross

Actor

Camille is a graduate of the Philippe Gaulier school, LA’s iO West Improv school, The Gaiety School of Acting and University College Dublin. She most recently appeared in Callan’s Kicks (RTE) and is a series regular. Camille is also a writer, improviser and founder of Brazen Tales productions for which she wrote and performed in Big Bobby. Little Bobby (First Fortnight Winner) and How To be Angry (Best Ensemble nominee).

Theatre credits include: Sauce (Dublin Fringe Festival), The Odd Couple (The Everyman), We Can’t Have Monkeys in the House (New Theatre), GPO 1818 (Fishamble), The Grimm Tale of Cinderella, (Smock Alley), Coast (Red Bear), Monster Clock (Collapsing Horse), Travesties (Rough Magic), Pocket Music (Bewleys/Little Gem Award), Anna in Between (Pillowtalk/Best Performer nominee), A Christmas Carol (The Gate); Serious Money (Rough Magic SEEDS), Durang Durang (Brazen Tales, Top Theatre Performance), Fused (Project Arts Centre), Animus (Denis Clohessy), The Lesson (Zoe Reardon), Richard III, Twelfth Night (Fast & Loose).

TV & Film credits include: Callan’s Kicks (Catchy Title), The Rafters (John Carney/Warehouse), Finding Joy (Treasure) Republic of Telly & Bridget & Eamon (RTE).

Productions

The Treaty GPO 1818

Creative Team

Colin Murphy

Writer

Colin Murphy has written for stage, television, film and radio, and has been nominated for an Irish Theatre Award, an Irish Film and Television Academy award and a Celtic Media Award; his radio documentaries have received a Prix Marulic silver award and a New York Festivals bronze award. Two of his plays are published by Bloomsbury.

With Fishamble Theatre Company, he has written a series of political documentary dramas, two of which, Guaranteed! and Haughey/Gregory, are published by Bloomsbury. Guaranteed! was acclaimed as “a national event” by the Irish Times; it and its sequel, Bailed Out!, “injected a new and vital ingredient into the Irish theatre landscape”, wrote the Irish Independent.

His Easter Rising play, Inside the GPO, was described as “deeply moving and utterly memorable… deserves to be remembered as pivotal” by the Sunday Independent.

Colin is best known for his series of plays for Fishamble about Irish political history – recently collected in the volume Colin Murphy’s Political Plays, published by Methuen Drama. The United States vs Ulysses will tour Ireland in 2027, after a successful off-Broadway run at the Irish Arts Center, New York, in 2025. His documentary A Day in May, directed by Colm Quinn and produced by John Kelleher Media, is currently available on the RTÉ Player. He is the 2026 Rooney Writer Fellow at Trinity Long Room Hub. He writes a weekly column for the Sunday Independent.

Productions

The Treaty Haughey | Gregory GPO 1818 Inside the GPO Bailed Out Guaranteed! Ireland Hero History

Jeda de Brí

Writer & Director

Jeda de Brí is a director, writer and Artistic Director of Sickle Moon Productions.

Credits include: The Egg is a Lonely Hunter (Nominated: Little Gem Award, First Fortnight Award & Fishamble New Writing Award, Dublin Fringe 2017), All honey (Winner: Fishamble New Writing Award, Dublin Fringe 2017), TRYST (Nominated: Fishamble New Writing Award, Fringe 2016.) Mimes in Time (Edinburgh Fringe 2016, Dublin Fringe 2016 – Nominated: Little Gem Award), Cirque Des Reves (Smock Alley & Bewleys Café Theatre).

Her short film, Procession will shoot in March 2018 as part of The Irish Film Boards Short Stories Scheme. In April, TRYST will return for a full run at Project Arts Centre.

Productions

The Black Wolfe Tone Tiny Plays 24/7 GPO 1818 Tiny Plays for a Brighter Future

Gavin Kostick

Dramaturg

Gavin Kostick is a playwright, literary manager and independent dramaturg.

His works have been produced nationally and internationally. Favourite works for Fishamble include The Ash Fire, The Flesh Addict, The End of The Road and Invitation to a Journey (with CoisCeim and Crash Ensemble). The Leap is Gavin’s first play for children.
Further works include This is What We Sang for Kabosh, Fight Night, The Games People Play and At the Ford for Rise Productions and Gym Swim Party with Danielle Galligan in co-production with the O’Reilly Theatre. He wrote the libretto for the opera The Alma Fetish composed by Raymond Deane, performed at the National Concert Hall. As a performer he performed Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness: Complete, a six hour show for Absolut Fringe, Dublin Theatre Festival and the London Festival of Literature at the Southbank.
Gavin is currently the literary manager of Fishamble: The New Play Company, a tutor in playwriting and dramaturgy in both The Lir Academy and Trinity College Dublin as well as being a core mentor on the Tenderfoot Transition Year programme for young writers at the Civic Theatre.

Particular favourite projects that Gavin has initiated and delivered with Fishamble include Show in a Bag (with Dublin Fringe and The Irish Theatre Institute), The New Play Clinic, The Dublin Fringe New Writing Award, Tiny Plays for Ireland and A Play for Ireland.

Both for Fishamble, and as an independent dramaturg, Gavin’s projects and works he has supported have gained significant national and international award recognition including amongst others Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards, BBC Stewart Parker Trust, Zebbie Awards, Dublin Fringe Awards, Business to Arts, Olivier, Scotsman Fringe First, Herald Angel and Archangel and New York Critics’ Pick.

His own plays have also received similar national and international award recognition. Gavin has recently completed a new version of The Odyssey, supported by Kilkenny Arts Festival, ClassicsNow.

Productions

Fight Night Embargo Breaking In Two Minds King Heaven The Treaty Tiny Plays 24/7 Before Outrage Duck Duck Goose On Blueberry Hill Little Thing, Big Thing The Leap Rathmines Road The Humours of Bandon The Alternative Haughey | Gregory GPO 1818 Swing Invitation to a Journey Tiny Plays for Ireland 2 Tiny Plays for a Brighter Future The Bruising of Clouds Inside the GPO Bailed Out Spinning Guaranteed! Tiny Plays for Ireland The End of the Road Begotten Not Made Y2K Festival Contact Whereabouts Refuge For Dolores What If We Get To Be Happy Ireland Hero History

Steph Ryan

Stage Manager

Steph Ryan has worked in theatre for many years and with many companies including CoisCéim, Rough Magic, Abbey/Peacock Theatres, OTC and INO to name a few.

Work with Fishamble includes: Handel’s Crossing, The End of The Road, Noah and the Tower Flower, Spinning, Little Thing Big Thing, Invitation to a Journey (a co-production with CoisCéim, Crash Ensemble and GIAF); Mainstream, Rathmines Road, On Blueberry Hill, Embargo and Pat Kinevane’s Forgotten, Silent, Underneath, Before and KING, and Duck Duck Goose.

She is delighted to be back working with Fishamble on In Two Minds.

Productions

The Black Wolfe Tone Embargo Breaking In Two Minds Heaven Duck Duck Goose On Blueberry Hill The Leap Rathmines Road GPO 1818 Invitation to a Journey Tiny Plays for a Brighter Future Tiny Plays 24/7 The End of the Road

Saileóg O’Halloran

Costume Designer

Saileóg O’Halloran ‘s Theatre credits include: The Wakefires (ANU Productions & Cork Midsummer), Dances Like a Bomb (Junk Ensemble), Duck Duck Goose (Fishamble), The Secret Space (ANU Productions), To The Lighthouse (Cork Everyman & Hatch Productions), The Great Hunger (Abbey Theatre), The Fall of the Second Republic (Abbey Theatre & Corn Exchange), Danse Macabre (Macnas 2019), Becketts Room (Dead Centre), The Alternative (Fishamble), The Bluffers Guide to Suburbia (Cork Midsummer & DTF 2019), The Anvil (ANU & Manchester International Festival),
The Misfits (Corn Exchange), Trial of the Century’s (Dublin Fringe 2018), Macnas 2018, Copperface Jacks the Musical (Verdant), GPO1818 (Fishamble), The Half of It (MOMMO), The Shitstorm (Dublin Fringe), The Seagull (Corn Exchange) To Hell In A Handbag (Show In A Bag/Tiger Dublin Fringe), Town is Dead (Peacock Theatre), Embodied (Dublin Dance Festival), Shibboleth (Peacock Theatre), Chekhov’s First Play (Dead Centre), Thirteen, Irish Times Judges Special Award (ANU Productions) and Wake (Chamber Made Opera).

Productions

Heaven Duck Duck Goose The Alternative GPO 1818

Val Sherlock Hair & Makeup

Eva Scanlan

Executive Director, Fishamble

Eva  Scanlan is the Executive Director at Fishamble: The New Play Company.

Formerly producer at Fishamble, recent productions include Fight Night by Gavin Kostick (2025), Taigh/Tŷ/Teach, a trilingual co-production with partners in Scotland and Wales (2024), In Two Minds by Joanne Ryan (2023), Heaven by Eugene O’Brien (2022), Outrage by Deirdre Kinahan (2022), Duck Duck Goose by Caitríona Daly (2021), The Treaty by Colin Murphy (2021), Embargo by Deirdre Kinahan (2020), The Alternative by Michael Patrick and Oisín Kearney (2019), Rathmines Road by Deirdre Kinahan (2018), On Blueberry Hill by Sebastian Barry (2017-2021), Inside The GPO by Colin Murphy (2016) and Fishamble’s award-winning plays by Pat Kinevane King, Before, Silent, Underneath and Forgotten, and many other productions on tour in Ireland and around the world.

Eva produced The 24 Hour Plays: Dublin at the Abbey Theatre in Ireland (2012-2026), in association with The 24 Hour Plays, New York as a fundraiser for Dublin Youth Theatre. She has worked on The 24 Hour Plays on Broadway and The 24 Hour Musicals at the Gramercy Theatre in New York. Previously, she was Producer at terraNOVA Collective in New York (2012-2015) and has worked on theatre productions, events and conferences at the Bushwick Starr, 59E59 Theaters, New Ohio Theatre, the New School, the Park Avenue Armory, and Madison Square Garden.