Druid Theatre Company facts for kids

The Druid Theatre Company, often called Druid, is an Irish theatre group. It is based in Galway, Ireland.

Druid travels a lot around Ireland. Their shows have also been seen in many other countries. These include Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK, and the USA. Druid has been a "pioneer" in Irish theatre. It helped make Galway a major cultural city in Ireland. Other groups like Macnas and the Galway Arts Festival also helped.

History of Druid Theatre

Druid Theatre started in 1975. It was founded by Garry Hynes, Marie Mullen, and Mick Lally. They all met and worked together at the University College Galway drama club. Druid was the first professional theatre company in Ireland to start outside Dublin.

Since 1979, Druid has owned its own theatre building in Galway City Centre. This building used to be a tea storehouse. It belonged to the McDonaghs, a rich family in Galway. In the late 1970s, Druid got a very cheap rent deal. This allowed them to fix up the building and create their own stage and rehearsal space. The McDonagh family later gave the building to Druid.

In 2011, the theatre was renovated. It was renamed The Mick Lally Theatre. This was to remember Mick Lally, one of Druid's founders, who had passed away. The theatre is a special place for the company to work. It also helps promote arts in Galway. The lane where the theatre is located has had many names. Since 1996, it has been called Druid Lane. This happened when Galway City Council renamed it for the company’s 21st birthday.

In 1996, Druid showed a new play called The Beauty Queen of Leenane. It was written by Martin McDonagh. This play was a joint project with the Royal Court Theatre in London. After starting in Galway, the show played across Ireland, in London, Sydney, and New York City. When it was on Broadway, the play won four Tony Awards. Garry Hynes won Best Director. She was the first woman ever to win this award at the Tonys.

In 2005, Druid put on DruidSynge. This was a special show that included all six plays by John Millington Synge. It was a day-long theatre event at the Galway Arts Festival. It received great reviews. A few years later, Druid brought back three plays by Tom Murphy. This was called DruidMurphy. It included Conversations on a Homecoming, A Whistle in the Dark, and Famine. This show won several Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards in 2014.

Druid continued to create big shows in 2015 with DruidShakespeare. This show combined four plays by William Shakespeare: Richard II, Henry IV, Part 1, Henry IV, Part 2, and Henry V. It was a new version by Mark O'Rowe. The show toured Ireland, the UK, and the famous Lincoln Center Festival.

Since 2013, Druid has had a permanent group of actors called the Druid Ensemble. They work with artistic director Garry Hynes. Their goal is to make new and exciting theatre. This group includes Marie Mullen, Marty Rea, Rory Nolan, Aaron Monaghan, Aisling O’Sullivan, Garrett Lombard, and Derbhle Crotty.

The Beauty Queen of Leenane's Success

Garry Hynes came back to Druid Theatre in 1995. She had been the artistic director of the Abbey Theatre before that. During this time, Garry Hynes and her colleague Anne Butler read The Beauty Queen of Leenane. It was a script sent in by a new writer, Martin McDonagh.

On February 1, 1996, McDonagh's play had its first show. It was at the Town Hall Theatre, Galway. Druid and the Royal Court Theatre in London worked together on it. Garry Hynes directed the play. The cast had four actors. Marie Mullen, a Druid founder, played Maureen Foley. Anna Manahan played her elderly mother, Mag. Brian F. O'Byrne was Ray Dooley. Tom Murphy played Pato Dooley. The audience and critics loved it right away. The Sunday Times said it was "one of the most exhilarating debuts in years."

The play then toured Ireland. After that, it went to the Royal Court Theatre in London. It was very popular there. Then it toured Ireland again. It returned to London's West End and played at the Duke of York's Theatre. This started on November 29, 1996. The play was later nominated for Play of the Year at the 1996 Olivier Awards.

In February 1998, the play first opened in America. It was an off-Broadway show at the Linda Gross Theater. Druid worked with the Atlantic Theater Company on this. Then it moved to Broadway's Walter Kerr Theatre on April 23, 1998.

Later that year, The Beauty Queen of Leenane got six nominations at the 52nd Tony Awards. These included Best Play, Best Director, Best Actress, and Best Supporting Actress. It also got two nominations for Best Supporting Actor. At the awards show on June 7, the play won four awards. Marie Mullen won Best Actress. Anna Manahan won Best Supporting Actress. Tom Murphy won Best Supporting Actor. Garry Hynes won Best Director. This was a historic win. Hynes was the first woman to ever win a Tony Award for directing.

The original Druid production also won many other awards in 1998. These included the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play. It also won the Drama League Award for Best Play. The Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Broadway Play was another win. It also won Lucille Lortel Awards for Outstanding Play and Outstanding Director. The Beauty Queen of Leenane has been performed all over the world. It has been translated into many languages. But many people still think Druid's original version is the best.

In 2016, Druid brought back The Beauty Queen of Leenane. This was to celebrate its 20th anniversary. Marie Mullen, who played Maureen originally, now played Mag. Other Druid actors in the show included Aisling O'Sullivan (as Maureen), Marty Rea, and Aaron Monaghan. At the Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards that year, Hynes won Best Director. Both Mullen and O'Sullivan were nominated for Best Actress.

DruidSynge: All Six Plays

In the summer of 2005, Druid put on a very special show. It was the first time all of John Millington Synge's plays were performed together. These plays were Riders to the Sea, The Tinker's Wedding, The Well of the Saints, In the Shadow of the Glen, The Playboy of the Western World, and Deirdre of the Sorrows. The last play was not finished when Synge died.

The Irish Times called this show "one of the greatest achievements in the history of Irish theatre." All six plays were performed as two shows over two or three days.

DruidSynge first opened at the 2005 Galway Arts Festival. This was on Saturday, July 16, at the Town Hall Theatre. Then it played in Dublin at the Olympia Theatre. It also went to the Edinburgh International Festival. The 2005 run ended with a week of shows on the Aran Island of Inis Meain. They performed in different places, including outside at Dun Chonchur. This is a large old stone fort.

DruidMurphy: Tom Murphy's Trilogy

Druid and Irish playwright Tom Murphy had a strong working relationship. In 1985, Druid first showed two of Murphy’s greatest plays. These were Conversations on a Homecoming and Bailegangaire.

In November 2011, Garry Hynes announced Druid’s next big project. It would be called DruidMurphy. This show would include three plays by Tom Murphy as a trilogy. A trilogy means three related plays. Druid worked with NUI Galway, the Galway Arts Festival, and other groups on this.

Murphy did not write Conversations on a Homecoming (1985), A Whistle in the Dark (1961), and Famine (1968) as a trilogy. But Druid wanted to connect them by their themes. They wanted to show how emigration affected Irish people over a hundred years. Garry Hynes said that Murphy writes about the "inner history of Ireland."

DruidMurphy first showed at the Galway Arts Festival in 2012. After the festival, it toured Ireland. It played in Cork, Limerick, Waterford, Tuam, Dublin, and the Aran Islands. Then it went to the Oxford Playhouse and the Hampstead Theatre in London. It also played at the Lincoln Center Festival in New York City. Finally, it went to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C..

Garry Hynes directed all three plays. Sixteen actors were in the cast. Many were regular Druid performers. These included Marie Mullen, Aaron Monaghan, Garrett Lombard, Rory Nolan, Marty Rea, Gavin Drea, Eileen Walsh, and John Olohan. Depending on the theatre, you could watch the plays one by one over three nights. Or you could watch them all in one day. The full show lasted over nine hours.

The show won Best Production at the 2012 Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards. It got great reviews. The New York Times called it "epic theatre making." DruidMurphy also got six acting nominations. Marty Rea, Gavin Drea, and Eileen Walsh were nominated for their roles in A Whistle in the Dark. Garrett Lombard, Aaron Monaghan, and Marie Mullen also received nominations.

DruidShakespeare: History Plays

In 2014, Druid Theatre celebrated its 40th anniversary. Garry Hynes announced she would direct four of William Shakespeare’s history plays. These are often called The Henriad. They are Richard II, Henry IV, Part 1, Henry IV, Part 2, and Henry V. Hynes asked Irish writer Mark O'Rowe to adapt these plays. She had worked with him before.

At the launch for DruidShakespeare in March 2015, Hynes talked about acting. She said that acting is about imagination. She believed imagination goes beyond nationality or gender. So, Druid decided to use gender-blind casting. This means actors were chosen for roles without considering their gender. The roles of King Richard II, King Henry IV, and Hal/King Henry V were played by one male actor and two female actors. These were Druid Ensemble members Marty Rea, Derbhle Crotty, and Aisling O’Sullivan.

DruidShakespeare first opened at Druid’s own Mick Lally Theatre. This was the first time a major Druid show started there. Usually, they used Galway’s Town Hall Theatre. The New York Times called it an "enthralling marathon production." The show lasted over six hours. You could watch it all in one day or in two parts over two nights. Thirteen actors played more than fifty characters. Most of them were regular Druid performers.

The show then toured Ireland. After that, it went to the Gerald W. Lynch Theatre in New York City. Then it came back to Ireland. It was the final show for the Kilkenny Arts Festival in 2015.

The show received great reviews. DruidShakespeare won many awards at The Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards 2015. It won Best Production, Best Director, Best Actress (Derbhle Crotty), Best Actor (Marty Rea), and Best Costume Design. It also got nominations for Best Actress (Aisling O’Sullivan), Best Supporting Actor (Rory Nolan), Best Set Design, and Best Sound Design. The judges also gave a special award to the company. They praised how the actors worked together as a true ensemble.

In 2018, Druid presented DruidShakespeare: Richard III. This was a follow-up to their Henriad Cycle. It was a joint project with the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. It first opened on September 22 at the Town Hall Theatre, Galway. Then it moved to the Abbey Theatre from October 3 to 27. In January 2019, The Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards announced their shortlist. The Druid production of Richard III was nominated for Best Production, Best Director (Garry Hynes), Best Actor (Aaron Monaghan), Best Set Design, and Best Costume Design.

See also

In Spanish: Compañía de teatro Druid para niños