Author: Gemma Reeves

We are thrilled for Rough Magicians Brian Doherty and Philip Connaughton who were winners at the Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards this year.

Brian Doherty won Best Actor for his performances as Agamemnon in Rough Magic’s Hecuba and as Dog in Red Kettle Theatre Company’s The Red Iron.

Congratulations also to Philip Connaughton who was awarded Best Movement Direction for his work on Rough Magic’s Much Ado About Nothing which premiered in Kilkenny Arts Festival before going on a nationwide tour of Ireland.

The award-winning Rough Magic production of How to Keep an Alien written and performed by Sonya Kelly with Justin Murphy. Production filmed on 6 September 2014 at Project Arts Centre as part of Tiger Dublin Fringe

Former Rough Magic Associate Director, and SEEDS graduate Matt Torney has announced his first season as Artistic Director of Theatrical Outfit in Atlanta, Georgia.

Theatrical Outfit was founded in 1976 and is Atlanta’s second oldest professional theatre company. Previous to taking on this role, Matt served as associate artistic director at Studio Theatre in Washington, D.C and director of programming at Origin Theatre in New York.

The companies new season begins with Admissions by Joshua Harmon, and in addition to its theatrical programme, Theatrical Outfit announced the launch of a new work development program called Made in Atlanta

Matt was a participant of SEEDS 2, and directed the Rough Magic productions of Woyzeck (as part of SEEDS Showcase 2005), Plaza Suite (2012) and Digging for Fire (2013). We wish him the very best of luck with his new position and inaugural season.

We are excited to announce the publication by Methuen of Rough Magic Theatre Company – New Irish Plays and Adaptations 2010-2018. Edited and with an introduction by Patrick Lonergan, Professor of Drama and Theatre Studies at NUI Galway, with a foreword from Booker Prize-winning novelist Anne Enright – this book is an exciting snapshot of contemporary … Continued

Rough Magic is responding, along with the entire sector, to the current national crisis. Our two upcoming events –  the Trinity Long Room Hub presentation of The Choir Project as a work in development on April 8th, and the launch of the Methuen Rough Magic anthology on April 22nd – will now be postponed until … Continued

As part of the SEEDS Showcase 2020 we will be presenting a free rehearsed reading of Ciara Elizabeth Smyth’s Irishtown. It is a week before the opening of a new Irish play on Broadway. In the rehearsal room, the cast are panicking. The writer’s previous play was a smash hit drama set in Northern Ireland … Continued

In Rough Magic’s first autumn season in 1984, I was cast as Dull Gret in Top Girls by Caryl Churchill. I wore a medieval soldier’s breastplate, which was nice. The character was based on the mad figure of a woman invading hell, as painted by Breugel the Elder. The role required me to sit on … Continued

2020 kicks off for Rough Magic with the Irish Premiere of Venus in Fur by David Ives, presented by the Rough Magic SEEDS. Directed by Olivia Songer, with Set & Costume Design by Naomi Faughnan and Lighting Design by John Gunning; this bold new generation of theatre-makers will bring to life the darkly comedic world … Continued

Highlights from the archives of Rough Magic, will be on display in the Long Room, Trinity until 15 January 2020.

In November the Rough Magic team will embark on a national tour of Much Ado About Nothing. Set on the deck of a deluxe mobile home this festive production of deception and excess, sparkling wit and linguistic exuberance asks – can we ever truly know the people we love? On it’s premiere performance in Kilkenny … Continued