News & Events

Two weeks before the curtain rises on Portrait, Rough Magic’s artistic director Lynne Parker discusses adapting the novel 100 years later, and why it’s important to bring Joyce out of Dublin.   Why did you choose to program Joyce this year, and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man in particular? We were … Continued

Katie Davenport is the brilliant designer behind the topsy-turvy world of Rough Magic’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.  Before the show opens in Kilkenny’s Castle Yard, Katie spoke about designing for all-weather outdoor productions, approaching her third Shakespearean play, and incorporating post-Soviet culture, punk, and “sequinned magic” on the night.     What is the concept and inspiration … Continued

Google Image search ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream poster’ and you’ll see a well-trodden formula in past productions of fairy queen Titania, donkey-head Bottom and an enchanted-looking wood. In Rough Magic’s production, there’s a six-year old with fairy wings in a laundrette and a chipper. Here, director Lynne Parker reveals how we came up with a … Continued

Supported by the department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, a number of leading theatre organisations have come together to initiate and formalise a position on Gender Policy. Over two years the companies have engaged in a series of discussions that have resulted in each organisation formulating its own gender policy statement with reference to … Continued

We’re delighted to announce our most exciting adventure yet – a new creative ensemble to take us on tour around the country and to two major festivals. Join us for great nights out, new people and new ideas. We’ll have a lot of fun as we celebrate two of the great architects of the English language, William Shakespeare and James Joyce – in … Continued

Lynne Parker, Artistic Director of Rough Magic, is directing A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Kilkenny Arts Festival this August. She talks about staging an open-air production, why Shakespeare is relevant today, and how this show reminds us “we’ve all been eejits in love”. What attracted you to this text? I was seduced by the beauty of the language … Continued

We are thrilled that Shane Mac an Bhaird’s brilliant first play Melt has been nominated for a Zebbie Award by the Irish Playwrights and Screenwriters Guild.  Produced by Rough Magic for the 2017 Dublin Theatre Festival this funny, sophisticated fairytale featured Owen Roe, Rebecca O’Mara, Genevieve Hulme Beaman and Charlie Maher, directed by Lynne Parker and designed … Continued

Rough Magic’s new and uniquely Irish take on A Midsummer Night’s Dream is set to ignite this year’s Kilkenny Arts Festival. Shakespeare in the Castle Yard is always a Festival ‘must see’; an open-air summer spectacular and family favourite. This year, director Lynne Parker has created a production specifically for Castle Yard that will prove Shakespeare … Continued

At an event on the 26th April that celebrated Irish and UK television collaborations, Lisa McGee was honoured with a “rising star” award for creating the smash-hit tv series Derry Girls. Writer Lisa, a participant on Rough Magic’s 2006/2007 SEEDS programme, was celebrated at the British Irish Television dinner in London for the smash-hit Derry Girls. The series became … Continued

We are delighted to announce that SEEDS, our pioneering artists development programme, has been nominated for the Judges’ Special Award by the Irish Times Theatre Awards, 2017! The awards take place on Sunday the 25th of February.