Dear Ireland

An Abbey Theatre production
A national conversation led by Ireland’s artists
50 writers, 50 actors
Presented on our digital channels, April 2020

Dear Ireland was screened in four parts from Tuesday 28 April to Friday 1 May on our YouTube channel. 

All 50 monologues are available to view online until 19th September at 10pm.

Dear Ireland Playlist 

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2z1O2VioKplw05TdCnBSA4lLAyjQp4W5

What do we want to be to one another?
What do we want our society to look like?
What are we not paying enough attention to?
Where do we want to go next? 

What should Ireland write on a postcard to itself? 

In the theatre community we physically come together to create and share our work. The social distancing in place at the moment stops us from doing this, but this will not stop us creating opportunities to hear and share Ireland’s artistic voice.

We commissioned writers from Ireland, with unique additional contributions from the USA, China and Italy, to each write a monologue to be performed by 50 actors. We streamed the work in four parts across four nights on our YouTube channel.

Each writer nominated one actor to perform their piece, and the actors self-taped their performances from social isolation.

The 100 artists involved in Dear Ireland are listed below.

Acclaimed Irish artist Maser was commissioned to respond to the Dear Ireland call and his beautiful artwork was used for the visuals online and woven through the films. 

Composer Ray Harman also contributed to Dear Ireland, with his music underscoring various elements of this digital project.

A Message from Graham McLaren and Neil Murray, Directors of the Abbey Theatre  

The Abbey Theatre is more than the walls which house its productions, and the work of Ireland’s national theatre responds and will continue to reflect the challenges being faced by Irish society. We are artist-led and audience-focused and, in this profoundly historic period for Ireland, we have brought together the voices of 100 artists to provoke a creative conversation with the nation. In addition to making new art for audiences, we felt it was important to act fast, to document this moment artistically, whilst helping theatre makers financially, a community which has been greatly impacted by the closure, cancellation or postponement of many artistic projects. 

We want to sincerely thank these artists, who have embarked upon this project at a rapid pace, with open minds and brave hearts in pressurized and exceptional circumstances. Along with playwrights writing from all over Ireland, we are also honoured to include an Irish playwright writing from New York and a playwright from, respectively, China and Italy. We hope Dear Ireland will be a provocation for dialogue, reflection and entertainment.

The 100 Artists 

The writers are:

  1. Blindboy
  2. Dermot Bolger
  3. Pom Boyd
  4. Sinéad Burke
  5. TKB (Thommas Kane Byrne)
  6. Dylan Coburn Gray
  7. Karen Cogan
  8. John Connors
  9. Kit de Waal
  10. Shaun Dunne
  11. Iseult Golden
  12. Stacey Gregg
  13. Sarah Hanly
  14. Nancy Harris
  15. David Ireland
  16. Colm Keegan
  17. Sonya Kelly
  18. Deirdre Kinahan
  19. Emmet Kirwan
  20. Darach Mac Con Iomaire
  21. Manchán Magan
  22. Aoife Martyn
  23. Owen McCafferty
  24. Rosaleen McDonagh
  25. Frank McGuinness
  26. Meadhbh McHugh (New York)
  27. Una McKevitt
  28. Phillip McMahon
  29. Andrea Molino (Italy)
  30. Gina Moxley
  31. Jimmy Murphy
  32. Zoe Ní Riordáin
  33. Edna O’Brien
  34. Eva O’Connor
  35. Joseph O’Connor
  36. John O’Donovan
  37. Mark O’Halloran
  38. Jody O’Neill
  39. Shane O’Reilly
  40. Felicia ‘Felispeaks’ Olusanya
  41. Margaret Perry
  42. Ursula Rani Sarma
  43. Arthur Riordan
  44. Ciara Elizabeth Smyth
  45. Abbie Spallen
  46. Keith James Walker
  47. Enda Walsh
  48. Michael West
  49. Carmel Winters
  50. Zhu Yi (China)

The actors are:

  1. Cathy Belton
  2. Andrew Bennett
  3. Dawn Bradfield
  4. Amanda Coogan
  5. Nicola Coughlan
  6. Timmy Creed
  7. Bríd Criomhthain
  8. Zara Devlin
  9. Mark Doherty
  10. Deirdre Donnelly
  11. Mike Donnelly
  12. Ashleigh Dorrell
  13. Caoilfhionn Dunne
  14. Clare Dunne
  15. Graham Earley
  16. Sorcha Fox
  17. Eva-Jane Gaffney
  18. Denise Gough
  19. Brendan Gleeson
  20. Peter Gowen
  21. Julia Gu
  22. Breffni Holahan
  23. Seána Kerslake
  24. Katherine Lynch
  25. Conor MacNeill
  26. Amy McAllister
  27. Owen McDonnell
  28. Lucianne McEvoy
  29. Abigail McGibbon
  30. Siobhán McSweeney
  31. Leah Minto
  32. Deirdre Molloy
  33. David Moss
  34. Marie Mullen
  35. Bríd Ní Neachtain
  36. Rory Nolan
  37. Eoin O Dubhghaill
  38. Kathy Rose O’Brien
  39. Marion O’Dwyer
  40. Jolene O’Hara
  41. Patrick O’Kane
  42. Clare O’Malley
  43. Marty Rea
  44. Ericka Roe
  45. Owen Roe
  46. Camille Lucy Ross
  47. Norma Sheahan
  48. Joan Sheehy
  49. Stanley Townsend
  50. Eleanor Walsh