OVERVIEW

• Description

  An Comhar Drámuíochta, Dublin (1923-1942). This was an attempt to re-vitalise Irish language theatre in Dublin and to coordinate the Irish language theatre movement throughout Ireland. Its first producer was Gearóid Ó Lochlainn and although it received a state subsidy to provide theatre in Irish, his ambition to have the Comhar Drámuíochta plays produced in the Abbey Theatre once a month from September to May, proved challenging.

  From the end of the 1920s the Comhar alternated between the Peacock stage and the Gate Theatre. Piaras Béaslaí and Micheál Mac Liammóir were the main producers in those years but by the mid-1930s the Comhar had gone into a decline. A total re-organisation of the company was undertaken and other theatre companies were attached to it. These allied companies and the Comhar’s own actors – known as ‘An Fhoireann Thofa’ – provided all the productions between 1936-1942. While the Comhar produced an impressive list of original plays they failed to get a designated venue. It ended as an independent venture in 1942 when it was taken over by the Abbey theatre.

New Irish Plays Produced By An Comhar Drámaíochta