Below is some information you may find useful when searching the PLAYOGRAPHYIreland database.
General Tips
- You can do a Simple Search by Play and/or Author.
- For Irish language plays you can choose to search Playography na Gaeilge only (top right hand of home page).
- Or, you can search all plays in English and Irish by ticking ‘Include Irish language plays’.
- On the Search Menu you can conduct and Advanced Search using the range of fields provided in the form to narrow your search. Only fill in the information that you deem necessary for your search. No field within the form is mandatory.
- All search results are returned showing Play and Author or Adaptation/Translation and Adaptor/Translator.
- If you do not know the full name of a Play, Author, Venue or Production Company, enter that portion of the name that you know. The database will return all plays containing this text. For instance entering the word ‘gent’ in the Play Title field will return the plays ‘Ladies and Gents’ as well as ‘The Gentle Island’ in the search results. Similarly entering the word ‘Hall’ in the Original Venue field will return all plays premiered at the Town Hall, Galway as well as the Linenhall, Castlebar.
- At People Search you can search for individual actors, directors, stage crew, designers etc who have worked on premiere productions of new Irish plays over the period of PLAYOGRAPHYIreland.
Cast Size
- To search for a play with a cast of four, in the Field ‘Total Cast Size Between’ you can either enter 4 and 4 or you just enter 4 in the first field and leave the second field blank. The search will assume that you wish to search for plays with four actors.
- If you search for plays with a cast of between four and eight it will return all plays with a cast of 4, 5, 6, 7 or 8 actors.
- You can also search for plays that can be performed with a specific number of male and/or female actors.
Please note: You may find that the cast numbers displayed for a play returned do not match the values you entered in your search. The cast numbers displayed on the play listing pages is the maximum cast for the play, however in many cases cast doubling is possible or deliberate on the part of the playwright thus allowing for performance by a cast less than the number of characters. The notes displayed below the cast numbers on the play-listing page will normally include this information.
Play Type/Acts
- This section allows you to refine your search in relation to the type of play you wish to search e.g. Theatre for Young Audiences, General, Adaptation/Translation. Leave these options un-ticked and all categories will be returned in your search.
- The ‘Acts’ section allows you to search Full-length, One-Act or Short Plays.
Search by Play Theme
- The search by Play Theme function enables you to enter a keyword to find plays that have certain themes or subject matter. Enter a word or phrase in the text box provided e.g. ‘marriage’, ‘politics’, ‘famine’ etc or click the Need Help link to see all topics listed.
Please note: The information contained in PLAYOGRAPHYIreland is presented in as neutral and objective a manner as possible. Irish Theatre Institute would caution all users that the Play Theme search is limited by design and, despite their obvious uses, does introduce a measure of subjectivity.
Translations
- Many new Irish plays have been translated into other languages. You can select from a list of languages to see which scripts are available in that language.
Please note: This is a work in progress and information on new Irish plays available in translation is welcome.