Presented by Grow Music
Starting Monday 17th August

This year’s Showman Camp will explore each child’s individual musical expression, compose our own music, and learn show stopper songs from movies and musicals. Every day, campers will have band jams, individual lessons, creative crafts, drumming, and choir. The time and focus given to every camper will bring out the best musicianship and creativity in each child. Suitable for ages 6-16.

Price €150 per child

Book HERE!

Presented by From The Top Theatre
Starting Bank Holiday Monday 3rd August

A two-week musical theatre summer camp for boys and girls aged 6 – 18 years.

This camp is ideal for students with an interest in performance and musical theatre. Take part in classes in theatre, dancing, music, arts and crafts during morning classes and then rehearse for the staged production of Highschool Musical in the afternoon.

Price €90 per week per child (plus €1.50 booking fee per week per child)

Book HERE!

Our hugely successful THEATRE CLUB returns this spring, with a programme of seven unique shows to engage and entertain audiences. Theatre Club brings people together to see a play, and then allows them the opportunity to chat and discuss it afterwards. Like a book club, our audiences can share their views, thoughts and impressions in the relaxed, informal setting of our cafe/bar after the show. So have your say and see seven great plays for €80
BOOK ONLINE or call 041 9833946 to be part of the Drama at Droichead.

TRAD
BY MARK DOHERTY | LIVIN’ DRED
THUR 30 JAN | 8PM | €18/€16

An hilarious, absurd and poignant tale of a 100-year-old Irishman… and his father! Together they set out to discover the son they never knew he had. “There’s a child belonging to me wandering around out there for seventy years and I never met him. I’ve a trip left in me… Get me leg!” Featuring live original music by Jim Doherty, and directed by award-winning actor Aaron Monaghan, ‘Trad’ is a side-splitting, heart-warming saga not to be missed.

‘…a terrifically funny pastiche’ – The Irish Times

Following their highly-acclaimed 2018 tour, and their extended sold-out run at The Peacock Theatre, Livin’ Dred present the award-winning ‘Trad’ by Mark Doherty. Artistic Director of Livin’ Dred and director of Trad, Aaron Monaghan has spent most of his career between The Abbey and Druid Theatres, and is a multi-awarding winning actor with numerous Film and TV appearances.

TAKE OFF YOUR CORNFLAKES
BY ROSE HENDERSON & PAT NOLAN 
THUR 6 FEB | 8pm | €16/€14

Tom and Trish have just celebrated their silver wedding anniversary.  But what happens when Tom wakes up with a strange woman beside him and she tells him she’s his wife?  And what does Trish do when she realises the person she loves is losing his mind?  Inspired by Rose’s Dad, Jack, who had Alzheimer’s but couldn’t remember he had cancer, Take Off Your Cornflakes is a tender, funny, heart-warming portrait of marriage with the best ‘Dad Jokes’ you’ve ever heard. Directed by Liam Halligan.

“Very moving performances” – Irish Mail on Sunday

Starring Rose Henderson (Val, Fair City; Sister Assumpta, Father Ted; Pat Nolan (Barry, Fair City; Oedipus, Abbey; Batman Begins; Angela’s Ashes).

HOWIE THE ROOKIE
BY MARK O ‘ROWE | GLASS MASK THEATRE
THUR 20 FEB | 8pm | €18/16

A 20 year anniversary production of Mark O’Rowe’s brutally poetic modern classic HOWIE THE ROOKIE. Featuring two of Ireland’s most exciting theatre Actors; Stephen Jones and Rex Ryan – Howie the Rookie is a thrilling journey of two men and a Dublin City gone wild. Through two explosive monologues, this story charts a dark adventure that includes violence, family, brotherhood and ultimately; redemption. Directed by Neill Flynn.

“..this remarkable play is powerful, poignant and pulverisingly funny”  The Irish Times

Glass Mask Theatre are one of Ireland’s most exciting new theatre companies led by Rex Ryan and Ruairi Heading. Rex has been nominated as Best Actor in Manchester and Dublin Fringe. Recent Theatre credits include – Tonight With Donny Stixx by Philip Ridley at The Abbey Theatre and Waiting For Godot by Samuel Beckett. Stephen Jones recent theatre credits include Class, Brothers of the Brush,  Maz & Bricks (appearing at Droichead in all three productions) and Last Orders at the Dockside. Television credits include LOVE/HATE and INTO THE BADLANDS. 

Mark O’Rowe is a playwright, film writer and director whose second play, Howie the Rookie, won the George Devine Award when it premiered at the Bush Theatre in 1999. Other playwrighting credits include, Terminus and Our Few and Evil Days. In 2015, Mark adapted four of Shakespeare’s History Plays (Richard II, Henry IV Part 1, Henry Henry IV part 2, and Henry V) for Druid Theatre Company, resulting in the epic Druid Shakespeare. Film and TV credits include Intermission, Boy A, Broken, The Delinquent Season, and he has just showrun the television series, Temple for Hera Pictures/Sky Atlantic.

THE CURIOUS CASE OF ALBERT CASHIER: LINCOLN’S LADY SOLDIER
QUINTESSENCE THEATRE
WEDS 4 – SAT 7 MAR | 8PM | €16/€14
THEATRE CLUB MEMBERSHIP INCLUDES PERFORMANCE ON FRI 6 MAR

“Lincoln wanted soldiers. I wanted excitement.”

Belvidere, Illinois, 1862: A young Irishman, Albert D.J. Cashier, enlists with the Union Army in the Civil War, and becomes a decorated hero. But unknown to his comrades Private Cashier is waging an internal war all of his own. When he is fifty years a veteran, an indiscreet doctor reveals to America that Cashier was actually born a woman: Jennie Hodgers, of Clogherhead, Co. Louth. From that day on Albert’s greatest battle truly begins: for identity, selfhood, and truth.

In this new play, devised by the company, Quintessence Theatre use their innovative physical ensemble story-telling techniques to create an original dramatization of the incredible true story of the Clogherhead born transgender soldier.

This is Quintessence Theatre’s final play in their Hear Me Roar: Women, Gender, and Silence programme.

” Brave, daring and innovative. A substantial piece of theatre”  – Northern Standard on Cracks

Previous productions include:‘#MeToo, Three, Four…’, ‘Boy, Girl, Repeat’, ‘The Star of Chester’s Lane’ and ‘Cracks’.

Quintessence Theatre: Theatre Company in Residence at Droichead Arts Centre funded by the Arts Council.

MAURA LAVERTY – THIS WAS YOUR LIFE
BY YVONNE QUINN AND BAIRBRE NÍ CHAOIMH
THUR 23 APR | 8PM | €16/€14

This sparkling new play will spirit Maura Laverty, Ireland’s famous broadcaster, agony aunt, playwright, writer of banned novels and iconic cookery books, back from the dead to face a contemporary audience as a guest on the ‘This Was Your Life’ show. Maura lived life passionately and her rollercoaster story is one of triumph and heartache, set against the background of De Valera’s Ireland. As well as taking us through her life, Maura, who was known as ‘The Mammy of Irish Cooking,’ will give a live cookery demonstration on stage and reveal some of the secrets and stories from her tumultuous life. Starring Bairbre Ní Chaoimh and Pat Ryan and directed by Joan Sheehy.

“Hugely enjoyable show” – Irish Mail on Sunday | “charming play full of detail, wit and tragedy” – Irish Independent

Bairbre Ní Chaoimh has worked extensively in Ireland and internationally as an actor on stage, screen, radio and television. She is also a theatre director and has received several awards and nominations for her work, including a MAMA award and the Irish Times Judges’ Special Award in 2008.

Yvonne Quinn began her career as an actor. She trained, under Deirdre O’Connell, in Focus Theatre’s Stanislavski Studio.. Yvonne has written a number of plays for radio, which have been produced by RTE and the BBC. She is also a short story writer. Several have been produced on BBC Radio 4 and RTE and in a range of publications.

Actor Patrick Ryan is probably best known to Irish TV viewers as Garda “Paudge Brennan” from TV3’s  Red Rock. Theatre credits include Mike Finn’s Pigtown, , The Thing About December, Eden and Pump Girl ( Decadent Theatre Company) and Bread Not Profits (Gúna Núa Theatre)

MIKEL MURFI DOUBLE BILL: LOCO & RECKLESS PRODUCTIONS

(Running as part of Drogheda Arts Festival 2020)

THE MAN IN THE WOMAN’S SHOES
WED 29 APR | 8PM | €18/€16
Written and Performed by Mikel Murfi.

Set in October 1978 – Pope John Paul the First is not long dead, autumn is closing in and Pat Farnon has ‘some business’ to do in town.The Man In The Woman’s Shoes follows Pat Farnon as he walks to town and back again. It is a beautifully observed piece, utterly simple and widely praised. The show is funny, tender and at times downright daft.

????? “Astonishing performance” – The New York Times

I HEAR YOU AND REJOICE
THURS 30 APR | 8PM | €18/€16
Written and Performed by Mikel Murfi

We catch up with Pat once more as he embarks on a journey he had not quite planned and finds that every twist in the road can bring its own surprises. Late in his life, Pat Farnon, a cobbler and all-round contented man, marries the redoubtable Kitsy Rainey. It’s a match made in heaven, in more ways than one. Written and performed by Mikel Murfi, I Hear You and Rejoice is a tender and joy filled account of a most unlikely marriage. You may never look at life in quite the same way again.

????? “This is pure distilled 100 per cent theatrical magic”- London Evening Standard

Originally from Sligo, Mikel Murfi trained at Ecole Jacques Lecoq, Paris. Theatre credits include: Swan Lake (Teac Damsa); The Man in The Woman’s Shoes (Loco and Reckless Productions); The Last Hotel and Ballyturk (Galway Arts Festival/Landmark/Wide Open Opera); The New Electric Ballroom (Druid); The Chairs (Blue Raincoat Theatre); Morning After Optimism, Playboy of the Western World (Peacock Theatre);  The Comedy of Errors, The Tempest (Abbey Theatre) Giselle, Rite of Spring and Petrushka (Fabulous Beast) Desire Under The Elms (Lyric, Hammersmith).

 Click HERE for more information