Search Results for 'Frank Dermody'

The history of theatre in Ireland goes back to the start of the 17th century. The beginning of the 20th century saw the emergence of plays written in Irish and that movement was given a significant boost with the opening of An Taibhdhearc on August 27, 1928. It is the oldest operational theatre in Galway and is Ireland’s National Irish Language Theatre. The title is made up of two Irish words, taibh meaning ‘spectacle or ghost’ and dearc meaning ‘behold’.

On the 1820 map of Galway, the site of the Taibhdhearc was part of the then Augustinian Church. When the present church was built in the 1850s the site became derelict. The late Ned Joyce remembered a large tree growing on the site, a tree which stretched across the street to a tenement known as ‘The Windings’. The occupants used to hang their washing on the tree on fine days.