THEATRE FOR ONE Begins In-Person, Live Performances Tomorrow

Performances of Theatre for One, the intimate theatrical experience that brings together one actor and one audience member, will start live, in-person performances tomorrow, December 18 at Dublin's Abbey Theatre. The limited engagement, produced by Landmark Productions (Anne Clark, Producer), Octopus Theatricals (Mara Isaacs, Producer), and the Abbey Theatre (Graham McLaren and Neil Murray, Directors), will play December 18-23.

While Dublin theaters are not currently open under level 3 restrictions, Ireland's Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport & Media, Catherine Martin announced earlier this week that Theatre For One will begin performances, with additional safety measures, in a pilot test capacity. This is the first, and very important, step in creating a roadmap back for live theater performances in Ireland.

The upcoming engagement of Theatre for One is comprised of six five-minute plays by leading Irish playwrights Marina Carr, Stacey Gregg, Emmet Kirwan, Louise Lowe, Mark O'Rowe, and Enda Walsh, with each original five-minute play performed by one actor, for one audience member in a specially designed booth.

In addition, a new commission for children titled Theatre for One (and a Little One), will run December 29-31, in co-production with the Abbey Theatre. The commission designed to be seen by one adult and one child aged ten or under, will feature newly commissioned work by Roddy Doyle, Sonya Kelly, Louis Lovett, and Pauline McLynn.

Mara Isaacs, producer for Octopus Theatricals said, "I'm extremely proud to have Theatre for One be part of such an important first step to the resumption of live theater productions in Ireland and I'm hopeful we will have news about a return to New York sometime in 2021. I'm grateful to our partners at Landmark Productions and the Abbey Theatre, the Minister and her team for all of the remarkable work to bring both Theatre for One and Theatre for One (and a Little One) to Dublin."

Theatre for One is a mobile state-of-the-art performance space for one actor and one audience member at a time. Conceived and created by the Olivier award-winning designer Christine Jones and designed by LOT-EK architects, it is it is a unique private performing arts space inspired by confessionals, intensely intimate, and completely visceral. Photos can be downloaded HERE

Audience members can rest assured that these performances will be presented within government guidelines and in accordance with the test conditions set down by the Minister as follows:

The performances will be ticketed, and data held for 30 days; only the named person assigned a ticket may attend (no tickets as gifts); all attendees will have their smartphone switched on and the HSE COVID app, for contact tracing purposes, installed; the arrangements will be supervised by an occupational health and safety professional (arranged via the Arts Council); and the venue will adhere to best practice on ventilation.

When it premiered, with the support of the Arts Council, at Cork Midsummer Festival last summer, Theatre for One played to 5-star reviews across the board, and audiences queued outside the Cork Opera House - sometimes for hours - for the one-off experience. Now, with the support of the Abbey Theatre, Dublin Theatre Festival, Accenture, and Dublin City Council, Dublin audiences will experience the unique live nature of the performance, free of charge.

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