Gate Theatre
The Gate Theatre has been, artistically and architecturally, a landmark building for over 250 years. Established as a theatre in 1930 by Hilton Edwards and Micheál MacLiammóir, the Gate offered Dublin audiences an introduction to the world of European and American avant-garde theatre and also classics from the modern and Irish repertoire. It was with the Gate that Orson Welles, James Mason, Geraldine FitzGerald and Michael Gambon began their prodigious acting careers.
The Theatre is unique in that it has had only two artistic directorates in 82 years. In 1983 the directorship passed to Michael Colgan, under whose guidance the Gate has successfully showcased the very best of Irish writing, and the highest production values. The Gate continues to represent Ireland at the very uppermost level of artistic endeavour and internationally its reputation has never been higher, receiving numerous invitations each year to major festivals all over the world.
In 1991, the Gate became the first theatre in the world to present a full retrospective of the nineteen stage plays of Samuel Beckett. The festival was repeated at New York’s Lincoln Center and at the Barbican in London. The Gate also played a major role in the Beckett Centenary Festival, in partnership with Dublin’s leading cultural and academic institutions under the auspices of the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism. In 2007, the Gate toured a critically acclaimed season, entitled GATE | Beckett , to the Sydney Festival starring Charles Dance, Ralph Fiennes and Barry McGovern and, the following year, toured it to Lincoln Center Festival in New York, with Liam Neeson making his Gate debut. In 2008, the Gate completed an historic tour of its landmark production of Waiting for Godot which sold out 40 venues throughout the country playing in each of the thirty-two counties.
The Gate has a close association with the late Harold Pinter, having presented four major festivals of his work. The first two festivals were at the Gate in 1994 and 1997, and featured the involvement of the author as both actor and director. In 2001, as a 70th birthday celebration, Michael Colgan curated a festival at Lincoln Center, New York, featuring productions by the Gate, the Almeida and the Royal Court. 2005 saw the theatre celebrate Pinter’s 75th birthday by producing Old Times and Betrayal along with many readings and presentations of his other plays, prose and poetry. In 2008, the Gate produced an acclaimed production of No Man’s Land, starring Michael Gambon, which transferred to London’s West End receiving three Olivier Award nominations.
The Gate has a long and rich association with Brian Friel, premiering many of his plays over the past forty-five years, most recently his version of Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler and also The Home Place, which subsequently toured to the West End. In 2006, Faith Healer played to capacity houses at the Gate and later transferred to Broadway, where the production received four
Tony Award nominations and received the award for Best Featured Performance. In 2009, the Gate celebrated the playwright’s 80th birthday with a critically acclaimed season of his works, entitled Gate | Friel, at the Sydney Festival 2009, the Edinburgh International Festival 2009, where it received the prestigious Herald Angel Award, and in Dublin.
In recent years, the Gate has been raising funds for the building of a New Wing. A vital component was the provision of a state-of-the-art rehearsal room which was also designed to be the location for the Gate Lab. Here, theatre practitioners particularly writers, directors and actors can explore, devise and imagine without the fear of failure or the pressure of performance. The Gate Lab will be used primarily for workshops, voice and movement training, to offer active support for playwrights, and to find and nurture new and existing creative talent. The Gate Theatre is currently using this space for the development and production of a number of newly commissioned works including its forthcoming festival of works by Beckett, Pinter and Mamet, entitled BPM, The Relish of Language.
The Theatre is unique in that it has had only two artistic directorates in 82 years. In 1983 the directorship passed to Michael Colgan, under whose guidance the Gate has successfully showcased the very best of Irish writing, and the highest production values. The Gate continues to represent Ireland at the very uppermost level of artistic endeavour and internationally its reputation has never been higher, receiving numerous invitations each year to major festivals all over the world.
In 1991, the Gate became the first theatre in the world to present a full retrospective of the nineteen stage plays of Samuel Beckett. The festival was repeated at New York’s Lincoln Center and at the Barbican in London. The Gate also played a major role in the Beckett Centenary Festival, in partnership with Dublin’s leading cultural and academic institutions under the auspices of the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism. In 2007, the Gate toured a critically acclaimed season, entitled GATE | Beckett , to the Sydney Festival starring Charles Dance, Ralph Fiennes and Barry McGovern and, the following year, toured it to Lincoln Center Festival in New York, with Liam Neeson making his Gate debut. In 2008, the Gate completed an historic tour of its landmark production of Waiting for Godot which sold out 40 venues throughout the country playing in each of the thirty-two counties.
The Gate has a close association with the late Harold Pinter, having presented four major festivals of his work. The first two festivals were at the Gate in 1994 and 1997, and featured the involvement of the author as both actor and director. In 2001, as a 70th birthday celebration, Michael Colgan curated a festival at Lincoln Center, New York, featuring productions by the Gate, the Almeida and the Royal Court. 2005 saw the theatre celebrate Pinter’s 75th birthday by producing Old Times and Betrayal along with many readings and presentations of his other plays, prose and poetry. In 2008, the Gate produced an acclaimed production of No Man’s Land, starring Michael Gambon, which transferred to London’s West End receiving three Olivier Award nominations.
The Gate has a long and rich association with Brian Friel, premiering many of his plays over the past forty-five years, most recently his version of Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler and also The Home Place, which subsequently toured to the West End. In 2006, Faith Healer played to capacity houses at the Gate and later transferred to Broadway, where the production received four
Tony Award nominations and received the award for Best Featured Performance. In 2009, the Gate celebrated the playwright’s 80th birthday with a critically acclaimed season of his works, entitled Gate | Friel, at the Sydney Festival 2009, the Edinburgh International Festival 2009, where it received the prestigious Herald Angel Award, and in Dublin.
In recent years, the Gate has been raising funds for the building of a New Wing. A vital component was the provision of a state-of-the-art rehearsal room which was also designed to be the location for the Gate Lab. Here, theatre practitioners particularly writers, directors and actors can explore, devise and imagine without the fear of failure or the pressure of performance. The Gate Lab will be used primarily for workshops, voice and movement training, to offer active support for playwrights, and to find and nurture new and existing creative talent. The Gate Theatre is currently using this space for the development and production of a number of newly commissioned works including its forthcoming festival of works by Beckett, Pinter and Mamet, entitled BPM, The Relish of Language.