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3
Aug

PRESS RELEASE: PLAYOGRAPHY NA GAEILGE LAUNCHED BY IRISH THEATRE INSTITUTE

3 Aug 2011

Playography na Gaeilge was launched today (Tuesday 27 April) by Tony Ó Dálaigh at the Irish Theatre Institute (ITI) in Temple Bar, Dublin. Playography na Gaeilge is a new comprehensive online database of all Irish language plays premiered between 1975 – 2009. It includes a total of 256 plays by playwrights such as Eilís Ní Dhuibhne, Liam ó Muirthile, Antoine Ó Flatharta, Darach Ó Scolaí and Joe Steve Ó Neachtain. The website also features translations and adaptations from Seán Mac Mathúna, Gerard Humphreys, Michael Harding and Gearóid Ó Cairealláin, among others. This first phase of Playography na Gaeilge (1975 – 2009) has been funded by Foras na Gaeilge. Irish Theatre Institute hopes to begin work immediately on completion of the second phase of research back to 1900 and will ensure that all new Irish language premieres will be added as and when they happen.

“This is a very exciting project for us at Irish Theatre Institute,” said Siobhán Bourke, ITI’s Co-Director. “This has been a work in progress for the past 3 years and, for the first time ever, people will be able to access thousands of plays, in both Irish and English on the one website. It was always important to us that new Irish language plays and their details would be catalogued in this on line resource and we appreciate Foras na Gaeilge’s involvement and partnership in this project,” she said.

Playography na Gaeilge follows on from the Irish Playography website (1904 – present) which was launched in 2006 and which features over 2,000 new Irish plays produced professionally in English. Playography na Gaeilge is a complementary resource allowing plays to be searched online by title, playwright, actor, director or the year the play was first produced. It is an important resource targeted at theatre companies, producers and directors as well as drama groups and anyone with an interest in Irish language theatre and it highlights the contribution of hundreds of theatre practitioners to the Irish language repertoire.

“Foras na Gaeilge is proud to partner with Irish Theatre Institute on Playography na Gaeilge,” said Deirdre Davitt, Programme Manager for the Arts, Foras na Gaeilge. “This is a very important initiative, not alone within Irish language theatre, but within the arts sector in general both in Ireland and internationally. We now finally have a comprehensive one-stop-shop for information relating to Irish language theatre (1975 – 2009) which, up to now, proved very difficult to source,” she said.

Playography na Gaeilge is now live at www.irishplayography.com