London Irish Theatre focuses on producing new Irish work from emerging Irish writers, directors and actors drawn from the London Irish diaspora.

London Irish Theatre tours new Irish work both to audiences in London and further afield, focussing on touring Ireland and beyond on a regular basis.

London Irish Theatre is based at the London Irish Centre, best placing itself to work closely with user groups and individuals at the centre including people who may currently be excluded from mainstream theatre arts.

LONDON IRISH THEATRE

The London Irish Theatre, based at the London Irish Centre in Camden Square, has set its sights high. Run by artistic director, John Dunne, the initiative aims to place new Irish theatre at the heart of London and beyond.

John Dunne is no stranger to Irish theatre being a playwright, director and producer of Irish theatre over many years. A second-generation County Loaise man, John has held a life-long love of Irish theatre ever since reading Brendan Behan's Borstal Boy when he was but a nipper himself.

Whilst at college, John specialised in Irish drama, focusing on the Literary Revival and the formation of the Abbey Theatre, studies which took in Yeats, Synge, O'Casey et al. As far as John's Irish roots are concerned, his Loaise father was in the British army and was stationed in Belfast during the early 60's when John was growing up, which gave the budding writer plenty to think about.

On leaving Belfast in the mid-60's and moving to Germany, John was amazed how little his fellow British students knew about Ireland, especially the famine, 1916 and the ongoing rise of unrest in Northern Ireland. This interest in key points of Irish history eventually resulted in a trilogy  of plays written by John and consisting of (predictably) Famine, 1916 and Belfast (the latter detailing his life in the city in the 60's). John has also adapted Liam O'Flaherty's The Informer which received critical acclaim when produced at the King's Head lunchtime slot some years ago. All of John's plays received similar praise when produced in London.

For the last few years John has specialised in producing a range of Irish plays by other writers notably Tom O'Brien. O'Brien has written prolifically on Ireland and his plays include Johnjo, Behan's Women, Letters from America and latterly On Raglan Road (a play about the Irish poet Patrick Kavanagh).

Up until now, John's Irish work has been produced through his production company, Croft Productions, and he has enjoyed support from the Irish Centre in Camden who have helped with rehearsal space and has offered a performance space for Irish plays. John has also produced a series of rehearsed readings at the centre which have gone down well with centre users and the general public alike.

In October '08, John and Croft Productions (in association with theatre producer David Donegan) embarked on a five-week tour of Ireland with O'Brien's On Raglan Road. This tour took in eighteen venues and went down extremely well with a number of venues selling out. This tour followed a successful three-week run at the Old Red Lion in Islington the previous year which helped put John's Irish work on the map.

On returning to Camden in November 08, John's association with the Irish Centre took an interesting turn when the centre became a more formal focal point for John's Irish theatre work, which resulted in the creation of London Irish Theatre @ London Irish Centre.

Since establishing in Camden on a more structured basis, the newly-formed Irish theatre company has created a writers' group, produced an Irish actors' showcase, and staged regular rehearsed readings.

Following on from all this is the whole question of the Irish diaspora in general and what it is like to a member of the London Irish community. Many of the writers in the newly formed writing group are second generation and sometimes question their right to be in the group since they are not perhaps 'Irish' enough. This question was oft repeated when John produces showcase work prompting John to observe that if he had a pound for every actor who questioned their 'right' to take part in showcase performances, then he would have no problem funding the theatre company.

John's somewhat glib answer to this question is simple: how can a second generation writer or actor not be part of a theatre initiative run by a second generation writer and producer? The other interesting aspect of London Irish Theatre is that it is now beginning to explore the unique nature of being London Irish as opposed to hailing from elsewhere in the UK.

Another aspect that makes London Irish unique is the fact that it still remains the biggest ethnic minority in London and is therefore well-placed to relate to newly-arriving migrants from Eastern Europe. Like the Irish in the forties and fifties, the new migrants are often from rural communities and are even more likely to be catholic. Therefore much of the Irish experience will relate to new communities in London which means that the work in the Irish Centre, including its theatre and cultural work, has a wider importance.

London Irish Theatre is also becoming a focus for Irish theatre writers and producers outside Camden and John is setting up a range of performances to reflect this interest with links being formed with theatre companies in Ireland and America, where, as far as the Americans are concerned, he hopes to build upon a trans-Atlantic 'special relationship'

The company itself has an enormous amount of goodwill to draw upon, not only from the Irish Centre itself but from writers, actors, directors and audience members. The challenge is going to centre around maintaining that good-will and devedloping the work undertaken.

Other venues in the capital are also 'Paddy-friendly' as they realise the popularity of Irish theatre. This network of venues will need to be made more aware of the development of new Irish work coming out of Camden. Of course London is also fortunate in having a vibrant Irish Centre in Hammersmith which has produced many fine Irish plays over the years.

The biggest challenge to the company focuses around two key issues – capacity building and the creation of a permanent theatre space for Irish work. London Irish Theatre now has office space, rehearsal facilities and a reason to exist. It also has an identity which places London Irish Theatre at the centre of its work drawing on London Irish people of all ages, backgrounds and abilities and reaches out to a cosmopolitan diaspora while maintaining strong links with theatres and audiences back home in Ireland.

What the company lacks is a regular (and affordable) performance space. A small fringe venue dedicated to Irish work (both created in Camden and abroad) would be well placed to take work in progress, rehearsed readings and developed work to its next stage. From a financial point of view, a dedicated theatre space would also be relatively self-financing which would then solve the other challenges facing London Irish Theatre – lack of money!

There are now a number of plays on John's desk demanding to be performed in front of a paying audience. Each week, more and more work appears and more and more phone calls are made from aspiring writers, actors and directors itching to take their work further.

On top of this John has other projects he wants to develop. John wants to work with the many welfare groups within the Irish community in producing issue plays of relevance and importance. He has already produced a play about street drinking called Down Bottle Alley with writer Tom O'Brien which deserves a wider audience. John also wants to work with older Irish people to develop the many stories stored up in many memories.

Everything moves in circles,” says John, as he somehow wants to replicate the founding of the Abbey Theatre in London, reverting to his student days when he was inspired by the Literary Revival in Ireland.
 
A lot has been achieved in a short time and even more will be achieved in the forthcoming year. But as John concludes, “you have to start somewhere and Camden is as good a place to start as anywhere.”

A fuller article published in the Irish World 28.2.09

LONDON IRISH THEATRE: 2009 REVIEW

Highlights of the year centre around a number of key initiatives...

Read on for more info and have a Happy Christmas, John

January saw the establishment of London Irish Theatre (LIT) at the London Irish Centre (LIC) in Camden. LIT has always had a strong connection with LIC but this move marked a significant development in our work and heartfelt thanks go out to Peter and Terry and the rest of the centre staff for making this happen.

Once established at the LIC, we were able to launch a number of initiatives including the establishment of an Irish Writers' Group, the general development of new writing and a series of rehearsed readings. This work was augmented with a series of monthly showcases highlighting the work of actors and writers.

Not being content with working in Camden, we also worked on short term projects at the Leicester Square Theatre, Stag Theatre, The New End, The White Bear and Hampstead Theatre. This work ranged from stage management of outside plays as well as appearances from our own and associated companies.

We have also contributed to outside initiatives including participation in the St Patrick's Day celebrations (both parade and performance) and Hampstead Theatre's anniversary celebrations (with a community piece called Mirror, Mirror). It is important to have a base and outreach into the theatre community at the same time.

May saw the first of our full scale productions of the year with a three-week run of Famine at the Old Red Lion. Written by myself, Famine marked the anniversary of the ending of the Famine in Ireland and was well received by press and public alike. We also staged a special Irish language portion of the play on Famine Day itself.

LIT has a strong commitment to producing issue plays for the public and voluntary sector and this year saw two key plays in production. The first was a play on bowel cancer for Camden PCT and the second was a play on day centres for Age Concern Hants. Both plays remain available for conferences, seminars and awareness days.

Always a company ready to jump on whatever bandwagon happens to be passing, we took part in the Bloomsday celebration at LIC as well as the St Patrick's Day activities. This ability to respond to opportunities as they arise remains one of our strengths.

The summer saw a major theatre initiative at the LIC with Six of the Best (six new plays by six writers over a period of six weeks). Everyone told us the summer was a bad time to put on plays in London and everybody was wrong. We were able to average a healthy audience over the summer period.

The autumn began to see our involvement with other Irish organisations in London including the Irish Club, Irish Cultural Centre, Catholic Guild as well as work with the Irish Chaplaincy. We plan to develop this initiative by taking work to community centres which have a high Irish membership.

Working with one of our resident playwrights, Tom O'Brien, we were able to stage three plays of Tom's over the year including his Down Bottle Alley (LIC and Hastings), I'll Tell Me Ma (The Irish Club, LIC, Hammersmith and the Catholic Guild) and a ten-venue tour of Ireland with his Kavanagh.

The year has ended with a double bill of one-act plays, namely Geraldine Aron's Galway Girl and my own Belfast Boy which has so far played at the LIC and The Irish Club with more venues and performances booked for the new year. With all our work this year, Galway Girl/Belfast Boy received good press and public!

For 2010 we're planning more of the same and we're looking to develop on the work already achieved. We're also looking to develop our issue plays to include work with children caught in the crossfire of domestic violence and work with the Irish chaplaincy (projects with Irish prisoners, travellers and older people).

With regard to productions for 2010 we're planning performances of Galway/Belfast, further rehearsed readings and a return to Six of the Best in the summer. We're also exploring the possibility of taking work to New York as well as continuing our work in theatres across Ireland.

One of the additional projects we're hoping to explore in 2010 is the hosting of plays from Ireland, notably JB Keane's Women, a one-woman show direct from Listowel in Kerry and a play from Banteer in Cork. London Irish Theatre seeks to be a hub of Irish theatre, both home grown and from Ireland.

This overview of the past year has taken on the look of an annual report and such a report cannot be complete without a list of people to thank. I've already mentioned Peter and Terry for making it all happen in '09. Also thanks to Gary, Linda, Annette and the staff at the London Irish Centre for supporting the work.

From an LIT point of view, none of the work highlighted above could have happened without the support of writers, actors and other theatre workers. Special thanks to Tom, Mary, Chris, Katherine, Brenda, Philippa, Jenny and many others who have held my hand and mopped my brow over a full and challenging year.

Finally, a word about money. Anyone who would like to support LIT @ LIC and would like to make a donation can do so by simply clicking the PayPal button below. Despite a lot of work achieved over the past year, we remain unfunded and in order to grow the work we need support. We've already received support from the LIC and the Galway Association but more is needed. Please help if you can!

Happy Christmas, John