Fishamble: The New Play Company donate latest archive to the NLI
From L-R: Laura MacNaughton, Eva Scanlan, Rachel Foran, Jim Culleton, Gavin Kostick
Fishamble: The New Play Company have donated their archive covering the period 2013-2023 to the National Library of Ireland (NLI). This donation will be added to a collection of their papers for the period 1990-2012 that are already held by the NLI. The multi award-winning, internationally acclaimed theatre company is dedicated to the discovery, development and production of new work for theatre.
The Company was founded by Jim Culleton, Gavin Kostick and others in 1988 as Pigsback, when they were students in Trinity College Dublin (TCD). Pigsback's first major outing took place in 1988 as a summer season in Players Theatre (TCD) where they staged Steven Berkoff's West and Tom Paulin's The Riot Act. Gradually their focus changed to developing and championing new writing.
In 1997, the company changed its name to Fishamble in honour of Dublin’s Fishamble St where Robert Owenson established the first theatre dedicated to producing new Irish plays in 1784. Fishamble has won numerous awards including the Laurence Olivier Award, the Scotsman Fringe First, the Dublin Fringe, Forbes’ Best Theatre, and the Irish Times Theatre awards.
This latest donation spans the last 10 years of Fishamble: The New Play Company. It comprises draft scripts, production and rehearsal copies, flyers and brochures for plays produced by Fishamble between 2013 and 2023, including those by Rosaleen McDonagh, Pat Kinevane, Sebastian Barry, Sonya Kelly, Colin Murphy, Eva O’Connor and Deirdre Kinahan.
Ciara Kerrigan and Jim Culleton
"Fishamble has championed new and innovative writers and its global reach has cemented its place as one of Ireland’s most important theatre companies."– Ciara Kerrigan, NLI
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