In-house Productions

This Year

Prickly by Caoimhe O’Malley

Dublin’s best Debt Collector, Shauna, is struggling to control the challenging thoughts in her head. Usually, speaking to her Cacti is enough to keep her worries at bay. But now her best (and only) friend has had a baby – Shauna’s mind is in overdrive. When she finds an unexpected companion during a routine debt collection, she is forced to tap into her softer side and face the prickly thoughts in her head once and for all.

30th Jan – 3rd Feb 2024

Merchant of Venice 

Shakespeare’s classic tells the tale of Antonio, a merchant in Venice who takes out a loan from Jewish moneylender Shylock so that his friend Bassanio may pursue the beautiful Portia.

This production is aimed at Junior Cert students who are studying the play for their English exam this year.

22nd Feb – 15th March 2024

Who We Are

Since 2012, dlr  Mill Theatre has produced a wide variety of work, including the premiere of Irvine Welsh’s Babylon Heights, Love Letters starring David Soul and JerryHall, Faithful by Chazz Palminterri, Frank Pig Says Hello by Pat Mc Cabe, God Of Carnage by Yazmina Reza and Good Evening Mr Collins by Tom MacIntyre. In 2022, The Mill acquired two Live Performance Support Schemes. The Mill produced two brand new Irish musicals, Tir Na Nog written by Shauna Carrick and SISTERS written by Tracy Ryan.

In our education outreach, as part of the dlr Mill Theatre’s Education Programme, the Mill has presented plays from the works of Shakespeare including: Macbeth, Othello, King Lear, Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet.

Our work for younger audiences includes annual Christmas productions based on familiar stories – and summer shows for younger audiences such as Roald Dahl’s James and the Giant Peach, Fantastic Mr Fox and The Twits.

In line with our strategy we actively seek recent graduates to work with us and to broaden the scope of our creative team. Our production of Hamlet 2023 will be directed by Katie O’Halloran (Lir MFA) with designers Florentina Burcea (Lir MFA) and Colin Doran (Lir MFA).

What we do

Shakespeare Productions

Presentations of plays prescribed in the Junior and Senior Cycle curricula. Each year the venue welcomes, on average, 10,000 students to either the Leaving Cert or Junior Cycle production.

The Mill began producing Shakespeare for young audiences in 2013. Each year the featured text on the Leaving Cert has been produced while the Junior Cycle text of Romeo and Juliet was first presented in 2017.

In 2023 the theatre contracted 22 professional actors and 11 creatives over the two productions.

The outreach/education department continue to develop relationships with schools, teachers and students which first began in 2013. Our programme for 2023 involved:

• Introductory workshops (local schools). Our objective in running free workshops at local Schools is to introduce the theatre to our young community and encourage participation in our Youth Theatre
• Shakespeare Schools Festival
• Romeo and Juliet (live performance for Junior Cycle Students)
• Hamlet (live performance for Leaving Cert Students)

These productions have gone from strength to strength, with our Outreach & Education continuing to develop relationships with schools, teachers and students across Ireland. These relationships also extend to the creative community, contracting a number of professional actors and creatives to ensure the continued high quality of our productions.

Our programme for 2023 included:

• Introductory workshops for local schools
  Running free workshops at local schools enables us to introduce the theatre to our young community and encourage participation in our Youth Theatre
• Shakespeare Schools Festival
• Romeo and Juliet (live performance for Junior Cycle Students)
• Hamlet (live performance for Leaving Cert Students)

Upcoming Auditions in 2024

REVIEWS

Our Lady’s School, Terenure
Teacher: Edel Donlon

As an English Department, it’s extremely important that we provide our students the opportunity to see a performance of their prescribed text to consolidate their learning. The dlr Mill Theatre’s Shakespeare productions certainly provide us with that opportunity and we hope it continues for many more years to come.

Crescent College, Limerick
Teacher: Lisa Bennett Quaid

In addition to the exceptional productions, I would like to highlight the significant impact of the dlr Mill Theatre’s Shakespeare workshops on our second-year students. These workshops have succeeded in bringing drama to life in the classroom, transforming the way our students engage with Shakespeare’s works. The interactive nature of the workshops, coupled with the expertise and passion of the facilitators, has proven to be a transformative experience for our students. By actively participating in various dramatic exercises, they gain a deeper understanding of the characters, themes, and language of Shakespeare’s plays. The workshops create a vibrant and engaging learning environment, fostering creativity and critical thinking among our students.

Romeo and Juliet
Letizia Delmastro

The skilfully edited text is performed well by the recent Gaiety School graduate Jack Mullarkey, presenting a Romeo who is both sweet and dangerous, transforming him from the stylised romantic figure we all know him to be to a young guy anyone could meet on the streets of Dublin. Feeding into Mullarkey’s charm is the young Gillian Buckle who, although sometimes seeming lost in the language, comes through well during the play’s most dramatic scenes and draws the audience into a young girl’s despairs and fears.

Hamlet
Kaitlyn Culliton and Ema Vyroubalova for Shakespeare in Ireland

The dlr Mill Theatre’s in-house company presents this energetic fast-paced Hamlet, which this academic year replaced King Lear as the Shakespeare fare on the Leaving Certificate in English. The energy of the production directed by Geoff O’Keeffe is driven in particular by the youthful Hamlet (Shane O’Regan), who infuses his performance of the demanding part with a rebellious teenage spirit. Regan’s performance is also highly physical.

In early 2020 Malcolm Adams was nominated for an award in the Best Supporting Actor category of the Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards. The nomination is for the role of Polonius, which Malcolm played in the dlr Mill Theatre’s presentation of Hamlet in October 2019, directed by Geoff O’Keeffe.

REVIEWS

No More Work Horse
by Merel van ‘t Hooft

There is not much that can be faulted in this production. It’s a faithful rendition of one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays, and a skilled one at that. There are some nice little gimmicks sprinkled in here and there for a bit of extra spice, but I still couldn’t help but feel myself longing for an unexpected turn, or an unconventional choice somewhere. A little bit of risk here and there might help make the production feel a tad less tame, if a bloody story about power and revenge can ever be called that… read more »

No More Work Horse
by Ashley Delaney

The auditorium at the dlr Mill Theatre was packed with the general public and secondary school students (excellently behaved) alike. The dlr Mill Theatre produces a Shakespeare play each year, apparently. Based on this experience, this reviewer would be keen to see more… read more »

Totally Dublin

This traditional story of friendship and love, mixes magic and adventure with spectacular song, dance routines and magical special effects to entertain all the family!  On a serious note, the dlr Mill’s Beauty and the Beast delivers an underlying life lesson to never judge a person by their looks… read more »

No More Work Horse
by Edward Melvin

An eager early afternoon audience lapped up this performance. The play includes a number of singalongs and opportunities for urchins to yell, clap along and experience just the right levels of joy and fear.  Also at the Dundrum venue is a quite wonderful exhibition of framed art and illustration from the world of Roald Dahl, which serve to deepen the experience and are certainly worth time either side of the show. Recommended… read more »