2024: the best theatre of the year
Cool plays about family secrets, a tale about the climate crisis, an absurdist political satire.
This time last year, we were left doubtful after programmers swung between muted productions of classics and more vigorous offerings. It’s a delight to report that 2024 has been a standout year for risks taken on less familiar material, as reported here in the Irish Times. (“The best theatre of 2024: Blessed are the risk-takers”).
Below is a breakdown of what was satisfying this year (and dissatisfying). The funding hierarchy has an inevitable effect. The Gate Theatre has 11 mentions, thanks mostly to Circle Mirror Transformation and The President. After that, Landmark Productions is cited six times, for Reunion and Krapp’s Last Tape. However, with the same total of mentions is Dee Roycroft’s extraordinary comeback play Amelia.
BEST DIRECTION
Most have been here before. McBrinn continues to show exquisite choice of material. Creed still approaches with playful invention. O’Reilly will take the conceptual and make it touchingly intimate. O’Rowe is the newcomer, with a near-musical presentation of the insistently uneventful (of course it only appears that life-changing events aren’t happening).
Tom Creed – The President, a Gate Theatre and Sydney Theatre coproduction
Róisín McBrinn – Circle Mirror Transformation, a Gate Theatre production
Claire O’Reilly – Amelia, a Dee Roycroft production
Mark O’Rowe – Reunion, a Landmark and Galway International Arts Festival production
Honourable mention: Feidlim Cannon, Gary Keegan and Shaun Dunne (Everything Falls); Niall Henry (Mother Courage and Her Children); Claire O’Reilly again! (Emma)