The building is bustling as we enter the final few weeks of the academic year!
We are delighted to announce our full programme of shows as part of Gradfest 2025. Three shows, staged by our MFA directors, designers and producers, performed and crewed by our undergraduate students with over sixty students involved over three weeks.
Gradfest is a collaboration of productions at The Lir Academy at Trinity College Dublin. These plays are a culmination of an intensive year of hands-on training by our MFA students in directing, producing, set design, lighting design and costume design.
The Gradfest shows will be performed as part of this year's Backstage Club - see more below - as well as details of the summer courses for adults and young people taking place this summer.
Backstage Club 2025
Our bold and brilliant annual fundraiser the Backstage Club is back on July 9th.
Join us for cocktails, one of our Gradfest shows (see below), and immerse yourselve backstage for dinner with a difference and a cabaret!
Tickets are €150 with all profits going towards supporting our Stage Management & Technical Theatre students through bursaries. Brings your friends, family or your colleagues for a great night out behind the scenes at The Lir Academy.
We are now offering payment through Klarna of €50 per month. See more at this link - click here.
Gundog by Simon Longman Tues. 24th - Fri. 27th June Book here
On a farm in the middle of nowhere, sisters Becky and Anna try to hold their family together after the death of their mother. When they discover a stranger wandering across their land, the three establish an unlikely partnership.
Walden by Amy Berryman Sat. 5th - Wed. 9th July Book here
Beneath a dying sky, twin sisters reunite, one returned from the stars, the other rooted in the soil of what remains. In a woodland cabin, time stretches and memory stirs, they face a future they never dreamed of.
You Got Older by Clare Barron Mon 7th - Thurs 10th July Book here
After losing her job, boyfriend and apartment, Mae returns home to take care of her dad. You Got Older is about falling apart as you’re failing to launch, and what you might find instead
Applications close this Saturday, May 31st 2025, for our MFA in Theatre Producing and MFA in Playwriting programmes.
Join us this September 2025 for our distinctive, practice-based, one-year postgraduate programme (two-year part-time), led by esteemed theatre professionals.
Check out our galleries from our most recent productions, Consent by Nina Raine (Photography by Ste Murray) and The Misanthrope by Molière, adapted by Martin Crimp (Photography by Carol Cummins)
Did you know, for any course that costs over €250, you have the option to use Klarna to pay in instalments.
Courses include: Teen Summer Acting Camps - July & August, Introduction to Acting: Summer School - here, Young Actors' Programme - here, Screenwriting Intensive - here or our 6-month-long programmes Actors' Ensemble and Youth Ensemble.
Short Courses
Musical Theatre Intensive
Course Begins: 28th July (2 weeks) Duration: 10am - 5pm
This two-week intensive Musical Theatre course is aimed at amateur or early-stage professional performers/singers who have already received some vocal training and want to pursue Musical Theatre as an interest or career
Puppetry Performance is a weekend course which will examine some of the multiple forms of puppetry used across theatre and filmed productions. Participants will be introduced to hand, object, rod, tabletop, moving-mouth and Bunraku styles, and to the basic techniques used to animate a puppet.
The Clown Within Course Begins: 7th June (Weekend) Duration: 10am - 5pm
Step into the world of creativity, play and self discovery in this immersive two-day workshop and discover your inner clown! Led by Lir tutor and clown Ruth Lehane, this workshop invites you to explore the transformative art of clowning.
Actors' Ensemble Course Begins: 23rd September Duration: 7.00-9.30pm, 2 evenings a week - 6 months
Actors' Ensemble is a six-month-long course taught in a collaborative creative environment, including workshops and masterclasses with leading industry professionals and group trips to theatre productions First auditions are on June 7th.
We also have a weekend-long Puppetry Performance workshop - see more here - following on from our sell-out course in the spring.
For younger participants, our two-week Young Actors programme - click here - is designed for young people aged 16 - 18 years. For young people aged 13-15 we have our week-long Summer Camps - click here for July and here for August, designed for young actors aged who have a passionate interest in performing.
