New work created by local theatre makers is top of the bill at Theatre Royal this summer.

The theatre’s summer season, launched this week, includes staged productions of new plays by Waterford writers Wayne Power and Niamh Fennessy, as well as a theatre-making initiative in collaboration with Rough Magic Theatre Company that will feature new scripts by Niamh and another well-known Waterford writer/ actor, Michael Power.

‘Dress you Up’, by writer, poet and spoken word artist Wayne Power, stars Fatz Dunphy, Karen Steenson, David Marchant, Evie Burke and Jake Penkert and comes to the Theatre Royal stage on 11^th July. Set in the summer of 1997, when Girl Power was in full swing, it tells the story of Bobby Burke, a material boy in a mixed-up world, where drag is a suit of armour.  The play premiered at last year’s Imagine Arts Festival, with four sold-out nights at Bank Lane and strong demand is expected for tickets.

‘Glue’, written and performed by Niamh Fennessy, will be staged at Theatre Royal on 15^th & 16^th August. Relationships, theft, girl’s nights out, girl’s nights in, more theft, glue, boyfriends, breaks from boyfriends, siblings, death, God, car air fresheners, lipstick, lies …the list goes on. ‘Glue’ is a vignette of the life of a girl caught in the typical throes of young adulthood. Niamh is a graduate of the BA in Theatre and Drama studies from the MTU Cork School of Music and ‘Glue, which debuted at the Cork Arts Theatre in September 2023, is her first play.

In addition to staging these two theatrical treats by local writers, Theatre Royal will also partner with the critically acclaimed Rough Magic Theatre Company in June on a week -long theatre-making initiative, ‘Fron Page to Stage’, that will bring together professional directors, producers, designers, writers and actors to workshop new scripts by Niamh (called ‘Guts’) and ‘The Last Waltz’ by Michael Power. Michael last performed on the Theatre Royal stage in his play ‘Going Back’, and most recently featured in Jim Nolan’s ‘Castle Gandolfo’. His screen work includes roles in ‘London Kills’, ‘The Witcher’, ‘Normal People’, ‘Vikings’ and ‘Game of Thrones’. ‘Fron Page to Stage’ will be led by Lynne Parker, Rough Magic’s Artistic Director and will involve twelve theatre-makers undertaking workshops in dramaturgy, text analysis and production approaches for Niamh and Michael’s scripts, with a view to future production.

Other highlights of Theatre Royal’s summer season include five nights of Imelda May starring in ‘Mother of all the Behans’, based on the book written by Brendan Behan about his inspirational mother Kathleen. There’s also music from legendary Irish artists Mary Coughlan and Nathan Carter; Phelim Drew featuring in ‘Remembering Ronnie’ a tribute to his late Dubliner dad Ronnie; and much more. See www.theatreroyal.ie/shows for full lineup.

• The work of Theatre Royal Waterford is kindly supported by The Arts Council and Waterford City and County Council.