‘My book of the year ... as one would expect with a Thames & Hudson publication, the photographs are magnificent and the design pleasing’ – Irish Independent

‘Timely, exceptionally well illustrated, amusing, knowledgeable story of the theatre’– Sunday Independent

‘A substantial and handsome paperback … lively and vivid’ – Books Ireland

Dublin’s Abbey Theatre opened to the public on 27 December 1904. Over the course of the ensuing century, it has survived fire, riot and perpetual artistic disagreement to become one of the greatest theatres in the Western world, presenting over 740 new plays by some of the greatest Irish writers of the modern age, including W. B. Yeats, J. M. Synge, Sean O’Casey and Brian Friel.

Christopher Fitz-Simon, author of The Most Beautiful Villages of Ireland, celebrates the Abbey Theatre’s centenary by offering a witty chronological survey of the company’s distinguished and colourful history.

Beautifully illustrated with cartoons, sketches and production photographs from the Abbey archives and elsewhere, The Abbey Theatre provides an unparalleled overview of the great actors, directors and playwrights of 20th-century Irish theatre, as well as detailing the company’s long and illustrious relationship with other European and American theatres and playwrights.

It also contains a complete list of plays produced at the Abbey Theatre since 1904 and features a preface by the Abbey Theatre’s artistic director, Ben Barnes.

Also of interest
James Joyce's Dublin: A Topographical Guide to the Dublin of Ulysses
W.B.Yeats
The Essential Samuel Beckett