Abbey Theatre’s proposed move takes new twist

Published Wednesday 21 October 2009 at 13:41 by Anthony Garvey

The Abbey Theatre may be moved to the GPO building on Dublin’s O’Connell Street, site of the 1916 Rising that led to Irish independence.

Feasibility studies are already under way, following an agreement between Fianna Fail and the Green Party, partners in the current coalition government, that the move be explored. If the relocation is possible – and the indications so far are positive – the aim is to have a new national theatre in place by 2016, the centenary of the Rising.

The saga of finding a new home for the Abbey has been running for more than a decade. Eight years ago, it was set to move to a docklands site on Dublin’s southside, but the plan was vetoed by the then Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, who was unhappy at the prospect of it leaving his northside constituency.

Instead, his government suggested that it expand on its current site on Abbey Street, but that proved to be impractical and the search for a new home began again. A move to a vacant site on O’Connell Street was thwarted by an ongoing legal dispute, while a proposed transfer to a location in neighbouring Parnell Square also failed to materialise.

Three years ago, the government finally opted for another docklands site, this time on the city’s northside. Charcoalblue, the theatre consultants, were brought in to oversee the move and an international design competition for the building was to be organised, but never took place. Now snags are said to have developed over the site, clearing the way for a possible move to O’Connell Street and the GPO.

One man enthusiastic about what he calls “the perfect historical match” of the Abbey and the GPO is David Norris, Joycean scholar and senator, who claims to have been the first to suggest the move. He argues that as the state owns the GPO, there will be no acquisition costs while the existing Abbey site can be sold to help fund the new building.

He envisages the Abbey reopening in the GPO in Easter week, 2016, with the Sean O’Casey trilogy, including The Plough and the Stars, “as European heads of state arrive to celebrate the centenary”.