Druid Theatre seeks to expand performance space

As Galway prepares a European city of culture bid, Druid theatre company is seeking to expand its performance space in the city.

The theatre company, which acquired its first permanent venue in Druid Lane 35 years ago, is believed to have made an offer for an adjoining building in the city’s historic quarter. If it is successful in buying the 436sq m (4,700sq ft) property, Lowstrand House on the corner of Flood Street, it could create a 200-seat venue.

The company said it could "neither confirm nor deny" yesterday that it had bid for the three-storey building, which is next door to Druid's Mick Lally theatre and opposite the Halla an Iarla Rua, built in 1271 by "Red Earl" Richard de Burgo.

The company is currently renting office space there. The building has been advertised as an investment property and has a guide price of €740,000.

"Obviously it is very difficult for Druid, with its limited funds, to compete against investors," a spokesman for the theatre company told The Irish Times.

“It would be the realisation of a great ambition and vital for the future of Druid to acquire a commercially viable enlarged theatre with much- needed extra capacity in such an historic part of Galway,” he added.