The Abbey Theatre has announced a centenary production of Seán O’Casey’s The Plough and the Stars and new work from Marina Carr, Frank McGuinness and Una McKevitt as part of its 2026 season.
The Plough and the Stars will return to the stage to mark 100 years since its first production at the National Theatre of Ireland in February 1926. Viewed as a masterpiece of Irish theatre, the play sees competing perspectives towards the Easter Rising boil over in a Dublin tenement as violence sweeps across the city. It will run from Friday, February 27th until Thursday, April 30th.
The theatre will also stage a production of Lennox Robinson’s The Whiteheaded Boy, a coming-of-age comedy that was first produced 110 years ago, which will run from Thursday, June 4th until Saturday, July 18th.
Marina Carr’s Mirandolina, from La Locandiera by Carlo Goldoni, will be a world premiere co-production by the Abbey Theatre, Teatro Stabile Veneto Teatro Nazionale Italy and the Croatian National Theatre, running from Friday, August 28th until Saturday, September 5th.
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On the Peacock Stage, the season opens on Wednesday, February 11th with the world premiere of Fair Deal, written by Una McKevitt and directed by Conall Morrison. It will be followed by the world premiere of Do You Come From Gomorrah?, a new play written by Frank McGuinness and directed by Sarah Baxter which will run from Friday, April 10th until Saturday, May 9th.
The Abbey’s artistic director, Caitríona McLaughlin, said the first season announcement for 2026 “confronts inequalities, laughs at the absurdities of our times, and imagines a fairer, more connected society”.
“The season celebrates writers who continue to push Irish theatre toward honesty, courage and complexity. Marina Carr, Frank McGuinness and Una McKevitt remind us that the most difficult personal and political questions are often best faced with unapologetic interrogation and humour,” McLaughlin said.
