Inishowen woman is The AbbeyTheatre’s new Artistic Director

The appointment was announced this week by the Board of the Abbey Theatre, which also confirmed Mark O’Brien as its new Executive Director.

The Carndonagh woman’s appointment follows the decision by the board of the Abbey Theatre – in July 2020 – to hold an open competition to fill two distinct leadership roles to deliver on the Abbey Theatre’s strategy and ambition over the next five years. The two new Directors will join the Abbey Staff in early May.

In announcing her appointment, the Abbey Theatre outlined how Caitríona is a highly-distinguished, award-winning theatre director, who has been an Associate Director at the Abbey since 2017.

As Artistic Director, she will lead on the objectives relating to Art and Audience in the Abbey Theatre strategy. Over the last number of years, she has directed in London, Dublin, and New York. Recent productions at the Abbey include The Great Hunger by Patrick Kavanagh; Citysong by Dylan Coburn Gray (ITTA nomination Best New Play); and On Raftery’s Hill, by Marina Carr for which she won Best Director at the 2019 Irish Times Theatre Awards.

Commenting on her appointment, Caitríona McLaughlin said: “We are in a time of profound and existential change; but also one of potential and renewal. I am thrilled to be taking up this position at this pivotal moment, and fully embrace both the responsibility and opportunity of it.

“We need to find and champion new voices and new ways of seeing. This means identifying combinations of characters we are yet to meet on our stages, having conversations we are yet to hear whilst also engaging in an interrogation of our classical canon with an urgency and curiosity about what makes it speak to this moment. Our stories teach us what it is to belong, and what it is to be excluded and exclude. My journey as Artistic Director begins with these twin impulses, and with two questions: who were we, and who are we now?”

Commenting on the new appointments, the Chair, Dr. Frances Ruane, said: “The Board is delighted to have found two Co-Directors who are so passionate about, and committed to, the mission of our national theatre, and to creating great art that connects with the people of this island, our diaspora and the global artistic community.”

Caitríona studied at Carndonagh Community School and the Ulster University before moving into theatre. She has been Associate Director at the Abbey Theatre since 2017.