Goll Development Residency - The Everyman - Day 1

What a joy to be back in the room with this crew. A productive day, moving forward…

Special thanks to The Everyman, The Arts Council and Obheal.

Exciting times at HQ - Goll / Everyman Residency / Winter Warmer W-I-P

Sitting in our wee office space on the top floor of Civic Trust House, Goll co-producers Brendan & Ciarán are getting very excited about what is in store for Strive Theatre this November. We are delighted to announce that we received funding from The Arts Council to undertake a residency in the beautiful Everyman Theatre from Nov. 11th to 15th to further develop the project. The following week we will be holding three workshops in Civic Trust House before sharing our work as part of the Sunday programme of the wonderful Winter Warmer Festival in Nano Nagle Place. It is a real honour to be a part of such a rich and diverse festival programme. It is really exciting to have the whole team together again and we can’t wait to see what the week in The Everyman has in store for us. Goll is a challenging and experimental work that has been cooking for 18 months or so now, and the momentum generated this month will propel us towards the shows eventual premiere in 2025…

We would like to acknowledge The Arts Council’s support in making this work possible and give a special thanks to The Everyman Theatre, Paul Casey and all at Óbheal and The Theatre Team at The Arts Council.

#Artscouncilfunded #TheEveryman #WinterWarmer #obheal #StriveTheatre

Samhain Shona daoibh agus Breithlá Shona dúinn

Samhain Shona daoibh agud Breithlá Shona dúinn…

This time 12 years ago Strive Theatre was born! On the last week of October 2012, Ciarán and Andy met for a coffee in The Green Kiwi on College Rd. to start scheming about how to produce The Rooftops of Paris in an interesting way, that would get folk who don’t go to the theatre into theatre… We weren’t all that taken with where theatre in Cork was at at the time and we were aiming to find new ways to produce work and new audiences to engage with it…

We didn’t have a notion! But in the days that followed we spun around in Andy’s car on a mission for a venue/ materials/ partners/ support… We went up to Graffiti, who were super helpful! The then artistic director, the wonderful Emelie Fitzgibbon offered to help in whatever way she could, making tech equipment and costume stores available to us. As the idea wasn’t within Graffiti’s remit as an educational theatre company, she sent us to other potential venues. Having sussed out the Kino to no avail, we set our sights on Barrack St.

The play was set on Barrack St. and we were keen to present the show there, as a community theatre piece that had come directly from that community. We marched up and down the street. The late, great Tom Barry was the owner of Mr. Bradley’s at the time and had started using the bar to present small scale theatre. The space wasn’t really suitable for what we wanted to do, so despite Tom’s generous offer of the space, we had to keep looking…

We wandered into Nancy Spain’s and fell in love with the place. Andy and I were 19, so we would have missed out on the days when Nancy’s was an iconic Cork venue. It was barely keeping itself open at this stage and was under the stewardship of Tom Lynch, who had his own Celtic Pub busy next store… We were well taken by the decor and charm of Nancy’s and the space out the back had key features of our set already in place: a bar, a stage, seating… So we popped in next store to suss Tom out about doing the show there. Tom was an absolute gent. He showed us through the space and told us what the story was with it. We told him what we were about, what type of show the play was and why we wanted to do it there. The play was a social critique of the late days of The Celtic Tiger and it was set in a new-build apartment over looking the beer garden of Nancy Spains! Couldn’t have asked for a better venue really…

This meeting marked the start of the production process, and established a lot of the ideals of the company. We wanted ticket prices to be low as to not price anyone out from coming, and we wanted local people to come and see it. All of the businesses on Barrack St. were offered comps for them and their staff. We didn’t have a red cent and weren’t set to make many either, but we set about on a beg, borrow and steal method of attaining what we needed from a production and design point of view. As students we were able to use space in UCC for rehearsal and as we were in Drama & Theatre Studies and Dramat, there was no shortage of able theatre heads who were interested in being involved… We set a date for auditions, assembled the creative team and off we went…

Now, 12 years later, we still aim to produce theatre that stays true to the principles set out during that production. We are delighted to be working with a great team of people on our current project, Goll. The project has been cooking for 18 months and has great momentum behind it as we approach the end of the year. It is always exciting, and slightly sentimental, to be working for Strive Theatre in the autumn, as it brings back memories of those early days. It is a great honour to still be an active part of the Cork Theatre community and it really excites us to see what the coming months and years will bring…

An deireadh seachtine seo chugainn

https://www.electricpicnic.ie/artists/#/event/strive-theatre

Well are we getting excited for the weekend or what?

Such a pleasure to to be programmed alongside the diverse and exciting range of acts at Hazelwood/ An Chollchoill this year! It is going to be a thrill.

Bígí linn ar a 2330 san Chollchoill. Tá sceitiminí an domhain orainn.

Mile buíochas le Conradh na Gaeilge agus Hazelwood/ An Chollchoill.



Goll @ Hazelwood/ An Chollchoill, Electric Picnic 2024

It gives us great pleasure to announce that Strive Theatre will continue as theatre artists-in-residence at Hazelwood/ An Chollchoill @ Electric Picnic in 2024.

We are hugely excited to share this years’ offering, Goll, which is a deepening of our collaboration with Cork band, MacBóchra.

The performance is a mid-process sharing of a long-term project, initiated in 2023 and set to premiere in 2025. Come join us as we transmit seanchas from the depths of our cultural heritage, representing stories “as old as the moment they’re told” from the life of original seanchaí, shapeshifter and sage, Fintan macBóchra.

Marking a confluence point of music, theatre, poetry, spectacle and dance, Goll is a bi-lingual contemporary adaptation of tales central to our cultural origins…



Hazelwood/ An Chollchoill - 11.30pm, Saturday August 17th.



Mile buíochas le Conradh na Gaeilge agus Hazelwood/ An Chollchoill.

@StriveTheatre @MacBochra @hazelwood_chollchoill @ElectricPicnic24

Casting Notice - Wishful Thinking

Paid (Flat Fee + Profit Share)

Strive Theatre are happy to announce we are beginning the casting process for our next production Wishful Thinking by Shaunna Lee Lynch. The play, set in East Cork, will premiere in Dublin this September and will run in Cork in November.

We are currently casting three female roles. The casting process includes a series of workshops taking place in mid/ late June. We are looking for actors with both experience and training. Please see character description and more info about the play below.

Siobhán: Female, Late Twenties. An ‘unsuccessful’ journalist. Independent, strong minded, hipster. She has become cynical and fed up of late as her life hasn’t turned out the way she thought.

Mags: Female, Siobhan’s Cousin, Late Twenties. Mother of 2 young children. Strong Cork accent. As a remedy for a tough few years, she has found new age, self-help theories and is delighted with the rewards she feels she’s gaining. She is glamorous and loves designer handbags, fashion, fake nails, fake tan etc.

Angela Griffin: Known as ‘Mammy Griffin’, Female 50’s, Siobhan’s mother. Country woman Bohemian. Retired art teacher. She is now transitioning to a new stage in her life and is searching for fulfilment and meaning through more eccentric avenues.

More about the play: Siobhán is back in the nest, fresh from a not-so-successful stint in London. With a bag of big city blues and zero confidence in her career as a journalist, she returns to find East Cork has changed: Her Mam, her cousin Mags and the whole town are up to ninety manifesting miracles and worshipping at the alter of self-help. Looking to overcome a death in the family, while trying to re-ignite Siobhán's passion for life, Mam and Mags seek guidance from the power of the universe and lead us on a comic journey exploring the mystical and materialistic aspects of self-improvement culture.

If you would like to be considered for any of the roles please email strivetheatre12@gmail.com with resume and headshot and “Wishful Thinking Casting” in subject line of email. If you are successful we will contact you with details of casting workshop and/or audition over the coming weeks.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Thanks a lot...

Kind regards,

The Strive Theatre Team