Who They Are: Founded in 1984, Rough Magic is now one of Ireland’s leading theatre companies. The company was founded by a small group of Trinity College graduates and presented its first season in Players Theatre in August, 1984. Over three decades later,  Rough Magic has staged over 115 productions and toured Ireland, the UK, and beyond.

Why We ♥ Them: Rough Magic proves itself over and over again by taking on daring and adventurous projects. In 2017, it took to the Abbey Stage to produce Bill Whelan and Arthur Riordan’s The Train, a heart-wrenching musical celebrating the events of the legendary Contraceptive Train of 1971. The story portrays a group of 47 women who take a train to Belfast and return to Dublin with illegal contraception as a challenge to the Irish government. The greatest of Irish fiction gives “a voice to what was previously unarticulated” (Linden Peach) and we love Rough Magic for doing exactly that. Also, on 6 November, the company posted on their Facebook page to condemn sexual harassment in the theatre industry and share their hope that “tyrannous and sexist practices are at last being challenged as unacceptable; and that the monumental waste of energy, and dismal betrayal of talent that they represent, may soon become a thing of the past.”

What’s Up Next: Catch Mr Burns by Anne Washburn in the Project Arts Centre from 30 November to 9 December. If Rough Magic sounds like your cup of tea, you’re in luck – they’re donating the entire Company Archive to the Library of Trinity College.