Waterford Theatre Archive

Way back to our first video from 1981 today and the central ‘Xanadu’ scene from the 1981 Glass tops. It was a long 10 minute pivotal scene in the middle of the […]

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I’m delighted to share this with the kind permission of Mary Roche, the Coughlan family and Jim Nolan. This is a rare scene from the Gods are Angry Miss Kerr, Jim Nolans […]

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Here’s a blast from the past – 43 years ago the final of the Tops of The Top Final was won for the third time by the ACEC. No video exists (to […]

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Back 58 years to 1961 and the show programme from the De La Salle Musical Society production of Die Fledermaus. Added to the DLS Archive here. 1961 – Die Fledermaus – Show […]

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The brilliant family from the 1993 Tops of the Town Tramore show that reached the televised final in the Gaeity Theatre. Using songs from the Pyjama game to a Chorus Line it […]

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Hope everybody had a nice August break. Coming to our own Theatre Royal next week is a double dose of Waterford plays – Rigor Mortis by Pat Daly and Ghosting by Anne […]

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Featuring the legendary Ritchie Collins leading the troops is the 1984 Clover Tops opening which started with “No Business Like Show Business’.

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Loads of familiar faces here from Ray Ban, Tramore and Port and Docks. Have a look and see how many young faces you recognise! There’s quite a few! Originally from the News […]

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Todays video comes from the Ray Ban Tops show of 1992 and its an extract from Little Shop Of Horrors featuring Skid Row (led by Billy McCarthy), Little Shop Of Horrors and […]

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I was delighted to be given a copy of an old cassette recording of the launch of Stage Frights ‘Pentimenti’ in the Waterford Crystal Showrooms way back in 1998. It’s important to […]

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In 1989 Red Kettle produced the Tennessee Williams masterpiece ‘The Glass Menagerie’ in Garter Lane under the direction of Barry Cassin. Here is the show programme for a browse. Added to the […]

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Avenue Q is a show that divides people – you either find it hilarious or offensive – or both in equal measure. This was the choice of Ignite Productions in 2013. Here’s […]

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Very few people in Waterford haven’t heard of Jim Nolan, and don’t know about all he does for Theatre in Waterford. Shows like ‘The Gods are Angry’, ‘The Salvage Shop’, ‘Brighton’, ‘Dreamland’, […]

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Season 2 of ‘Showtime’ continues with a lively and fun chat with Jamie Beamish and Richard Hardwick, creators of the much loved ‘CAT’ which returns to the Theatre Royal next week. Some […]

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Way way back many centuries ago… well not exactly – way way back 21 years ago Premier Production produced ‘Joseph’ in the Forum – becoming the first local society to produce a […]

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One of my favourite parts of ‘The Phantom Of The Opera’ is the ‘Notes/Prima Donna’ sequence – which was so wonderfully delivered in todays video back in 2014 by an amazingly talented […]

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Here’s a clip from a lesser known show ‘The Boyfriend’. De La Salle College produced this back in 1994, directed by Bryan Flynn.

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In 2017 the South Eastern Theatre Group produced ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ – another highly successful production with AIMS nominations reflecting this, winning the award for best Ensemble. Here’s the show programme for […]

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You know it’s great to get a good strong number with a male chorus in it, and Luck Be A Lady is one of those numbers where the male chorus is on […]

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Back 28 years today to the Panto and the programme from Dick Whittington. This was the 7th production from the Waterford Panto Society. Directed by Denny Corcoran. 1991 – Dick Whittington – […]

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Well now we are into the Irish Summer (!!) lets keep going with some summer-themed songs and ‘Summer Lovin’ from Stage Frights production of Grease back in 1991 – The show that […]

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A little bit of Me And My Girl today and the opening to Act 2 – ‘The Sun Has Got His Hat On’. This is from the Edmund Rice Choral and Musical […]

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Today I’m adding in the 1995 WIFLO Season Brochure to the archive. In 1995 the Waterford entry was ‘Oliver’ by Stage Fright under the direction of Bryan Flynn. It was to finish […]

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To round off the weekend 25th Anniversary here is a special episode I put together with the help of Bill Stafford, Paul Browne, Karen Hearne, Ben Hennessy, Richie Hayes and Seneiva Magill […]

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Continuing our Tops Anniversary weekend – here is the Irish Scene from the John Player Tops national award winning show from 1994.

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Some more comedy from the 1994 Tops of the Town national winning show. This time from Davy Sutton and Nicky Cummins as Garth Brooks and Dolly Parton.

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A huge part of any Tops show was the comedy team. Here is the ‘Flintstones’ sketch from the 1994 national award-winning show. Enjoy!

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For the weekend that was in it back in 1994 the RTE Guide ran a feature for ‘Tops’. Here it is to peruse. 1994 – Tops Feature – RTE Guide

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Another Tops clip – this time from Ray Ban again – 1992. The Finale of the show started with a Blues Brothers ‘Gimme some lovin’ lead by Terry ‘Scol‘ Grant and led […]

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Way back 50 years today to the spring of 1969 and a production of South Pacific from De La Salle Musical Society. Here is the show programme from that show that featured […]

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A throwback today and a first appearance from the Ray Ban 1992 Tops of the Town show – featuring ‘The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas’ scene. Produced by Pat McEvoy

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Back to 1985 today and the Presentation Secondary School produced ‘Calamity Jane’. Here’s the show programme to peruse. 1985 – Calamity Jane – Show Programme

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Today is the fifth anniversary of the passing of our dear friend and inspiration Bryan Flynn. Here is the video of the Tops Of The Town final 1994 Chaplin scene. No further […]

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Billy McCarthy would have turned 65 this weekend just gone, and it seems as good a time as any to replay one of his party pieces – the beautiful ‘On The Street […]

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Its been a while since we had some photos and something from Panto – so way back to 2006 and Babes in The Woods in the Theatre Royal. Added to the Panto […]

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This time of the year has become Waterford Musical Society’s time of year and with their production of ‘South Pacific’ approaching here is a throwback to their last Rogers & Hammerstein production […]

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Back a short hop today to 2017 and Ignite Productions were once again producing an original piece of theatre that was challenging. This time it was the recent Broadway / London Lin […]

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The Variety Show preceded the Bilberry Goats comedy shows and was in essence 2 tops of the town style halve with extracts from musicals, comedy and various other acts. Produced by Michael […]

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Another classic ‘Tops’ Programme – this time from 1982 and featuring Raytex vs Clover. Added to ‘Tops’ Archive here. 1982 – Tops Of The Town Local – Raytex vs Clover

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A bit of light-hearted fun today from ‘Roast’ and an extract featuring some songs from Cats and A Chorus Line… no more description is necessary – enjoy!

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Well – it was big news at the time! One of the first groups to be allowed to perform the updated new version of ‘Joseph’ back in 1997 was Premier Productions – […]

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The first Schools production of Les Mis in Waterford was performed by De La Salle College in 2006 in the Theatre Royal. Here is the show programme from that very performance. Added […]

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Another of the Backstage videos – this time of Crazy For You by Premier Productions in 2003. This mainly features a tour of the set (or lack thereof) by the Stage Manager […]

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Way back 60 years ago De La Salle MS were producing Oklahoma! A very old programme here and a very welcome addition to the archive! Added to the DLS Archive here. 1959 […]

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This is the opening from the Tramore Tops 1992 production produced by the late great Bryan Flynn. This show got to the national quarter finals. The opening featuring songs from Company and […]

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No video exists of ‘Annie’ as a whole which took to the stage in 1996 – but some extracts of it were performed in Stage Fright’s Gala 121 in 1997. Here we […]

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Another classic photo today – and this time it’s from the Flaggy Lane Juniors production of ‘The Wizard Of Oz’ – 2005. Young and familiar faces here sharing the stage with some […]

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Just a short update today – but what a great update and what a great photo. Fagin’s gang from the 1994 Stage Fright production of Oliver! , and how young are the […]

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By request here is the final WIFLO Brochure from 2012 – the festival that saw the South Eastern Theatre Group sweep the boards with Les Miserables. The Festival had fallen from 18 […]

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Des Manahan has long been the definitive G&S performer in Waterford and beyond, and in 1996 and 1998 he played one of his favourite parts for the Edmund Rice Choral and Musical […]

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I love these old Tops Magazines – this one from 1985. The other 2 in the archive are here and here. As usual, there are loads of photos from around the country […]

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This is a rather unusual programme for WIFLO – it merely lists the shows and has all the usual paraphernalia with committees and lists etc… but has no actual details for the […]

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In 1986 Waterford Glass reached the televised final of the Tops only to finish as runners-up. Here is the show programme from the quarter-final performance in Limerick vs the ESB group. Added […]

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Another rare extract from ‘The Little Whorehouse In Texas’ from 2003. Premier Productions produced the show in the Theatre Royal. No Video was recorded for this production, but thankfully WLR’s Waterford At […]

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Delighted to have this programme from the production of the Salvage Shop that played at our the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin in 1998. The Salvage Shop was written by local playwright Jim […]

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Today it’s another classic extract from Gala 121, 1997 – some scenes from ‘Oliver’ the Stage Fright production that did so well in WIFLO 1995.

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‘Crazy For You’ is the modern-day Gershwin musical, and in 2003 Premier Productions produced the show in the Theatre Royal Waterford, directed by Liam Butler and Choreography by Michelle Condon. Here is […]

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In 1989 De La Salle College produced arguably the finest College and possibly junior show of all time – How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying. It was a pet project […]

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In 1997 Stage Fright produced ‘Gala 121’ – celebrating 121 years of the Theatre Royal as a theatre. One of the scenes in it was the ‘Tribute to Lloyd Webber’ featuring a […]

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This is another classic scene from the Edmund Rice Choral and Musical Society’s production of ‘Annie Get Your Gun’ in 1992 starring the legendary Martina Flynn as Annie and Denny Corcoran as […]

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In Spring of 2017 the South Eastern Theatre Group presented the ever-popular ‘Bugsy Malone’ in the Theatre Royal. Here’s the show programme – added to the SETG Archive here. 2017 – Bugsy […]

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It’s been a little while since we had a bit of comedy and a new ‘Goats’ video so here we go – the ‘Good Council’ sketch… and let’s hope it’s not too […]

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Red ‘n Blue Theatre present the Irish Premiere of Lovesong in Garter Lane this week. A new Waterford Theatre company – what’s not to love? Jenny Fennessy and Dylan Kennedy join us […]

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A visit to our friends in Waterford Youth Arts today and their 1997 production of ‘The War Mongrels’, written and directed by Liam Meagher. Added to the WYA archive here. 1997 – […]

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Featuring such songs as ‘Kisses of Fire Burning Burning’ and ‘Come on Baby Light My Fire’ – it’s easy to see the common theme in the opening to this particular ‘Glass’ show. […]

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Way way back 54 years today to the De La Salle Musical Society and ‘The Desert Song’. Up until it’s recent demise, De La Salle was the longest running musical society in […]

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Glenn Murphy returns to the Waterford Stage later this month with a trio of concerts ‘From Me To You’ in Garter Lane. I caught up with Glenn to talk about the concerts […]

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Back to 2012 tonight and some more class video from the lens of Colin Shanahan of Digicol media. It’s the intro sequence and some clips from ‘The Sound Of Music’ all over […]

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It’s great to have a copy of the original 1959 WIFLO season Brochure from the very first Festival of Light Opera. 60 years ago this year, this rare programme is worth it’s […]

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1998 was a time when any shows going on had to find alternative venues as the Theatre Royal was closed for renovations. The Edmund Rice society chose to produce ‘The Pirates of […]

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Episode 12 visits the wonderful world of Panto with the ‘Ghost of Panto Past’ – Padraig O’Griofa and the ‘Ghost of Christmas Present’ – Anne Corcoran Brown. 33 years this year makes […]

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The European Premier of ‘Fame’ took place in the Theatre Royal in the winter of 1992.  It was probably not the best show ever to grace the Theatre Royal stage, but if […]

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Back 39 years to 1979 today and the Waterford International Festival of Light Opera season brochure – have a look! Added to the WIFLO archive here. 1979 – WIFLO Season Brochure  

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I recently spoke to Br. Ben about the Addams Family. When we finished talking about that we left the ‘tape running’ so to speak – and talked about choirs, theatre, composing operas […]

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A clip from the ‘Singing In The Rain’ that took the WIFLO honours in 2005 from our own Flaggy Lane Productions… this is ‘Broadway Melody’ – enjoy!

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Here is the programme from the Bilberry Goats 2015 performance in Garter Lane Theatre. Added to the Bilberry Goats Archive here 2015 – Bilberry Goats Show Programme

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Always a pleasure to talk to Jim Nolan anytime of the year. At the moment he’s working on Mt. Prospect – a co-production with WIT and Garter Lane. Jim talks about this […]

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In the 1970’s the ACEC dominated Tops both locally and nationally. 1978 saw the company present a 2 hour special show in the Theatre Royal to celebrate this success. Here is the […]

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The programme from the third time that De La Salle College produced Jesus Christ Superstar – this time the 2007 version. Have a browse! Added to the DLS archive here. 2007 – […]

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The busy October continues as Jack Cunningham Productions brings us ‘Little Shop Of Horrors’. He joins us for a chat along with Emma Walsh. Also as a bonus some cast members from […]

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Today it’s back to the classic 1987 televised final and the opening from the Waterford Glass show which featured heavily ‘The Mystery of Edwin Drood’. Some familiar faces and names in this […]

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Back 17 years today to roughly around this time of year and De La Salle were presenting ‘Brigadoon’ in the Theatre Royal under the direction of Tony Finnegan. The show programme is […]

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The busy October schedule continues with the South Eastern Theatre Groups production of ‘The Beautiful Game’ rapidly approaching. Chairperson Dee Lanigan called in for a chat about what to expect and all […]

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Some comedy today from the cast of ‘Roast’ – a ‘Les Mis’ medley that any show fan will enjoy for sure…

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In 1996 Red Kettle produced ‘The Stomping Ground’ which was a new play by Loughlin Deegan. The show brochure is below, and added to the Red Kettle Archive here.   1996 – […]

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Brother Ben has seen it all with De La Salle College… this episode he joins me to talk about the Addams Family – De La Salle’s annual production and De La Salle […]

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Currently on stage in Garter Lane with their new production of ‘I do, I Do, So I Do’, it’s time to pay a monthly visit to the comedy archive of the Bilberry […]

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A visit to Panto today and back to 2008 when Waterford Panto Society produced the only one of it’s 33 productions outside of the Theatre Royal – in ‘The Forum’. The Theatre […]

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It’s not every week you open a ‘World Premiere’ – and that’s exactly what is on this week in Garter Lane from the pen of Tony Corcoran and the hilarious ensemble that […]

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Loads of audio snippets to add over the next few weeks to the archive. This one is from 2017 and Paul Browne dropped into Mary O’Neill on the ‘Fringe’ to discuss Man […]

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Here is the finale from the WIFLO winning production of ‘Singing In The Rain’ from Flaggy Lane Productions – an award winning production under the direction of Pat McElwain. It should bring […]

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Today we have the season brochure from WIFLO 2005 when Flaggy Lane Productions became the first Waterford Society to win the Festival with ‘Singing In The Rain’.. a feat they were to […]

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Back 34 years today to the Spring of 1984 and De La Salle College presented ‘My Fair Lady’ in the Theatre Royal as their annual production. As always – a tremendous success. […]

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A bit of Panto today and the programme from Waterford Panto Society’s production of ‘Sleeping Beauty’. Added to the Panto archive here. 2000 – Sleeping Beauty – Show Programme

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This scene features the legendary Gary Power as Dr. Dolittle from the 1990’s Nokia Tops of the Town entry, produced by Michael Grant. It also has some familiar faces popping up along […]

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So opening a brand new long overdue item on the archive –  the legends at Spraoi who have been entertaining the city and county (and country!) for as long as we can […]

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As time was evolving I found that the site was starting to look and feel clunky and dated and mainly a bit cluttered – so I decided to clean it up a […]

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Way back to 2002 today and a Liam Meagher production of ‘The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas’ featuring a host of lovely girls and led by Ray Collins. This is a classic! […]

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In 2016 the Theatre Royal produced one of Eugene O’Neill’s rarely produced plays – A Moon For The Misbegotten. It was a co-production with the Geva Theatre Centre in Rochester New York […]

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I’m delighted to share this slideshow video with you all today. It’s from the private collection of Tom Healy and is added to the archive with thanks to Tom’s family. From Tops […]

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