The Gaiety Theatre is Dublin’s longest established theatre in continuous production, opened on the 27th of November 1871. After 154 years it maintains its unrivalled presence as the city’s premier venue for popular musical shows, opera, ballet, dance and drama.
Setup by brothers John and Michael Gunn, who came from a family music business, they owned a music shop on Grafton Street.
The Gunn’s employed the experienced theatre architect C.J Phipps. One of the theatres Phipps had recently completed in 1868 in London was the Gaiety and its name and auditorium layout were adopted for the new theatre in Dublin. The audience capacity was 2000 spread over four floors.
From the outset the Gunn brothers decided that their new theatre would be a ‘receiving house’: That meant it would receive touring companies and would not have its own company of actors or a repertory programme. While other Dublin theatres had resident performers and technical staff, the Gaiety provided a stage for touring companies almost all year apart from Christmas, when it put on its annual in-house pantomime. This gave the public more variety, gave the touring companies a larger audience, and saved money since the Gaiety needed fewer employees.
There is always an all-year-round great mix of shows, plays, musicals, drama, comedy, concerts, dance, and pantomime. Click here to find out what’s on.
The Gaiety is centrally located off St Stephens Green on South Kings Street and a short walk from Hamilton House .
