Theatre Appreciation & World
Literature in Ireland

The Everyman is a non-profit company that produces and presents the best in Irish and international performance. The Everyman’s mission is to be indispensable to all of the communities it serves: audiences, artists (local, national, international), employees and suppliers, while remaining rooted in, and inextricably linked to, Cork. Our beautiful theatre is a 650-seat listed building and a jewel of late Victorian architecture, celebrating its 120th birthday in 2017. The building is steeped in history and the auditorium is a favourite with audiences and performers alike for its intimacy and atmosphere.

The Everyman is a non-profit organisation which has a strong gender equality policy and a focus on diversity in it’s programming. It is a major beacon for Irish theatre outside of Dublin and in more recent years it has produced many thought-provoking pieces of work including Asking for It based on Louise O’Neill’s book of the same title.

Angela’s Ashes is the best-selling autobiography by Irish expat Frank McCourt. It follows the experiences of young Frankie and his family as they try against all odds to escape the poverty endemic in the slums of pre-war Limerick.

The Angela’s Ashes walking tour of Limerick follows in the footsteps of Frank McCourt. The book consists of various narratives and stories of Frank McCourt’s impoverished childhood and early adulthood in Brooklyn, New York and Limerick as well as McCourt’s struggles with poverty, his father’s drinking issues and his mother’s attempts to keep the family alive. Angela’s Ashes was first published in 1996 and won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography.

The Angela’s Ashes walking tour takes participants through the various locations mentioned in the book – through historic Georgian Limerick viewing the stone-faced Georgian offices and townhouses which frame St John’s Square. Through the streets and parks that McCourt played in as a child, by the street where the McCourt family lived and to Leamy House, the school which Frank attended until his 14th birthday. This tour will bring the book to life for you as you walk in the author’s footsteps.

The Frank McCourt Museum, in Limerick City, is a museum dedicated to the writer, and Pulitzer Prize winner, Frank McCourt.

This tudor-style, listed building, 'Leamy's School', was where Frank and his brothers received their early education. Leamy House (formerly known as Leamy School) is a tudor style, listed building with an interesting facade, complete with tower, turrets, ornamental chimneys and splendid gargoyles carved in limestone and sandstone.\xA0The central area of the museum is a faithful re-creation of the former classroom of the 1930's, with authentic desks and wall hangings. Visitors can imagine the young Frank and his friends sitting at these desks as the teacher 'beat the education into them'.Two rooms have been turned into a museum by Una Heaton and are a re-creation of the McCourts home in Roden Lane. Visitors can see first-hand the living conditions experienced by the McCourts and the other families who lived in the Lanes of Limerick.

The most complete and authentic castle in Ireland, 15th century Bunratty Castle is a must-see on a visit to Ireland. In addition, Bunratty’s 19th century Folk Park allows you to experience a reconstruction of the homes & environment of Ireland of over a century ago.\xA0Set on 26 acres, the impressive park features over 30 buildings in a ‘living’ village and rural setting. Rural farmhouses, village shops and streets are recreated and furnished as they would have appeared at that time according to their social standing, from the poorest one roomed dwelling to Bunratty House a fine example of a Georgian residence built 1804 home of the Studdarts, the last family to occupy Bunratty Castle. This is a very unique experience and brings Irish history to life.

Built nearly six hundred years ago by one of Ireland's greatest chieftans,\xA0Cormac MacCarthy, and has been attracting attention ever since. Over the last few hundred years, millions have\xA0flocked to Blarney\xA0making it a world landmark and one of Ireland's\xA0greatest treasures. Home to the\xA0Blarney Stone, the legendary Stone of Eloquence, found at the top of the\xA0tower.\xA0Kiss it\xA0and you'll never again be lost for words!

Located in a beautiful campus in the heart of Dublin’s city centre, Trinity is Ireland’s highest ranked university.\xA0It is home to 17,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students across all the major disciplines in the arts and humanities, and in business, law, engineering, science, and health sciences.

Trinity’s tradition of independent intellectual inquiry has produced some of the world’s finest, most original minds including the writers Oscar Wilde and Samuel Beckett (Nobel laureate), the scientists William Rowan Hamilton and Ernest Walton (Nobel laureate), the political thinker Edmund Burke, and the former President of Ireland and UNHCR Mary Robinson. This tradition finds expression today in a campus culture of scholarship, innovation, creativity, entrepreneurship and dedication to societal reform.

The Book of Kells is Ireland's greatest cultural treasure and the world's most famous medieval manuscript. The 9th century book is a richly decorated copy of the four Gospels of the life of Jesus Christ.

Saint Patrick’s Cathedral has been part of Ireland’s history for over 800 years. Built in honour of Ireland’s patron saint between 1220 and 1260 Saint Patrick’s Cathedral offers visitors a rich and compelling cultural experience and is one of the few buildings left from medieval Dublin. It is the National Cathedral of the Church of Ireland and is the largest Cathedral in the country. Jonathan Swift, author of Gulliver’s Travels, was Dean of Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in the 1700s and he is one of many burials on site. The Cathedral is world famous for its choir which still performs daily during school term and in recent years the Lady Chapel, dating from 1270, has been restored to its original glory.

The Irish literary tradition is one of the most illustrious in the world, famous for four Nobel Prize winners and for many other writers of international renown.\xA0In 1991, the Dublin Writers Museum was opened to house a history and celebration of literary Dublin.\xA0Situated in a magnificent 18th century mansion in the north city centre, the collection features the lives and works of Dublin's literary celebrities over the past three hundred years.\xA0Swift and Sheridan, Shaw and Wilde, Yeats, Joyce and Beckett are among those presented through their books, letters, portraits and personal items.\xA0