PLAYOGRAPHYIreland: Launching ‘Illuminating the Database’ and the latest round of improvements  

Over the past two years, Irish Theatre Institute have been working behind the scenes to save, strengthen and enhance PLAYOGRAPHYIreland, together with our web developers DotDash, and the support of our key funder the Arts Council. With the additional support of the Heritage Council through their Community Heritage Grant Scheme, we have been able to work on the preservation and Illumination of this valuable database.   

Last year, the PLAYOGRAPHYIreland and PLAYOGRAPHY na Gaeilge websites were relaunched on a new WordPress platform, securing the future of the database. And now we are very happy to announce the final round of improvements and enhancements.  

Illuminating the Database  

Illuminating the Database is a pilot programme which adds production photography to a selection of 40 plays that premiered in Ireland over the past 40+ years. The Playography team worked closely with three photographers who have been at the forefront of theatre documentation in Ireland: Ros Kavanagh (who expertly worked with us to oversee the pilot), Ste Murray, and Amelia Stein. PLAYOGRAPHYIreland now features images by these three photographers from the premiere productions of plays such as Tom Murphy’s Bailegangaire (1985), Marina Carr’s By the Bog of Cats and Sam Shepard’s Kicking A Dead Horse. The addition of photographs enhances the experience for all users, and deepens the historic and contemporary significance of the database.  

Additional Improvements 

In addition to the images pilot, PLAYOGRAPHYIreland now has a new selection of features, which include: 

• A new and improved search function, with the addition of a universal search box;  

• Improved accessibility, with the integration of the WCAG AA standard; 

• Premiered on This Day: a new box on the homepage, which delves into the database to shine a light on productions that premiered on today’s date from 1904 to the present.  

List of plays which feature in the images pilot 

A Holy Show, A Particle of Dread (Oedipus Variations), A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Angel/Babel, Antigone, At the Black Pig’s Dyke, B for Baby, Bailegangaire, By the Bog of Cats, Christ Deliver Us, Citysong, Dolly West’s Kitchen, Eamonn [from menswear], ELIZA’S Adventures in the Uncanny Valley, Everyone is King Lear in His Own Home, FRNKNSTN, I’ll Go On, Improbable Frequency, Infinity, Invitation to a Journey, Kicking A Dead Horse, Monsters, Dinosaurs, Ghosts, Only an Apple, Sheep’s Milk on the Boil, Shooting Gallery, Solar Bones, Taboo, Test Dummy, The Beauty Queen of Leenane, The Broken Jug, The Fall of the Second Republic, The Grimm Tale of Cinderella, The Mai, The Remains of Maisie Duggan, The Secret Fall of Constance Wilde, The Snapper, The Wake, Town is Dead, Zelda