Aula Maxima (), officially the McMahon Hall, is a theatre building in

Maynooth Maynooth (; ga, Maigh Nuad) is a university town in north County Kildare, Ireland. It is home to Maynooth University (part of the National University of Ireland and also known as the National University of Ireland, Maynooth) and St Patrick's ...

County Kildare County Kildare ( ga, Contae Chill Dara) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It is named after the town of Kildare. Kildare County Council is the local authority for the county, ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. It was built in 1893. Aula Maxima comes from

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

, meaning ''Great Hall''. The building is also known simply as "The Aula". It is situated on the South Campus of

Maynooth University The National University of Ireland, Maynooth (NUIM; ga, Ollscoil na hÉireann Mhá Nuad), commonly known as Maynooth University (MU), is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland in Maynooth, County Kildare, Ireland. It ...

and

St Patrick's College, Maynooth St Patrick's Pontifical University, Maynooth ( ga, Coláiste Naoimh Phádraig, Maigh Nuad), is the "National Seminary for Ireland" (a Roman Catholic college), and a pontifical university, located in the town of Maynooth, from Dublin, Ireland. ...

and is the main theatre for the university, college and surrounding area. It also serves as the conferring hall of the university where the annual graduations take place. The Aula was also used as a Cinema for the students in the College, with the

Maynooth Students' Union Maynooth Students' Union (MSU; ga, Aontas na Mac Léinn, Mhá Nuad) is the students' union which represents the students of Maynooth University and St. Patrick's Pontifical University, formerly St. Patrick's College, Maynooth. Maynooth Studen ...

screening films there. Aula Maxima is known for its historical importance, and famed for its many ghost stories and apparent ghostly sightings.

History

Right Rev. Mgr.

McMahon McMahon, also spelled MacMahon (older Irish orthography: ; reformed Irish orthography: ), is a surname of Irish origin. It is derived from the Gaelic ''Mac'' ''Mathghamhna'' meaning 'son of the bear'. The surname came into use around the 11th cen ...

of the

Catholic University of America The Catholic University of America (CUA) is a private Roman Catholic research university in Washington, D.C. It is a pontifical university of the Catholic Church in the United States and the only institution of higher education founded by U.S. ...

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...

originally gifted the theatre to St Patrick's College, his alma mater, and its construction was completed under the presidency of Bishop Robert Browne. Aula Maxima houses a projection box, which was in regular use for 40 years.

Dramatic performances

Maynooth University's Drama Society (also known as The Roscian Players) is the resident company of Aula Maxima. A wide variety of their productions staged therein. It also regularly sees performances by St Patrick's College's dramatic society, Maynooth University Chamber Orchestra and Maynooth Community Players: 1997: *

Arthur Miller Arthur Asher Miller (October 17, 1915 – February 10, 2005) was an American playwright, essayist and screenwriter in the 20th-century American theater. Among his most popular plays are '' All My Sons'' (1947), ''Death of a Salesman'' ( ...

's ''

Death of a Salesman ''Death of a Salesman'' is a 1949 stage play written by American playwright Arthur Miller. The play premiered on Broadway in February 1949, running for 742 performances. It is a two-act tragedy set in late 1940s Brooklyn told through a montag ...

'' 2001: * Oscar Wilde's ''An Ideal Husband'' * William Shakespeare's ''MacBeth'' 2002 * Robert Bolt's ''A Man for All Seasons'' 2003 * Tom Stoppard's ''Arcadia'' * Bram Stoker's ''Dracula'' (adapted for stage by Paul Doran) 2005/2006: *''Questions of Parting'' *Laurents, Bernstein & Sondheim's ''

West Side Story ''West Side Story'' is a musical conceived by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents. Inspired by William Shakespeare's play ''Romeo and Juliet'', the story is set in the mid-1 ...

'' 2006/2007: *

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's ''

A Midsummer Night's Dream ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a comedy written by William Shakespeare 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One subplot involves a conflict amon ...

'' *''Prism of Flesh'' *Rodgers & Hammersetein's ''

Oklahoma! ''Oklahoma!'' is the first musical theater, musical written by the duo of Rodgers and Hammerstein. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs' 1931 play, ''Green Grow the Lilacs (play), Green Grow the Lilacs''. Set in farm country outside the town of ...

'' 2007/2008: *''

Blood Wedding ''Blood Wedding'' ( es, link=no, Bodas de sangre) is a tragedy by Spanish dramatist Federico García Lorca. It was written in 1932 and first performed at Teatro Beatriz in Madrid in March 1933, then later that year in Buenos Aires, Argentina. ...

'' by

Federico García Lorca Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca (5 June 1898 – 19 August 1936), known as Federico García Lorca ( ), was a Spanish poet, playwright, and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblemat ...

*First Timer's Festival, featuring productions of: #Berkoff's ''Lunch'' #Durang's ''An Actor's Nightmare'' # Chekov's '' The Bear'' #Barnes's ''Nobody Here But Us Chickens'' #

Yeats William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish litera ...

's ''Purgatory'' #

Stoppard Sir Tom Stoppard (born , 3 July 1937) is a Czech born British playwright and screenwriter. He has written for film, radio, stage, and television, finding prominence with plays. His work covers the themes of human rights, censorship, and politi ...

's ''15 Minute Hamlet'' #''Duplicit'' (student-written) *

Terry Pratchett Sir Terence David John Pratchett (28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015) was an English humourist, satirist, and author of fantasy novels, especially comical works. He is best known for his ''Discworld'' series of 41 novels. Pratchett's first nov ...

and

Stephen Briggs Stephen Briggs (born 1951) is a British writer of subsidiary works and merchandise surrounding Terry Pratchett's comic fantasy ''Discworld''. ''The Streets of Ankh-Morpork'', the first Discworld map, was co-designed by Briggs and Pratchett and ...

's ''

Maskerade ''Maskerade'' is a fantasy novel by British writer Terry Pratchett, the eighteenth book in the ''Discworld'' series. The witches Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg visit the Ankh-Morpork Opera House to find Agnes Nitt, a girl from Lancre, and get ...

'' *'' Little Shop of Horrors'' *

Brian Friel Brian Patrick Friel (c. 9 January 1929 – 2 October 2015) was an Irish dramatist, short story writer and founder of the Field Day Theatre Company. He had been considered one of the greatest living English-language dramatists. (subscription req ...

's '' The Enemy Within'' 2008/2009: *

Frank McGuinness Professor Frank McGuinness (born 1953) is an Irish writer. As well as his own plays, which include '' The Factory Girls'', ''Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme'', ''Someone Who'll Watch Over Me'' and ''Dolly West's Kitchen'', ...

's ''

Dolly West's Kitchen ''Dolly West's Kitchen'' is a dark Irish and deeply Chekhovian play written by playwright Frank McGuinness. ''Dolly West's Kitchen'' was first staged in the Abbey Theatre, Dublin in 1999. Set during the Second World War in the town of Buncrana, ...

'' *''Remembering Rose'' *''

Jesus Christ Superstar ''Jesus Christ Superstar'' is a sung-through rock opera with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice. Loosely based on the Gospels' accounts of the Passion, the work interprets the psychology of Jesus and other characters, with ...

'' *''

Luther Luther may refer to: People * Martin Luther (1483–1546), German monk credited with initiating the Protestant Reformation * Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968), American minister and leader in the American civil rights movement * Luther (give ...

'' *''The Musical Misdemeanour's of Sally Scribbles'' (student-written) 2009/2010: *First Timer's Festival, featuring productions of

David Campton David Campton (2 May 1924 – 9 September 2006) was a prolific British dramatist who wrote plays for the stage, radio, and cinema for thirty-five years. "He was one of the first British dramatists to write in the style of the Theatre of the Absurd ...

's ''Cagebirds'' and

's ''Lovers: Winners and Losers'' *

Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a pl ...

's '' Fear and Misery in the Third Reich'' *

's ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

'' *'' Fame'' *

Aaron Sorkin Aaron Benjamin Sorkin (born June 9, 1961) is an American playwright, screenwriter and film director. Born in New York City, he developed a passion for writing at an early age. Sorkin has earned an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, five Primetime E ...

's ''

A Few Good Men ''A Few Good Men'' is a 1992 American legal drama film based on Aaron Sorkin's 1989 play. It was written by Sorkin, directed by Rob Reiner, and produced by Reiner, David Brown and Andrew Scheinman. It stars an ensemble cast including Tom Cru ...

'' *

's ''

Translations Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transla ...

'' 2010/2011: *First Timers' Festival featuring performances of: The Bear, Riders To The Sea, Living With Secrets (Student Written), Over The Rainbow (part-student written), God Has Arrived, Cocaine, Cahoot's Macbeth, Bar And Ger *One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest *The Mercy Seat (Neil La Bute) * Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead 2011/2012 *First Timers' Festival featuring performances of: A Question Of Sex, A Handbag, Cinema Limbo, Rosalita (Student Written) and Beer-Girl *

The Importance of Being Earnest ''The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People'' is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at the St James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious ...

(

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...

) *

(

) *

Rent Rent may refer to: Economics *Renting, an agreement where a payment is made for the temporary use of a good, service or property *Economic rent, any payment in excess of the cost of production *Rent-seeking, attempting to increase one's share of e ...

*Black Box Festival, featuring performances of: Like Dreaming Backwards, Nancy's Boys (Student Written),The Lieutenant of Inishmore and The Game. 2012/2013 *First Timers' Festival, featuring The Angel Intrudes, At The Movies, The Suicide of William Hyde (Student Written), Best Half Foot Forward, and Hippee's and Housewives *''

The Breakfast Club ''The Breakfast Club'' is a 1985 American teen coming-of-age comedy-drama film written, produced, and directed by John Hughes. It stars Emilio Estevez, Paul Gleason, Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, and Ally Sheedy. The film t ...

'' (Student Adaptation) *''

The Laramie Project ''The Laramie Project'' is a 2000 play by Moisés Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project (specifically, Leigh Fondakowski, writer-director; Stephen Belber, Greg Pierotti, Barbara Pitts, Stephen Wangh, Amanda Gronich, Sara Lambert, ...

'' *'' The Field'' *Black Box Festival 2013 *'' What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?'' (Student Adaptation) 2013/2014 *First Timers' Festival. *'' Ubu Cuckolded'' *Sam (Student Written Play, by Deirdre Campbell) *'' Laughing Wild'' *''

The Pitchfork Disney ''The Pitchfork Disney'' is a 1991 stage play by Philip Ridley. It was his first professional stage work, having also produced work as a visual artist, novelist, filmmaker, and scriptwriter for film and radio. The play premiered at the Bush Theat ...

'' *'' Spike Heels'' *Black Box Festival 2014 2014/2015 *First Timers' Festival featuring performances of: Post-its (Notes on a Marriage), Diversions, Nina in the Morning, Sober (Student Written) and Brown. *Black Dogs (Student Written Play, by Michael Walsh) *''

Woyzeck ''Woyzeck'' () is a stage play written by Georg Büchner. Büchner wrote the play between July and October 1836, yet left it incomplete at his death in February 1837. The play first appeared in 1877 in a heavily edited version by Karl Emil Fr ...

'' *The Stage (Student Written Play, by James Goodman) *'' The Fire Raisers'' (Student Adaptation) *Black Box Festival 2015 2015/2016: *'' Doubt: A Parable'' *Debutante's Festival (Formerly known as First Timers' Festival), featuring Non Applicable (Student Written), Residual (Student Written), Once Upon A Rewrite (Student Written) Beer Girl, Memento Mori (Student Written), Secret Service, Bury Me Not (Student Written), Seven Jewish Children, Exhaustion From Having Sex With A Minor, Chairs, A Lonely Impulse of Delight, The Crime Done in Rhyme, Hear Me, A Matter of Husbands, What Happens Behind The Bar, and Armed Robbery For Dummies *Blackbox Festival 2016, featuring The Accident, Best Warm Beer in Brooklyn, Gum and Goo, Yesterday, Hardy Candy, Little Duck, Captive Audience, Good Working With Hands, The Dreaming, The Memeing of Life (Student Written), Getoutofmyface.com, and Time Flies 2016/2017: *Debutante's Festival, featuring The Angry Doctor, Heart of Hearing, A Blind Date, Accidents Will Happen, A Night At The Movies, Fairy Trial, Adoption, Triple Negative, and For The Greater Good *The One Acts Festival, featuring

Tom Stoppard Sir Tom Stoppard (born , 3 July 1937) is a Czech born British playwright and screenwriter. He has written for film, radio, stage, and television, finding prominence with plays. His work covers the themes of human rights, censorship, and politi ...

's '' Darkside (radio play)'' (Stage Adaption), Room 68 (Student Written Play, by Kevin Johnston), ''

Little Gem ''Little Gem'' is a play"''Little Gem'' by Elaine Murphy"
at gunanua.com written by Dublin playwright ...

'' by Elaine Murphy (Student Adaption), and ''

Ubu Roi ''Ubu Roi'' (; "Ubu the King" or "King Ubu") is a play by French writer Alfred Jarry, then 23 years old. It was first performed in Paris in 1896, by Aurélien Lugné-Poe's Théâtre de l'Œuvre at the Nouveau-Théâtre (today, the Théâtre de P ...

'' by

Alfred Jarry Alfred Jarry (; 8 September 1873 – 1 November 1907) was a French symbolist writer who is best known for his play ''Ubu Roi'' (1896). He also coined the term and philosophical concept of 'pataphysics. Jarry was born in Laval, Mayenne, France, ...

*''

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead ''Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead'' is an absurdist, existential tragicomedy by Tom Stoppard, first staged at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1966. The play expands upon the exploits of two minor characters from Shakespeare's ''Hamle ...

'' *Blackbox Festival, featuring You Do Love Me, Don't You?, The Hardy Boys and the Mystery of Where Babies Come From, Dance (Student Written), Chances in the Rain, The Crying Dame, Falling (Student Written), The Chatshow (Student Written by Stephen Shanley), Revolutionaries (Student Written), Family 2.0 2017/2018: *Debutante's Festival, featuring Only Nerds and Horses (Student Written by Brandon Farrelly), Interviews with Loneliness, No Matter (Student Written), The Wingman, Anger Management for Dogs, A.I. Guy, Rhetorical, The Goon, 101 Ways to Dump Someone in 5 Minutes, Hitting on Women 101, Duck?! and Desperate Gallery *Abby (Student Written Play, by James Browne) 2018/2019 *Debutante's Festival *DNA by

Dennis Kelly Dennis Kelly is a British scriptwriter for theatre, television and film. His play ''DNA'', first performed in 2007, became a core set-text for GCSE in 2010 and has been studied by approximately 400,000 students each year. He wrote the book ...

* Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead 2019/2020 *Debutante's Festival *Mercury in Retrograde (Student Written Play, by Kelly Rennick) *Aisling Aisling (Student Written Play, by Helen De Burca and Muireann Corkery)

Folklore and the Aula Ghost

There are numerous stories detailing the presence of a ghost in Aula Maxima. Simply known as the Aula Ghost, he is reputed to be the spirit of a projectionist, active in Maynooth in the 1940s. The projectionist was a seminarian and member of St Patrick's College who fell to his death from the projectionist's box in Aula Maxima. Many superstitions exist regarding treatment of Aula Maxima and the Aula Ghost. One such superstition centres on the ghost's apparent turning of a chair placed over the projection box to face away from the stage if he does not like a performance, or the manner in which the staging of the performance was conducted.

References

{{Theatres in Ireland Theatres completed in 1893 Buildings and structures in County Kildare Maynooth St Patrick's College, Maynooth Maynooth University Theatres in the Republic of Ireland

History

Dramatic performances

Folklore and the Aula Ghost

See also

References