The Torch Theatre was a

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

located in

Capel Street Capel Street is a street in Dublin, Ireland. On 20 May 2022, it was made traffic-free, following a campaign by people who wanted to improve the quality of life on the street. It is now the longest traffic-free street in Dublin. History Capel ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

, which operated from 1935 to 1941.

Establishment

The Torch Theatre was founded by husband and wife team Charles L. Keogh and Evelyn Lund and opened on February 27, 1935. The building had previously been used as the headquarters of the United Trades Council, with the meeting room being converted into the theatre space. Another founding member was the artist Lilian Davidson, who under the stage name "Jennifer Maud", designed scenery and was a co-director in 1936.

Associations

The semi-professional company that was based out of the Torch Theatre specialised in productions of melodrama and opened with a production of ''

The Colleen Bawn ''The Colleen Bawn, or The Brides of Garryowen'' is a melodramatic play written by Irish playwright Dion Boucicault. It was first performed at Laura Keene's Theatre, New York, on 27 March 1860 with Laura Keene playing Anne Chute and Boucicau ...

''. The production later focused less on melodrama and more on light theatre, pantomime and comedies. Other plays the theatre produced were '' A Royal Divorce'', '' In Memory of the Dead'', '' Nell Gwynne'', and ''

Arrah-na-Pogue ''Arrah-na-Pogue'', also known as ''Arrah-na-Pogue; or the Wicked Wedding'', is a play in 3 acts by Dion Boucicault. Along with ''The Colleen Bawn'' (1860) and ''The Shaughraun'' (1874), it is considered one of the three major Irish plays penned ...

''. Some of the actors who took part in these productions were F. J. McCormick, Eve Panton, and

Harry Brogan Harry Brogan (5 May 1904 – 20 May 1977) was an Irish actor often in comic roles. He was part of the Abbey Theatre from 1939 - 1976. 1939–1976: Abbey Theatre Harry Brogan was active in Irish theatre and a permanent member of the Abbey The ...

. In 1936

Cyril Cusack Cyril James Cusack (26 November 1910 – 7 October 1993) was an Irish stage and screen actor with a career that spanned more than 70 years. During his lifetime, he was considered one of Ireland’s finest thespians, and was renowned for his in ...

directed and set designed a season of

Irish language Irish ( Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was ...

plays.

Closure

The theatre was largely unprofitable and operated sporadically until 1941. The final production was a revue ''Sensations of 1940'', directed by Dan Rockford. There is now a preservation order on the facade of the building.

References

{{Coord missing, County Dublin Theatres in Dublin (city)