Digital Dramaturgies: Irish Theatre’s Pandemic Response

During the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, Irish cultural output moved online. Irish theatre production and practice struggled to adjust to the lack of an “in-person” audience as the concept of “liveness” was re-interrogated through years of online performance. In Performing Social Change on the Island of Ireland, I consider how “a rise in online cultural output re-drew previously fixed boundaries of access [in Irish theatre practice], creating a new online collective audience that transcended geographical place” (2023, p. 139). However, the rich tapestry of online performance practice that emerged during these pandemic times has ceased to continue in a re-opened society. This chapter seeks to investigate the relationship between online and in-person performance in Irish theatre and aims to consider why online theatre practice was sidelined (almost) entirely post-pandemic. This chapter will consider how previously wrought hierarchies of “realness” and “liveness” have re-emerged in post-pandemic performance practice. By examining a selection of online performances, and considering the social, political, and cultural contexts of cultural production during and post-lockdown, this chapter will investigate the impact and significance of online performance practice on the Irish cultural landscape.