The Irish Playography is defined as a comprehensive catalogue of new Irish plays produced since the formation of the National Theatre.

The Irish Playography not only defines the Irish theatrical repertoire for the first time but aims to revitalising that repertoire by reintroducing many lost scripts and providing a gateway for locating and clearing rights for all existing scripts. As the Irish Playography allows writers to attach downloadable versions of their plays to the database, it is also acts as an online script repository as we move forward.

The first phase (1975-2003) of the Playography project was launched in December 2003, following two and half years of extensive research. The second phase 1950 - 2005 was launched in April 2005. The third and final phase (1904-1949) was launched in July 2006. A list of all Playography staff and contributors is included on the Credits page.

The Irish Playography - Findings Report 1904-2006 can be viewed as a pdf.

The Irish Playography Project has been developed and produced by the Irish Theatre Institute (formerly known as Theatre Shop). The Irish Theatre Institute exists to maximise creative opportunities and resources for performing artists and producers in an all island and international context. The Irish Theatre Institute promotes Irish Theatre, Dance and Opera companies, plays, playwrights and theatre artists through web based information provision, publication, international networking and promotion. The Irish Theatre Institute also publishes the Irish Theatre Handbook and produces www.irishtheatreonline.com

The Irish Theatre Institute is funded by the Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon, with project support from Culture Ireland and Foras Na Gaeilge.

The Irish Playography contains a comprehensive listing for each new play (including new versions, adaptations and translations) produced by professional theatre companies, venues, festivals, commercial producers and once-off-producers in Ireland from 1904 to the present. The database also includes those plays produced by fringe (unsubsidised) companies and by semi-professional organisations, where the work is deemed to be of particular significance to the Irish repertoire. The work of significant Irish playwrights whose work has been premiered abroad, is also included.

For various reasons it was not deemed possible to include the work of amateur companies, community theatre, pageants, readings, semi-staged productions, pantomimes, plays commissioned but not produced, plays published but not produced, revues, cabaret, récitations, sketches, performance art, stand-up comedy and puppet shows.

All decisions relating to the research parameters have been agreed in consultation with the project's Advisory Panel

The contents of this website will be updated on an on-going basis, as new Irish plays are performed at home and abroad.

Where gaps exist in the information provided, we invite users with knowledge of the missing information to email us at playography@irishtheatreinstitute.ie. We are particularly anxious to hear from writers or other rights holder whom we have not yet located.

The information contained in the Irish Playography is presented in as neutral and objective a manner as possible. In order to facilitate searching by subject matter, however, two particular searches have been included in the advanced search page: the first is a free text search which searches the title, sub-title, setting and synopsis of each play for specific words or phrases; the second is a drop-down list of pre-determined words that have attached to individual plays by Playography staff. We would caution all users that both searches are limited by design and, despite their obvious uses, do introduce a measure of subjectivity.

At present, the Irish Playography only includes Irish plays written in English. The Irish Theatre Institute will research and document the repertoire of Irish language plays, in conjunction with our partners on this project Foras Na Gaeilge, to be completed and online by 2007.

The Irish Theatre Institute has published all the information it has gathered on the Irish Playography website. The organisation does not have the resources to assist with individual requests for additional information.

While The Irish Theatre Institute has taken every care in collating information for this website, it does not assume and hereby disclaims any liability to any party for loss or damage caused by errors or omissions in www.irishplayography.com

The Theatre Shop database has been designed by Theatre Shop's technical partners, the Dublin-based IT company, X Communications Ltd. The scale of the database required an enterprise-level, industry-standard database solution. Microsoft SQL Server 2000 was chosen on the basis of easy integration with Microsoft's Internet Information Server (IIS), the standard Internet server software supplied by Microsoft.

International telephone codes are used at all times on this website. Locally, to phone Northern Ireland from the Republic of Ireland, users must dial the direct code (048) instead of the international code + 44 28.