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theatre · Friday 28 August 2026 · 7:30pm 
Mirandolina at the Abbey Theatre
At Abbey Theatre · 26/27 Lower Abbey Street, Dublin 1
At Abbey Theatre · 26/27 Lower Abbey Street, Dublin 1
Marina Carr’s Mirandolina is the kind of production that comes around once in a decade - a world premiere at Ireland’s national theatre, performed in Italian with English surtitles, by a company that has already toured Venice, Padua, Verona, and Rijeka before arriving in Dublin. It is a rare chance to see European theatre of genuine ambition on the Abbey Stage, and it runs for nine performances only. Theatregoers with an appetite for sharp contemporary writing, international ensemble work, and an evening that expects something of them will find this unmissable.
Carr takes Carlo Goldoni’s 18th-century comedy La Locandiera and sets it in modern Dublin. The original play was already a radical piece - a self-possessed innkeeper who outsmarts every man who tries to possess her - and Carr pushes that energy forward into something more urgent. Mirandolina is a young woman navigating a world full of admirers and predators, and the play does not soften that tension into easy resolution.
The production is a three-way co-production between the Abbey Theatre, Teatro Stabile del Veneto in Italy, and the Croatian National Theatre HNK Rijeka, and it forms part of the cultural programme around Ireland’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2026. The nine-strong Italian cast includes Gaja Masicale in the title role, with set and costume design by Katie Davenport, lighting by Paul Keogan, and sound by Anna Mullarkey. Caitríona McLaughlin, the Abbey’s Artistic Director, directs.
The show runs Monday to Saturday at 7:30pm, with a Saturday matinee at 2:00pm. Surtitles are in English throughout.
The Abbey Theatre is on Lower Abbey Street in Dublin city centre, a five-minute walk from O’Connell Street. The Luas Red Line stops at Abbey Street, which is effectively at the door. Both Connolly DART and Tara Street DART stations are within a ten-minute walk. If you are driving, Q-Park Irish Life Centre and Q-Park The Spire are the nearest car parks; the Abbey’s box office can provide a discount code for online bookings at either.
Lower Abbey Street puts you within easy reach of the northside’s quays, the GPO, and a string of good places to eat before a show. There is more to see in Dublin and across Co. Dublin.
Heading to Abbey Theatre in Dublin? Dublin has plenty more to see. Read the Dublin area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.