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theatre · Thursday 2 July 2026 · 9:00am 
Scripts: Ireland's Playwriting Festival 2026
At Birr Theatre and Arts Centre · Oxmantown Mall, Birr, Co. Offaly
At Birr Theatre and Arts Centre · Oxmantown Mall, Birr, Co. Offaly
Scripts: Ireland’s Playwriting Festival is the country’s leading celebration of new stage writing, and its 12th edition comes to Birr from 2 to 5 July 2026 with the theme Desire. This is not a passive theatre weekend - it is four days of craft, argument and discovery for anyone who cares about where Irish drama goes next. Writers, directors, actors, and theatregoers who want to be in the room where something is made will find it worth the trip.
Three playwrights selected from a record 183 submissions spend a residential week developing new work under the mentorship of Eugene O’Brien - playwright and screenwriter behind Eden, Heaven and Pure Mule. The 2026 selection: Liza Costello (Moate) presents In The Garden, a two-hander about class and power; Liam McCarthy (Limerick) brings Mam and Love and Woo, in which a community volunteer arrives into a quiet life; Elaine Maguire O’Connor (Dublin) offers Lay Your Hands On Me, a bedsit story about desire and the line between healing and danger.
Workshops and industry sessions run across all four days. The Scripts Scholar pass (120 euro) covers everything including a chance to observe a live mentoring session - only 12 available. Individual day passes and performance tickets are also on offer. The festival closes Sunday 5 July with Breakfast Bites, an intimate conversation with Mark O’Rowe (Normal People, Terminus), followed by Nurtured New Works - staged readings by professional actors and the announcement of the awarded playwright.
Birr Theatre and Arts Centre is on Oxmantown Mall in the centre of Birr, in a restored Victorian building dating to 1888. By road, Birr is roughly 25km south of Tullamore on the M6 corridor - about 90 minutes from Dublin. Bus Eireann connects Birr from Dublin and Limerick. On-street parking is available around the Mall and in the town centre.
Birr Castle’s walled estate is a short walk from the theatre, and the Great Telescope in the grounds was once the largest in the world. There is more to see in Birr and across Co. Offaly.
Heading to Birr Theatre and Arts Centre in Birr? Offaly has plenty more to see. Read the Birr area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.