Recent news articles highlighting the Irish arts scene have featured an exciting development for fans of modern theatre and classic literature. Lesley Conroy, an Assistant Lecturer in Early Childhood Education at TU Dublin, is set to premiere her debut full-length stage production, EPIPHANY, at the highly anticipated Bloomsday Festival 2026. This production represents a significant artistic milestone for Conroy, who is already widely recognized as an IFTA-nominated actress with prominent screen credits in productions like Bad Sisters, Maxine, and Fair City. By stepping into the role of playwright and lead performer, Conroy bridges her academic career at TU Dublin with her professional life on the stage, offering audiences in Ireland a deeply personal and reimagined theatrical experience.
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The Cultural Significance of the Bloomsday Festival in Ireland
To understand the weight of this premiere, one must first recognize the cultural importance of the Bloomsday Festival in Ireland. Celebrated annually on June 16th, Bloomsday honors the life and works of James Joyce, specifically commemorating the events of his modernist masterpiece, Ulysses. Across Ireland, and particularly in Dublin, the festival transforms the city into a living homage to Joyce’s literary landscape. Readings, reenactments, and theatrical adaptations take over pubs, streets, and professional theatres. Premiering a new play during this festival requires a production that not only respects Joyce’s legacy but also brings a fresh, compelling perspective to his work. EPIPHANY achieves this by shifting the focus from Joyce’s most famous protagonist, Leopold Bloom, to a central female character from his earlier short story collection, Dubliners.
Reimagining James Joyce’s The Dead for the Modern Stage
EPIPHANY is a bold reimagining of Joyce’s celebrated story, The Dead, which is widely considered one of the greatest short stories ever written in the English language. Traditionally, the narrative is heavily anchored by the perspective of Gabriel Conroy, focusing on his internal anxieties, his political missteps, and his eventual existential realization about the nature of life and death. Conroy’s play dismantles this traditional male-centric viewpoint.
Centering Gretta Conroy’s Voice
By placing Gretta Conroy at the absolute center of the narrative, EPIPHANY fundamentally alters the emotional landscape of the story. The play unfolds through Gretta’s eyes during the Misses Morkan’s annual supper party—a night characterized by music, dancing, and rigid social rituals. When a specific song from her past surfaces during the evening, it triggers a cascade of long-buried memories. Where Gabriel’s epiphany in the original text is about his own alienation and the inevitable approach of death, Gretta’s epiphany in this stage adaptation is rooted in tangible, lived experience. The production gives voice to the preoccupations of midlife, the complexities of motherhood, the realities of marriage, and the profound secrets women share with one another in the quiet hours of the morning.
Expanding the Female Perspective in the Joyce Canon
When discussing female characters in James Joyce’s work, the conversation almost exclusively turns to Molly Bloom and her famous soliloquy at the end of Ulysses. EPIPHANY deliberately steps outside this shadow. By expanding the female voice within the Joyce canon to include Gretta Conroy, the play challenges the historical marginalization of female characters in modernist literature. Set against the familiar backdrops of South County Dublin and the iconic Gresham Hotel, the narrative reclaims Gretta not just as a plot device meant to trigger Gabriel’s realization, but as a fully realized woman grappling with love, loss, and longing.
tenderfire Theatre Company: Amplifying Female Narratives
EPIPHANY is presented by tenderfire, a newly founded theatre company established by Conroy herself. The creation of tenderfire stems from a clear and necessary artistic mission: to amplify female voices in emotionally charged narratives for both stage and screen. In an industry where female-driven stories are still fighting for equal representation, particularly in adaptations of classic literature, tenderfire serves as a vital new platform. By choosing to launch her company with an adaptation of a literary giant like Joyce, Conroy is making a statement that women’s perspectives are not peripheral to the great Irish literary tradition, but are instead essential to understanding it fully.
Share your experiences in the comments below regarding the representation of female characters in classic literature adaptations.
The Artistic Team Bringing EPIPHANY to Life
A production of this thematic weight requires a highly skilled creative team. Lesley Conroy leads the project not only as the writer but as the sole performer, a demanding feat that requires immense emotional stamina and physical presence. Her stage credentials are firmly established, having performed at many of Ireland’s leading venues, including The Abbey Theatre, the Everyman Theatre, and the Galway Town Hall Theatre. Her recent portrayal of Lady Macbeth in Volta Theatre Company’s production at the Wexford Opera House and Smock Alley Theatre further proves her capacity to command complex, tragic, and emotionally layered roles.
Direction and Design
Guiding the visual and emotional pacing of the production is acclaimed theatre and film director Fiana Toibin. Toibin’s career is notably diverse, spanning Broadway collaborations with esteemed actress Vanessa Redgrave, as well as extensive writing and directing for screen and stage on an international level. Her involvement ensures that EPIPHANY maintains a high standard of artistic rigor and global theatrical sensibility.
The creative team supporting Conroy and Toibin includes Assistant Director Sinead O’Connor Ringwood, Lighting Designer Cathy O’Carroll, Set and Costume Designer Dara Gill, Sound Designer Brian Dillon, and Musician Anne Marie Papin Labazordière. This collaborative ensemble is tasked with creating the intimate, atmospheric world of the Morkan sisters’ party, ensuring that the shift from joyous celebration to profound emotional introspection is seamlessly executed through technical and auditory design.
Performance Schedule and Venue Details for EPIPHANY
Audiences looking to attend this highly anticipated production should note the limited engagement schedule. Because of the intimate nature of the staging, tickets are expected to be in high demand.
Shows at The New Theatre
EPIPHANY opens at The New Theatre in Dublin as an official part of the Bloomsday Festival 2026. The run includes five shows only:
- Friday, 12th June at 7:30 PM
- Saturday, 13th June at 7:30 PM
- Saturday, 13th June at 3:00 PM (Matinee)
- Monday, 15th June at 7:30 PM (Bloomsday)
- Tuesday, 16th June at 7:30 PM
Ticket prices are set at €22.50, with a concession rate of €20 available.
Transfer to dlr Mill Theatre, Dundrum
Following its run at The New Theatre, the production will transfer to the dlr Mill Theatre in Dundrum for an additional three performances:
- Thursday, 18th June at 7:30 PM
- Friday, 19th June at 7:30 PM
- Saturday, 20th June at 7:30 PM
- Saturday, 20th June at 2:30 PM (Matinee)
Ticket prices remain consistent at €22.50, with a €20 concession rate.
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Bridging Academic and Professional Artistic Practice
Lesley Conroy’s dual role as a TU Dublin lecturer and a professional playwright/actress highlights a crucial aspect of modern higher education: the value of practitioner-educators. In the TU Dublin School of Education, where Conroy teaches Early Childhood Education, her direct engagement with the arts provides students with a unique perspective. The themes explored in EPIPHANY—human development, emotional intelligence, the impact of early memories, and the complexities of family dynamics—are deeply relevant to the study of early childhood. When educators actively participate in their respective fields at a high level, they bring current, real-world insights back into the classroom, enriching the curriculum and providing students with tangible examples of professional excellence.
This synergy between TU Dublin and the broader Irish cultural ecosystem demonstrates how academic institutions serve as incubators for the arts. Faculty members who are active artists contribute to the cultural vitality of Ireland, while simultaneously elevating the reputation of the university.
Why EPIPHANY is a Must-See Theatrical Event
EPIPHANY is not merely a literary adaptation; it is a critical intervention into how classic Irish literature is consumed and interpreted. By filtering the events of The Dead through Gretta Conroy’s consciousness, Lesley Conroy has created a piece of theatre that is both a faithful homage to Joyce’s text and a radical subversion of it. The play addresses universal themes—love, loss, longing, and the passage of time—but does so through a specifically female lens that has historically been denied the spotlight.
For theatre enthusiasts, Joyce scholars, and anyone interested in compelling solo performances, EPIPHANY offers a rare opportunity to see a familiar story made entirely new. The collaboration between tenderfire, the Bloomsday Festival, The New Theatre, and the dlr Mill Theatre underscores the strength of Dublin’s theatrical community in supporting ambitious, thought-provoking work.
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As the Bloomsday Festival 2026 approaches, EPIPHANY stands out as a premier cultural event in Ireland. It promises an evening of intense emotional resonance, masterful acting, and sharp literary insight. Secure your tickets early to witness this remarkable debut and experience the enduring power of Joyce’s characters, brilliantly reimagined for the contemporary stage.
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