Mick Doyle

Bord Gáis Energy Theatre

Bord Gáis Energy Theatre endeavours to present a diverse programme of world-class entertainment and an unparalleled theatrical experience in an architecturally majestic setting. The theatre offers the best of Broadway and the West End alongside new, niche and local productions to as wide an audience as possible. The curtain rose for its inaugural performance on March 18, 2010, with The Russian State Ballet featuring stars from the Bolshoi performing Swan Lake. Since then Bord Gáis Energy Theatre has welcomed almost five million audience members from across Ireland and the world. Over 500 productions have graced the stage, raising the curtain on an estimated 3,436 performances. Bord Gáis Energy Theatre is owned by Crownway Investments - a private family investment company owned by John and Bernie Gallagher. The theatre commenced building in January 2007 and opened in March 2010. Located in the heart of Grand Canal Dock, Bord Gáis Energy Theatre is an iconic landmark designed by the world-renowned architect Daniel Libeskind. Libeskind describes his vision: "The theatre overlooks a public plaza. Like a grand outdoor lobby, the plaza invites the public to view the soaring glass façade of the theatre much like a glass curtain, which tilts back in space in diagonal pleats. The public can gaze into its Piranesian interior of horizontal ramps and diagonal pilotes. The design concept for the theatre is, in fact, stages—the theatre's ‘real' stage and the plaza as another, equally real but more provisional and changing stage. At night, when the second floor lobby of the theatre is crowded with theatre-goers and the theatres tilting façade and plaza are illuminated, the latter ‘stage' offers a particularly dramatic experience." The theatre is a striking cultural presence in Ireland. The drama of the architecture mirrors the spectacular performance art that takes place within.