An Post honours Druid's 50th anniversary
23 July 2025
Druid Co-Founder Marie Mullen and Druid Ensemble members Aaron Monaghan and Marty Rea; photo by Andrew Downes / Xposure.
Two special stamps commemorating the 50th anniversary of Druid, one of Ireland’s most renowned theatre companies, were unveiled at The Mick Lally Theatre in Galway today.
The dramatic stamp pair captures scenes from Druid performances. The ‘N’ national rate stamp (€1.65), features actors Marty Rea and Aaron Monaghan in Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot (2016) while the ‘W’ international rate stamp (€2.65) shows actor Marie Mullen in DruidGregory (2020). Marie was one of the founding members of Druid alongside artistic director Garry Hynes and the late Mick Lally.
Stamp designs by Atelier David Smith in black, red and gold, both feature original photography by Matthew Thompson. Both stamps and a special limited-edition envelope are available from Thursday 24 July at main post offices and from anpost.com/Druid, with free delivery.
Founded in 1975, Druid is a theatre company ‘anchored in the West of Ireland’ producing plays both new and old, with daring confidence and creative flair. Druid has created a rich legacy of hundreds of diverse productions from both established and emerging dramatist and has toured communities all over the island of Ireland and internationally, with audiences in the UK, the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Hong Kong.
Patrick O’Donovan TD, Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport said that a commemorative stamp issue is one of the highest honours the Irish state can bestow upon an individual or group. “Druid has shone for Ireland at home and across the globe, working with established and emerging writers, actors, producers and technical crew, producing world-class work that challenges, surprises and entertains audiences.”
Garry Hynes, Co-founder and Artistic Director of Druid welcomed the stamps saying, “On behalf of Druid’s co-founder Marie Mullen and the whole Druid team, I wish to express sincere thanks to An Post for this incredible honour. When Marie and I co-founded Druid in 1975 with our dear departed friend and colleague, Mick Lally, we could never have imagined that we would be celebrating our 50th anniversary and certainly not with two commemorative stamps from An Post. Druid is a small theatre company on the west coast of Ireland that has, over the past five decades, travelled all round the world. I hope that these two wonderful stamps will make similar journeys in the weeks and months to come.”
Anna McHugh, An Post Head of Communications said “These special stamps and first day of issue envelope will be appreciated by everyone with an interest in Irish Theatre, and most particularly in the extraordinary people who founded, fuelled and inspired Druid through its first 50 years.”
