President Higgins hosts Druid at Áras an Uachtaráin
22 September 2025
President Higgins and Sabina Higgins with the cast of Riders to the Sea at Áras an Uachtaráin.
President Higgins hosts Druid at Áras an Uachtaráin for Culture Night to celebrate Druid’s 50th anniversary.
On Friday last, 19 September, Druid delivered a special performance of their new production of J. M. Synge’s Riders to the Sea at Áras an Uachtaráin as part of this year’s Culture Night.
Invited by President Higgins in honour of Druid’s 50th anniversary, the Galway theatre company performed for an audience who had won tickets to the event via a public lottery. Following the performance, Druid’s co-founders Garry Hynes and Marie Mullen participated in a post-show discussion, hosted by celebrated archivist Catriona Crowe.
Michael D. Higgins, President of Ireland and Patron of Druid: ‘I am privileged to acknowledge Druid’s immeasurable contributions to Irish theatre, to the artistic life of our nation, and indeed the cultural heritage that defines us as a people. On this special anniversary, may I express my profound gratitude to all who have shaped Druid over the past five decades, past and present, to its founders, its creative teams, its actors and its audiences. May you continue to shine brightly in the decades ahead, carrying forward that wonderful spirit of innovation, excellence, and artistic courage that has defined Druid from its inception.’
Garry Hynes, Druid’s Co-Founder and Artistic Director: ‘We were so deeply honoured to be invited to Áras an Uachtaráin by President Higgins and to contribute to his final Culture Night as President of Ireland. I have had the privilege of knowing President Higgins since he was my professor at the University of Galway in the early 1970s. Throughout my life in theatre, as a Galway woman and a citizen of Ireland, he has been the lodestar of our lives. Through his beliefs and instincts towards a moral public life, he has enriched the soul and spirit of all of our lives.’
Druid’s production of Riders to the Sea premiered this July at Galway International Arts Festival in a double bill with Shakespeare’s Macbeth as the centrepiece of Druid’s 50th anniversary programme. The double bill earned multiple five-star reviews and played to sold-out houses at Druid’s home in Galway, The Mick Lally Theatre.
Following this special performance of Riders to the Sea, Druid will next tour Macbeth to the Gaiety Theatre as part of Dublin Theatre Festival. Performances begin later this week and tickets are very limited.
The company’s 50th anniversary programme continues in the winter with a month-long run in New York of their critically acclaimed production of Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. Other upcoming anniversary events including a symposium and exhibition at University of Galway and a new history of Druid Theatre, fully illustrated with images from the Druid archive, written by Professor Patrick Lonergan and published by the Lilliput Press.