A HUB OF ART AND CULTURE
The town of Carrick-on-Suir has attracted artists for many generations, both as a subject and as a place to live, with its beautiful surrounding landscape, rich culture and heritage. Of course, for many artists those two things inevitably become fused together, the spirit of the surroundings naturally seeps into the work itself.
Carrick-on-Suir boasts four noteworthy cultural groups; two award-winning performing arts groups housed in their own magnificent theatre venues, a vibrant commercial arts collective & creative enterprise, and a dynamic writers’ collective, all situated in and adjacent to the Ormond Castle Quarter - the historic and cultural beating heart of the town.
Brewery Lane Theatre and Arts Centre
Starting at the newly renovated Ormond Castle and Tudor Manor House, along the Butler Trail, one can meander down to the Brewery Lane Theatre and Arts Centre, a hidden gem located down a medieval heritage laneway. Step inside and you will find yourself in an intimate 75-seater theatre space. As soon as the performance begins, this intimacy will make you feel like you are part of the set!
This space was formerly a section of the malt house of Feehan’s Brewery, which closed in 1910 and was taken over by Smithwicks, who used it as a storehouse until the 1940s. Carrick-on-Suir Drama Group bought the building in the late 1970s and with a lot of work and dedication converted the old store into the present-day theatre. Established in 1955, the Drama Group opened Brewery Lane Theatre in 1980 as their permanent home. For seventy years this highly-regarded theatre company has provided top-class entertainment to the people of Carrick-on-Suir and its hinterland, and has travelled and won many awards in drama festivals nationwide. The group has consistently produced a standard of amateur theatre drama for the local community that rivals any professional theatre company, and has nurtured generations of young acting talent in the town. Developed by the Drama Group’s members over the past five decades, Brewery Lane Theatre and Arts Centre has become a unique and beloved cultural venue. Audiences from around the south-east continually attest to the special experience it is to attend a live play or concert in this intimate auditorium. This venue is the heartbeat of the town’s community arts; continually hosting award-winning amateur drama productions, a vibrant film club, monthly open-mic spoken word events, tearoom sessions that welcome world-class musicians, acclaimed creative writing weekend and workshop series, poetry & literature reading nights, folk music sessions, visual art workshops and exhibitions. It is also the main venue for the Annual Clancy Brothers Music & Arts Events and so much more. Click Here to view Brewery Lane Theatre website.
The Tudor Artisan Hub, Arts Collective & Creative Enterprise
Just a few short steps away, towards the Main Street, you can visit the vibrant and quirky, Tudor Artisan Hub; an Aladdin’s cave of creative treasures, an eclectic collective of over 100 artists from Carrick- on-Suir, the Suir and Linguan Valley regions and beyond. It has five rooms, including galleries spread over two floors and it is brimming with unique ‘one-off’ handcrafted products, stunning original visual art, in a space teeming with character and charm.
Housed in a former Technical Institute built circa 1910, located steps from the Ormond Castle and Tudor Manor House, the River Suir Blueway and nestled between two award-winning theatres, partnering and collaborating with both theatre communities, the Tudor Artisan Hub links the old world charm of Brewery Lane Theatre & Arts Centre - home of the Brewery Lane Drama Group - with the new pulsating Strand Theatre - a deluxe 360-seated theatre venue, which is home to the Carrick-on-Suir Musical Society.
The Hub, which opened its doors in May 2014, was the brainchild of Linda Fahy and has quickly become the nerve centre and link for many cultural endeavours in the town. It is a dynamic, energetic commercial place that engages with, and supports, new emerging talent as well as established artists across all disciplines, with an ethos of inclusivity. It is a place where creative like-minded people, with a common vision come together and collectively initiate and bring to fruition new and exciting projects.
Click Here to access all the Hub’s online platforms.
The Strand Theatre, home to the renowned Carrick-on-Suir Musical Society
Adjacent to the Tudor Artisan Hub, on Dillon Bridge, is the lavish 360-seater Strand Theatre. Formerly a cinema, the renovated space first opened its doors in 2008. The Strand Theatre’s primary aim is to provide a “theatrical state of the art facility” for the people of Carrick-on-Suir and its hinterland, that incorporates a theatre, rehearsal rooms, a dance studio, meeting rooms and a set construction workshop. The Strand Theatre is home to the renowned multi-award-winning Carrick-on-Suir Musical Society. Founded in 1943, the Musical Society has provided eighty-one years of entertainment, with 130 productions. The Musical Society also boasts a top-class Performance Art Academy School for Children and Youth.
The Carrick-on-Suir Musical Society Performing Arts Academy is a dynamic hub for nurturing young local talent in the performing arts. Established in 2008 to provide high-quality training in music, dance, and drama, the Academy serves as an incubator for aspiring performers of all ages. With a focus on fostering creativity and building confidence, the Academy offers a range of classes and workshops led by experienced professionals. Students have the opportunity to participate in productions, showcasing their skills in a supportive and professional environment. The Academy is an extension of the Carrick-on-Suir Musical Society’s long-standing tradition of excellence in the performing arts, contributing to the cultural vibrancy of the community. Currently, there are 120 Children and teens attending the academy.
Brewery Lane Drama Players and Carrick-on-Suir Musical Society have won over 200 awards regionally and nationally in numerous categories over the decades including All-Ireland Drama Festivals, AIMS , Choral Festivals, the Wexford International Light Opera Festival and Waterford News and Stars Green Room.
Click Here to access more information about the Musical Society.
Brewery Lane Drama Players and Carrick-on-Suir Musical Society have won over 200 awards regionally and nationally in numerous categories over the decades including All-Ireland Drama Festivals, AIMS , Choral Festivals, the Wexford International Light Opera Festival and Waterford News and Stars Green Room.
Click Here to access more information about the Musical Society.
Since its inception in 2010, ‘Writing Changes Lives’ Writers’ collective led by Margaret O’Brien has been a beacon for writers, encouraging and nurturing the literary arts, providing a supportive community for writers to hone their craft and share their work with wider audiences. Margaret co-founded The Story House Ireland (2014 – 2018) and formerly lectured in the Sociology of Adult Literacy and latterly, English Literature and Creative Writing, at Waterford Institute of Technology, now the South East Technological University. She is founding editor of the international literary journal, Trasna. Margaret founded and curated the Brewery Lane Writers’ Weekend for a decade from 2013-2023, bringing professional and aspiring writers together in Carrick-on-Suir from all over Ireland and further afield. She started and continues to host the monthly open-mic Poetry Plus sessions in Brewery Lane Tearooms, which have been ongoing for over 15 years. Margaret also runs various writing workshops in person and online, often with invited guest writers. Her dynamic writers’ collective, ‘Writing Changes Lives’, has an international reach. She has witnessed the power of creativity and its transformative effect both personally and in her facilitation work. She is affiliated with Amherst Writers & Artists in the US, with a remit that ‘writing as an art form belongs to all people’. Her writing has been published in a range of publications, nationally and internationally.
Margaret has collaborated with the Tudor Artisan Hub Arts Collective since it opened its door in 2014 and together, the Hub and Writing Changes Lives have engaged in many exciting and transformative creative projects in the community over the last 10 years.
Click Here to view Margaret’s website.
Collectively these four Arts organisations/collectives, all within close proximity to each other, showcase the very best of Irish Arts and Culture in theatre, musicals, music, visual arts, film, writing and crafts. Perhaps there is nowhere in Ireland where one would find such excellence in the Arts Scene, let alone in a small market town like Carrick-on-Suir, much of it sustained over decades by committed volunteers on the ground. Carrick-on-Suir is certainly a place with a thriving enviable world-class arts scene.
