ABOUT

Founded in 1980 by students of English at the University of Tübingen in southern Germany, the group has become an institution of Tübingen cultural life (says the local press!), exploring the length, breadth and depth of Irish drama written in the English language.

The group comprises an element of the Irish and hibernophile community in the area, ex-students who keep in touch and make occasional stage appearances, guest students from all sorts of countries and, still the main body, German students of English.

All in all, well over 300 actors and actresses have trodden the boards in these past thirty years (there is a list of actors for those who are interested). This has always meant a lot of fluctuation, but luckily we have a core of activists providing the necessary continuity. Of course we often found ourselves in the position Michael O'hAodha pinned down once: "... too many of our amateur societies are blest with nine or ten women mad to get on the stage and three or four men mad to get off it".

Though we may be based in Tübingen, we do not allow ourselves to be geographically defined or confined by the city limits: we have played the length and the breadth of Germany, and in the North of England, and even at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. There are even legends of a production in Tacoma (Washington State) under our banner! And though we may be based in Anglo-Irish literature, we are not afraid to transcend this boundary either, having more recently experimented with drama from neighbouring lands.

Eva Schwendemann

Artistic director