MU in Kildare stages Irish language comedy to celebrate Seachtain na Gaeilge

Maynooth University’s Seachtain na Gaeilge or Irish Language Week 2025 is celebrating the history and heritage of Irish language drama with the staging of the 1904 play, 'An Dochtúir', on Wednesday, March 5 and Thursday, March 6.

A fresh take on the play - which shows in the Kildare university's Aula Maxima on South Campus - this production has something for everyone, whatever their relationship with the Irish language.

It showcases not only the acting talents of the cast but also features traditional Irish singing and dancing and musicianship, as well as contemporary hits by the likes of Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan and Kneecap.

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A bilingual musical comedy, the play weaves together satirical and farcical elements in telling the story of Patrick O'Leary, a naïve and unsuspecting young doctor from Dublin who follows his Gaelic revivalist sweetheart Máire to Connemara.

He takes up a new position at an isolated dispensary without a single word of Irish, not realising for a moment that his new patients won't speak a single word of English.

It forms part of a week-long celebration of Irish, which runs from Monday, March 3 to Thursday, March 6 on campus, and includes a host of other events including a screening of the film Kneecap with English subtitles, a lunchtime concert with the Trad Ensemble and a céilí.

Maynooth University is also proud to host an exhibition on the pioneering Irish language theatre, An Damer, established on Dublin’s St Stephen’s Green by Gael Linn in 1955.

Tickets for 'An Dochtúir' available at Eventbrite.