The Everyman Theatre in Cork is one of the city's most important cultural hotspots. It has a long history and I have just written an Irish Diary in the Irish Times newspaper looking at that rich history. Read it here.
The theatre was opened in 1897 and operated as a variety theatre initially. These were very popular at the time and touring artists would go from theatre to theatre around Britain and Ireland. Film has played an important role in the building's history. A short film was shown on the opening night and the building served as a cinema for decades after the theatre closed. It became a theatre again when the Everyman Playhouse took it over at the start of the 1990s. There's a video here on the RTÉ Archives website of the Playhouse in 1974.
The Everyman Playhouse had been based in the CYMS Hall and the Father Mathew Hall. It was a big undertaking to be moving to such a big 900-seat venue but as Dan Donovan says in his biography Ward Anderson, the owners of the Palace Cinema, sold the building for £120,000, payable at £10,000 per annum. There's a video here from March 1990 on the re-opening of the theatre.
Some of the Everyman directors were worried that it was too big and too dilapidated but a lot work has been put into the building over the years and it is now in the best shape it has been since it opened almost 130 years ago. Long may it continue.
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