Photo: Ste Murray
Eoghan is an artist based in Dublin, Ireland. He works primarily in theatre and opera on new and established texts. He is an associate artist with Once Off Productions.
Some of the projects Eoghan is currently developing are Konstantin (after The Seagull) and SISTER with Lauren Moukarzel and Once Off Production with funding from the Arts Council of Ireland Arts Grant Award. For up to date information check the current section of the website.
A selection of directing credits include: Guest Host Stranger Ghost (Dublin Theatre Festival, 2024), Theatre for One: This Island (Landmark Productions/Cork Midsummer Festival, 2024) The Rising of the Moon (Bewleys Cafe Theatre, 2023), Haus of Fash Hun (Dublin Fringe Festival, 2023), Songs from the Soil (The Ark Theatre, 2023), Good. Orderly. Direction. (Dublin Theatre Festival/Axis, 2022), about : blank (Civic Theatre/Dublin Theatre Festival 2021), Rescue Annie (Dublin Fringe DUETS/Peacock Theatre, 2021), Theatre For One (and a Little One) (Landmark/Abbey Theatre, 2020), 14 Voices from the Bloodied Field: Michael Feery (Abbey Theatre/GAA, 2020), Bodies of Water (Dublin Fringe Festival, 2019), Midsummer (Project Arts Centre, 2019), Theatre For One (Cork Midsummer Festival, 2019), INFINITY (Dublin Fringe Festival and Tour, 2018/19), Panned (Project Arts Centre, 2018), Nora (Dublin Theatre Festival, 2017), This Lime Tree Bower (Project Arts Centre/Irish Tour, 2016), The Boyz of Harcourt Street (Smock Alley Theatre, 2016), The Matador (Bewleys Café Theatre, 2015), Panned (Theatre Upstairs, 2015).
As a writer, Eoghan is currently working on Line Readings: Kathleen, Cathleen. In 2022, he spent some time with a group of artists thinking about Lady Gregory and WB Yeats’ play Kathleen (or Cathleen) ni Houlihan. The intended theatre production never happened. Line Readings: Cathleen, Kathleen is a reflection on the voices in the play, the voices in the room and the conversations they triggered afterwards. It received development support from a 2023 Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council Emerging Artist Bursary. Several pieces have been published or are forthcoming in Banshee, Cyphers, Poetry Scotland and An Áitiúil Anthology. In 2023, he completed a multiform book length work titled Uninhabited: Reflecting an Empty Stage. Conceived in a time when theatres were closed, it is a personal response to a crisis of art-form. Part poetry, photo essay, prose and performance text, it begins as exploration of absence and culminates in a performance for an uninhabited theatre. Its development and creation was facilitated through the 2020 IMMA Summer School, the 2021 Pan Pan International Mentorship Programme with Terry O'Connor, an Arts Council Bursary Award, and the 2022 Irish Writers Centre National Mentoring Programme supported by Dublin UNESCO City of Literature and Dublin City Libraries with Christodoulos Makris. Part II of the tryptic, A History of Multiplying, was published in full in the Belfield Literary Review Issue 2 and sections of Part III, The Bones Of It were published in Issue 19 of The Stoney Thursday and in minor literature[s].
A selection of credits as a lighting designer include Rescue Annie (Abbey Theatre, 2021), Northern Lights (Theatre Upstairs, 2018), Panned (Project Arts Centre, 2018) George Bush and Children (Project Arts Centre, 2017), The Man in Two Pieces, Hollow Ground (Theatre Upstairs, 2015), Leper+Chip (Theatre Upstairs/international tour 2014/15) and Stella Full of Storms (Theatre Upstairs/Irish tour, 2014/15).
As a dramaturg, Eoghan has worked with many writers, alongside work with the Abbey Theatre, Rough Magic Theatre Company, Dramaturgy Network Ireland and the UK-based organisation Burn Bright. Production credits include: Kiss Kiss Slap Slap (Chaos Factory/Dublin Fringe Festival, 2018), INFINITY (Dublin Fringe, 2018) with Nessa Matthews and Owen Wingrave (Opera nátional de Paris, 2016) directed by Tom Creed.
Since 2018, he has been associate director for Enda Walsh on productions with Landmark, Irish National Opera and the Abbey Theatre; and was the associate director with Corn Exchange Theatre Company from 2015 to 2020. He has worked with Enda Walsh on productions including SAFEHOUSE (Abbey Theatre, 2024), The Second Violinist (Galway International Arts Festival/DTF), Bluebeard's Castle (Dublin Theatre Festival), The First Child (Galway International Arts Festival/DTF) and Medicine (Galway International Arts Festival/Edinburgh International/DTF). He has also worked with Tom Creed a range of opera productions including Michael Gallen's Elsewhere (Irish Tour, 2024) Donnacha Dennehy's The Hunger (Abbey Theatre) and Antonio Lucio Vivaldi's Griselda (INO Irish Tour) and productions produced by Opera Theatre Company and the Royal Irish Academy of Music; and with Annie Ryan of Corn Exchange Theatre Company productions between 2012-15; and with Hamish Pirie for Shibboleth (Peacock Theatre, 2015) in the Abbey Theatre .
Eoghan has received multiple awards from the Arts Council of Ireland toward the development of his practise as an artist and the creation of his work. He is the inaugural Rough Magic Fellow with the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute. He was on the National Campaign for the Arts Steering Committee from 2016-22 and during which time the committee received the 2022 Irish Writers Guild Special Judges award for "special services to writers" and the 2022 Irish Time Theatre Awards Special Judges Award for “exceptional dedication to advocacy and political engagement on behalf of the arts, particularly during Covid." He is currently the Chair of Praxis: Artist Union of Ireland and a member of IETM, Theatre Forum, and Dramaturgs’ Network Ireland. He has a B.A. International (Honours) in Drama and English from UCD and an MFA (Distinction) in Theatre Directing from The Lir, National Academy of Dramatic Art. Eoghan is an Adjunct Teaching Fellow in Trinity College Dublin’s School of Creative Arts and The Lir, National Academy of Dramatic Art.
PRESS / AWARDS
GUEST HOST STRANGER GHOST
“clever, stage-surfing show.” **** The Guardian
“ingenious piece of fugitive vagabond theatre… witty, but an eery atmosphere… charming, disturbing and sad.” Arena, RTÉ Radio 1
"A genuinely original high concept […] an experiment worth indulging.” The Irish Times
“This is a play full of glimpses into real life. A curious metaphor of always feeling we are in the dark, but that wherever we go there is some form of light following us.” **** The Reviews Hub
"exhilarating … it is a privilege to experience such breadth of acting and writing talent" ***** Irish Examiner
"The brilliance of these shows lies in their containment. [...] one emerges both reluctant and elated" ***** The Irish Times
"Haus of Fash Hun is completely and utterly cracked – and in the best way. The duo’s exaggerated dramatics left the audience in stitches, and the show’s core message about fame, materialism and self-worth leaves some semblance of a moral to the onstage antics." The Irish Times
Nominated for the Best Design Ensemble at the Dublin Fringe Awards
"Intense, compelling and intimate (...) Eoghan Carrick’s nuanced direction ensures that this slow burn is not overworked, and a skilled ensemble deliver compelling and forceful performances. G.O.D. is a strikingly visceral production that should not be missed." **** Irish Times
“at the intersection of feminism, climate change and visual-arts…it’s a sly meditation on all we leave behind.” The Irish Times
“ Hugely intricate show and a beautiful and moving look at grief and the unknowable” Dublin City FM
Nominated for the Best Design Award (Dublin Fringe Festival, 2019): “For work that encompasses outstanding lighting, sound, scenic, projection, costume and overall design”
"an urgent antidote to watching the world through the mediation of a small screen [...] they create an exhilarating sense of aliveness." ***** The Guardian
It's uncomfortable and affecting. As it's designed to be. [...] it's a winner" ***** Irish Examiner
"Eoghan Carrick [...makes] the plays feel as immediate as a song. [...] If Theatre for One ever returns, it will be worth the wait for such transfixing experiences" ***** Irish Times
Nominated for the 2020 Irish Times Theatre Best Ensemble Award
"Its quietly spectacular...As directed by Eoghan Carrick, Infinity's - and therefore Matthews' - gentle force is to be reckoned with... the piece is a triumph on all levels." ***** Broadway World
"spectacular, witty, fascinating and captivating... In short, Infinity is exceptional." Fringe Reviews Must See Show
"Eoghan Carrick directs with plenty of tech style, but keeps the show's heart to the fore.” Katy Hayes, The Independent
Winner of the First Forthnight Award (Dublin Fringe Festival, 2018): “For work that challenges stigma and prejudice about mental health”
Winner of the Best Design Award (Dublin Fringe Festival, 2018): “For work that encompasses outstanding lighting, sound, scenic, projection, costume and overall design”
Nomination for the Best Performer Award (Dublin Fringe Festival, 2018)
"It is directed by Eoghan Carrick as a Bergmanesque battle of wills and souls." Helen Meany, The Guardian
"Eoghan Carrick directs with clarity of purpose and his judgment ... is perfect" Katy Hayes, Irish Independent
"Performed on a sleek, modernist set, the drama builds slowly with simmering sexual tension and a handful of truly shocking moments [... It] feels like a valuable work of art in its own right." Andrew Lynch, Sunday Business Post ****
"Directed by Eoghan Carrick, this show is as small but perfectly formed as the play itself." The Sunday Business Post ****
"Under Eoghan Carrick’s direction, O’Reilly brings more than enough magnetism, variety and energy to his tragicomic fable" Irish Times
"Eoghan Carrick, who also directs, turns the [gold] backdrop from riches to blood with an impressive lighting design, and Shane O'Reilly's performance keeps our focus away from the bare stage" The Sunday Times
Nomination for the Bewley's Cafe Theatre 'Little Gem' Award (Dublin Fringe Festival, 2015): for the most exciting show less than an hour long