Theatre has been associated with queerness for centuries, from traditions of onstage gender play to the many legions of queer theatre creatives and fans. They don’t call us “drama queens” for nothing. Damian Kerlin speaks to artists working in theatre in Ireland today and explores how we’ve come to tell our stories on stage.

In the first half of the 20th century, you could be arrested for staging a gay play. Theatres could be packed and shows sold out, but that wouldn’t stop them from being shut down for “obscene” content. Yet Ireland has always been a hot bed of queer artistic activity, from the infamous visit of theatre company Gay Sweatshop in 1976 (described by one paper as “gutter culture from across the water”) to the production of Gerry Stembridge’s The Gay Detective in 1996. The latter was of particular importance as it proved that the Irish public was not apathetic to gay work- as claimed by director Patrick Mason when his own production of Angels in America died a death at the Abbey.

“There were a lot of playwrights who dealt with homosexual themes prior to this in very subtle ways,” says Dr Fintan Walsh, whose book Queer Notions acts as an anthology reflecting the past decade of queer theatre. “Frank McGuiness’ work in particular pivots on a queer dramaturgy. His plays often had homosexual characters, which he used to explore lots of other categories of difference. Of nationality, sectarian politics, history.”