The risen gender

For a decade, plays by women have been an endangered species at the Abbey Theatre – so ahead of its 1916 programme, feminists decided to stage a revolt

The Abbey agreed to allow the 'Waking The Feminists' campaign group to hold the public meeting in the theatre auditorium on Thursday last

It must have been a strange experience, being in the shoes of Fiach Mac Conghail last Thursday, as people poured through the wide doors of the Abbey Theatre for a drama that must surely rate as one of the most unusual in the national theatre’s lengthy existence.

At big Abbey events, it’s customary for the Abbey’s director to stand proudly in the foyer, welcoming the great and glittering of Dublin theatregoers.

And everyone ...