Gate Theatre, Historic theatre in Cavendish Row, Dublin, Ireland.
The Gate Theatre is a theatre in Cavendish Row housed in an 18th-century building with traditional architectural features and multiple performance spaces. It accommodates around 371 spectators across its venues.
The Gate Theatre was founded in 1928 by Hilton Edwards and Micheál MacLiammóir with Daisy Bannard Cogley and Gearóid Ó Lochlainn. After two seasons at the Peacock Theatre, the company moved to the 18th-century Rotunda Annex on Cavendish Row, opening with Goethe's Faust on 17 February 1930. Facing closure that December, it was saved when Lord Longford bought the remaining shares for £1,200.
The Gate's name comes from the Irish word for gate, and its founders Hilton Edwards and Micheál MacLiammóir opened their first season in 1928 with seven plays, among them Ibsen's Peer Gynt, O'Neill's The Hairy Ape and Wilde's Salomé. The theatre later produced the first-ever Beckett Festival in 1991, staging all 19 stage plays over three weeks, and the first festival of Pinter's plays.
A wheelchair lift is available at the rear entrance for accessibility. The venue hosts regular evening performances throughout the year, presenting both classical and contemporary productions.
In its early years, actors Orson Welles and James Mason performed here and launched their careers on this stage. These appearances marked it as a place where emerging talent could develop their craft.
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