Caitriona is currently Associate Director of The Abbey Theatre, Ireland where this year she will direct Marina Carr’s new six hour play cycle called The Boy for The Abbey and Dublin Theatre Festival. In 2020 she will also direct Mozart’s The Abduction from the Seragilo for Irish National Opera and create a production of Sean O’Casey’s The Plough and the Stars with a community cast from the East Wall region of Dublin to be performed on The Abbey Stage.
Caitriona is from Donegal. Over the last few years she has directed primarily in London, Dublin, and New York. Recent productions at the Abbey include On Raftery’s Hill by Marina Carr for which she won Best Director at the 2019 Irish Times Theatre Awards. Citysong by Dylan Coburn Grey, (ITTA nomination Best New Play), Two Pints by Roddy Doyle, Josephine K and The Algorithms by Stacey Gregg and Monsters Dinosaurs Ghosts by Jimmy McAleavey
Projects elsewhere includes This Hostel Life by Melatu Uchenna Okorie and Evangelia Rigaki for Irish National Opera, Blood in the Dirt by Rory Gleeson, Landmark Productions, Autumn Royal, by Kevin Barry, and Foyle Punt for The LocalGroup. Opera work includes Vaughan Williams Riders to the Sea, and Lennox Berkeley’s A Dinner Engagement both for Wexford Opera. Banished by Stephen McNeff, lll Ballo delle Ingrate, Monteverdi and Scipio’s Dream, by Judith Weir for The Royal Irish Academy of Music.
Earlier directing work includes Amy Conroy’s Luck Just Kissed You Hello, for the Galway Arts and Dublin International Theatre Festival’s 2015 (ITTA nomination Best New Play). She Knit the Roof a new immersive theatre piece for the Errigal Arts Festival, Donegal. Killers & Other Family [Hill Town Plays OBIE 2014], (Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre, New York. Science – a children’s opera (Spark Opera), [Boston Contempo Director’s Choice Award in 2013]. Crowns on the Wire (Verbal Arts Centre, National tour), Bunny’s Vendetta and The Recruiting Officer (Blue Eagle Productions); The Factory Girls (Millennium Forum Theatre & Irish Tour); Irish Blood, English Heart, (Union Theatre and West End transfer to Trafalgar Studios, London), Mozart at Freemasons, (Royal Irish Academy of Music, Dublin, 2014) The Wild Duck 2012 and Judgement Day 2010, (Bard Summerscape NY), On the Subject of Love, and Twinkletoes (Playhouse Theatre, Derry 2013), Bottom of The World (Atlantic Theatre Company, New York 2012). Caitriona started her career working as a drama facilitator for conflict resolution and as Artistic Director of Youthways Youth Theatre Company in Donegal then began directing professionally at The Finborough Theatre in London with productions Frank Pig Says Hello, Alports Revenge and Masks and Faces.
Caitriona is also a dramaturge workshopping new plays regularly with The Abbey Theatre Dublin and Rattlestick in New York, more recently she has worked with emerging writers on creating a number of site specific pieces.
Work with youth and emerging theatre artists includes, directing and teaching at; The Lir Academy Dublin, and Mountview Drama School, London. Associate Director of The Playground Studio, London and Education Director at Theatre Peckham, London. She also work with Judith Weir (Current Master of the Queens Music) and Spark Opera Belfast on the development of 2 new operas for young people.
Caitriona also works on large scale community projects with numerous organisations including TV production company ShinAwill, The International Red Cross, Big Telly, The WEA, Stage Beyond, & The Local Group. She managed and facilitated the inauguration of the Royal Court Theatre Local Project and was awarded a Clore Fellowship in 2009. Caitriona has been invited several times as a director/dramaturge (initially by the then Artistic Director, the late Phillip Seymour Hoffman) to LAByrinth Theatre Company’s Summer Intensive in New York.
Credits include:
THE ABDUCTION FROM THE SERAGLIO – Mozart 2020
Irish National Opera
CITY SONG – Dylan Coburn Gray Current
Abbey Theatre & Soho Theatre London
★★★★ ‘fluid and finely tuned production’ The Sunday Business Post
★★★★ ‘Dublin shimmers in poetic celebration of the cycle of life’ The Guardian
★★★★ ‘cleverly and smoothly staged and acted’ Irish Mail on Sunday
★★★★ ‘poetic masterpiece …’ The Arts Review
★★★★ ‘through the intimacy of poetry… lives are both warmly witnessed and changed forever.’ The Irish Times
PAMPLEMOUSSE Current
NI Opera
ON RAFTERY’S HILL 2018
Abbey Theatre, Dublin
★★★★ ‘…a striking and pummelling production’ – The Irish Times
★★★★ ‘an unmissable tour de force’ – The Arts Review
‘The play needs towering performances; and under McLaughlin’s direction it gets them’ – The Sunday Independent
★★★★ The Sunday Times
★★★★ The Mail on Sunday
★★★★ The Sunday Business Post
JOSEPHINE K & THE ALGORITHMS 2017
Abbey Theatre, Dublin
AUTUMN ROYAL 2017
Everyman, Belfast
RIDERS TO THE SEA 2016
Wexford Opera Festival
THE CRUCIBLE – Arthur Miller 2016
Mountview at The Arcola Theatre
SHE KNIT THE ROOF 2015
Earagail Arts Festival
MONSTERS DINOSAURS GHOSTS – Jimmy McAleavey 2015
The Abbey Theatre, Dublin
‘blistering and hilariously black’ Irish Mail on Sunday
‘…an explosive drama’ The Irish Times
‘…hilarious and touching’ The Irish Independent
LUCK JUST KISSED YOU HELLO – By Amy Conroy 2015
Galway International Arts Festival and the Dublin Theatre Festival
★ ★ ★ ★ – ‘a blistering exploration of masculinity’ The Guardian
★ ★ ★ ★ – ‘something other than a statement on transgender politics.’ The Irish Times
CROWS ON THE WIRE – By Jonathan Burgess 2014
Verbal Arts Centre, Londonderry
BUNNY’S VENDETTA – By Darren Murphy 2013
Blue Eagle Productions
George Farquhar Theatre Festival
KILLERS & OTHER FAMILY – By Lucy Thurber 2013
Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, New York
Obie award winner 2014
WANT BEEF? – By Sean McLoughlin 2013
Abbey Theatre, Dublin
ON THE SUBJECT OF LOVE – By Ken McCormack 2013
Playhouse Theatre, Derry
Part of the UK City of Culture celebrations
THE FACTORY GIRLS – By Frank McGuiness 2013
Millenium Forum Theatre
Part of the UK City of Culture celebrations
UK & Irish Tour
‘…one of the most professional & poignant plays I have seen. A must see…’ Culture Northern Ireland
‘In a play largely character driven, pacing is paramount and McLaughlin has perfected it.’ Irish Theatre Magazine
THE RECRUITING OFFICER – By George Farquar 2012
Blue Eagle Productions
George Farquhar Theatre Festival, Ireland
A DINNER ENGAGEMENT 2012
Wexford Opera Festival
IRISH BLOOD, ENGLISH HEART – By Darren Murphy 2011
Trafalgar Studios, London
Transfer from the Union Theatre
THE WILD DUCK – By Henrik Ibsen 2011
Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts,
Part of Bard Summerscape 2011, New York
BOTTOM OF THE WORLD – By Lucy Thurber 2010
Atlantic Theater Company, New York
JUDGEMENT DAY – By Ödön von Horváth 2010
Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts,
Part of Bard Summerscape 2010, New York
‘Caitriona McLaughlin has devised a visually striking production’ The New York Post
‘A gifted and talented young director….’ Hudson Valley News
‘McLaughlin has managed to make this small story epic…’ Rural Intelligence
STILL, THE BLACKBIRD SINGS – By David Duggan 2010
The Project
Dublin & Irish Tour
THE SHADOW BOX – By Michael Cristofer 2006
Southwark Playhouse, London
MASKS & FACES 2006
Finborough Theatre, London
PETE ‘N ME – By Tim Marriott 2005
New End Theatre, Hampstead