ABOUT US

Gift Horse Theatre is an environmentally conscious theatre company that makes bold, playful work.

Gift Horse was founded in 2018 by Signe Lury, Elishka Lane, Doris de Vries, Mae Leahy and Ciara Berkeley.

We prioritise sustainability and are always looking for new ways to build climate-conscious thinking into our practice.

Much of our work takes place outdoors as a means of engaging with and celebrating our natural environment. We want to show that environmentally conscious practice can be dynamic, inventive, entertaining, and engaging. We are a member of the Staging Change network; we feel strongly that eco-theatre is the future of theatre and are committed to helping lead the movement.

We champion an ethos of collaboration and curiosity, and celebrate physical, musical, and visual modes of storytelling. We often devise from literary texts and the lives of cultural figures, using the past as a lens for the present and the source material as a springboard for play.

 Our work has been supported by Culture Ireland, Dublin City Council, the OPW, Trinity College Dublin Trust, and the Trinity Visual & Performing Arts Fund.
We are currently developing a new bioplay about Surrealist artist Leonora Carrington with support from the Pavilion Studio and Dublin City Council’s Incubation Space Award.

COMPANY MEMBERS 

  • Signe is a director, writer, producer, and performer with a particular focus on environmentally conscious practice. Signe wrote, directed, and produced Gift Horse’s debut production Tess and has co-produced all Gift Horse’s open-air tours alongside Elishka Lane. She wrote and directed harvest and will direct upcoming Gift Horse production Leonora. Her short film The Offer won the 2021 Irish Student Media Award for Short Film Script of the Year.

    Signe has worked as an assistant director to Gavin Quinn and Ronan Phelan, and has received Arts Council Agility Awards to complete mentorships with Maeve Stone, Annie Ryan, and Dan Colley. Signe’s short play Selfish was selected as one of three to be published and filmed as part of Fishamble and ESB’s Tiny Plays for a Brighter Future project. Her short film Home from Home won Best Short in the 2022 Bigfoot Script Challenge.

  • Elishka is an actor, theatre-maker and producer from County Wexford. She has co-produced and performed in all of Gift Horse’s productions. She was chosen to take part in The Gate’s Producing Masterclass with Kate Pakenham. In 2021, she was awarded an Arts Council Agility Award to further her creative producing practice. Elishka creates the graphics for all Gift Horse productions and social media.

    Elishka is a member of Broad Strokes improv, an all female comedy improv troupe. Her recent acting credits include Waiting for Faro (Viking Theatre), Happy Birthday Dear Alice (Four Rivers), Tender Napalm (Smock Alley Theatre), Clown’s Not Dead (Corcadorca SHOW), Wexford Playwright Readings (Wexford Arts Centre), The Hamlet Review (Theatre Royal Waterford), CHARMS!, and Supermoon (Samuel Beckett Theatre).

  • Doris is a director, choreographer, and performer originally from Amsterdam. She was movement director for Tess, director of Twelfth Night, and she both adapted and directed Gift Horse’s recent tour of War and Peace. Her other directing credits include CHARMS! (Samuel Beckett Theatre, 2020), Life is a Dream (DU Players, ISDA selected 2020), and As You Like It (DU Players, 2018).

    Doris is currently based between Dublin and Amsterdam. Since finishing her degree in Drama and English Literature at Trinity College Dublin in 2021, she has worked as a performer, director, and dramaturg. She was assistant dramaturg with ITA on Ivo van Hove’s The Damned in May 2022 and worked as assistant director with Leopold Witte on Door de Bank Genomen: 10 Jaar Later. She is part of the creative team of Supermoon, recipient of the Romilly Walton Masters Award 2022 at the CCI Paris.

ASSOCIATE ARTISTS

  • Mae is a designer and director based between Dublin and Waterford. She has costume designed all of Gift Horse’s shows to date, as well as performing in Tess. Mae has worked as a costume designer for Dead Centre, Corn Exchange, ANU Productions, and Four Rivers. Mae completed a mentorship in design-led practice with Ben Hennessy funded by the Arts Council Bursary Award 2021.

    Mae most recently directed Amy’s Princess Party (Scene+Heard, 2023). Other directing work includes Children (Scene+Heard, 2022), Bedtime Stories (Samuel Beckett Theatre, 2020) and Five Lesbians Eating a Quiche (DU Players, ISDA selected 2020). Mae graduated from Trinity College with a degree in Drama and Theatre Studies in 2021, having designed over 30 productions and events over her time in college. Mae is a member of Broad Strokes improv.

  • Ciara Berkeley is an actor and writer, and is represented by Alex Cusack Management. Her recent TV credits include supporting roles in Normal People (BBC 3), The Deceived (Channel 5), and the lead role in the upcoming independent feature, Swing Bout (Orion Productions). She also starred in adverts for Barry’s Tea and Bank of Ireland.

    Ciara’s recent theatre credits include the roles of Lizzie, Andrey, and Olivia in Gift Horse’s harvest, War and Peace, and Twelfth Night respectively. She also performed in The Twenty Club (Bewley’s Cafe Theatre), Children (dir. Mae Leahy, Scene+Heard 2022), and is involved in the development of Decameron by Dominic O’Brien and CN Smith. Ciara has also started her own all-women-identifying improv troupe, Broad Strokes, that performs monthly in venues around Dublin. Broad Strokes will be returning for a second year to Edinburgh Fringe this year.

  • Jilly McGrath is a photographer, theatre-maker, and performer. Her work often explores ideas of performativity, family, and Irish identity through a queer lens. She has photographed all Gift Horse productions to date, and was DOP for Gift Horse’s short film The Offer. Jilly photographed the artwork for Maija Sofia’s debut album Bath Time (nominated for RTÉ Choice Album of the Year 2019). She has had photographs published in The Irish Times, Irish Examiner, Totally Dublin, and Moving. She holds a first class MA in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography from the University of Arts London.

    With Gift Horse, Jilly has performed in harvest, War and Peace, and Tess. Her other acting credits include Marmalade Row (Lemon Soap Productions), Medea, Spectres of Gorky, and Closer (Samuel Beckett Theatre), Life is a Dream and Konstantin (DU Players, both ISDA nominated 2020).