Asylum Productions 2025

"2025 sees Asylum continue with the third and final year of our Watergate residency (alas, all good things must come to an end). We’re in the thick of exciting new plans for our biggest ever show, which is currently in development: pushing the boundaries of theatre as a form, and how we can engage with a wider cohort of the community.

The Alice Project will be a radical re-imagining of that best known Kilkenny tale: that of Dame Alice Kyteler – the first woman in Ireland to be accused of witchcraft. Created in 5 self-contained episodes, the show will be presented in multiple locations across the city, as part of Kilkenny Arts Festival 2026, culminating in a large outdoor spectacle finale on the last night of the festival. If that’s too long to wait, you’ll be able to catch some preview episodes in this years KAF.

We’re also delighted to have been selected for the Kilkenny County Council public Art Awards for The Alice Project, which will involve a whole series of free public workshops in drama, dance, visual art and music, over the course of 2 years.

Meanwhile, the residency has allowed us to support other artists in the locality to develop their own work. In partnership with Watergate we’re enjoying the ongoing development of PlayWildParty by Jeffrey Gormley on Monday nights. We’re having lots of fun being, and meeting lots of new performers in this experimentation with a radical new form of participatory theatre. We’ll be holding a public work-in-progress in mid May – keep an eye out, and do come along and tell us what you think.

These three years have been an amazing opportunity for Asylum to grow and develop as a company, to take the time needed to focus our energies on making ambitious work, and to feel supported and nurtured by the Watergate in the process.

Without this kind of support, the scale of our work would simply not be possible – a big Thank You WT, on behalf of all the Asylum Inmates!"