The Peacock Theatre is born

The Peacock Theatre opened on 27 November 1927. In-house it was originally referred to as the Little Theatre but was officially opened as the Peacock Theatre, so named because the walls were painted Peacock Blue.

The second of the Abbey Theatre’s two stages, from its inception it was seen as a space to house the Abbey Theatre School of Acting and a rental space to gain valuable income for the main Abbey Company.

The first performance was a play called From Morn to Midnight. A host of major Irish theatre talent were involved in that first production. Norah McGuinness was Designer, Denis Johnston was Director, Dorothy Travers Smith, who later worked as a Designer acted in this performance, as did Kitty Curling who was a student at the School of Ballet and went on to be an Abbey actress. So from day one, the Peacock was a breeding ground for Irish theatre.