Dublin Festival of History | Screening of The Asylum Workshop
TU Dublin Conservatoire presents a 50-minute documentary exploring the history of St Brendan’s Hospital Grangegorman as a place of psychiatric treatment in relation to the site’s new role as a university.
Date: Friday 11 October 2024
Time: 19:00 (Doors at 18:45)
Screening Duration: 50 minutes
Location: Concert Hall, TU Dublin Conservatoire, East Quad, Grangegorman Lower D07 XFF2
The history of the hospital is seen through the lens of Colin Murphy’s 2023 play The Asylum Workshop, which the Conservatoire commissioned for its final-year drama students. The production received coverage in the national media for its eye-opening handling of Ireland’s history of psychiatric institutionalisation and raised important questions about what it means to represent such institutional history for today’s audiences.
The documentary includes insightful contributions from
- Brendan Kelly MRIA (Professor of Psychiatry, Trinity College Dublin and author of Asylum: Inside Grangegorman);
- Brian Donnelly (Senior Archivist, Irish National Archives);
- Mary E. Daly MRIA (Professor Emeritus of History, University College Dublin);
- Ruth Hegarty (Royal Irish Academy and Grangegorman Histories);
- James Mary O’Connor (Architect of the masterplan for TU Dublin Grangegorman);
- Colin Murphy (Playwright and Journalist); as well as some of the cast and creative team of the play.
The screening will be followed by a short panel discussion from some the expert contributors to the documentary.
The documentary is created by Tim Gannon and Graham Seely of Gansee Films.
Tickets are free but booking is required.
