Siamsa Tíre, The National Folk Theatre of Ireland, is one of Ireland’s busiest and most vibrant arts centres.
We provide live family entertainment and performances of traditional Irish music, song and dance, from our beautiful centre in Tralee, Co Kerry.
Siamsa Tíre works to ensure that people of all ages and backgrounds can explore, understand, feel at home and enjoy Irish folk culture: its past, present and future.
At Siamsa Tíre, The National Folk Theatre of Ireland, we bring people together to share stories and skills and explore Irish folk culture with joyful curiosity.
Irish folk culture is not a tangible product nor an artefact of history. It is our living cultural heritage, alive in us, now, here, together, being ourselves. It is rooted in social connection and the passing on of skills across generations and among close-knit communities both intimate and large scale. It is a value system, a philosophy, a way of living, thinking, behaving and being. It is part of Ireland’s acknowledged soft power in world affairs.
Passed from parent to child,from neighbour to neighbour, our intangible cultural heritage evolves with and shapes the people and communities who experience it and who are inspired by it.
The visible output of Irish folk culture encompasses performing arts practices; our craftwork and handiwork; our oral traditions and expressions, including our language as both a vehicle and repository of our cultural identity; our folklore, myths, and legends; the demonstration of our enduring social values; our customs, rituals and festive events; our understanding of and interaction with nature and the universe.
At Siamsa Tíre, The National Folk Theatre of Ireland, we bring people together to share stories and skills and explore Irish folk culture with joyful curiosity.
Our presented programme follows the Celtic Calendar and is designed to reflect an inclusive, responsive, and contemporary approach to the rich and varied cultural heritage and creative life of Ireland’s close-knit communities by:
through creative learning, participation and development programmes.
folk stories and traditions through in-house productions, co-productions, commissions.
a full range of hosted events across artforms from local, national and international groups.
2021 celebrates 30 years of the development of our iconic and bespoke theatre and arts centre located in Tralee, Co Kerry on the Wild Atlantic Way which has a capacity of 350 (measures have been put in place for COVID restrictions).
Siamsa Tíre is one of the busiest theatres and arts centres in Ireland. As the home of the National Folk Theatre, we present five months of folk theatre productions from our repertoire between May and September. Our Folk Art has been handed down across generations over 50 years through our National Folk Theatre Training Academy. Young people from the ages of 6 upwards, learn the traditional arts, and as part of a folk community work together to produce new work and tour internationally throughout the rest of the year.
From October to April, Siamsa Tíre hosts a wide range of events, including touring drama, classical music, comedy, dance and opera along with productions by local groups and musical societies. Our gallery spaces display the work of artists from Ireland and abroad as well as complementing the work of the National Folk Theatre during its repertory season.
As Ireland’s first Green Certified Theatre, you can learn about our Sustainability practices from the preservation and development of our traditional cultural arts, through to the sustainability of our venue, suppliers and how you can do your part when you join us.
On these pages, you will find out everything you need to know about Siamsa Tíre – its history, partners and venues as well as answers to your questions on our programming policy and technical specifications. Feel free to contact us with any additional queries on [email protected] or check out individual staff team details on our People page.
