Actor, playwright and director Rex Ryan introduces his company Glass Mask Theatre, and the joys of staging 'plays that put the audience in the sitting room with the characters'.
Glass Mask Theatre is a home of daring New Irish Plays in the heart of Dublin City.
We have become a home for new Irish work and a theatre that welcomes the converted as well as whole new non traditional theatre going audience through our small doors...
As Director of the company, my mission is to provide a whole theatrical experience; includ-ing pre show food and drink, immersive elements of the play subtly revealing themselves before show time and new Irish work exploding on to the stage every night.
Pop Tart Lipstick @glassmaskdublin is sold out. Uplifting to be back in our den of drama. Thank you all who came in. GMT season 4 UNDERWAY pic.twitter.com/BsBMN0jdxh
— Rex Ryan (@RexRyan89) September 2, 2022
Every seat is a front row seat in this boutique venue.
We have received consistent glowing national reviews and more importantly, audience re-action has been uplifting.
It was always my dream to start a theatre company like this one.
I trained as an actor with many great mentors: Tom Hickey, Karl Shiels, Elizabeth Moynihan... These people all had excellent TV careers, but what a lot of people don't know is that they all ran, or were part of, incredible do-it-yourself theatre companies.
In particular Karl Shiels taught me how to be an artist of the theatre.
We did everything ourselves in his old theatre space, Theatre Upstairs - we built sets, we acted, we wrote, we directed. We learned, under the fire of the lights, packed and empty houses, cans of tuna and theatre awards, how to be artists of the theatre and how to rock an audience.
I learned about myself and I learned what my reason was for being a theatre artist.
It was to bring people together, to break down the silly barriers we put up against each other and to remind people what it means to be human.
In Glass Mask, we have plays that put the audience in the sitting room with the characters. We have immersive shows that put you in direct connection with the character's experience and our patrons always comment on the unique intimate energy of the GMT.
I run the theatre with my wife and Managing Producer of the company, Migle Ryan.
We have enjoyed meeting and getting to know our regulars in GMT.
Most nights I will stay and talk to the audience members about the play.
This is the magic time, when we get people from all over Ireland, who might not look twice at each other in every day life, but now are laughing/crying/arguing and connecting over a great play. That is the core of our mission. To get my granny and my best mate to see what the theatre can do to our souls.
I am currently directing our next play, a World War II spy thriller named The Twenty Club by Stewart Roche.
It features a great cast.
It utilises the GMT space like never before.
It starts the 19th of September and runs until October 8th.
You can get tickets here.
