James Riordan, Brú’s artistic director, is from Galway and trained at LISPA (London) and the APT (Berlin).

Following years based in Berlin and London and working for companies including the ENO and Absurda Comica, he became a core member of The Lipsinkers (UK) for 4 years. Returning to Ireland in 2017 to set up Brú, he is currently an Arts council Theatre Artist in Residence at the Town Hall Theatre, Galway. He is an Irish Times Theatre Awards Best Actor nominee 2020 for his role in Brú’s Selvage, a participant on Creative Europe’s Make a Move, Theatre Forum’s MAKE and has recently collaborated with Darren O Donnell of Mammalian Diving Reflex in creating a new theatrical sport for Baboró International Festival for Children.

He was recently awarded the Michael Hogan Bursary to write new work from the Abbey Theatre.

Brú Theatre is a bilingual theatre company creating interdisciplinary work in Irish and English, based in Galway city. Founded in 2018 by Artistic Director James Riordan and Producer Jill Murray, Brú Theatre makes visual performances that incorporate new writing, mask theatre, live music and dance to create exciting and engaging experiences for audiences. They tour nationally, present work across different mediums to a wide range of audiences and have multiple Irish Times Theatre Award nominations for their work.

Brú loves to explore and innovate traditional forms of Irish storytelling including literature, song and superstition, and the work has a strong collaborative element. They recently toured Ar Ais Arís nationally, a merging of Irish language literature and visual poetry in virtual reality as part of Brightening Air I Coiscéim Coiligh. Their next show, Gol, will be on stage in December. This will be a five strong ensemble of Irish lamenters and tell a darkly comic story of aging and what is lost when those people and practices are left behind as we progress.

Jill Murray is Brú’s producer and a freelance producer working in theatre, dance and visual art in Galway. She is the General Manager with Galway Dance Project and producer at Interface Inagh, a visual arts workspace and studio in the Inagh valley, Connemara.

Jill is an alumni of Irish Theatre’s Institute’s ELEVATOR programme and on Agents of Change, a professional development programme funded by the Arts Council’s Invitation to Collaboration Scheme, and was managed by Irish Theatre Institute, Galway city and county councils and Roscommon County Council.

Jill has worked with the Town Hall Theatre, Druid Theatre, The Galway Arts Centre, Cúirt International Festival of Literature, Decadent Theatre Company and Macnas.

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