Theatre Alumnus Marc Atkinson '16 Awarded the 2020 Gate Bursary

Theatre Alumnus Marc Atkinson ’16 was recently awarded the 2020 Gate Bursary from The Gate Theatre, Dublin. The award facilitates the development of new work both at the theatre and remotely. Atkinson will receive institutional support during a year-long residency.

In a personal reflection piece for The Gate Theatre, Atkinson discusses COVID-19’s severe impact on the theatre industry, noting how, even in the best of times, an artist’s livelihood is a precarious one. Now, it’s unclear when performers will be able to return to the stage in the traditional sense, which means many artists may be forced to find work elsewhere. 

But Atkinson also points out a silver lining in the midst of so much chaos and uncertainty: “...it’s allowed us to stop and take time to lay seeds for future projects and tend to ideas that were bubbling but got lost to the general rush of just making theatre happen. So, personally, I’ve been spending this time reading, reflecting and taking inspiration from other artists and art forms. So that, when the time comes, I’m full of ideas for what our reinvented theatre might look like.”

Atkinson credits The Gate for much of his artistic development. In the past, he’s been an associate director for the company’s productions, and he’s also directed his own work there. His current project is a radical reinterpretation of Maxim Gorky’s Children of the Sun. “Written from a jail cell on the eve of a revolution, while Russia was fighting a cholera epidemic, it’s a dark comedy about revolt, progress, inequality; a play about people certain of their ideas in uncertain times, and the moment when those certainties must yield to the reality of a tomorrow that is almost today.”

Atkinson’s recent work includes David Eldridge’s Beginning (Gate Theatre, Dublin), Elaine Murphy’s Little Gem (Irish Repertory, Off-Broadway NYC), the tour of David Greig’s Outlying Islands (Connelly Theater, NYC & Samuel Beckett Theatre, Dublin), Alix Sobler’s Last Night in Inwood  (Signature Theater Studio, NYC), Anne Washburn’s 10 Out of 12, and Chuck Mee’s Big Love (Samuel Beckett Theatre, Dublin). 

He co-founded the company Sugarglass whose work has been presented internationally, including the Irish Premiere of Philip Ridley’s Tender Napalm (Project Arts Centre, Dublin), Ellen Flynn’s Five Minutes Later (The Lir, Dublin) and Ethica: Four Shorts by Samuel Beckett, which was presented in the Residence of the Irish President to celebrate International Human Rights Day (Krastyo Theatre, Bulgaria; Happy Days Festival, Enniskillen; Áras an Uachtaráin). 

Atkinson’s Associate Director credits include working with Anne Bogart at SITI Company; Selina Cartmel at The Gate Theatre; Joe Murphy and Lisa Dwan at The Old Vic, Lincoln Center, and The Abbey Theatre; Daniel Fish at BAM and COIL Festival; and Ivo van Hove at Toneelgroep Amsterdam and the Rhurtriennale. Most recently, he was the Associate Director for Yaël Farber’s production of Hamlet featuring Ruth Negga at The Gate Theatre and St. Ann’s Warehouse, Brooklyn.