About Fregoli
Founded in 2007 Fregoli Theatre Company is a young Galway based company that aims to produce and perform sharp, visceral theatre. The company has its origins in NUI Galway’s drama society and still maintains very strong links with the society. Fregoli has four founding members; Maria Tivnan, artistic director, Rob McFeely, assistant director and technical manager, Rebecca Ryan secretary, and Tracy Bruen, actor and director. There are currently five other actors and one lighting designer working with Fregoli.
The company is named after Italian actor Leopold Fregoli (1867-1936) who was famous for impersonations and quick character changes and elements of this style can be found in our productions. Leopold Fregoli also gave his name to a psychiatric disorder called the Fregoli delusion or Fregoli syndrome. This is a rare disorder in which a person holds a delusional belief that different people are in fact a single person who changes appearance or is in disguise.
Fregoli aims to produce plays that appeal to a large cross-section of the public, which deal with issues of a changing society and its attitudes. We welcome any contact or input from groups of different cultures or backgrounds and maintain very strong links with Bohermore Youth Development Project which has strong ties with the travelling community. Different groups of young people have been included in rehearsal processes, and have attended any Fregoli show suitable in content at a reduced price per ticket or free where possible. We firmly believe such links enrich our artistic knowledge and experience. Through our participation in events such as Edinburgh Fringe Festival and the Electric Picnic, we have created links with other young Irish companies as well as in the U.K. and Europe.
Since its foundation the company has had fourteen productions with runs at the Trim Festival of Masks (07) Edinburgh Fringe Festival (08, 11), Electric Picnic (08,09,10), Boyle Arts Festival (09,10, 11), Tuam Arts Festival (09,10) and the Galway Theatre Festival (08,09,10, 11).
Past Productions
Bedbound (2007, 2009)
Roger Dodger (2008)
Tape (2008)
The Maids (2008)
Producing Playmates and Savage Love (2008)
Fregoli New Works: Making Babies, Mosaic of Dreams, At a Loss (2009)
Fantastic Mr Fox (2009)
Dispersia (2009)
Disco Pigs (2010)
The Gingerbread House (2010)
The Idiot Box (2010)
Breathing Water (2011)
The Secret Life of Me (2011)
A Life of Words (2011)
Company Aims and Objectives
Fregoli Theatre is a non-profit organisation which aims to produce and perform energetic, stimulating contemporary work.
- We focus on work that lends to a fresh approach in performance and appeals to a contemporary audience e.g. our adaption of the film Roger Dodger in 2008 and our New Works show comprised of original shorts in 2009. Another original piece The Idiot Box (2010) explored the themes of the impact of mass media on young life, and in 2011 we presented our first devised piece The Secret Life of Me which investigated the relationship of internal dreams and desires to an adult reality. This piece also had live original music throughout.
- We focus on short one act plays of approximately one hour in duration, as we believe this facilitates a more engaging theatrical experience, increasing audience involvement.
- Onstage, we promote a two-way dialogue between our performers and the audience, through the use of intimate spaces and close audience proximity.
- As well as performing in theatres we also perform in unconventional spaces, such as bars, hotels and nightclubs, which may facilitate a wider audience appeal and allow for greater accessibility e.g. Bedbound at the Cellar Bar, Galway and at Brogan’s Hotel in Trim, Producing Playmates at Campbell’s Tavern, Headford, Disco Pigs at Canavans Bar Tuam, Electric Picnic (2010), The Gingerbread House at The Royal Hotel Boyle (2010), The Secret Life of Me, The King House Boyle.
- We explore how an idea may be communicated through various theatrical media e.g. improvisation, devising workshops, multimedia, guerrilla theatre. We employed some of these techniques in preparation for the staging of Breathing Water (2011) and Secret Life of me (2011), also for our production of The Idiot Box in Galway theatre festival (2010).
