Donegal artistic director praised for her great work at Winter Olympics in Italy

Donegal Minister of State, Charlie McConalogue, has praised the work of the Abbey Theatre’s Artistic Director and Carndonagh native, Caitríona McLaughlin.

Speaking during his visit to Italy for the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, the Minister of State for Sport and Postal Policy said he was delighted to attend ‘Mirandolina’, a new Irish play that has been co-produced by the Abbey Theatre and its counterparts in Italy and Croatia and directed by fellow Donegal native Caitríona McLaughlin.

“It is of great cultural significance and national pride that the National Theatre of Ireland has co-produced the only piece of theatre to appear on the international stage of the Cultural Olympiad, the artistic programme that accompanies the sporting games,” the Minister said.

“I was delighted to get the opportunity to see the fruits of Caitríona’s fantastic work in Italy. Mirandolina is a superb co-production performed by a hugely talented cast. It brings Irish creatives and Italian and Croatian actors together to create a new work linking Irish theatre to international collaboration, history and cultural dialogue,” he added.

Written by Marina Carr, Mirandolina had its world premiere in Treviso earlier this month and toured to Belluno, and Venice before Padova. It will move to Rijeka and Milan before coming to Dublin later in the year.

“Mirandolina will be performed in the Abbey Theatre from Friday, August 28th to Saturday, September 5th and forms part of the cultural programming around Ireland’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union. I’m looking forward to seeing the co-production again in Dublin,” the Inishowen Minister said.

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During the three-day trip, Minister McConalogue attended the Olympic Federation of Ireland (OFI) reception on Thursday night, when he praised all involved with Ireland’s Winter Olympics team.

Commending the efforts of Team Ireland’s four athletes - Ben Lynch (Freestyle skiing), Anabelle Zurbay (Alpine skiing), Thomas Maloney Westgård (Cross-country) and Cormac Comerford (Alpine Skiing) – Minister McConalogue also congratulated Ben Lynch on becoming the highest placed Irish athlete at a Winter Olympics when he finished eighth in the Halfpipe final.

“I truly appreciate the commitment and dedication our Irish athletes have invested to participate at such a high level. Along with their coaches and support from the OFI and the Snow Sports Association of Ireland, they have done us all proud when representing Ireland in the 25th official Winter Olympic Games,” the Minister of State for Sport and Postal Policy said.

During his visit to Italy, the Inishowen Fianna Fail man also attended a business networking event with several client companies from the sports technology sector that was hosted by Enterprise Ireland in Milan.

“This event provided an opportunity to understand the trends and drivers of the sports technology sector in which Irish companies are doing extremely well,” the Minister of State added.