Rehearsed Reading: Genesis by Niamh Fennessy

What to Expect

Playwright Niamh Fennessy brings her new work Genesis to Theatre Royal Waterford for a rehearsed reading on Wednesday 9 September 2026, performed by local actors. A rehearsed reading is a play caught mid-development: scripts in hand, minimal staging, the writing doing the work rather than set or costume. For an audience it is the cheapest and most direct way to hear a new Irish play before it has been fixed in place, and for the writer it is the point where the text meets a room full of strangers for the first time.

Genesis deals with obsession and desire, the tricks memory plays, and the lingering hold of Catholicism on modern Ireland. The theatre carries a content warning: the piece includes strong language, sexual themes and religious material that some audience members may find triggering or offensive. Cast members are not listed in advance. At €10 this is the lowest-priced ticket on the Theatre Royal’s autumn programme, and single-night readings like this rarely repeat.

Good to Know

• Date: Wednesday 9 September 2026, 7:30 PM start
• Venue: Theatre Royal Waterford, The Mall, Waterford city
• Tickets: €10, through the Theatre Royal box office or its Ticketsolve page
• Written by Niamh Fennessy and read by local actors
• Content warning: strong language, sexual themes and religious content
• One night only
• Box office: 051 874402 or boxoffice@theatreroyal.ie

Getting There

Theatre Royal is on The Mall in Waterford city centre, a couple of minutes from the Quay and the city centre bus stops. Drivers approach on the M9 from Dublin or the N25 from Cork and Wexford, with multi-storey and on-street parking nearby. Plunkett Station, Waterford’s rail and Bus Eireann terminus, sits on the north bank of the Suir, around fifteen minutes on foot across Rice Bridge.