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Dr. Sarah Jane Scaife

Assistant Professor (Drama)
BECKETT CENTRE 202-205 PEARSE ST.
      
Profile Photo

Dr. Sarah Jane Scaife

Assistant Professor (Drama)
BECKETT CENTRE 202-205 PEARSE ST.

 scaifes@tcd.ie

 3531896 2407


Dr. Sarah Jane Scaife is Assistant Professor of Drama in TCD and Artistic Director of Company SJ. She directed seven of Beckett's Shorter plays at the Abbey Theatre 1989/1990. Since then she has toured her own productions and also directed his plays in Georgia, Mongolia, India, Singapore, Malaysia, China and Greece with actors from each country. In 2009 she directed Samuel Beckett's Act Without Words 11 for the Absolut Fringe Festival, it has been re-presented for the International Dublin Theatre Festival (2010); Imagine Watford and Greenwich and Docklands Festivals (2011); River to River Festival (NY, 2012); Limerick Unfringed (2012), Happy Days Festival Eniskillen (2013), and The Abbey Theatre (2014). It was also presented as part of the 2013 Fringe Festival as a companion piece for Beckett's Rough For Theatre One, which subsequently went to Tokyo (2014) and Paris (2014). In 2014 she directed Beckett in the City:Fizzles for the Dublin Fringe Festival.In 2015 she added Beckett in the City: The Women Speak and presented it at the Dublin Fringe Festival and in New York in 2016. In 2018 she presented Beckett's prose piece Company, for the Dublin Theatre Festival. 2021 Company SJ presented an Irish translation of Happy Days as a site specific piece on the island of Inis Oirr for the GIAF and in Dublin for the DTF. This was the first in a series of work in Irish called Beckett sa Chreig. The second in the series Beckett sa Chreig:Guth na mBan was presented at the GIAF (2025) and will be seen in the DTF in October. She has lectured on Beckett and Irish Theatre all over the world. Other recent work has included Thornton Wilder's The Long Christmas Dinner for the Abbey Theatre. Also for the Abbey Theatre Mary Manning's 1931 play Youth's the Season. For Fishamble she directed Joanne Ryan's In Two Minds for the DTF (2023), Edinburgh Fringe (2024) and in New York's Off Broadway Theatre 59e59 (2025).
  Engaged theatre   Samuel Beckett   Theatre production   Women and addiction
Project Title
 
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Summary

Language Skill Reading Skill Writing Skill Speaking
French Basic Basic Basic
Greek Basic Basic Basic
Irish Medium Medium Medium
Details Date From Date To
Irish Society of Theatre Research Irish Actors Equity Dance Ireland International Federation of Theatre Research
Irish Theatre Institute 2010 2019
Irish Theatre Institute 2010 2019
Irish Theatre Institute 2010 2019
Sarah Jane Scaife An Taibhdhearc, 'Beckett sa Chreig: Guth na mBan', An Taibhdhearc and Company SJ, An Taibhdhearc, Galway, An Taibhdhearc, 2025, -, Notes: [This piece was to celebrate the new approach of An Taibhdhearc to the Irish theatre landscape. It was presented as part of the Galway Arts Festival and the Dublin Theatre Festival 2025 an], Theatre Production, PRODUCED
Sarah Jane Scaife and The Abbey Theatre, 'Youth's the Season', Irish Times Review, Independent Review, The Abbey Theatre, Abbey Theatre, 2025, -, Notes: [This show received great attention in terms of reviews and was very popular with audiences. It was also the first time it had been produced since 1931 in Ireland. Written by a young woman, Marry Manning for the Gate Theatre at the age of 26.], Theatre Production, PRODUCED
Directing Marina Carr's By the Bog of Cats (1998) in China in, editor(s)Clare, David, McDonagh, Fiona and Nakase, Justine , The Golden Thread: Irish Women Playwrights Vol. Two (1992-2016, England, Liverpool University Press, 2021, pp51 - 63, [Sarah Jane Scaife], Book Chapter, PUBLISHED
Samuel Beckett/ Micheal Ó Chonghaile, 'Happy Days/Laethanta Sona', Laethanta Sona, Samuel Beckett Theatre, Dublin Theatre Festival, Arlen Press, 2021, -, Notes: [This production was a highly technical re-imagination of the site specific piece on the island of Inis Oirr using the filmed footage from Inis Oirr projection mapped onto the sculptural installation int eh Beckett theatre. The translation was published by Arlen House Publishers.], Theatre Production, PUBLISHED
Thornton Wilder, 'The Long Christmas Dinner', The Long Christmas Dinner, The Peacock Theatre, The Abbey Theatre, 2021, -, Notes: [This play was co-directed by Raymond Keane and Sarah Jane Scaife.], Theatre Production, PUBLISHED
Samuel Beckett/ Micheal Ó Chonghaile, 'Happy Days/Laethanta Sona', Laethanta Sona, Galway Arts Festival, 2021, -, Notes: [A unique collaboration of theatrical mediums, performance, landscape, language, translation, the culture and people of Inis Oirr.], Theatre Production, PUBLISHED  URL  URL  URL
Sarah Jane Scaife, Beckett in the City: The Women Speak, Beckett Mexico, Centro Nacional de Las Artes, Mexico City, 27-29th 2019, 2019, Notes: [Key Note Speaker], Conference Paper, PUBLISHED  URL
Sarah Jane Scaife, 'Situating the Audience - Performance encounter Beckett in the City: The Women Speak, Contemporary Theatre Review, Vol 28, (No 1), 2018, p114 - 126, Notes: [This was a special edition journal on Beckett, Edited by Anna McMullan and Graham Saunders, published by Taylor and Francis.], Journal Article, PUBLISHED
Sarah Jane Scaife, 'Celebrating the Female Voice in Twentieth-century Irish Theatre: Mary Manning and Marina Carr, Moving Worlds: Women Write Now, 18, (1), 2018, p43 - 54, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
Samuel Beckett, 'Company', Dublin, Dublin Theatre Festival, 2018, -, Theatre Production, PRODUCED  URL
  

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Award Date
Arts Grant Funding 2021
Galway Arts Festival 2021
Dublin Theatre Festival 2021
Arts Council Projects Awards 2018
Culture Ireland 2017
Writer/Director in Residence NTU Singapore 2017
Arts Council Development Grant 2016
Department of Foreign Affairs China Project 2019
Arts Council Bursary- Women Playwrights of early 20th century 2016
Culture Ireland for Barbican Festival 2015
Arts Council Projects Awards 2015
Arts Council Projects Awards 2014
Culture Ireland for touring to Waseda, Tokyo 2014