Tickets on general sale Thursday 23rd July at 10:00.

In June 2025, at the National Concert Hall, composer Roger Doyle and performer Olwen Fouéré staged a reunion concert celebrating the founding of their music-theatre company Operating Theatre. Operating Theatre was active in two phases: the first from 1981 to 1988, and the second from 1998 to 2008. The company operated as both a theatre company, integrating music as an equal partner in the theatrical environment, and as a band releasing records. Roles were flexible in that Fouéré also sang and Doyle also acted and as a duo they collaborated with numerous other artists including writers, musicians, directors, actors and designers.

In the 1980s, Operating Theatre released records with CBS Ireland, Kabuki Records in London, on the Mother label set up by U2, and created several theatre productions which were presented globally including at the Project Arts Centre, Dublin, a tour of Holland, at London’s Bush Theatre, Glasgow Mayfest, Caracas Festival in Venezuela, Avignon festival in France, Galway International Arts Festival and Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris. These included site-specific productions in an abandoned warehouse in Dublin’s Digital Hub, a glass room in the Imperial Hotel in Galway, a shop front in Temple Bar and an Art Gallery in Paris.

In 2008 the company produced a 114-page hardback book called Operating Theatre 1980-2008 with photographs, essays and 2 CDs, one in each cover. They have experienced a recent resurgence following the success of US singer Caroline Polachek’s version of their single Spring is Coming with a Strawberry in the Mouth (originally released on the Mother Label with singer/lyricist Elena Lopez). The track has also been used by Fashion brands Gucci and Chloé who featured the original version on their worldwide online fashion collection.
Roger Doyle, dubbed the Godfather of Irish Electronic music has released many more albums to worldwide acclaim including two electronic operas. He released his first LP Oizzo No in 1975. Olwen Fouéré has a flourishing international career as an actor, writer and director in theatre and film, recently starring in The President in the Gate Theatre and Sydney Theatre Company co production. Films include Mandy, The Watchers, The Survivalist, Sea Fever, All You Need is Death, Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022) amongst many others. The last time Olwen Fouéré and Roger Doyle appeared together in the Gate Theatre was in 1988-1991 when they were both performing in the world premiere of the now legendary production of Oscar Wilde’s Salomé directed by Steven Berkoff