About

Barry Fitzgerald is a director, maker and performer based between Ireland and the UK.

Barry’s practice is interdisciplinary and concerned with the intersections of identity. Playing with form and connecting with communities is at its heart - experimental work that is aesthetically rich, thought-provoking and fun.

Work

Barry has worked with companies such as Complicité and Punchdrunk, and created work shown at venues including the Arcola Theatre, Birmingham REP, Bush Theatre, Camden People’s Theatre, Contact Theatre, The Glory, Hackney Showroom and Shoreditch Town Hall. Barry was an Artist-in-Residence at VISUAL Carlow and is Associate Artist with Outbox Theatre, a company of LGBTQIA+ creatives who ‘create spaces where queer people can dream and imagine’.

An experienced director and facilitator, Barry has led projects with the Almeida, Arcola, ArtsEd London, Barbican, Gendered Intelligence, Hackney Empire, Hackney Shed, Lyric Hammersmith, Royal Court, and Unicorn Theatre. They direct and teach at leading drama schools, mostly regularly at Mountview and Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.

Barry’s film and video work has screened at festivals including Aesthetica, Cork International Film Festival, Galway Film Fleadh, GAZE LGBTQ+ Festival, Homotopia, Scottish Queer International Film Festival and SHOUT. Their video work, ‘…you should see me in the dress’ was part of VISUAL’s summer exhibition, Remembering the Future, and won an Artworks Award, granted to artists who demonstrate ‘exceptional promise’.

In 2025, Barry contributed to Stanislavsky and Gender (published by Routledge) writing a chapter around queerness and their experiences of training, teaching and performance making. Barry was a participant in the 2025 Pan Pan International Mentorship developing new work alongside mentor, Caden Manson, and recently finished a month-long residency at Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris.

Barry’s latest work, Mourning is a Muscle, premiered at Carlow Arts Festival and Dublin Fringe Festival 2026, where it was nominated for four awards, including Best Design, and won the inaugural Visionary Award, given to artists breaking new boundaries.

Selected awards, residencies & roles

Award winner, The Visionary Award, Dublin Fringe Festival Awards 2026

Recipient, 2026 CCI Residency Programme, Centre Cultural Irlandais, Paris

Mentee, 2025 Pan Pan 12th International Mentorship with Caden Manson

Artist in Residence, VISUAL Carlow, Ireland, 2020 - ongoing.

Associate Artist, Punchdrunk Enrichment, 2020 - ongoing.

Visiting Director, Mountview, London, 2020 - ongoing.

Associate Artist, OUTBOX, 2020 - ongoing.

Teacher & Director, Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, 2012 - ongoing

Recipient, Arts Act Grant, Carlow Arts Office, Ireland, 2024.

Artworks Award for ‘…you should see me in the dress’, VISUAL Ireland, 2023.

Recipient, Theatre Project Award, Arts Council Ireland, 2023.

Associate Director, GROOVE, Outbox, Shoreditch Town Hall & Contact Manchester, 2022.

Recipient, Theatre Bursary, Arts Council Ireland, 2021.

Recipient, Arts Act Grant, Carlow Arts Office, 2020.

Recipient, Gap Day, Mermaid Arts Centre, Ireland, 2020.

Artist, MAKE Residency, Tyrone Guthrie Centre, Ireland, 2019.

Visiting director, Festival TransArte, Brazil, 2018.

Artist, Live Drafts, Yard Theatre, London, 2018.

Lead Artist, The End of Eddy, Unicorn Theatre/Edinburgh International Festival, 2018.

Creative Associate, Happiness Always / Lies Pauwels project, Royal Court, 2017 -2018.

Lead Acting Tutor, TransActing Project, Gendered Intelligence, 2015 - 2020.