Aula Maxima, Maynooth
Encyclopedia
Aula Maxima is a theatre building in Maynooth
, Co. Kildare, Ireland
. It was built in 1893.
Aula Maxima comes from Latin
, meaning Great Hall. The building is also known simply as "The Aula". It is situated on the South Campus of the National University of Ireland, Maynooth
and St Patrick's College, Maynooth
and is the main theatre for the university, college and surrounding areaIt also serves as the conferring hall of the university.
Aula Maxima is known for its historical importance, and famed for its many ghost stories and apparent ghostly sightings.
Aula Maxima houses a projection box, which was in regular use for 40 years.
's dramatic society, NUI Maynooth Chamber Orchestra and Maynooth Community Players:
1997:
2005/2006:
2006/2007:
2007/2008:
2008/2009:
2009/2010:
Many superstitions exist regarding treatment of Aula Maxima and the Aula Ghost. One such superstition centres around the ghost's apparent turning of a chair placed over the projection box to face away from the stage if he does not like a performance, or the manner in which the staging of the performance was conducted.
Maynooth
Maynooth is a town in north County Kildare, Ireland. It is home to a branch of the National University of Ireland, a Papal University and Ireland's main Roman Catholic seminary, St. Patrick's College...
, Co. Kildare, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
. It was built in 1893.
Aula Maxima comes from Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
, meaning Great Hall. The building is also known simply as "The Aula". It is situated on the South Campus of the National University of Ireland, Maynooth
National University of Ireland, Maynooth
The National University of Ireland, Maynooth , was founded by the Universities Act, 1997 as a constituent university of the National University of Ireland. It is Ireland's second oldest university, having been formed from St Patrick's College, Maynooth, itself founded in 1795.The university is...
and St Patrick's College, Maynooth
St Patrick's College, Maynooth
St Patrick's College, Maynooth is the "National Seminary for Ireland" , and a Pontifical University, located in the village of Maynooth, 15 miles from Dublin, Ireland. The college and seminary are often referred to as Maynooth College. The college was officially established as the Royal College...
and is the main theatre for the university, college and surrounding areaIt also serves as the conferring hall of the university.
Aula Maxima is known for its historical importance, and famed for its many ghost stories and apparent ghostly sightings.
History
Right Rev. Mgr. MacMahon of the Catholic University at Washington, DC originally gifted the theatre to St Patrick's College, his alma mater, and its construction was completed under the presidency of Bishop Robert Brown.Aula Maxima houses a projection box, which was in regular use for 40 years.
Dramatic Performances
NUI Maynooth's Drama Society is the resident company of Aula Maxima. A wide variety of their productions staged therein. It also regularly sees performances by St Patrick's CollegeSt Patrick's College, Maynooth
St Patrick's College, Maynooth is the "National Seminary for Ireland" , and a Pontifical University, located in the village of Maynooth, 15 miles from Dublin, Ireland. The college and seminary are often referred to as Maynooth College. The college was officially established as the Royal College...
's dramatic society, NUI Maynooth Chamber Orchestra and Maynooth Community Players:
1997:
- Arthur MillerArthur MillerArthur Asher Miller was an American playwright and essayist. He was a prominent figure in American theatre, writing dramas that include plays such as All My Sons , Death of a Salesman , The Crucible , and A View from the Bridge .Miller was often in the public eye,...
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2005/2006:
- Questions of Parting
- Laurents, Bernstein & Sondheim's West Side Story
2006/2007:
- William ShakespeareWilliam ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
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- Rodgers & Hammersetein's Oklahoma!Oklahoma!Oklahoma! is the first musical written by composer Richard Rodgers and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs' 1931 play, Green Grow the Lilacs. Set in Oklahoma Territory outside the town of Claremore in 1906, it tells the story of cowboy Curly McLain and his romance...
2007/2008:
- Blood Wedding by Federico Garcia LorcaFederico García LorcaFederico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca was a Spanish poet, dramatist and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblematic member of the Generation of '27. He is believed to be one of thousands who were summarily shot by anti-communist death squads...
- First Timer's Festival, featuring productions of:
- Berkoff's Lunch
- Durang's An Actor's Nightmare
- Chekov's The Bear
- Barnes's Nobody Here But Us Chickens
- YeatsWilliam Butler YeatsWilliam Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and playwright, and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. A pillar of both the Irish and British literary establishments, in his later years he served as an Irish Senator for two terms...
's Purgatory - StoppardTom StoppardSir Tom Stoppard OM, CBE, FRSL is a British playwright, knighted in 1997. He has written prolifically for TV, radio, film and stage, finding prominence with plays such as Arcadia, The Coast of Utopia, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, Professional Foul, The Real Thing, and Rosencrantz and...
's 15 Minute Hamlet - Duplicit (student-written)
- Terry PratchettTerry PratchettSir Terence David John "Terry" Pratchett, OBE is an English novelist, known for his frequently comical work in the fantasy genre. He is best known for his popular and long-running Discworld series of comic fantasy novels...
and Stephen BriggsStephen BriggsStephen Briggs is a British writer of subsidiary works and merchandise surrounding Terry Pratchett's comic fantasy Discworld. The Streets of Ankh-Morpork, the first Discworld map, was co-designed by Briggs and Pratchett and painted by Stephen Player in 1993...
's MaskeradeMaskeradeMaskerade is the eighteenth novel in the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. The witches Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg visit the Ankh-Morpork Opera House to find Agnes Nitt, a girl from Lancre, and get caught up in a story similar to The Phantom of the Opera.-Plot summary:The story begins with... - Little Shop of HorrorsLittle Shop of Horrors (musical)Little Shop of Horrors is a rock musical, by composer Alan Menken and writer Howard Ashman, about a hapless florist shop worker who raises a plant that feeds on human blood. The musical is based on the low-budget 1960 black comedy film The Little Shop of Horrors, directed by Roger Corman...
- Brian FrielBrian FrielBrian Friel is an Irish dramatist, author and director of the Field Day Theatre Company. He is considered to be the greatest living English-language dramatist, hailed by the English-speaking world as an "Irish Chekhov" and "the universally accented voice of Ireland"...
's The Enemy Within
- Terry Pratchett
2008/2009:
- Frank McGuinnessFrank McGuinnessProfessor Frank McGuinness is an award-winning Irish playwright and poet. As well as his own works, which include Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme, he is recognised for a "strong record of adapting literary classics, having translated the plays of Racine, Sophocles, Ibsen and...
's Dolly West's KitchenDolly West's KitchenDolly West's Kitchen is a dark Irish and deeply Chekhovian play written by playwright Frank McGuinness. Dolly West's Kitchen was first staged in the Abbey Theatre, Dublin in 1999. Set during the Second World War in the town of Buncrana, Co... - Remembering Rose
- Jesus Christ SuperstarJesus Christ SuperstarJesus Christ Superstar is a rock opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber, with lyrics by Tim Rice. The musical started off as a rock opera concept recording before its first staging on Broadway in 1971...
- LutherLuther (play)Luther is a 1961 play by John Osborne that explored the forces that were involved in the life of Martin Luther, one of the instigators of the Protestant Reformation. Osborne was influenced by Erik Erikson's book, Young Man Luther, which had been published three years prior in 1958. In the play,...
- The Musical Misdemeanour's of Sally Scribbles (student-written)
2009/2010:
- First Timer's Festival, featuring productions of David CamptonDavid CamptonDavid Campton was a prolific British dramatist who wrote plays for the stage, radio, and cinema for thirty-five years...
's Cagebirds and Brian FrielBrian FrielBrian Friel is an Irish dramatist, author and director of the Field Day Theatre Company. He is considered to be the greatest living English-language dramatist, hailed by the English-speaking world as an "Irish Chekhov" and "the universally accented voice of Ireland"...
's Lovers: Winners and Losers - Brecht's Fear and Misery in the Third Reich
- William ShakespeareWilliam ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
's HamletHamletThe Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601... - FameFame (musical)A stage musical based on the 1980 musical film Fame has been staged under two titles. The first, 'Fame – The Musical' conceived and developed by David De Silva, is a musical with a book by Jose Fernandez, music by Steve Margoshes and lyrics by Jacques Levy. The musical premiered in 1988 in Miami,...
- Aaron SorkinAaron SorkinAaron Benjamin Sorkin is an Academy and Emmy award winning American screenwriter, producer, and playwright, whose works include A Few Good Men, The American President, The West Wing, Sports Night, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, The Social Network, and Moneyball.After graduating from Syracuse...
's A Few Good Men - Brian FrielBrian FrielBrian Friel is an Irish dramatist, author and director of the Field Day Theatre Company. He is considered to be the greatest living English-language dramatist, hailed by the English-speaking world as an "Irish Chekhov" and "the universally accented voice of Ireland"...
's TranslationsTranslationsTranslations is a three-act play by Irish playwright Brian Friel written in 1980. It is set in Baile Beag , a small village at the heart of 19th century agricultural Ireland...
Folklore and the Aula Ghost
There are numerous stories detailing the presence of a ghost in Aula Maxima. Simply known as the Aula Ghost, he is reputed to be the spirit of a projectionist, active in Maynooth in the 1940s. The projectionist was a seminarian and member of St Patrick's College who fell to his death from the projectionist's box in Aula Maxima.Many superstitions exist regarding treatment of Aula Maxima and the Aula Ghost. One such superstition centres around the ghost's apparent turning of a chair placed over the projection box to face away from the stage if he does not like a performance, or the manner in which the staging of the performance was conducted.
See also
- National University of Ireland, MaynoothNational University of Ireland, MaynoothThe National University of Ireland, Maynooth , was founded by the Universities Act, 1997 as a constituent university of the National University of Ireland. It is Ireland's second oldest university, having been formed from St Patrick's College, Maynooth, itself founded in 1795.The university is...
- St Patrick's College, MaynoothSt Patrick's College, MaynoothSt Patrick's College, Maynooth is the "National Seminary for Ireland" , and a Pontifical University, located in the village of Maynooth, 15 miles from Dublin, Ireland. The college and seminary are often referred to as Maynooth College. The college was officially established as the Royal College...
- Irish theatreIrish theatreThe history of Irish theatre begins with the Gaelic Irish tradition. Much of the literature in that Celtic language was destroyed by conquest, except for a few manuscripts and fragments, such as the Book of Fermoy...
- List of Irish theatres and theatre companies