| Description | Material relating to Frank Bailey's life and career, including correspondence, press cuttings, programmes, photographs and associated material. This material encompasses his time as a student at Castleknock College, Dublin and later at University College Galway, as well as his output as a drama director with a number of companies. This includes the UCG DramSoc, RTÉ, numerous companies in Dublin and Taibhdhearc na Gaillimhe. Material relating to John and Angela Allen's business interests, particularly the Imperial Hotel, Galway. |
| Administrative History | Frank Bailey was born in Galway in 1938, the son of Des and Angela (later Allen, on her marriage to John). Both of his parents came from noted Galway hotelier families. Bailey was educated at Castleknock College and University College Galway, where he received his BA.
He was a producer with the Dramatic Society in the university for three years, winning the Best Producer Prize and the University Drama Association Festival. His productions included Arthur Miller's All My Sons and Brand by Ibsen. His staging of Brand brought DramSocinto the modern era, and this dramatic vision was to inspire many others. Bailey also participated in Taibhdhearc na Gaillimhe at this time. After graduation he spent some time with Radio Éireann as an actor and producer. Productions there included A Man for All Seasons by Robert Bolt and The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde. Bailey then established his own dramatic company, producing dramas such as The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams and The Caretaker by Harold Pinter. With the Abbey Theatre he produced The Colleen Bawn by Dion Boucicault. He was also the artistic director for Amalgamated Artists, based in the Eblana Theatre. Bailey also worked with Taibhdhearc again at this point, producing An Spuaic Solais (The Honey Spike) by Bryan MacMahon, amongst other productions. He was one of a number of producers working with the theatre in late 1960s and early 1970s who brought Irish language theatre into a new era of artistic achievement. Frank Bailey died tragically in a car accident in June 1971. It was for his work with the Celtic Art Theatre in Galway in 1971 that he is perhaps best remembered for, as it was the first attempt to bring professional English language theatre back to Galway. Through his work at that time he sowed the seeds among a young generation of actors in University College Galway, and elsewhere, which later came to fruition in the rejuvenation of DramSoc at UCG, Taibhdhearc na Gaillimhe and ultimately the Druid Theatre Company. |