Smock Alley Theatre, 1662

Smock Alley Theatre is the oldest theatre in Ireland (founded in 1662), and you truly feel its history the moment you step inside. The atmosphere is intimate and authentic — this is not a large commercial venue, but a place for deep, thoughtful theatre. The auditorium is beautifully restored, with excellent acoustics and close proximity to the stage, which makes every performance feel personal and powerful. A special highlight is the stunning Banquet Hall, where you can enjoy a pre-show supper with a light grazing platter and a drink — highly recommended for a full theatre experience. Helpful tips for visitors: • Arrive 45–60 minutes early to enjoy the building and pre-show drinks calmly. • If available, book the pre-show dinner — it adds a special ritual to the evening. • The historic building can feel cool inside, so bring a light jacket or scarf. • Front or central seats offer the best immersion, especially for dramatic plays. • Many performances last 2–2.5 hours with an interval, so plan your evening without rushing. • Keep phones fully on silent — the space is very intimate and sound carries easily. • Dress code is smart casual — relaxed but elegant. Located close to Temple Bar but tucked away from the noise, Smock Alley is perfect to combine with dinner, a walk by the river, or a drink after the show. This is not just entertainment — it’s a meaningful cultural experience. Highly recommended.

We recently got married and had our ceremony in Smock Alley. This was the absolute best start to the perfect day. The venue is absolutely stunning, many guests had never been there before and are still talking about how beautiful it was. We had a humanist ceremony but the venue , with it's stained glass windows and stone walls , still has a great cost, churchy atmosphere. Sarah was great to deal with, very responsive and everything was very clear and she was just great on the day. I highly recommend this venue for your city wedding!

Intimate (we were at the smaller) venue with the potential to really connect with the performers. Friendly staff. Reasonable, if relatively limited bar (performers are prohibited from buying alcohol) but the revamped Turks Head is a stones throw away. It always surprises me how soon they want everyone out afterwards. There really is no hangin' around. They could do with a pop-up merch stand for performers to use.

We held our wedding in Smock Alley Theatre in August 2025 and had a fantastic day. Sarah and her events team were incredibly helpful from the moment we viewed the venue right up until the day itself. We would highly recommend anyone looking for a Dublin wedding to get in touch with Smock Alley.

Smock Alley Theatre is a charming venue with a stylish and well-kept interior that makes attending a show a real pleasure. The atmosphere feels both historic and inviting, creating a unique theatre experience in the heart of Dublin. The productions are engaging and varied, appealing to a wide audience. One of the best things about Smock Alley is that it remains very affordable, making theatre accessible without compromising on quality. Its central location adds to its convenience, with easy access to restaurants, cafes, and the rest of the city. Overall, Smock Alley Theatre is a great choice for anyone looking for an enjoyable, stylish, and reasonably priced theatre experience.

A very, very good choice for a wedding.It's hard not to be amazed by this magnificent place. the venue is incredible and is in the center of town and easy to get to. there's a lot of detail and the stained-glass windows are splendid. here are a few photos I was able to take as photographer for the couple during the ceremony. You can find more examples in my portfolio or on instagram @emidphoto

This is a really beautiful historical building. The seating is very intimate and really makes you feel you are a part of the performance, nice little bar area .

Hannah and I were fortunate enough to get married at Smock Alley Theatre, and we couldn’t be more grateful for the incredible support we received from Sarah from the very beginning. The venue itself is nothing short of spectacular. From the moment we first stepped in to the moment we walked up the aisle, we were in awe of the transformation. It’s an absolutely stunning space that set the perfect tone for our ceremony and made the entire experience feel magical. We chose the Dublin String Quartet from a list Sarah provided, and their music was the perfect complement to the atmosphere of the venue—beautiful and unforgettable. We honestly can’t imagine our wedding day without Smock Alley Theatre. It’s unique, atmospheric, and absolutely perfect for a day we’ll cherish forever. Thank you so much to everyone involved for making our day so special.

Wonderful theater. I can't believe how old it is. The production we saw- The Good Father- was fantastic. Just amazing performances. Difficult to be so intimate for so long but the actors sustained the relationship beautifully. I hope I get to see another play here some day. The benches were comfortable. It certainly wasn't crowded for the matinee- there were only about 10 people total, including us, which was very sad as the play was so wonderful and the acting so superb. There is a bar in the lobby and the building is gorgeous. They've an upper floor you can rent out for occasions. And it's gorgeous- stained glass windows, lovely giant hall with beautiful ceiling- the works. I think you'd have a lovely wedding if you booked it. I wish I could go back for more productions, because this place is a class act all the way. Nice bathrooms, too.

A little known theatre amongst the occasional theatre going crowd. It is wedged between two churches and is something that you would easily walk by. It was built way back in 1662 and was a prominent theatrical venue in it's hey day. On either side of it is St Michael and St John's Church. It's structure still remains and it opens up into the basement. It recently got a refurbishment grant so that it could be modelled back to it's former glory. Its part of Gaiety School of acting and you can catch some good performances. The location is in Temple Bar which adds to it's historical essence, a real Dublin treasure.

#renegadeweddingfair Scanning through Instagram and saw Camerino posting about the wedding fair and decided to check it out - free!!! The venue itself is amazing! Loved the wedding setup; very spacious and just old school! Not that many suppliers, it was great to see the venue. I wasn't keen on the fact that there were only two ladies toilets though. There'd be queue if there was a wedding of 100 people. All in all, great city centre venue for a wedding.

A great location on the quays for smaller plays - we visited the venue during the Fringe Fest event. Granted it was the opening day but the ticket office coped remarkably well with people collecting tickets but the bar, not so good with haphazard service and a frustrated queue. The venue itself is good - all seats have a great view of the stage and allowed the performers to interact with the patrons in the first few rows. Bonus point for being allowed to bring drinks in!

Well this is a gorgeous space isn't it. I've walked by here several times in the past and not quite realised what as behind the great glass door. A beautiful feat of architecture for a start. Lovingly restored Georgian shenanigans, mixed with new steel and shiny glass. Then there's the bar. The best stocked bar I've ever seen in a theatre that's for sure. And it has sweets too. Then there are the shows. Generally smaller more indie types, can occasionally be a little hit and miss, but are always good value, and always lovingly put together. Housed within Smock Alley, there are a few different spaces. I was in the Black Box, which is just as it seems. There is also the stunning Banquet Hall, The Boy's School, and the Main Space. An asset to the cultural scene in Dublin, there ain't no two ways about it.

Beautiful venue and far bigger than you would think. Some amazing background history on the venue also. Very intimate also.

What a great venue!? It takes something like the Fringe Festival to get you going here. I enjoyed "Live Art Speed Date" which was extremely fun and very Fringe! I had never been to Smock Alley Theatre before and it's a great space.

One of the best venues in the city for unconventional or risque theatre! I almost always come away from Smock Alley with a large smile. I've seen countless excellent productions here like Pondling, Monster/Clock and some Neo-Futurist stuff! Beautiful space and it's always a pleasure to see something here

We were here for a work event. I'm not sure what was part of smock alley & what was hired in from outside but I'll give an opinion on it all anyway! The venue itself is absolutely beautiful, gorgeous stained glass windows & a big open space. The food - tasted good but there just wasn't enough. We have a number of people with dietary requirements in our job & very few of them were catered for. There was halal food on a separate table to the other food & this table also had a salad bar, while the other one didn't. I opted for a chicken pie, skipped on the hot veg to get a salad instead & was told I couldn't have any salad because it was for the Halal meals. Now I can understand that they need to ensure there's enough Halal meat to go round, but surely they could have shared around the hot and cold veggies - or at the least the lady serving us could have been less rude about it! There werent enough seats for everyone & the food needed knife & fork treatment so as soon as we had eaten we had to jump out of our seats to make space for the next people (although that could have been due to the props we had for our event). Because there's a bar downstairs too & our floor was like a gallery we could hear the noise carrying from downstairs. This was fine for most of the night but when the boss tried to give a little speech he couldn't be heard with the noise carrying from downstairs. Overall it was a fantastic night, the staff were super friendly (for the most part) & we had a fantastic night. Would recommend for an event but I'd certainly make some changes.

The Boy's School venue at Smock Alley ranks among the most interesting theatre settings I've ever experienced. Last time I was here was to see When The Hunter Returns by Lally Katz, a gothic fairy-tale of love, loss and revenge. The raw interior worked perfectly with the dark and dramatic story; a witch casting spells in the hope of her lover's return and angry villagers trying to get rid of the poor woman (who really meant no harm) for good. I didn't mind that I had to stand through the whole play, it just made me feel more part of the performance. And what a great performance it was.

Cozy place with ancient arch ruins embedded in the wall. Saw Great Grand Stretch improv here. We were at the back entrance and no one was there. We went to the front which is the side close to the river and was relieved to see the show was on. Bad google maps!

It was my second time in the building but my first time watching a theatre play (the first time was a photo exhibition). I simply love the atmosphere here. I'm a sucker for old buildings and they did a very nice job in keeping the old structure but bringing it into modern use. During the break we went upstairs to their banquet hall - what a space. You can easily imagine yourself having a feast - or celebration - here.

Highlight of my weekend. I took the mammy to a horror-themed Literary Death Match as part of the Bram Stoker Festival (which is absolutely everywhere this year, it really seems to have reached its potential, yays). We weren't entirely sure what to expect, but left about 90 minutes later feeling exhilarated, entertained and slightly creeped out. Exhilarated because the people involved were so enthusiastic, talented and fun. Entertained because the speakers (both judges and participants) were articulate, gifted at storytelling, and completely absorbed our attention throughout. Creeped out because each piece delivered by the participants was icky and unsettling. Comprising a cast of sleazy manipulative men, dreamy vampire women, a Dublin which demanded and received a worthy vampiric monster, and cannibalistic academics, these were amazing tales. Smock Alley Theatre is lovely theatre space, putting me in mind of the atmpophere of the tiny, cramped cellars in Paris used by improv groups and other peripatetic artists, but with a great sense of space and modern comfortable and cool seating. It's a gem, I wish I'd been before, and intend to become a regular attendee .

Love this little spot-went here recently to see Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion with some friends. Not only was the play excellent but the layout and design of the theatre was awesome-the space is truly beautiful. All the seats have a great view - also great bar out front!

Located on the keys in Dublin it is close to Temple bar etc. Its a beautiful old building with lots of history and character. I was at a banquet show in the upstairs section which was probably the church at some point. Beautiful stained glass windows and ceilings made it the perfect venue for this or weddings etc which Im told do happen here. The show was great, a DIT graduating class final showcase. Really enjoyable and I will definately be back to this great venue. There is a full bar with Dublin prices of course.

Apart of the dublin fringe festival, loads of shows were taking place in Smock Alley. So I attended here in multiple parts of the venue. It is surprisingly good size and utilises the spaces well. The staff are very friendly and quite liked that the intro to any show was not only in english and irish (haven't seen that done anywhere else) They have a small wee bar and an inside bit to sit down and pre-wait for the shows to begin. Overall its a great place for shows and centrally located. I think it would be good if they had a smoking area that was covered (this is ireland and it does rain)

Gorgeous old theater filled with history. Saw Smock, and I can't wait to see more original stuff from this place. Be sure to try a Smocktail! Nice value, and they're into new works and hiring young actors so it's great to support them.

Went to see heroin (e) for breakfast here as part of 10 days in Dublin. Lovely, clean, intimate venue. Lots of steps up to the toilet in the main building and had to venture out in the rain to one of the theatres, but this is a lovely venue close to temple bar. Good experience and the show was brilliant.