Davey Kelle­her

Davey is a Direc­tor based in Dublin, work­ing across Opera and Theatre.

He directed and devel­oped the award-​winning Tom Moran is a Big Fat Filthy Dis­gust­ing Liar by Tom Moran, which, after a suc­cess­ful run at the Abbey The­atre, will tour nation­ally, pre­sented by the Abbey Theatre.

Upcom­ing direct­ing work includes: The Cork Proms for the Cork Opera House/​Midsummer Fes­ti­val, and a nation­ally tour­ing pro­duc­tion of Strauss’ Die Fle­d­er­maus as part of Irish National Opera’s 2024/​25 season.

Addi­tional the­atre direct­ing cred­its include the Irish pre­mieres of Isla by Tim Price, and Michelle Read’s Bang! for Dublin The­atre Fes­ti­val; A Short Cut To Hap­pi­ness for the Edin­burgh Fringe Fes­ti­val (nom­i­nated for Scots­man Men­tal Health Award); comic drama Sea­horse (National Tour), multi-​form music & pup­petry works, Glow­worm and Birdy, and spoken-​word sci-​fi, These Lights (Dublin Fringe Fes­ti­val); as well as the geopo­lit­i­cal alle­gory The Olive Tree, which has toured inter­na­tion­ally. He was Asso­ciate Direc­tor with the Cork Opera House for Prodi­Jig: The Rev­o­lu­tion and The Wiz­ard of Oz.

He has directed pro­duc­tions of Absolute Hell by Rod­ney Ack­land, The Laramie Project by Moisés Kauf­man and mem­bers of the Tec­tonic The­ater Project, as well as Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, and As You Like It at the Lir Acad­emy, Dublin.

Opera direct­ing cred­its include Mozart’s The Magic Flute for Cork Opera House, Music Rooms with The Ark/​INO and Conor Mitchell’s A Mes­sage for Marty (or The Ring) for Irish National Opera’s acclaimed 20 Shots of Opera series. Addi­tion­ally, with INO he was Asso­ciate Direc­tor for Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte, and Assis­tant Direc­tor for Puccini’s Tosca, Bizet’s Car­men and Verdi’s Aida as well as Rossini’s The Bar­ber of Seville (Wide Open Opera). He was a mem­ber of the INO Opera Stu­dio 2021 – 22.

Davey is an asso­ciate artist at The Civic, Tal­laght, a direc­tor and play­writ­ing men­tor for the annual Ten­der­foot pro­gramme, and a mem­ber of the Dra­maturgs’ Net­work of Ire­land.
He works often in the devel­op­ment of new work, and the men­tor­ing of emerg­ing artists.

He is the cur­rent artis­tic direc­tor of Dublin Youth Theatre.

Praise for Tom Moran is a Big Fat Filthy Dis­gust­ing Liar:

★★★★
“Smartly writ­ten, wryly witty and pro­foundly pierc­ing”
The Scots­man

★★★★★
“The most sear­ingly hon­est and mov­ing show of the year”
The Arts Review

“Remark­able… Extremely pol­ished piece of writ­ing and act­ing”
The Stage

“Superla­tive… A mas­ter­class”
Irish Inde­pen­dent

 

 

• Director
• Dramaturg
• Opera