Doneraile Village · North Cork · Ireland
Living History.
Handcrafted Stories.
The Verdant Troupe brings Ireland's forgotten figures roaring back to life born, made and performed right here in Doneraile, the Ballyhoura region and beyond
Not a Theatre Company.
A Living Archive.
The Verdant Troupe is a passionate theatre collective with a singular obsession: rescuing the stories that history almost forgot and placing them back where they belong — alive, vivid, and right in front of you.
Storytellers. Performers. Guardians of Ireland's cultural heritage. They do not retell the past. They resurrect it. And they do it rooted in the heart of Doneraile village — at Townhouse Interiors, where every rehearsal, every costume and every performance begins.
Every stitch they sew, every character they conjure, every line that stops you in your tracks — it all starts here, in the village they call home.
Immersive Theatre · Living History
"Where the village becomes the stage."
Townhouse Interiors
A Doneraile institution known across Ireland for its extraordinary bespoke window dressings, soft furnishings and interior design, Townhouse Interiors is award-winning, handmade and timeless.
But the story does not end there. Townhouse Interiors has become something far greater than a design studio. Most of the costumes worn by The Verdant Troupe are designed, cut and handcrafted within these walls, garments built to conjure Tudor England, medieval Ireland and the grand drawing rooms of Doneraile Estate.
Most of the Troupe's rehearsals take place here too. And the Townhouse itself plays host to live theatre performances, bringing history and drama directly into the rooms where it was first imagined.
"It begins right here, in this building, in this village, in this extraordinary corner of North Cork."
It Begins at
Townhouse Interiors
At the centre of Doneraile village, Townhouse Interiors plays a quiet but essential role in bringing The Verdant Troupe to life. From costume to rehearsal to performance, much of what makes the Troupe special happens right here.
Crafted Here
Most of the costumes worn by The Verdant Troupe are designed, cut and handcrafted at Townhouse Interiors, by the same team known across Ireland for their bespoke soft furnishings and interior design. The same eye for detail, simply reimagined for the stage.
Rehearsed Here
Many of the Troupe's rehearsals take place within these walls. Characters are shaped, scenes are refined and stories find their feet in the same space where the costumes were made.
Performed Here
Townhouse Interiors also plays host to live theatre performances, before the journey continues out into the magnificent parklands of Doneraile, where the whole landscape becomes the stage.
Who Will You Meet?
Part of the extraordinary power of this experience is not knowing exactly what awaits you. But here is a glimpse of the remarkable figures whose stories unfold across the estate.
Henry VIII
Come face to face with a king wrestling with his complicated, contested relationship with Ireland.
Oliver Wendell Holmes
One of America's most celebrated judges — a razor-sharp legal mind whose extraordinary correspondence with Lady Castletown crossed an ocean and defied an era.
The Earl of Inchiquin
Descended from Brian Boru — a soldier, nobleman and survivor of the treacherous crosscurrents of 17th-century Ireland.
Lady Castletown
An extraordinary friendship between an Irish aristocrat and an American literary giant, beside the searching voice of Lady Gregory.
Nicholas Synan, Norman Chieftain
Before the St. Legers came, the Synans ruled. Lords of 50,000 acres and five castles, Nicholas Synan stands as the last of a dynasty that shaped this landscape for nearly 400 years — until everything was taken.
Geraldine Bass
Scriptwriter at the heart of The Verdant Troupe's vision, the voice that resurrects these forgotten stories and brings them urgently, compellingly alive.
Myra Ryall
Tour Guide · The Verdant TroupeAt Doneraile Park, wonder is waiting for you in the rustling of ancient trees, in the shadows of the walled gardens, in every corner of this extraordinary North Cork estate.
Those words belong to Myra Ryall, a Doneraile woman to her core, born in Castlepook, where her family has lived since the 1700s, and still rooted there today, just minutes from the Townhouse she calls her own. Together with her husband Ray O'Callaghan, also a tour guide, Myra lives and breathes this place: its architecture, its folklore, its hidden stories. And she cannot wait to share every last one of them with you.
There are days out, and then there are days you never forget. The kind that creep back into your memory weeks later, the kind the children talk about at the dinner table for months, the kind that make you see a place — a whole landscape — completely differently. A visit to Doneraile Park with The Verdant Troupe is emphatically the latter.
More Than
a Day Out
Immersive Performance
Live storytelling at Townhouse and throughout Doneraile Park — no stage, no fourth wall, just history alive around you.
Bespoke Costuming
Every garment designed and handcrafted in Doneraile by Townhouse Interiors — costuming that conjures the past with breathtaking detail.
Exclusive Garden Access
Your journey includes the stunning parterre and walled gardens — hidden treasures most visitors never get to explore.
Wildlife & Wonder
Magnificent deer, elegant swans and rare breed cattle roam freely through this ancient landscape — a feast for every age.
Step Into the Story.
It is waiting for you.
There are days out, and then there are days you never forget. A visit to The Verdant Troupe is emphatically the latter.