Opera House callout for memorabilia

There is a palpable sense of excitement at Cork Opera House right now as the Leeside institution celebrates its 170th birthday with a unique trip down memory lane.

As part of the year long celebration, Cork Opera House has launched the Send It Home campaign, a heartfelt callout for any memorabilia relating to the venue’s long and colourful history.

The mastermind behind the campaign, Cork Opera House CEO, Eibhlín Gleeson, said there has been a steady trickle of memorabilia coming in and she hopes that the upcoming “drop-off day” on 25 May will bring even more.

Eibhlín said: “The concept is really about capturing the really important stories that relate to the Opera House, from the generation of people who were there in 1955 when it burned down to the people who were there when it reopened ten years later, and all the subsequent years since then.

“It's such an important place to the community in Cork and lots of people feel such ownership over the building. It's a lovely opportunity to have people tell us why it's important to them. She added: “We rarely get the opportunity to look and take a helicopter view of what we do.”

Eibhlín took on the role of CEO at the Cork Opera House as the venue celebrated its 160th birthday and said the idea for the Send It Home campaign grew from there.

She recalled: “At that time there was very little information on sight about the history of the Opera House.

“There are plenty of archives in different parts of the city that are relating to the Opera House, but you can't beat people's memories and people's experiences.

“It's something I've been thinking about for a long time – this idea that a lot of people might have memorabilia that belonged to their grandparents or their mom or their aunt and it's at home in an attic somewhere in a box and people just don't know what to do with it,” she added.

Anyone with memorabilia is invited to dust off their attic treasures and contribute to this extraordinary celebration. They are looking for programmes and posters from past performances, photographs or videos of the venue, performances, or audience experiences, costumes or props from productions held at the venue, or even personal anecdotes or interviews connected to Cork Opera House.

“We're really excited about the memorabilia that we've been getting to this point and we're really looking forward to meeting people on 25 May and seeing what comes in,” said Eibhlín.

“People are dropping things in and showing us things and bringing us things to picture and to scan. It's a bit of a show and tell for people as well because a lot of people want to hold onto their memorabilia, and we totally understand that and it's lovely for us to be able to see it.

“It would be lovely to think that in 50 years' time somebody's looking back at 2025 saying,

'I wonder what that meant to people back then',” she said.

The deadline for submissions is 1 July, and contributions can be delivered to Cork Opera House’s foyer at Emmet Place, Cork city, T12DW6P.

Send it Home Drop Off Day is on Sunday May 25 at Cork Opera House from 10am to 1pm.