Canadian Premiere of ENDGAME Will Open New Venue, The Corleck in November

The Canada Ireland Foundation has announced that their new multipurpose arts and culture venue, the CORLECK, will officially open its doors this November. The new venue will be inaugurated by the Canadian Premiere of leading Irish Theatre company Druid Theatre’s acclaimed production of Samuel Beckett’s ENDGAME, on stage November 18th to 28th. 

Directed by Druid’s Tony Award-winning Artistic Director Garry Hynes, ENDGAME features the original cast of Bosco Hogan with Druid Ensemble members Aaron Monaghan, Tony-winner Marie Mullen and Rory Nolan, in Beckett’s tragicomic tale of a man living with his parents and his servant in a world beyond time and place. With nowhere to go and not much to do, they spend their days telling stories and contemplating the absurdity of life.  

"Our production of ENDGAME has been a brilliant journey with Beckett in Ireland and America,” shared Druid Artistic Director Garry Hynes. “We are thrilled to now be asked to perform it as part of the opening presentation of the Corleck. The production features four of Ireland's greatest actors including my co-founder of Druid, Marie Mullen." 

Called “one of the greatest, bravest, most exciting theatre companies anywhere in the world” (The Arts Review) Druid Theatre was founded in Galway, Ireland in 1975 by Garry Hynes, Marie Mullen and Mick Lally, with a focus on rigorous touring throughout Ireland and internationally. In their 50-year history, amongst their many celebrated works they are remembered for their production of Martin McDonagh’s The Beauty Queen of Leenane, which won the company four Tony Awards including earning Garry Hynes the first Tony Award for Best Direction won by a woman. Their production of ENDGAME first toured Ireland in 2024 before arriving in New York last year, for an acclaimed run at the Irish Arts Centre as part of Druid’s 50th anniversary season. Critics have called the production “flawless” (New York Stage Review), “masterful” (Theatre Matters), “mesmerizingly assured” (Financial Times), and the production was a New York Times Critic’s Pick. 

“Druid's ENDGAME is exactly the kind of Irish theatre we built The Corleck to showcase, brought to life by one of the world's most acclaimed theatre companies,” comments CIF Executive Director William Peat. “Toronto audiences will get to experience this remarkable production in an intimate setting that simply isn't possible elsewhere, and that's what makes this partnership so special.” 

The CORLECK is the centrepiece of a multi-project redevelopment of Toronto’s Eireann Quay, which includes the award-winning design of Ireland Park, honouring the Irish immigrants who fled during the Great Famine in 1847 to arrive in Toronto and memorializing the thousands who lost their lives either in the sea passage or upon arrival. Situated next to the distinctive Canada Maltings Silos on the waterfront, the CORLECK is a modernist/art deco heritage building built in the 1940’s to house the Malting Silos administrative offices, which has been unoccupied since the 1980’s. The CIF secured a lease with the City of Toronto in 2021 to redevelop the building into a vibrant new venue for arts, culture, and heritage programming. The organization has been working with Kearns Mancini Architects on the adaptive renovation of the 9,600 sq ft., two and a half storey structure, restoring the facility to provide multi-use event spaces for cultural programming, community and corporate events, as well as office space for the Foundation. The redevelopment of the Corleck is one of six new projects to be developed on the existing waterfront grounds of the Queen’s Quay neighbourhood, involving various public agencies, including City of Toronto and Waterfront Toronto, working together to improve the public realm of this neighbourhood. 

Earlier this year, Canadian Heritage announced a major investment through the Cultural Spaces Fund, supporting the final phase of the of the venue-creation project, enabling the completion of the performance spaces with the purchase of state-of-the-art lighting, sound, video, and staging systems. 

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