Dan Colley is a theatre and film maker with a particular focus on devised ensemble work, adaptation and theatre for young audiences. Dan's creative practice involves long periods of research and development with key collaborators from an early stage. Dan is interested in the slipperiness of realities and form.
His play LOST LEAR won the Scotsman Fringe First award at Edinburgh 2025, where it was presented at Traverse Theatre. Premiering at Dublin Theatre Festival in 2022, it has since toured to the US, UK and New Zealand and has been described as "an astonishing piece of theatre" by the Financial Times in one of 22 five-star reviews for the show. LOST LEAR was selected for the Prospero NEW platform, to enable European touring.
His adaptation of A VERY OLD MAN WITH ENORMOUS WINGS by Gabriel Garcia Marquez premiered in 2019 and was nominated for two Irish Times Theatre Awards and four Dublin Fringe Awards, including ‘Best Production’. It has since had over 200 performances and been presented in New York, London's Unicorn Theatre, Scotland's Imaginate Festival and the Sydney Opera House.
His debut film THE PAINTED MAN was in the official selection of the Galway Film Fleadh and was nominated for 'Best Arthouse Short' in Fastnet Film Festival.
As Artistic Director of Collapsing Horse (2013-19) he directed nine original productions, created a series of ten radio plays, and an exhibition in the National Museum of Ireland.
Dan was Co-Artistic Director of the Kilkenny Cat Laughs comedy festival from 2017-19.
Dan was the Creative Director of DANSE MACABRE, a large-scale processional street theatre piece for Macnas. He was awarded the Arts Council’s of Ireland's Next Generation Bursary Award in 2016. He is Theatre Artist in Residence in the Riverbank Arts Centre, he was appointed by the Minister for Culture to be a member of the Expert Advisory Group for Creative Youth, and is on the board of the Dublin Fringe Festival.
Dan lives and works between Dublin and Newbridge, Ireland.
