Audiences to get behind-the-scenes access to Trinity College Dublin’s Old Library in new RTÉ series
Trinity’s Treasures features Ruth Negga, Eleanor McEvoy, and David Norris, airing Friday 17 July on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player
In this new three-part series, well-known graduates of Trinity College Dublin get unprecedented access to its library during the first major renovation in over 300 years. Trinity’s library is the largest of any university in the country. The Old Library was built in the early 1700s and contains some of the country’s oldest books, including the famous Book of Kells.
In the first episode, Oscar, Tony, and Emmy-nominated actress and producer Ruth Negga explores some of Trinity’s unique literary treasures in fiction, poetry, and theatre, and takes a trip down memory lane to the Drama Department where she started out. Ruth meets Trinity’s Librarian and College Archivist Helen Shenton and gets access to unique writings from Irish literary icon Samuel Beckett. Ruth also meets young drama students who perform from the celebrated works of Samuel Beckett, William Shakespeare, and John Millington Synge. She views early drafts of Synge’s Playboy of the Western World, which she herself performed on stage.
Speaking in the programme, Ruth Negga said: “I love books, I love words, I love plays. [For Trinity to create] a guided personal tour of some of the works that I have personally performed in and admire and the writers that I admire, that’s such an honour. [It was] just such a treat to see the physical manifestation of the work of people I admire so much and whose words I have spoken on stages. Art is political because it’s essentially documenting people’s response to the world in time. I think that’s important, that documentation, to feel like we’re not just alone. We have been bequeathed all this great knowledge, and we must mind it for the next generations.”
In Episode Two, best-selling artist Eleanor McEvoy explores the gems of the music collections in the library. She meets music librarian Roy Stanley to discuss composer Ina Boyle’s manuscript collection. She also looks at the James Goodman Collection, which preserves Munster traditional music from pre-Famine times, and meets musicians who perform these tunes which were nearly lost to time. In the stunning Long Room of the Old Library, Eleanor herself performs music from the Thomas Moore collection, and she visits old classmates who are still singing in the university’s Chapel Choir.
In Episode Three, former senator and civil rights activist David Norris looks at the collections that have helped shape Ireland politically and socially. David meets Manuscripts Curator Dr Jane Maxwell, who shows him highlights from the medieval manuscripts collection containing some of the earliest records on the evolution of Irish society. Jane also shows David some of the earliest surviving legal documents in Ireland, explaining how the library’s collections are a witness to history.
Trinity Librarian and College Archivist Helen Shenton said: “From the brilliance of medieval manuscripts and the inspirational writings of towering literary figures, to the resounding power of modern archives and printed works, viewers will have unprecedented access to the library and its collections through the eyes of Trinity’s wonderful alumni Ruth Negga, Eleanor McEvoy, and David Norris. In conversation with library staff, they will explore their significance to society and the very human stories behind them. As stewards of the Old Library, it is so important that this beautiful 18th century national heritage building and its unique collections continue to inspire and reach new audiences, which we very much hope to do through this documentary.”
Trinity’s Treasures begins on Friday 17 July.
All three episodes will air on Fridays at 8.30pm on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player.
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Kate Smyth, RTÉ Communications Lead