A new book published by UCD Press captures the passion, power and legacy of the grassroots movement that reshaped Irish theatre and reverberated far beyond.

WTF Happened:#WakingTheFeminists and the Movement That Changed Irish Theatre (UCD Press, 2025) goes behind the scenes of the groundbreaking grassroots movement for gender equality in Irish theatre. Edited by #WakingTheFeminists lead organiser, Sarah Durcan (Executive Director of Science Gallery International) and Campaign Director, Lian Bell (Artist), the book was recently launched at the National Library of Ireland.

Great theatre changes how we see our lives. Great campaigning changes how we see our future. When the Abbey Theatre’s 2016 centenary programme announced just a handful of women artists, it triggered something extraordinary: a nationwide movement for gender equality in Irish theatre. What began as outrage on social media rapidly evolved into #WakingTheFeminists - an award- winning, year-long campaign that transformed the Irish theatre landscape, made global headlines and left a legacy still felt today.

Full Professor of Creative Writing at UCD School of English, Drama and Film and celebrated Author, Anne Enright said, “#WakingTheFeminists made me realise that...there was no point asking any more, because the people who thought they were listening, really were not listening. And besides, what is that posture? The one where you ask, and are accepted or turned down? I realised we had to come at it from outside the system because the system was incapable of regulating or fixing itself. In 2016 I learned the power of counting, because numbers are factual, and the facts don’t lie, or feel sorry for themselves, or quote Yeats back at you, or wish you were more like their mother, or less like their mother. In 2016 I realised that men find it hard to change when it is not in their interests to change so, sadly, sometimes you have to run them over with a truck. Or with a crowd. In 2016 I did something I find difficult, as an individual artist, to do: I joined a benevolent and righteous crowd. I have not looked back."

WTF Happened explores this groundbreaking movement, revealing its untold story. Written by Sarah Durcan, alongside Lian Bell and leading activists, academics, historians and arts professionals, the book brings the campaign to life in vivid detail. This is more than a book about theatre. It’s about the power of collective action and how voices joined together can change an entire landscape.

Drawing on photographs, speeches, social media interactions and memorabilia - now archived in the National Library of Ireland and the National Museum of Ireland - this book is both a historical document and an activist manual. It captures the urgency, exhilaration and tensions of #WakingTheFeminists while reflecting on its lasting impact and lessons for future campaigns. Relevant to readers interested in gender studies, women’s history, arts and theatre, cultural policy, social justice and contemporary Irish history, WTF Happened situates the campaign within a wider tradition of Irish activism - connecting it to the movements that came before and those still unfolding today.

More information on the book at UCD Press here.

REVIEWS

'In 2015 an uprising changed Irish theatre for ever. It's good to remember that change has happened and can happen again.' – Aoife Barry, Culture Magazine, Sunday Times, October 2025. Read part of the review here.

'This book is a fascinating account of the events in 2015/16 which lit a feminist bomb under Irish theatre ... [it] is beautifully designed, with glossy photographs and neat page layouts.’ – Katy Hayes, Irish Independent, October 2025. Read the article here.

'WTF Happened is both record and manual. It traces the arc from the first shock to sector-wide reform and points readers to the archive for deeper work ...The headline lesson endures. Set the objective. Publish it. Measure it. Give it a deadline. #WakingtheFeminists woke a sector. It also left a map.' – Jillian Godsil, September 2025. Read the review here.

Pictured at the book launch in the National Library of Ireland: 1) UCD VP for Research, Innovation and Impact, Prof Kate Robson Brown with Sarah Durcan and Lian Bell; 2) Prof Kate Robson Brown with UCD Director of Research, Dipti Pandya and Prof Emily Mark Fitzgerald; 3) Sarah Durcan and Lian Bell.