Lianne Quigley
Lianne Quigley is a Deaf artist and activist based in Ireland. She works as a performer, director, writer and collaborating artist, often utilising Irish Sign Language (ISL) to express narratives and experiences. She is also an ISL tour guide and she has worked with the Project Arts Centre and other arts organisations to look at ways of expanding opportunities for Deaf artists and audiences.
She is one of the leaders for the campaign for the legal recognition of her language, Irish Sign Language, which was achieved in 2017. Lianne is also chairperson of the Irish Deaf Society, the Deaf-led civil rights organisation.
She also received the Judges’ Choice Award from Dublin Fringe Festival 2023 for a Deaf Translations project. In 2024, she collaborated and performed in Amanda Coogan’s new work “Possession” as part of ART: 2023- the Irish Arts Council’s Decade of Centenaries.
Her most recent work in 2025 is “A Softer Kiss”, premiered during the Disrupt Disability Arts Festival on International Women’s Day. This performance by Quigley explores the experiences of Deaf women in Ireland. It intertwines political movements within Deaf education and culture with autobiographical narratives, highlighting the voices of Deaf women.
In the summer of 2025, she was an associate producer for ”Deaf Republic” by Dead Centre, as part of the Dublin Theatre Festival.
She is one of the participants in the Disrupt Disability Arts Festival’s first Creative Access Production Programme 2025 – 2027.
Contact details
Lianne Quigley
artist, activist, director, writer
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/liannequigley/
2025 – A Softer Kiss
Description: Writer and performer of a new work exploring the lives of Deaf women in Ireland. The piece weaves autobiographical, personal and political narratives around ISL, Deaf education, ableism, and Deaf Culture. Supported by an Arts Council Bursary (2024).
(Disrupt Disability Arts Festival / Project Arts Centre)
2025 - Deaf Republic
Description: Associate Producer. Worked closely with the lead producer to integrate a Deaf perspective into all stages of development and production, ensuring meaningful inclusion of Deaf artists, audiences, and Irish Sign Language.
(Dead Centre)
2023–2024 – Possession
Description: A reimagining of Teresa Deevy’s script told through the eyes of Queen Medb. Collaborating artist with Amanda Coogan, Linda Buckley, and Dublin Theatre of the Deaf.
(Project Arts Centre)
2023 – The Body That’s Breathe
Description: Devised and performed in a multisensory experimental piece with Jane Hackett and George Higgs.
(Kirkos Ensemble, Dublin)
2023–2025 – ISL Deaf Translations Project
Description: Led a team of Deaf and hearing interpreters delivering ISL performance interpretations for Fringe artists. Awarded Judges’ Choice Award (2023).
(Dublin Fringe Festival)
2023 – Ode to Joy (Beethoven’s 9th Symphony)
Description: Collaborating artist with Cork Deaf Community Choir and Amanda Coogan. Also performed in Freude! Freude! at Douglas Hyde Gallery with DTD and Centre for Deaf Studies.
(Cork Midsummer Festival / Douglas Hyde Gallery)
2021 – They Come Then, The Birds
Description: Participated in a durational live performance with Amanda Coogan.
(Rua Red, Tallaght)
2020 – Dear Ireland
Description: Co-wrote and performed a bilingual letter in ISL with colleague Alvean Jones, contributing to a national artistic response to the pandemic.
(Abbey Theatre)
2018 – Suffragettes
Description: Wrote and directed a play highlighting the struggle for women’s voting rights and its resonance in Deaf history.
(Deaf Village Ireland)
2017 – Talk Real Fine, Just Like a Lady
Description: Lead actor, co-deviser and collaborating artist. Based on Teresa Deevy's The King of Spain’s Daughter, this work examined feminist and Deaf narratives through ISL.
(Peacock Theatre)
2017 – The Pull
Description: Deaf-led short film directed by Alvean Jones. I coordinated the cast and performed in the film.
(Deaf Film Festival Dublin)
2016 – 1916: Eileen Murray and the GPO
Description: Researched, wrote, and directed a play about Deaf involvement in the 1916 Easter Rising. Research contributed to ANU’s Sunder.
(Deaf Village Ireland)
2014 – You Told Me to Wash and Clean My Ears
Description: Directed a cast of 40 in a performance about the 1970s killing of a Deaf man and the resulting Deaf civil rights protest — a pivotal moment in Irish Deaf history.
(Project Arts Centre)
2025, Apr. 7 – Open Book Publishers – “You Can Feel the Change in the Air”. Reflecting on Talk Real Fine, Just Like a Lady, a Shapeshifting of Teresa Deevy’s The King of Spain’s Daughter
2024, Aug. 26 – Journal of Science and Communication – A deaf-centred art-science approach to community engagement with sign language technologies
2023, Sept. 20 – RTE 100 logo – Watch: Dublin Theatre of the Deaf perform for Ukraine
2023, Sept. 20 – ld.trinitynews.ie – Found in translation
2023, Aug. 22 – Irish Independent – ‘There are lots of barriers in the workplace for deaf people like me’
2023, Jan. 20 – RTÉ lyric fm – My Creative Life | Lianne Quigle



