Druid artistic director Garry Hynes and producer Martha O’Neill become civil partners

Druid Theatre artistic director Garry Hynes and film producer Martha O'Neill have become civil partners at a private function in Galway.

Druid's Mick Lally Theatre was the venue for the civil partnership ceremony, attended by a small number of family and close friends.

Among the guests were Ms Hynes’s mother, Carmel, and sister, Aedhmar, and Ms O’Neill’s siblings, Ann, Sinead, Val and David.

Also present were former RTÉ director general Cathal Goan, who is chairman of the Druid Theatre board, former chair Seamus O'Grady and film-maker Lelia Doolan.

Actors Marie Mullen and Seán McGinley were invited, along with Peige Lally, widow of the late Mick Lally, Druid general manager Sarah Lynch and production associate Craig Flaherty.

Ms Mullen co-founded Druid with Ms Hynes and the late Mick Lally in 1975, while all three were members of University College Galway’s drama society, Dramsoc.

Through Ms Hynes’s artistic direction and inspiration, Druid has developed an international reputation. It has won more than 50 Irish and international awards, including four Tony Awards for the company’s world premiere of Martin McDonagh’s The Beauty Queen of Leenane.

Ms O'Neill is a television and film producer with Wildfire Films.