THE CLARE DRAMA festival returns for its seventy sixth run, taking place in the Community College Hall in Scariff from Saturday March 22nd to March 29th inclusive.
Having started in 1947, it is one of the oldest festivals in the Amateur Drama Council of Ireland circuit. The top nine groups in both confined and open sections will compete in the All-Ireland finals which will be held in Claremorris and Athlone. As the preliminary circuit ends, groups will be at their best to ensure that they get one of the coveted final spaces.
“There will be something for everyone in the festival which showcases the best of amateur drama in Ireland,” said Chairperson, Doreen Hanley. Pauline Byrne A.D.A. will adjudicate the festival. She said that “she is looking forward to her first visit to Scariff and is in awe of the amazing talent on the drama circuit”.
On the opening night Gorey Drama Group from Wexford, present ‘Rathmines Road’ by Deirdre Kinahan. The play is set over the course of one evening in the family home of Sandra who is selling her mother’s house. The auctioneer is Sandra’s old school friend’s sister and she and her husband Eddie arrive at the home, and it turns out that Sandra knows Eddie from 25 years ago. The play is all about secret trauma and public revelation. This play contains adult themes and is suitable for ages sixteen plus.
Sunday night sees Cooraclare Drama Group with ‘Anyone Can Rob a Bank’ by Tom Coffey. Having read about a botched bank robbery in Dublin, three lads plan how they might conduct the perfect bank heist. Imagine their amazement when two days later, a local robbery identical to their masterminds takes place.
On Monday, the local Sliabh Aughty Drama Group perform ‘Dancing at Lughnasa’ by Brian Friel. A memory play told from the point of view of Michael Evans who recounts a particular summer in his aunt’s cottage when he was seven. In the Donegal harvest of 1936, the five Mundy sisters love, survive, fight and dance. It’s a story about joy, love and loss to these extraordinary women.
Corofin Dramatic Society will perform ‘The Weir’ by Conor McPherson. The play is set in a pub on a windy night in rural Ireland. The landlord and his regulars share old stories with Valerie, a young woman who has recently arrived from Dublin. They exchange ghostly and mesmerising tales to impress the newcomer, but it is her story that stops the men in their tracks.
On Wednesday, Phoenix Players from Tubbercurry will stage another Brian Friel play, ‘Translations’. Set in a school in 1833 in the Northwest of Ireland, Friel explores language, love, relationships, co-existence, colonization, nationality and identity. This play shows how language can connect and divide people, while also illustrating the broader historical struggle between different cultures.
Flavour of the Month Productions from Listowel will perform Martin McDonagh’s ‘The Beauty Queen of Leenane’ on Thursday night. This play tells the story of Maureen Folan, a lonely woman in her early forties, and Mag her manipulative mother. Mag’s interference in her daughters’ first and possibly final chance of a loving relationship sets in motion a chain of events that are as tragically funny as they are sad. The theme of emigration is also very evident in this play.
On Friday, Brideview Drama Group from Waterford will also perform their version of ‘The Weir’. Drama enthusiasts will be eager to compare this production with Corofin’s interpretation of McPherson’s play.
On the final night, Kilmeen Drama Group from West Cork will stage ‘The Wasp’ by Morgan Lloyd Malcom. Heather and Carla haven’t seen each other since school and their lives have taken very different paths. Carla lives a hand-to-mouth existence while Heather has a high-flying career, husband and beautiful home. And yet, here they are in a café having tea and making awkward conversation. That is until Heather presents Carla with an unexpected proposition. (This play contains adult themes and suitable for ages 16+)
Curtain up is at 8.00pm each night except for the final night which begins at 7.30pm. No advance is necessary.
