The Finalists
Festival 2023 Competition
Meet the 2023 Finalists
Thurles Drama Group
Presenting “The Seafarer”
By Conor McPherson. Directed by Margaret McCormack.
It’s Christmas Eve, and Sharky has returned to Dublin to look after Richard, his irascible and ageing brother, who has recently gone blind. Sharky, an alcoholic, is battling to get through Christmas without a drink. Richard’s drinking buddy Ivan is holed up at the house too. They are joined for a game of poker by Sharky’s old love rival, Nicky, who brings along the mysterious Mr Lockhart. In their alcohol induced world they drink, they fight and they gamble. But, with the arrival of this stranger from the distant past, the stakes are raised even higher, as Sharky may be playing for his very soul.
Wexford Drama Group
Presenting “The Father”
Written by Florian Zeller, translated by Christoper Hampton. Directed by Paul Walsh.
Andre is a Parisian man facing persecution from all sides, and he refuses to take it any longer. First, some girl, a “helper” whom he doesn’t need at all, steals his favorite watch. Then his daughter, Anne, tries to take his flat away. The beautiful flat he’s had for over thirty years, in which he is still quite capable of living, thank you very much! His daughter Elise, the one he actually loves, where is she? She never comes to visit. Anne’s husband (or lover) Pierre, with whom she is moving to London,or staying in Paris, threatens Andre, and to top it off strangers keep entering Andre’s flat, telling him that they are his friends and family. However aged he may be, Andre knows he still has all his faculties…. Doesn’t he?
In a darkly humorous and deeply poignant translation by Christopher Hampton, Florian Zeller’s “The Father” is a tragi-comic mystery, a sobering and realistic family story, and an unsentimental, emotionally intense look at aging.
Ballyduff Drama Group
Presenting “The Welkin”
By Lucy Kirkwood. Directed by Ger Canning
1759. One life in the hands of 12 women.
As the country waits for Halley’s comet, Sally Poppy is sentenced to hang for a heinous murder. When she claims to be pregnant, a jury of 12 matrons are taken from their housework to decide whether she’s telling the truth, or simply trying to escape the noose. With only midwife Lizzy Luke prepared to defend the girl, and a mob baying for blood outside, the matrons wrestle with their new authority, and the devil in their midst.
Prosperous Dramatic Society
Presenting “Oleanna”
by David Mamet and directed by TJ Duggan
A modern interpretation of Mamet’s Oleanna set on an American campus, a seemingly innocuous conversation between a college professor and his female student warps into a nightmare which threatens to destroy them both. With its take on the corrosive excesses of political correctness and exploration of the use and abuse of language, this is the ultimate drama of power, patriarchy and revenge.
Ballyshannon Drama Society
Presenting “A Delicate Balance”
By Edward Albee
The uneasy existence of upper-middle-class suburbanites Agnes and Tobias and their permanent houseguest, Agnes’ witty and alcoholic sister Claire, is disrupted by the sudden appearance of lifelong family friends Harry and Edna, fellow empty nesters with free-floating anxiety, who ask to stay with them to escape an unnamed terror. They soon are followed by Agnes and Tobias’s bitter 36-year-old daughter Julia, who returns home following the collapse of her fourth marriage.
Newpoint Players
Presenting “happy Days”
By Samuel Beckett. Directed by Seán Treanor.
Happy Days is a play in two acts, written by Beckett. Viewed positively by critics, it was named in The Independent as one of the 40 best plays of all time.
Winnie, buried to her waist, follows her daily routine and prattles to her husband, Willie, who is largely hidden and taciturn. Her frequent refrain is “Oh this is a happy day.” Later, in Act II, she is buried up to her neck, but continues to talk and remember happier days.
Dalkey Players
Presenting “By the Bog of Cats”
By Marina Carr. Directed by Emma Jane Nulty.
Hester Swayne, a woman abandoned once and discarded later, threatens a whole community as she awaits her mother’s return to the Bog of Cats.
Forgiveness, vengeance and disparate forces figure in the tangled history embodied in her own powerful drama as it makes its way through heartbreak and, occasionally, hilarity, and the secrets of her tangled history are revealed.
Butt Drama Circle
Presenting “Darkness Echoing””
by Shaun Byrne
It’s 2015 and Joe returns home to Donegal from London after some years away. His father, aided by home help Marie, encourage him to deal with issues concerning his own leaving some years earlier. “Darkness Echoing” is a new three hander written by Butt Drama member Shaun Byrne following on from the success of last year’s award winning “An Incident with Dave Cotter”. This family drama, set in present day Ballybofey, mixes serious themes with dark humour much like last year’s play.
Dundalk Theatre Workshop
Presenting “Faith healer””
By Brian Friel. Directed by Bernard Dunne.
Does he actually possess a gift? Or are these rare and miracle healings only tricks of the mind on desperate people?
The Fantastic Francis Hardy”. The dramatic story of Frank Hardy, his wife Grace and manager Teddy and their differing perspectives of their absurd and momentus lives together travelling through remote and isolated areas in Scotland and Wales and their faithful return to Ireland.
With each tale comes new revelations in this spellbinding drama featuring Pauline Clarke as Grace, Tim Ahern as Teddy and Fergus Mullen as Frank.
Meet the 2023 Finalists
Thurles Drama Group
Presenting “The Seafarer”
By Conor McPherson. Directed by Margaret McCormack.
It’s Christmas Eve, and Sharky has returned to Dublin to look after Richard, his irascible and ageing brother, who has recently gone blind. Sharky, an alcoholic, is battling to get through Christmas without a drink. Richard’s drinking buddy Ivan is holed up at the house too. They are joined for a game of poker by Sharky’s old love rival, Nicky, who brings along the mysterious Mr Lockhart. In their alcohol induced world they drink, they fight and they gamble. But, with the arrival of this stranger from the distant past, the stakes are raised even higher, as Sharky may be playing for his very soul.
Wexford Drama Group
Presenting “The Father”
Written by Florian Zeller, translated by Christoper Hampton. Directed by Paul Walsh.
Andre is a Parisian man facing persecution from all sides, and he refuses to take it any longer. First, some girl, a “helper” whom he doesn’t need at all, steals his favorite watch. Then his daughter, Anne, tries to take his flat away. The beautiful flat he’s had for over thirty years, in which he is still quite capable of living, thank you very much! His daughter Elise, the one he actually loves, where is she? She never comes to visit. Anne’s husband (or lover) Pierre, with whom she is moving to London,or staying in Paris, threatens Andre, and to top it off strangers keep entering Andre’s flat, telling him that they are his friends and family. However aged he may be, Andre knows he still has all his faculties…. Doesn’t he?
In a darkly humorous and deeply poignant translation by Christopher Hampton, Florian Zeller’s “The Father” is a tragi-comic mystery, a sobering and realistic family story, and an unsentimental, emotionally intense look at aging.
Ballyduff Drama Group
Presenting “The Welkin”
By Lucy Kirkwood. Directed by Ger Canning
1759. One life in the hands of 12 women.
As the country waits for Halley’s comet, Sally Poppy is sentenced to hang for a heinous murder. When she claims to be pregnant, a jury of 12 matrons are taken from their housework to decide whether she’s telling the truth, or simply trying to escape the noose. With only midwife Lizzy Luke prepared to defend the girl, and a mob baying for blood outside, the matrons wrestle with their new authority, and the devil in their midst.
Prosperous Dramatic Society
Presenting “Oleanna”
by David Mamet and directed by TJ Duggan
A modern interpretation of Mamet’s Oleanna set on an American campus, a seemingly innocuous conversation between a college professor and his female student warps into a nightmare which threatens to destroy them both. With its take on the corrosive excesses of political correctness and exploration of the use and abuse of language, this is the ultimate drama of power, patriarchy and revenge.
Ballyshannon Drama Society
Presenting “A Delicate Balance”
By Edward Albee
The uneasy existence of upper-middle-class suburbanites Agnes and Tobias and their permanent houseguest, Agnes’ witty and alcoholic sister Claire, is disrupted by the sudden appearance of lifelong family friends Harry and Edna, fellow empty nesters with free-floating anxiety, who ask to stay with them to escape an unnamed terror. They soon are followed by Agnes and Tobias’s bitter 36-year-old daughter Julia, who returns home following the collapse of her fourth marriage.
Newpoint Players
Presenting “happy Days”
By Samuel Beckett. Directed by Seán Treanor.
Happy Days is a play in two acts, written by Beckett. Viewed positively by critics, it was named in The Independent as one of the 40 best plays of all time.
Winnie, buried to her waist, follows her daily routine and prattles to her husband, Willie, who is largely hidden and taciturn. Her frequent refrain is “Oh this is a happy day.” Later, in Act II, she is buried up to her neck, but continues to talk and remember happier days.
Dalkey Players
Presenting “By the Bog of Cats”
By Marina Carr. Directed by Emma Jane Nulty.
Hester Swayne, a woman abandoned once and discarded later, threatens a whole community as she awaits her mother’s return to the Bog of Cats.
Forgiveness, vengeance and disparate forces figure in the tangled history embodied in her own powerful drama as it makes its way through heartbreak and, occasionally, hilarity, and the secrets of her tangled history are revealed.
Butt Drama Circle
Presenting “Darkness Echoing””
by Shaun Byrne
It’s 2015 and Joe returns home to Donegal from London after some years away. His father, aided by home help Marie, encourage him to deal with issues concerning his own leaving some years earlier. “Darkness Echoing” is a new three hander written by Butt Drama member Shaun Byrne following on from the success of last year’s award winning “An Incident with Dave Cotter”. This family drama, set in present day Ballybofey, mixes serious themes with dark humour much like last year’s play.
Dundalk Theatre Workshop
Presenting “Faith healer””
By Brian Friel. Directed by Bernard Dunne.
Does he actually possess a gift? Or are these rare and miracle healings only tricks of the mind on desperate people?
The Fantastic Francis Hardy”. The dramatic story of Frank Hardy, his wife Grace and manager Teddy and their differing perspectives of their absurd and momentus lives together travelling through remote and isolated areas in Scotland and Wales and their faithful return to Ireland.
With each tale comes new revelations in this spellbinding drama featuring Pauline Clarke as Grace, Tim Ahern as Teddy and Fergus Mullen as Frank.