Western Drama Festival

The Three Act Festival returns to Tubbercurry this March, with 9 nightly shows from the 2nd to the 10th. Tubbercurry’s festival is one of the best in Ireland and always has the most talented drama groups in the country participating in it.

The adjudicator for this year is Mr Michael O’Hara who has filled this role numerous times in the drama circuit for at least 25 years. He has taught drama and theatre at the highest levels in schools, colleges and universities in Coleraine, Belfast, Limerick and in Northern Nigeria for more than 40 years. During his extensive career, he was also involved in the training of teachers of English, drama and theatre. This will be Michael’s second visit to the Western Drama Festival, Tubbercurry having previously adjudicated the three-act festival in 1997.

Tickets can be purchased from the Hawkswell Theatre, Sligo by calling 071 9161518.

The Western Drama Festival are celebrating their Diamond Anniversary and have an excellent line-up this year that will appeal to all audiences.

• Friday 2nd March Lifford Players, Co. Donegal “Dancing at Lughnasa” Brian Friel
Dancing at Lughnasa is a drama for all ages and tastes. Based in Ireland, narrated by Michael, he looks back on a particularly memorable summer of his childhood.

• Saturday 3rd March Brideview Drama, Co. Waterford “Stolen Child” Bairbre Ní Chaoimh
A moving play which tells the story of a young Dublin woman’s journey to find her natural mother. It was one of the first works to explore the secret history of Ireland’s Industrial schools.

• Sunday 4th March Letterkenny Music & Dramatic Society, Co. Donegal “Beneath an Irish Sky” Kieran Kelly
A family meets after years apart for the reading of their father’s will- through their father’s journal, they learn who he really was and the reasoning behind the will. However, in act two we go back to the first days that he kept the journal and learn the truth.

• Monday 5th March Clann Machua, Kiltimagh, Co. Mayo “The Cripple of Inishmaan”
Set on the small Aran Islands community of Inishmaan off the Western Coast of Ireland in 1934, where the inhabitants are excited to learn of a Hollywood film crew’s arrival in neighbouring Inishmore to make a documentary about life on the islands.

• Tuesday 6th March Phoenix Players, Co. Sligo “Burried Child” Sam Shephard
Sam Shepard’s Pulitzer Prize winning play, with its surreal dark humour, explores universal themes which are taboo within society.

• Wednesday 7th March Schull Drama Group, Co. Cork “No Man’s Land” Harold Pinter
An interesting production of both sides of the creative coin- being consumed by struggle and failure, trapped in a No Man’s Land which never moves, which never changes, which never grows older, but which remains forever icy and silent.

• Thursday 8th March Butt Drama Circle, Co. Donegal “Three Days of Rain” Richard Greenberg
Walker, his sister Nan, and friend Pip meet to settle their parents’ estate. In this tense and brittle reunion, much more is at stake than who gets the house.

• Friday 9th March Wexford Drama Group, Co. Wexford “Proof” David Auburn
Upon Robert’s death, his ex-graduate student Hal discovers a paradigm-shifting proof about prime numbers in Robert’s office. The title refers both to that proof and to the play’s central question: Can Robert’s daughter Catherine prove the proof’s authorship and deal with its consequences?

• Saturday 10th March Bradán Players, Co. Kildare “Conservatory” Michael West
The play tells the story of an elderly couple sitting in a dark room in their house, doing the crossword, taking their tablets and knitting, all the while raking over a traumatic past that has all but destroyed them.

We are really looking forward to welcoming this years festival which promises to be an entertaining and engaging event. You are always welcome at Cawleys for our pre-theatre menu and interval drinks.