A great programme for drama festival unveiled
NEW ROSS DRAMA FESTIVAL WILL KICK OFF ON MARCH 20
Committe member Johnny Caulfield, theatre director Thomas Kavanagh, chairman Paul Crowdle and committee member Breda Murphy at the launch of the drama festival.
Wednesday March 10 2010
THIS YEAR'S programme for the New Ross Drama Festival was unveiled in St. Michael's Theatre on Wednesday morning.
The eagerly anticipated festival will kick off on Saturday, March 20, running for eight nights until Saturday, March 27.
All plays this year are relatively new to New Ross, with the majority of them being performed here for the first time.
Three new groups will take to the stage in the festival for the first time, such as Kilmeen and Conna from Cork and Thurles from Co. Tipperary. The Festival also welcomes beck this year Cuckoo's Nest from Dublin with Pinter's classic 'The Caretaker', performed by the same group back in 2001.
The first night, Saturday, March 20 will see Kilmeen Drama Group perform Eugene McCabe's 'King of the Castle', which is set in 1958 rural Ireland.
Conna Dramatic Society will be performing 'Sive' by J.B. Keane on the Sunday night. 'Sive' is a play of greed and bitterness of a scheming matchmaker and a resentful woman, forcing a beautiful young girl to mart an old man with tragic consequences.
'Translations' by Brian Friel will be brought to life by Ferns Drama Group on the Monday. The action takes place in a Donegal hedge-school in August 1833. Nearby, a detachment of the Royal Engineers is camped to make the first Ordnance Survey of Ireland for the purposes of which the local Gaelic place names have to be recorded and rendered into English. This has a profound effect on the local community, the survey team and a budding love affair.
Brian Friel's 'Aristocrats' is performed on Tuesday by Thurles Drama Group. This play is set in the crumbling home of District Justice O'Donnell. Three sisters and their 'peculiar' brother are home for a family wedding, however a tragedy disturbs arrangements and forces the release of previously suppressed facts.
The Bridge Drama Group from Castlebridge will perform 'Blithe Spirit' on Wednesday, which tells the story of Charles and Ruth who invite a Madame into their home to perform a séance.
'The Caretaker' by Harold Pinter will be performed on Thursday night by Cuckoo's Nest Theatre Players.
The Shoestring Theatre Company from Cork will be presenting Jim Nolan's 'The Salvage Shop' on Friday, which hinges on the fraught relationship between the maestro of a local brass band reluctant to relinquish his position and his forbearing son.
Sebastian Barry's 'White Woman Street' by Tinahely Drama Group from Co. Wicklow will end the festival on Saturday, March 27.
Prices for Patrons remain at ¤40 and nightly tickets will cost ¤10. Student rates are ¤20 for a Patron and ¤5 nightly. The Box Office will be open in St. Michael's Theatre until this Friday, March 12 for Patron tickets. Plays begin at 8 p.m. and for bookings call into the theatre or contact 051 421255.
- Elaine FURLONG
