The 71st Ballyshannon Drama Festival ran from March 9th to the 17th, 2024, with Mary Meaney as adjudicator. This was a another fantastic line up for all our drama fans with a wide ranging programme, featuring everything from slapstick comedy to modern tragedy, touching on themes such as modern Irish life, the Civil War, politics and power, the dangers of over-indulgence and rugby!
The festival opened on Saturday March 9th with Newtownstewart Theatre Company presenting ‘The New Electric Ballroom’, Enda Walsh’s award-winning depiction of small-town life.
On Sunday night, Castleblayney Players presented ‘No Going Back’ by Joe Hanratty, in which two brothers living in a border town in 1924 try to leave the past behind them.
The Enniskillen Theatre Company presented ‘The Lonesome West’ by Martin Mc Donagh, part of his darkly comic Connemara trilogy, on Monday the 11th of March.
Corn Mill Theatre returned to the Abbey on Tuesday with the hilarious comedy, ‘According to Rumour’ by Robert Scott, set in the aftermath of a ‘memorable’ party.
On Wednesday the 13th, we had ‘Eclipsed’ by Patricia Burke Brogan, telling the story of four women in a Magdalene laundry, presented by the Ray Leonard Players, Claremorris.
The Phoenix Players, Tubercurry, visited on Thursday the 14th with an adapatation of George Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm’.
On Friday the 15th, Ballyshannon Drama Society presented ‘Margaret’, written by Ballybofey’s Shawn Byrne, featuring Rachel O’Connor and Shawn Byrne, and directed by Monica Doherty.
It was a night of rugby on Saturday the 16th as the All Blacks faced Munster in ‘Alone It Stands’ by John Breen, presented by the Balally Players, Dundrum.
The festival closed on Sunday the 17th with the Arthur Miller classic, ‘A View from the Bridge’, presented by Prosperous Dramatic Society.