Author: Admin

‘Buried Child’ by Sam Shepard will be performed on Friday 16 March by the Phoenix Players, Tubbercurry. One of the oldest drama groups, they have been performing since 1945. They are regularly involved with Community Theatre and have often qualified for the All Ireland Finals. Sam Shepard’s Pulitzer Prize winning play, with its surreal dark humour, explores universal themes which are taboo within society. Vince returns to find the degradation of this once noble farm family in Illinois. One catastrophic event is the root cause of the degradation of a once proud family, caused by a secret buried in the dark. Has Tilden’s persistent search enabled his family to emerge like a phoenix from the ashes?

Thursday 15 March sees the production ‘Dancing at Lughnasa’ by Brian Frielperformed by Lifford Players. They have been actively participating in the Amateur Drama Circuit since they were formed in the early 1950’s by Donegal County Council and Lifford Post Office. Their most successful decades have been the 1980’s and 2000’s with their most recent productions being ‘A Crucial Week in the Life of a Grocer’s Assistant’ by Tom Murphy in 2016 and ‘Abigail’s Party’ by Mike Leigh in 2017. ‘Dancing at Lughnasa’ depicts two days in the lives of the Mundy sisters living in poor circumstances outside the village of Ballybeg, County Donegal during harvest time in 1936. Their brother Fr. Jack a missionary priest is sent home after twenty five…

Clann Machua Drama Group, Kiltimagh present ‘The Cripple of Inishmaan’ by Martin McDonagh on Wednesday 14 March. The inhabitants of the Aran Island Inishmaan of 1934 are excited because a film crew from Hollywood is expected to arrive soon in the neighbouring island of Inishmore to begin a documentary about life on the Aran Islands. Crippled Billy Claven, eager to escape gossip, cruelty and boredom of Inishmaan is determined to be part of the film. Clann Machua Drama Group was formed in 2010 to revive the amateur dramatics in Kiltimagh and hosts the annual ACDI one act festival every year in November. The group narrowly missed out for a place in the confined finals in 2017 with ‘Juno and The Paycock’ by Sean…

On Tuesday 13 Letterkenny Music and Drama Society present ‘Beneath an Irish Sky’ by Kieran Kelly. This is set in Letterkenny between 1914 and 1924 and shows how Brendan McDevitt was affected by World War 1, the War of Independence and the Civil War propelling him from peaceful Nationalism into militant Republicanism leading to far reaching implications for himself and his family. Formed in 1991, the Letterkenny Music and Drama Society has produced 24 plays and 24 musicals appearing in festivals in Derry and Bangor and runners up in AIMS All Ireland finals in 2007 with ‘Children of the Dead End’. They reached the All Ireland Confined Finals in 1999 and 2000 winning in 2012 with ‘The 39 Steps’. With the same play…

‘Una Pooka’ by Michael Harding will be presented on Monday 12 by the Sillan Players, formed in 1982 by Fr. Patsy Young. They have performed many productions since then and have qualified for the confined finals on many occasions and they were runners up in Tubbercurry in 2017. Una Pooka is the fantasy of a single woman Una Kevitt who has travelled up to Dublin to visit the Pope. Would the Pope condemn communion in the hand? Would he put a halt to the gallop of well-heeled women? Why was Una’s brother being force-fed on muesli and lentils? And why did Fr. Simeon want to join the circus in Rio de Janiero? Come along and find out.

On Sunday 11 March the Corn Mill Theatre Group present ‘Waiting for Godot’ by Samuel Beckett. Two tramps are waiting by a sickly looking tree for M. Godot to show. They pass the time by quarrelling, making up, contemplating suicide, eating a carrot and gnawing chicken bones and playing with their hats. Two more characters arrive, a master and his slave who puts on his thinking hat. A young boy announces that M. Godot will not arrive until tomorrow “will night ever come”! Founded in 1963 as The Community Players and opening their own theatre – The Corn Mill Theatre and Arts Centre, they have competed since 1970 and have reached the All Ireland Open Finals on twenty one occasions. They have managed…

The Newtownstewart Theatre Company open the festival with their performance of ‘Meeting at Menin Gate’ by Martin Lynch. This play is based on a true story and explores the tense outcome of a Protestant woman confronting a former Republican involved in her father’s murder. Will the truth come out? The Newtownstewart Theatre Company have performed plays such as ‘The Factory Girls’, ‘Tea in a China Cup’ and came second in the All Ireland Confined finals last year with their production of ‘The Hen Night Epiphany’.