Ballyshannon Drama Society

‘The Real Thing’ – Opening Night Special €10

Ballyshannon Drama Society return to the Abbey Arts Centre tonight with Tom Stoppard’s startlingly funny and deeply moving ‘The Real Thing’, before taking the show out on the festival circuit. 

The play opens in the Abbey Arts Centre, Ballyshannon, on Valentine’s Night, a fitting night for this enthralling, witty and insightful comedy about love and fidelity. 

Written by four-time Tony Award winner Tom Stoppard, ‘The Real Thing’ is a play set in 1980s London that examines the nature of honesty, love, and marriage. Featuring a play within a play, the production explores appearances versus reality through the relationship between Annie, an activist and actress, and Henry, a playwright.

First performed at London’s The Strand Theatre in 1982, ‘The Real Thing’ went on to win a Tony Award for Best Play in 1984, and another Tony in 2000 for Best Revival. Frank Rich of the New York Times called Stoppard’s ‘The Real Thing’ his “most moving play, but also the most bracing play that anyone has written about love and marriage in years.”

Directed by Christian Carbin, the cast includes Ballyshannon Drama regulars Trish Keane, Richard Hurst, Rachel O’Connor and Terence Mc Eneany, with relative newcomers Conor Friery, Simon Ferris and Louise Larkin.

Trish, Richard and Rachel have taken part in all of the circuit productions to date, including the last three which made it to the All Ireland Finals, and have accumulated more awards and trophies than they can remember! Terence is making a long overdue return to the circuit having starred in ‘The Memory of Water’, as well as ‘Widow’s Paradise’ and ‘A Wake in the West’ in the Abbey. Simon and Louise made their drama debuts earlier this year in ‘Our Town’, in which Louise played one of the lead roles, Emily. Conor Friery is well known as an actor around Donegal, having performed most recently as Johnny Pateen Mike in ‘The Cripple of Inishmaan’. Director Christian is also well known locally, having performed in ‘Our Town’ and directed ‘The Cripple of Inishmaan’ for the Donegal Drama Circle.

The play runs for four nights (Tues. 14th, Wed. 15th, Thurs. 16th and Sat. 17th) in the Abbey Arts Centre. 

 Following a short break the group will once again pack everything into the back of the van and hit the road for eight nights on the drama circuit.

 This will be the eighth time that Ballyshannon Drama Society have participated in the national drama competition, having made it to the All Ireland Final with the last three productions. 

The dates on the festival circuit are: Newtownstewart, March 3rd;

Enniskillen, March 7th; 

Kiltyclogher, March 8th; 

Castleblaney, March 9th; 

Cavan, March 19th; 

Bangor, March 24th; 

Carrickmore, March 28th; 

Newry, March 29th. 
Tickets for the Ballyshannon shows are available from the Abbey Arts Centre box office on 0719851375. All tickets on opening night (Feb. 14th) are €10, and €12 (€10 concessions) on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. Curtain is at 8.30pm nightly.

Ballyshannon Drama Society return to the Abbey Arts Centre this week with Tom Stoppard’s startlingly funny and deeply moving ‘The Real Thing’, before taking the show out on the festival circuit.

The play opens in the Abbey Arts Centre, Ballyshannon, on Tuesday February 14th, a fitting night for this enthralling, witty and insightful comedy about love and fidelity. 

— Ballyshannon Drama Society presents ‘The Real Thing’ 

— Abbey Arts Centre, Ballyshannon

— Feb. 14th, 15th, 16th & 18th

— 8.30 nightly
We are excited to announce the return of Ballyshannon Drama Society to the Abbey stage with this year’s circuit production, ‘The Real Thing’ by Tom Stoppard, opening Valentine’s Night. 
Deeply moving and startlingly funny Tom Stoppard’s razor sharp drama brilliantly examines the complex nature of love, art and reality.
Directed by Christian Carbin, the cast includes Ballyshannon Drama regulars Trish Keane, Richard Hurst, Rachel O’Connor and Terence Mc Eneany and relative newcomers Conor Friery, Simon Ferris and Louise Larkin. 
Book early to avoid disappointment!

— Bookings: 0719851375

–Tickets: €12/€10 concessions

–Opening Night Special: all tickets €10

–Goups of 6 or over: €8 each

There were dramatic autumn beginnings for our company, planned and designed, as we threw down red carpets and sent aspirations to the gods of dry weather for the arrival of the Vikings. Of course I’m talking about our Oslo Askeraden Drama friends who arrived on our shores on September 29th to perform their version of ‘Peer Gynt’ for the Donegal Bay & Bluestacks Festival.

Warm hugs and huge smiles joined us all back together in a bonding moment. We set off for a celebration union dinner in the resplendent Sandhouse Hotel, Rossnowlagh. In this perfect setting we were treated like royalty and dined
like kings as our guests  gazed in awe at the Atlantic Ocean waves. After dinner we were  entertained with Irish dance and shared  our local history before retiring to bed.

Day 2 was filled with rehearsals and a trip to the Ulster American Folk Park, Omagh, then back to partying in Aiden and Sharon’s home. What a fabulous evening in the nicest of company, sharing great food, wine, song and lots of dancing .

Day 3 started with a tour of the Donegal Craft Village and Donegal Castle. That  night the Abbey audience were treated to a wonderful  technical production of “Peer Gynt” performed in English, no less. They certainly did us proud. The group left on Sunday and parting is such sweet sorrow but  hopefully  we will meet again in the near future. That’s our wish.
We had a short reprieve  to recharge the batteries in preparation for our in-house production of ‘Our Town’  by Thornton Wilder. We had a fabulous  four-night run: Oct 11th, 12th, 13th and 16th, all of which were sponsored by the ever-supportive Sandhouse Hotel. A cast and crew of 35, directed by Anne Mc Hugh and Geraldine Diver, delighted audiences and brought so much new talent to our  stage. Hopefully our new members will stay with us for further productions.

There’s more…We are hitting the Circuit road again with Tom Stoppard’s  play “The Real Thing” directed by Christian Carbin. Our  winter sport begins on Tuesday 25th of October with our first reading, and we are looking forward to the fruits of that labour.

Ballyshannon Drama Society presents ‘Our Town’ by Thornton Wilder, directed by Anne Mc Hugh & Geraldine Diver. It tells the story of the fictional American small town of Grover’s Corners between 1901 and 1913 through the everyday lives of its citizens. The show will run in the Abbey Arts Centre for four nights: Tuesday 11th October, Wednesday 12th, Thursday 13th and Sunday 16th, at 8pm each night. 

While there is no traditional set in Wilder’s play, there is an abundance of characters, as there is in any small town. Over twenty actors will take to the stage tonight, some familiar to the Abbey audience, but many new and full of talent. Our journey through ‘Our Town’ is guided by the Stage Manager, played by Michael Mc Mullin. He introduces us to the town and all its characters.

This is a wonderful play which breaks away from traditional theatre to tell a well-known story which is still relevant today, even though the play was first produced in 1938. Contact the Abbey Arts Centre box office to book your ticket: 0719851375. Tickets will also be available at the door.