The RTÉ Nationwide team was in Ballyshannon over the weekend to shoot a special feature on ‘The Gingerbread Lady’ which will be broadcast on April 30th. The feature will include footage of a meeting of the Ballyshannon Drama Society, the rehearsal of different scenes and individual interviews with some members of the cast and crew.
The RTÉ Nationwide crew will visit Ballyshannon on Friday evening to meet the cast and crew of ‘The Gingerbread Lady’ in advance of the RTÉ All Ireland Final in Athlone. RTÉ sponsor the festival and will report on the week of drama in Athlone on various radio and TV programmes, including Nationwide. They will shoot some of the planning meeting in the Abbey on Friday night, as well as some of the rehearsal and cast members in work on Saturday morning.
There will be a meeting for all cast and crew (set, stage, sound and lighting) in the Abbey Centre on Friday night to discuss the upcoming home shows and the All Ireland Final performance.
The draw has taken place for the RTE All Ireland Drama 2014. Ballyshannon Drama Society will present ‘The Gingerbread Lady’ in the Dean Crowe Theatre in Athlone on Friday the 2nd of May. The results of the competition will then be announced in a gala ceremony in the Radisson Hotel, Athlone, on Saturday May 10th.
The running order for the 9 shows in the Final is as follows:
There will be a meeting of the Ballyshannon Drama Society in the Abbey Centre on Wednesday, April 2nd at 8pm.
‘The Gingerbread Lady’ will compete in the 62nd Ulster Final on April 7th in The Mill Theatre, Newtonabbey.
‘The Gingerbread Lady’ came first in the Carrickmore Drama Festival last night, giving Ballyshannon Drama Society 12 points securing their place in the final of the All-Ireland Drama Festival. In addition to winning the Open section, they also took home the Blue Riband trophy for the top scoring show. The Best Actor award went to Richard Hurst for his role as Jimmy Perry. John Travers collected the award for Best Décor. ‘The Gingerbread Lady’ was nominated in a number of categories: Best Actress (for Rachel O’Connor as Evy O’Meara), Best Costume, Moment of Theatre (for the first meeting of Evy and Polly), Supporting Actress (for Patricia Keane as Toby Landau and Sinead Luke as Polly O’Meara), Stage Management and Lighting. Meanwhile, in the Glenamaddy Drama Festival, Sinead Luke won the award for Best Supporting Actress, the production won Best Set and Best Lighting, and there were nominations for Rachel as Best Actress and for Best Sound.
‘The Gingerbread Lady’ won the award for Best Décor in the Strabane Drama Festival for the use of photographs of Evy hanging out with Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack, as well as the production of her record sleeve. Rachel O’Connor was nominated for Best Actress and Sinead Luke was nominated for the Most Promising Award.