Author: Ballyshannon Drama

Tonight, we welcome the Castleblayney Players to the Abbey Centre, with their production of ‘No Going Back’ by Joe Hanratty. No Going Back tells the story of two brothers who have taken part in the Irish War of Independence and they both carry scars from that conflict that cannot easily be shaken off. Tom the IRA Captain and his reliable back up man Jimmy have engaged in a lot of the fighting while Tom’s younger brother Michael has also seen his share of violence and has been at the receiving end of it too. After the Civil War they both settle down to life in a farm that was once part of their family heritage. That too carries its own…

The curtain opens on the 71st Ballyshannon Drama Festival tonight, with Newstownstewart Theatre Company presenting ‘The New Electric Ballroom’ by Enda Walsh. Trapped in the memories of their youthful nights at The New Electric Ballroom, sisters Breda and Clara reflect on lost love and what might have been. As they reminisce, their younger sister Ada looks to re-ignite Breda and Clara’s spirits, and resurrect the smallest glimmer of love and hope in their remote fishing village home. An absurdist fable of the damaging effects of small-town life, Enda Walsh’s play won an Edinburgh Fringe First Award in 2008 and confirmed him as one of Ireland’s most distinctive and dynamic writers of the modern era. Newtownstewart Theatre Company are regular visitors…