Tag Archives: Drama

By Peter O’Connell KILDYSART Drama Group will present their production of Jimmy Keary’s The Maiden Aunt in the local community centre this Saturday and Sunday. This is the third time that the Kildysart players have staged a Jimmy Keary play.  They produced the world premiere of Too Close to Home in 2007 and Fortunes and Misfortunes in 2010.   Last year the group enjoyed enormous success with their production of A Wake in the West which, like this years production, was directed by Colin McMahon. “Last year was our biggest success to date. I’d say we turned away hundreds of people. We just didn’t have the room for them so we’re trying to keep up with that standard now which isn’t easy,” the play director told The Clare Champion. Some who attended last years play thought that they had wandered into a funeral home. Anybody who entered the hall by the rear door, were met with a ‘body’ which  was …

CLARE County Council Arts Office ‘s 2014 bursary is now open to applicants. One young person is being offered the chance to attend the Meitheal Traditional Summer School and another the opportunity to participate in the Irish Youth Choir Summer School. The aim of the Meitheal bursary is to assist a young Clare musician to attend the summer school to develop their music skills through an intensive programme of master classes and workshops with noted traditional musicians. The bursary covers course fees, accommodation and meals. The bursary for the Irish Youth Choir will enable one young person from Clare to attend the school free of charge and covers all tuition fees and accommodation costs. For both bursaries, they applicants must have successfully auditioned and been accepted by Meitheal and the Irish Youth Choir. Members of amateur drama groups in the county can apply for assistance to attend the 2014 Drama League of Ireland Summer School taking place in UL during the …

CLOONEY-Quin guild of the ICA is inviting the local community to their night of drama at Quin Community Hall on Friday next. Now in its 34th year, the guild will present On the Couch, which is a new departure for the group, as they expand their annual drama night. The production now involves a split stage, which will facilitate the staging of two one-act comedies, an interview segment, music, song and storytelling. The two plays are the work of local woman, Anita O’Loughlin, who has been writing short comedies for Clooney-Quin ICA, and Spancilhill Drama Group for many years. “Both are short comedy acts. The first one, The Time of The Month, is about winter and specifically the three months in winter, November, December and January, and there is a sketch about each month, which are extremely comical. It starts with the holy souls in November, then it goes to the office Christmas party of Love Bites Limited and then …

THE third annual Kilkee Playwright Festival takes place from Friday, November 1 to Saturday, November 2 with some new and exciting events being added to this year’s line-up. Organised by Cultúrlann Sweeney and Banner Productions, this year’s programme is more far-reaching and varied than ever with performances from Cork, Galway and West Clare, as well as a one-day playwright workshop. The festival will kick off at 8pm in Cultúrlann Sweeney with The Great Hunger by Cork-based Theatre Makers Ltd. This one-man play is performed and adapted by Jack Healy from Patrick Kavanagh’s epic poem that deals with the trials and tribulations of its central protagonist, Patrick Maguire, a small farmer in post-Treaty Ireland. Maguire fails to seize day-after-passing-day, as he watches in despair as his life edge closer and closer to an unconsummated conclusion. On his “headland of carrots and cabbage” he dreams of an idyll of marriage and children and yet boasts to his friends of his mastery in …