All aboard for Clare Drama Festival

Mayor of Clare Councillor Pat Hayes will officially open the Clare Drama Festival on Thursday night at Scariff Community College Hall at 8.30pm.
The first performance to launch the 65th annual event will be Sliabh Aughty’s production of Thy Will Be Done, which took first place in the confined section at the Mountmellick Drama Festival  and at the Claremorris Drama Festival recently.
The play, which was written by Michael Carey, begins when Martin arrives home from the US to visit the father he has never met. During his visit he forms a relationship with his uncle Jack, who lives next door in a converted barn, and Bridie who is home-help to both brothers.
In this comedy/drama unresolved issues from the past arise leading to a most unexpected conclusion.
The festival sees a total of 10 dramas staged in the East Clare venue between Thursday and Saturday, March 31, with a confined and open section. Sliabh Aughty Drama Group, Skibbereen Theatre Society, Glenamaddy Players and Shannonside Drama Group will be participating in the confined section while the remaining six productions will feature as part of the open section.
Each production will see doors open at 7.45pm with a curtain of 8.30pm nightly, except for on the final night of the festival when doors open at 7.15pm for curtain up at 8pm and this is to facilitate the adjudication and award presentation.
Continuing the festival this Friday March 23 Shannonside Drama Group present The Two Loves of Gabriel Foley written by Jimmy Keary.
This story centres on Gabriel Foley, a bachelor farmer who lives with his mother. The play shows the hilarious lengths he is willing to go to find true love.
Skibbereen Theatre Society will take the stage this Saturday, with the play Poor Beast in the Rain written by Billy Roche.
The audience will be transported to All-Ireland hurling final weekend, where excitement is growing in the betting-shop.
Meanwhile on Sunday, March 25, Brideview Drama Group present Geraldine Aron’s play Same Old Moon. This funny and often dramatic production tells the tale of Brenda Barnes growing up from the age of nine, tracing her very unusual childhood in Galway and London and her relationships, especially with her father, as she becomes a successful writer.
Ennis Players will bring their production of Martin McDonagh’s The Lonesome West to the festival on Monday, March 26.
This play centres on two bachelor brothers, focusing on their mistrust, accusation and hate. Fr Welsh remains wedged between their antagonism and his zest for poteen and freedom from parish duties, while Girleen sets this dark house on fire with her vitality and sensual fire.
Another Clare drama group follows the Ennis Players on Tuesday, March 27 when the subject changes from the lonesome west to roses as Corofin Dramatic Society present The Subject Was Roses by Frank D Gilroy.
This drama tells the story of three strangers, a father, a mother and a son as the young man returns from World War II becoming the catalyst for an emotional tug-of-war where love is a prize and a weapon. This play sees the Cleary family struggle to reconnect after years of emotional distance and it becomes clear in this family unit that there are three sides to every story.
Clare Drama Festival welcomes the Nenagh Players on Wednesday, March 28, where they will be presenting two sides to one man, in their production of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Jeffrey Hatcher.
This is a new and shocking version of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic tale of depravity, lust, love and horror. On the fogbound streets of Victorian-era London, Henry Jekyll’s experiments with exotic “powders and tinctures” have brought forth his other self – Edward Hyde, a sensualist and villain free to commit the sins Jekyll is too civilised to comprehend.
Glenamaddy Players are next to the drama festival stage on Thursday March 29 where they will perform The Odd Couple.
Best friends Olive Madison and Florence Unger are the mismatched roommates and comedy ensues when home-maker, clean freak and health conscious Flo moves in with lackadaisical devil-may-care Olive. Entering into the fray is the uproarious Costazuela brothers and Friday night friends Vera, Renee, Sylvie and Mickey.
On Friday, March 30, Kilmeen Drama Group will be in Scariff for their production of Conor McPherson’s The Weir. This play is set at a small bar located on a farm in rural Ireland where the proprietor, three other local men, and a woman who is new to the area meet, drink, and tell stories.
The banter consists of friendly local talk and gossip which reveals the characters’ isolation and the figurative ghosts that haunt them.
Closing the festival on Saturday, March 31, is the Bradán Players Leixlip who will stage Brian Friel’s Hedda Gabler. The play begins as Hedda Gabler returns, dissatisfied from a long honeymoon and bored by her aspiring-academic husband, she foresees a life of tedious convention. Aided and abetted by her predatory confidante, Judge Brack, she begins to manipulate the fates of those around her to devastating effect.
For more information or booking details contact 087 2686764, email info@claredrama.com or visit www.claredrama.com.