Full line-up announced for Goresbridge drama festival

This is the first festival of its kind to be held in Co Kilkenny and it is a great honour for Ionad Dara and the host group Kilcumney Players to have been accepted by the Drama League of Ireland (DLI). Goresbridge is one of 22 one-act festivals being staged around the 32 counties of Ireland between mid-October and late November this year. The festival has created a huge amount of interest in the area and great support has been offered by local people and businesses. The main sponsor of Goresbridge Drama Festival is Connoll’s Red Mills, Goresbridge.

The Festival Committee members were delighted to receive 17 applications for Goresbridge Drama Festival. From the 17 original applicants, nine were selected and they will compete over the three nights. The competing groups will travel from counties Dublin, Waterford, Wicklow, Kildare and Cork. The adjudicator for the festival will be Imelda McDonagh, ADA (Association of Drama Adjudicators).

The competition has two sections. Groups who have already won an All-Ireland will compete in the ‘Open’ section. Six groups will participate in the open competition in Goresbridge. The three remaining groups will compete in the ‘Confined’ competition. Confined groups have not yet won an All-Ireland or may be new to competition. The first play each night will take part in the confined section while the second and third plays will be open entrants. In these festivals, plays must not exceed 55 minutes. Most of the plays in Goresbridge are 40-45 minutes in length. The winners in Goresbridge will go on to compete in the all-Ireland finals in the Mill Theatre, Dundrum in Dublin in early December.

The second play on that night comes from the current All-Ireland title holders: Bradán Players from Leixlip. Bradán will present A Number by English playwright Caryl Churchill. Questions of human identity, nature versus nurture and the morality of cloning are explored in this moving and thought-provoking play. The third offering comes from Skerries Drama Group, who will present Two for A Girl by Mary Kelly and Noni Stapleton. This play tells the story of an ill-fated love affair in the 1940s. The story is told from the point of view of the love-child Fran who only learns her mother’s identity many years later. A week before her wedding day Fran embarks on a search for resolution and farewell