The organisers of the Letterkenny One Act Drama Festival have another great line up of amateur drama companies from across the island of Ireland competing this week.
Tickets for each night are €8/€6 or save some money by becoming a Friend of the Festival – it’s €15 for an individual or €30 for a couple and entitles you to complementary tickets for each night of the festival – contact the box office on 0749120777 for further information.
Thursday
On Thursday night competing in the Confined competition we have Ballyshannon company Dark Daughter Productions with Jean McConnell’s Deckchairs 3 – Cruise Missile. When Janet embarks on her first cruise, she finds herself overwhelmed by the array of delights on offer. However, there is a fellow passenger who is only too willing to be her guide and mentor. It is the flamboyant Goldie, who is familiar with all the wrinkles and most of the crew. But her instant friendship is something of a mixed blessing.
Also competing in the Confined section are the Phoenix Players from Tubbercurry who are presenting The Hitman by JCW Brook. The husband of an elderly unhappy married couple decides to get rid of his wife—but does it all work out?!
Competing in the Open competition are Belfast’s Belvoir Players. In The Spelling Mistakes by Eugene Labiche, Caboussat is standing for election as President of the local Agricultural Committee, but Caboussat cannot spell and is only able to hide this deep flaw by allowing his daughter Blanche to write out, and correct, his speeches. The plot thickens when Poitrinas arrives, not only in search of Ancient Roman remains, but also to seek the hand of Blanche for his son.
Friday
On Friday we have Model Box Productions from Wicklow with Peter Tolan’s Stay Carl Stay. Set in New York, this is the story of a mild mannered woman dominated by her boyfriend, who on the advice of a therapist adopts a dog, Carl. Life gets interesting when Carl learns to talk and dance! They are competing in the Confined group.
Newtowncashel Drama Club are from Co Longford and are presenting Cliff’s Edge by Paul Beard. A suicidal failed actor, a maniacally depressed pub landlord and a schizophrenic passerby are the characters in this blackest of comedies. Set on the cliff top at Beachy Head, this carefully researched piece of modern theatre has received critical acclaim since its showcase in Edinburgh and subsequent productions in Chicago, Madrid, Stockholm, Melbourne and Prague.
Newtownabbey’s Theatre 3 present Dario Fo’s The Virtuous Burglar in the Open section. A burglar is discovered when the owner of the flat returns unexpectedly with his mistress. When the owner’s wife arrives, the burglar is forced to pretend that the mistress is his wife. Other spouses and lovers appear and the burglar – apparently the only one not having an affair – is forced into pretending to have multiple wives. Then his own wife arrives!
Saturday
On Saturday we have two plays competing in the Open section – the Bradán Players from Dublin and the Bangor Drama Group from Co Down. The Bradan Players are producing Vaclev Havel’s Unveiling, a three hander which sees Vanek call to the house of his friends Vera and Michael and the unfolding conversation which drives the course of the evening.
The Bangor Drama Group are staging Sharkey by Michael Levers. Sharkey has a lot to come to terms with. Looking for answers, he returns to his old church and to the minister there, who is his ex-partner, Lavinia. What happens in the church takes Sharkey to a world beyond his dreams, because there is a story about life and death that some people have forgotten.
Local group the Letterkenny Music and Drama Group are performing out of competition with their play Love in a Glass Jar by Nancy Harris. Eve and Patrick are two strangers who get chatting on a dating website and agree to a face to face meeting in a hotel room. Patrick is in his forties and separated from his wife. Eve is a successful single woman in her thirties and is tired of being let down by love. She wants a child and wants to know the father, but she doesn’t want a man in her life. The dynamic between them shifts and flows with comic and painful results as Eve and Patrick both struggle to come to terms with their loneliness and each other.
