For drama lovers, An Grianan in Letterkenny, Donegal is the place to be this weekend where a treasure trove of top-class actors, playwrights, set designers and lighting operators await you.
And friendly, helpful staff to answer any questions you may have and make sure you’re comfortably seated before the shows begin.
It’s that time of year – the Letterkenny One Act Festival – part of the network of such festivals nationwide which will culminate in the All-Ireland One-Act Finals in Kildare, hosted by The Moat Club, The Moat Theatre in Naas on Friday 6th – Sunday 8th December, with adjudicator Imelda McDonagh.
Festival director, John O’Donnell kicked off the weekend of entertainment at An Grianan last night with an informative introduction to the proceedings, sprinkled with his own inimitable dry sense of wit. His warm-hearted rapport even included some honhomous anecdotes from his long experiences over the years treading the boards, including the story of one actor playing in a lead role forgetting to turn off his pocket mobile.
The three plays featured last night reflected widely varying themes and impressive stage settings. First up was The Moogles Theatre Company, established in 2013 in Cavan, with its production of ‘Megan’s Grave’ by Alice Lynch in what is termed the ‘Confined’ category for actors recently embarking on their vocation. Directed by Evelyn Briody and Taragh Donohoe and with the characters of Amelia and Dave played wonderfully by Alice and Peter Cooney respectively, this drama is set in a graveyard and focuses on the tragic suicide of Amelia’s sister and the influence of Peter’s character reference for a man whose treatment of the sister that may have led to her self despair and untimely death helps him get ‘off the hook.’ Suspense-filled reflected in tight dialogue, the production created enjoyable entertainment, with lighting and sound under the able direction of Rebecca Dolan and Evelyn.
The second production of the evening hailed from County Antrim, hosted by the Rosemary Drama Group from North Belfast which has existed since the early 1960s. Entitled ‘Elegie for Georgie’ and written by a long-standing member of the group, this play impacted me strongly, tearing at my emotions as it revived old, sad, stressful memories of growing up in the working class districts of Ballymurphy and Andersonstown in my native Belfast dodging bombs and bullets during the violence of the so-called ‘Troubles.’ The setting for this play is a hillside overlooking Belfast on a sunny afternoon, one I pictured in my mind’s eye to be either the Black Mountain that overlooked my parent’s wee house where I would wander around often in my youth, or Napoleon’s Nose, a rocky hill at what’s known as Cave Hill, not far away.
This play in the ‘Open’ section for more experienced actors and which contains strong language and scenes of violence, kicks-off with two men meeting beside a hill-top bench – one, a middle-aged, middle-class gentleman, taking his leisurely lunch break from office work and a younger bearded man, rucksack on back, intent on capturing every picturesque image possible in video and photo with his mobile phone. The mood of the plays opens in a soft, sentimental manner as befits a tranquil sunny summer afternoon, but quite suddenly pitches into a hard-hitting, dark and menacing mood, one that increases in gloom and doom as the men’s secret murky pasts are slowly revealed. Kudos to director, Lindsay Charrington and to the two actors, Alan Kennedy and Jordan Baker, as the older and the younger man respectively, whose characters contrast sharply and switch dramatically in their contrasts as the play progresses. Lighting and sound were provided skilfully by Ian McDonald.
Now, I may be slightly biased, living like many’s a native Béal Feirstian transplanted to west Donegal, but the third play, ‘Cider Park, hosted by The Letterkenny Music and Drama Group and written by Kieran Kelly, one of its members and one of the three actors on stage, simply blew me away. If this production doesn’t win prizes in Naas, then I’m going to eat my recently-purchased Sherlock Holmes deerstalker hat (a hat I like very much).
Summed up – a superb piece of script writing and flawless performances by Kieran as J..P, Andrew Tinney as Georgie and Cathal Ó Gallchóir, a talented bi-lingual actor who lives close to me here in Gaoth Dobhair in the heart of the Donegal Gaeltacht, as Ritchie. My advice to director/producer Michael Leddy is to polish up on his acceptance speech for Naas after what was a quite brilliant all-round team performance by everyone involved including stage manager, Tom Neilis and lighting and sound operator, Eoghan MacGiolla Bhrighde.
Describing the thematic content of this play that strangely emerged as both complex yet simple, futuristic as well as philosophic, focusing on the ultra-modern age of technology, its latest being the overarching influence of AI, is not an easy task for me. Combined with its downhome humor delivered in sharp, scintillating dialogue that was perfectly written and perfectly delivered by the onstage troupers, writing about the ensemble complet would mean me having to write a book or one of those guides published for students to help them understand the nuances of complex classic literature. That’s how good it was. And boy, do I look forward to seeing it again in Naas. And again, after that, somewhere.
And like a sweet smooth cream poured over an already delicious apple pie of an evening, the final instalment of drama arrived in the form of spirited and convivial adjudicator, Declan Drohan. Now living in Bundoran and involved in teaching all aspects of drama for over 30 years including now being a professor at the Atlantic Technological University (ATU) in Sligo on the B.A. in Performing Arts and the M.A. in Creative Practice courses. Trained at the Gaiety School of Acting and with Michael Chekhov Europe, Declan is a member of the Association of Drama Adjudicators (ADA) and his wealth of experience, which was a joy to hear at his post-performances summing up, ranges from his role as co-director of Chekhov Training and Performance Ireland and former director of the Glens Centre Manorhamilton. He is a regular tutor at the Drama League of Ireland (DLI) Summer School at the University of Limerick.
Such is Declan’s list of diverse accomplishments, including his latest movie role as a drug dealer, with shooting due to start in a mere few days, I’d need rolls of sheet paper gleaned from a complete oak tree to do justice to them (thank goodness we use computer screens and not paper any more thus saving our fellow life-saving forest creatures). Suffice it to say his on-stage comments were incise, informative and highly entertaining. You can listen to his comments on the accompanying videos here.
Sponsors listed on the Letterkenny One Act Festival printed programme – namely R. McCullagh Jewellers, Atlantic Technological University Donegal, Letterkenny Credit Union, Councillors Michael McBride, Donal Mandy Kelly and Gerry McMonagle, as well as AIB Letterkenny, Fintan Moloney and Company, Karen Murphy Speech, Drama and Communications and Sean McCormack – should all feel immensely proud to have supported such a well-attended evening (and today and Sunday) of sheer entertainment of the highest level.
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