Play Synopsis 2024 Festival
Friday 1st March Holycross/Ballycahill Drama Group
DANCING AT LUGHNASA OPEN
By Brian Friel
It is 1936 and harvest time in County Donegal. In a house just outside the village of Ballybeg live the five Mundy sisters, barely making ends meet, their ages ranging from twenty-six up to forty. The two male members of the household are brother Jack, a missionary priest, repatriated from Africa by his superiors after twenty-five years, and Michael, the seven-year-old child of the youngest sister. Narrated by Michael as an adult, the play depicts two days in the lives of five remarkable women
“Full of emotion this remarkable family play mixes sparkling comedy with unbearable poignancy.”
Saturday 2nd March Dalkey Players
THE CRUCIBLE OPEN
By Arthur Miller
The Crucible is Arthur Miller’s classic dramatisation of the witch-hunt and trials that besieged the Puritan community of Salem in 1692. Seen as a chilling parallel to the McCarthyism and repressive culture of fear that gripped America in the 1950s, the play’s timeless relevance and appeal remains as strong as when the play opened on Broadway in 1953
“Arthur Miller’s masterpiece, a gripping parable of power and its abuse. A powerful drama.”
Sunday 3rd March Ballyduff Drama Group
THE FERRYMAN OPEN
By Jez Butterworth
WINNER OF 3 OLIVIER AWARDS & 4 TONY AWARDS.
It’s harvest time in the Carney household and spirits are high. Three generations swirl around the kitchen, including rabbits, a goose and a baby.
But there are ghosts at this feast. This is Northern Ireland, 1981. In the Maze prison, the IRA hunger strikers are dying. Out on the bog, a body has been dug up. Butterworth draws turmoil into the farmhouse, defining just how inextricably this family is entangled in Ireland’s bloodstained past.
“An unforgettable journey into the heart of a nation torn by conflict and the resilience of those who dare to defy it”
Monday 4th March Glenamaddy Players
THE OUTGOING TIDE CONFINED
by Bruce Graham
One fiercely proud man devises a bold plan for his future, but his family has other ideas. Deftly moving between present and past, playwright Bruce Graham weaves a highly relatable story sprinkled with surprising humour and powerful emotions. This touching family drama poses thought-provoking questions about personal choice and what it means to truly love someone
“A beautifully told, poignant tale of the struggle to be true to oneself while granting room for loved ones to have what they want”
Recommended for audiences 13 and older
Tuesday 5th March The Ray Leonard Players
ECLIPSED CONFINED
by Patricia Burke Brogan
This award winning play is set in A Magdalene Laundry and centres on the women who live there under the rule of an order of nuns. This is a poignant, funny, moving and sad play and we are reminded of the stolen lives of these women and children and how they were ostracised from society and exploited under a cruel and harsh system. At last their voices are being heard
“A compelling piece of drama it brims over with darkness and light, rising from Ireland’s boggy soil like a wailing banshee”
This show contains scenes of a sexual nature.
Wednesday 6th March Phoenix Players
ANIMAL FARM CONFINED
by George Orwell
Revolution has taken place at Manor Farm. The animals have overthrown their human masters and assumed control of the farm. Led by the charismatic porker Napoleon and fuelled by enthusiastic camaraderie, a prosperous future free from the self-serving greed of humans is theirs for the taking. However, it is not long until the principles that promised equality become the shackles that bind the animals once again.
“A powerful retelling of George Orwell’s chilling and timeless classic”.
Thursday 7th March St.Patrick’s Drama Group
AGNES OF GOD CONFINED
by John Pielmeier
Summoned to a convent, Dr. Martha Livingstone, a court-appointed psychiatrist, is charged with assessing the sanity of a novitiate accused of murdering her new-born. Miriam Ruth, the Mother Superior, determinedly keeps young Agnes from the doctor, arousing Livingstone’s suspicions further. Who killed the infant and who fathered the tiny victim? Livingstone’s questions force all three women to re-examine the meaning of faith and the power of love leading to a dramatic, compelling climax. A hit on Broadway and later on film..
“Riveting, powerful, electrifying drama…the dialogue crackles.”
Friday 8th Newtownstewart Theatre Group
THE NEW ELECTRIC BALLROOM CONFINED
by Enda Walsh
Three sisters in a remote fishing village, trapped in the years that have passed since their halcyon days at The New Electric Ballroom, are still obsessed by darker memories of something resembling romance.
Entertaining, tender-hearted and dark, it is a glitter-dusted fable of the emotionally unfilling effects of small-town life.
“pricelessly funny … deeply moving”
Contains strong language, themes of an adult nature and the use of strobe lighting.
Saturday 9th March Kilmuckridge Drama Group
I DO NOT LIKE THEE, DR. FELL CONFINED
by Bernard Farrell
In this hilarious and sometimes unsettling send up of American style group therapy sessions, six people gather together in a locked room for Encounter Therapy that promises to probe their lives. The session does not go as planned and they get more than they bargained for when one of their number savagely exposes their real social and sexual secrets.
“A comedy about Mindfulness and Mayhem – funny, quirky and thought provoking”.