Sillan claim second place in All-Ireland
Sillan Players were celebrating success on Saturday night after claiming second place overall in the confined section of the All-Ireland Drama Festival in Tubbercurry Sligo, writes Thomas Lyons.
The Shercock drama group also took the Best Presentation category and one of their actors won a scholarship award.
Producer and director Paddy Farrelly said that everyone involved was overwhelmed by their achievement.
“To come second is fantastic. We did our best show ever on Wednesday night. We got a great adjudication and we knew that we were in the hunt. Doonbeg Drama Group, the eventual winners, did a fabulous show on the Monday night. It was between the two of us, they were first and we were second and that is the way it goes.”
The Sillan Players told the story of how Sylvester Trappe fell to his death from his garage roof five years ago. Ever since, his wife has dragged her three sons and one daughter up to the same rooftop to commemorate the death. The family reflect on their town and themselves.
Paddy said that the Seamus O'Rourke play was well received.
“We have been in two All Irelands in the last three years. To get to the All Ireland was the benchmark we had set ourselves this year, so to come second was really special.”
Not only did they achieve the second place accolade and the Best Presentation award, the group also received nominations in the categories for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor. Cast member David Clarke won the DLI Scholarship in Limerick for Most Promising Young Performer.
Sillan competed against nine groups who qualified for the finals from festivals held across Ireland. Victorious Doonbeg Drama Group from Clare have been popular visitors to the Shercock Drama Festival in the past.
“We were a little disappointed to have come so close to achieving the ultimate prize,” Paddy concedes, “but our group can be very proud of their wonderful achievement in filling the runner-up position. We will dust ourselves down and take a break and get back to it in September. Every year we look to improve and we hope that in the next few years we will be competing in Athlone in finals of the Open section of the All-Ireland.”
The director said that the support of the public made the show the success it was.
“I just want to thank the people of Shercock for all the support. It has been phenomenal, people even travelled to Tubbercurry to support us. It was brilliant.”
The Sillan players crew are producer Paddy Farrelly; cast members Brendan Farrelly, Audrey Gaughan, Lorraine Smith, David Clarke and Conor Shaffrey; Michael Farrelly on lighting and Yvonne Seymour on sound; the set construction team of Ciaran Farrelly, James McEnroe, Carina Farrelly, Sharon Farrelly, James Farrelly, Thomas Lyden, Rachel Farrelly and David Farrelly; make-up Fiona Needham; costumes Helen Foy and of course Shercock Drama Festival Director Ann O'Reilly.