‘A lovely week of theatre’
Castleblayney Drama Festival is set for another run of magical theatre later this month as groups from across Ireland compete for silverware at the Iontas Theatre.
Across the last 35 festivals Castleblayney Drama Festival has firmly established itself as one of the annual highlights of the Monaghan arts calendar.
“Castleblayney Drama Festival has produced 266 different performances from various groups and it has staged 213 different plays over those years. That’s a big contribution to the county,” said Rose O’Neill. The local woman has had a lengthy relationship with the festival committee, and this year returns for the first time as adjudicator.
“Without the festival you wouldn’t have all those people coming into Castleblayney, and all of the spin-off benefits – eating meals, going for a drink, staying over, seeing Castleblayney and its surrounds. It’s not just about the drama,” explains Rose.
The nine nights includes five plays in the open section and four from the confined. Rose notes the many people who go to all of the shows, and remarks on the wonderful value of the season ticket at €90.
“You get a great nine nights of theatre from groups from all over the country, they are very diverse pieces of work.”
She looks forward to “a lovely week of theatre” each year and, seeing groups from all over the country and “chatting to like minded people”.
She fondly recalls the craic of comparing with other audience members what they thought of the play.
“It was lovely talking to the audience about the play, and we’d listen to the adjudicator – and you either agreed or disagreed or half agreed,” she said. “And at the end of the festival it was lovely to see who was going to get what awards, and whether you had your money on the right person or not.”
Rose is looking forward to attending the festival, confiding, “it means a great deal to me”.
She was a director with Castleblayney Players, before joining the Drama Festival in the early 1990s. Having enjoyed serving on the committee for 20 years Rose left to become an adjudicator with the ADCI. A decade has since passed and now Rose is looking forward to returning to Castleblayney Drama Festival to adjudicate.
The groups will be judged on what they do on the night.
“You can’t have any expectations before the play starts because it’s what they do on the night that matters,” explains Rose. She studies all of the plays in advance.
“I go knowing the play and I just have to wait and see what the group do with it. Sometimes they surprise you, they come up with some wonderful stuff, that you didn’t even think of,” says Rose.
Meanwhile the committee Castleblayney Drama Festival Committee are sad to lose Joe Hanratty’s “expertise and guidance” as he retires from their fold.
Joe is also a writer and director of numerous play and musicals down through the years. A founder member of the festival in 1989, during his time as festival director Joe was at the forefront of securing the Three Act Confined All Ireland Drama Festival 2016 and the One Act All Ireland Drama Festival in 2024. The festival committee thank Joe for all his hard work and dedication and wish him every success in his retirement.