Curtain comes down on another exciting Strabane drama festival

The curtain was brought down on another successful Strabane Drama Festival, held in the Alley Theatre, on Saturday.

The feast of local am-dram was a welcome return after three years, the past two festivals having been cancelled due to Covid-19.

The nine-night extravaganza was peppered with plays by the likes of Alan Ayckbourn, Sam Shephard, Yasmina Reza, and Arthur Miller and performed by accomplished amateur performers from all over the North as well as Ballyshannon, Lifford and Letterkenny.

Festival director Ciara McCay was overjoyed at how the festival played out, saying, “I’m thrilled at how the festival went!

“The whole nine nights were an absolute success and, as always, excellently attended.

“After missing the last two years, to see the groups and the audience flooding back was extremely heartening.

“The turnout we had over the duration is testament to how well-loved the drama festival is by the people of Strabane and the groups who take part, considering the times we’re in.

“The call came out that we
were back on, and people
responded.

“The amount of people who told me and other committee members on a nightly basis how happy they were to be back was amazing!”

Ciara admits that, even as the pandemic seemed to be easing somewhat, she still wasn’t sure the festival would still happen.

“For a time, we still didn’t know if we could have the festival this
year.

“The groups weren’t sure but still were rehearsing away, into the unknown, and we were still organising everything in the hope that we would be able to commit to the festival and, thankfully, it paid off.”

Despite the festival being over for another year, Ciara is unable to rest on her laurels.

As chair of the Ulster Drama Festival for this year, she is busy preparing for the finals in Ballymena before plunging headfirst into yet more applications and getting funding for next year’s festival back at the Alley.