Delight as Strabane Drama Festival returns to the stage

Having been cancelled for the last two years due to the coronavirus pandemic the organisers of Strabane Drama Festival are delighted the popular event will return next month.

Back in March 2020 the local festival was one of the first events to be cancelled as Covid began to emerge in Ireland, this was the first time in 33 consecutive years that the festival was unable to take place.

Now two years on Ciara McCay, the festival director is looking forward to a packed programme of drama running from Friday, March 11 to Saturday, March 19.

“We are delighted to welcome some of the top amateur drama groups in Ireland who will compete for a place in the All Ireland Drama Finals in Athlone and in the Ulster Drama Finals being staged in Ballymena,” said Ciara.

The drama festival will open with Theatre 3 from Newtownabbey presenting ‘The Anatasia File’ by Royce Ryton that features the question: Did the daughter of Tsar Nicholas II die with the rest of the imperial family or was she the girl found in an asylum in 1920? A compelling play with a final surprising twist. This is followed by ‘Absent Friends’ by Alan Ayckbourn presented by Hollywood Players. Ayckbourn treats this road-crash of a party with a typical sureness of touch – it is at times sad and touching, but always bitingly funny. Sunday’s play, ‘God of Carnage’, is presented by previous winners of the All Ireland Finals, Prosperous Dramatic Society and promises to be one of the highlights of the festival with this menace-filled comedy that emphasises the laughs but provides a savage edge in the process.

Enniskillen Theatre Company will present ‘The Night Alive’ by Conor McPherson on Monday, March 14 followed by neighbours, Newtownstewart Theatre Company staging ‘Family Plot’ by Daragh Carville on Wednesday, March 16.

Letterkenny Drama Society will present a hilarious, brand new comedy, ‘Dramateurs’ by their own Kieran Kelly on Thursday, March 17.

Friday, March 18 sees the return to the Alley Theatre stage of Wexford Drama Group with Sam Shepard’s ‘A Lie of the Mind’ – a poetic and gritty play that explores the ambivalence of family relationships against the backdrop of a macho American West.

Bringing the festival to a close on Saturday, March 19 is Ballyshannon Drama Society with another American play: ‘All My Sons’ by Arthur Miller – shortly after WW2, a family’s long buried truths are forced to the surface and the price of their American dream is laid bare.

The local drama festival is delighted to return after the pandemic absences with such a strong line up of productions providing variety and entertainment in abundance.

One of the best ways to enjoy the festival experience is with a season ticket for all eight plays and there are also a number of offers for a combination of plays and, in particular, a very special, affordable, offer for school students.

All these offers are available through the Alley Theatre website.