THE celebrations have just about finished in Rossmore, following Kilmeen Drama Group’s double win at the recent ADCI/DLI All-Ireland One Act Drama Finals held in Tubbercurry in Sligo earlier this month.
The talented actors won ‘Best Drama’ in the Open category for the play From Eden which was written by Stephen Jones, and stars Laura Connelly and Thomas White. Laura also came home with the award for ‘Best Female Performance’ in the competition, hosted by Western Drama Festival in St Brigid’s Hall Theatre.
Their welcoming party took pace in the festival club in Rossmore earlier this month where Michael O’Mahony gave an entertaining recount of the drama group’s ups and downs over the past 50 years.
ADVERTISEMENT
Since the group was formed in 1970, they’ve won eight All-Ireland titles; the first full-length play they had success with was The Black Stranger in 1976. They had a hat-trick between 2011 and 2013, when they were top of the acts for three years in a row.
Speaking to The Southern Star, chairperson and director of From Eden Denis O’Donovan said it was a fantastic achievement to pick up two awards.
‘We really did celebrate our wins and these awards are for the whole team involved in the play, including the lighting crew, make up, props and the rest of team,’ said Denis.
‘We want to thank Stephen Jones too who wrote the play as he gave us a lot of help and was always there to answer any questions we had. As a new director, he was so helpeful to us all.’
‘Stephen was previously an actor in Love/Hate and was one of the writers of Northern Lights.’
‘From Eden is a two-character play about a guy lost in his own life, and following a suicide attempt he checks himself into a hospital. He then mets Eva who is also there, and they end up together.’
Kilmeen Drama Group took part in the Open category, which is in place for groups who have won the All-Ireland competition previously.
‘Ahead of the All-Ireland we started with a warm-up show in Rossmore and then we played at two mini-festivals’.
Denis himself also picked up the gong for ‘Best Director’; it goes hand-in-hand with winning the Best Drama award.
Rossmore Parish has hosted plays for about a century, and the first drama festival was organised by the then-Parish Priest Fr James O’Donovan in 1956.
The festival has been running ever since to great acclaim, and there are no signs of the lights being dimmed on Rossmore’s theatrical success any time soon.
