A Survey of Theatrical Activities in Sligo (1960)
	Irish Drama Movement Under Fire (1960)
	Drama In Sligo (1936)
	Theatre in Sligo
	Amateur Drama Groups in Sligo

A Survey of Theatrical Activities in Sligo

The Season's Plays

from The Sligo Champion, by Tadhg Glennane, April 16th, 1960

With the departure of "The Country Boy", except of course, for the half-whispered promise of a look into "Sharon's Grave" and maybe the belated arrival of a "Witness for the Prosecution", the play-going season in Sligo has ended for the year. What kind of season was it? Except for the promise of joy and fulfilment of happiness offered in "The Country Boy" it was one of theatrical gloom, and but for the Drama Circle's "Montserrat", one in which the local groups broke no new ground or enriched very much the old. There are three active drama groups in Sligo town. There appears to be little or no co-operation among these groups and it would further appear that at bottom - the Sligo Drama Circle partly excepted - they are strongly conservative and their approach to playing is incapable of any greater development.

This year each group presented a tragic play. In "Montserrat", seven people are shot and a nation tortured; a father and mother kill their son in "The Blind Wolf", and in "Aftermath" a mother ruins her son's life and destroys his peace of mind. Were it possible for these groups to discuss in autumn what they hoped to do, and so, plan a programme of plays that would prevent overlapping, and give the public a varied selection of dramatic works, it would be a step in the right direction. It has happened that two comedies and two plays of the thriller type have been given by different groups during the same seasons. The audience comes to the play to be entertained, not to be educated or consciously uplifted. Accordingly, the choice of play is important because, in the first place it must have drawing power and, in the second place it must be worth producing. The festival-minded group considers its choice as potential marks on an adjudicator's sheet but this should not be their main consideration. With a few notable exceptions, the plays presented by the local groups over the past few years have been well chosen and on the whole they have been well supported by the public.

Since the third group was formed, almost four years ago, up to twelve plays have been presented by the local players. Have the groups, which work hard and endeavoured to give of their best, had an influence in increasing the play-going public? Have they made the public more drama-conscious? It is pleasing to note that the support of the players has remained fairly constant but sad to relate that in general the influence has been slight and the attendance at performance has not noticeably increased. The fact that the recent presentation of "Sive" packed to capacity the cinema where it was presented indicates nothing except extreme curiosity. People who might not go to a play again for years went to see it because half its fame had come before it.

Sligo audiences are no better or no worse than those in almost any other town in the country. We have the reputation, how we got it heaven knows, of being very critical of anything that is not the best. Perhaps the standards of the Feiseanna gave rise to this, but it is absolute nonsense. Listen to a dispersing audience coming down the stairs in the Town Hall after a play. All one hears are various grades of praise, from the ecstatic to the mild, usually in that order. This is hardly indicative of a critical audience. Perhaps in private conversation more forthright opinions might be expressed but it is the public expression which can do good. In one respect we are much worse than audiences in other country towns. Too many of us come late. It is all very well to say that the show will not start on time. If the audience was there the show would start. This has become a chronic complaint. The only way to cure it is for the play, concert, lecture or whatever is it, to start at the time announced. With the Feiseanna in the offing, and the audiences for the Prize-Winners Concerts notorious for their late arrival - at one of these concerts within the past two years the performance did not begin till forty five minutes after the advertised time and there were still people from the town, yes, from the town, coming to their reserved seat - is it too much to hope that the Committee will announce, and maintain, a punctual start for their Prize-Winners' Concerts.

The three plays presented by the town's groups have been discussed and reviewed in this paper already. There is no need to do so again. The general notices were, to say the least of them, very favourable. In view of such pleasing notices the groups should guard against complacency and not allow themselves think their efforts were perfect. All amateur production, of its very essence, cannot be perfect. A professional one can be and sometimes is. When our groups are playing they should forget the word amateur and endeavour to put before the public the nearest thing to perfection they can achieve. The slip-shod and casual should be banished. Nothing but the best in production, acting, lighting, and setting should be good enough. After all the people who pay to see the play should get top value for their money. Attention to detail in production and setting is of utmost importance and nothing is too small to correct if it will improve the presentation.

In "Montserrat" the period is around the first decade of the nineteenth century, yet the armchair used by the Sligo Drama Circle was one of a type whose hideousness did not spoil a room for almost another seventy years. A pain in this production, on two occasions, Izquiredo, a colonel in the army of Spain no less, took and drank from a glass which had been used already. On one of these occasions it actually contained liquid which had been poured, and partly drunk, by another player. In "The Blind Wolf" on a couple of occasions the actors made use of gestures which gave a completely wrong and entirely misleading idea to the audience of the immediate situation and its subsequent development. Was Mrs. O' Regan, in "Aftermath", so fond of her battered peeling, glass-fronted crockery press that she took it from the poverty of her cottage in Act I to the wealth of her daughter-in-law's fine place in Act III? In fact, except for the absence of Myles O' Regan's books, this set was a replica of the set in Act I with the props turned the other way. These are only pin-pricks? No. Points like these take the edge off a production and indicate that lack of aim at perfection which cannot be excused. They are also an affront to the audience.

The producer should see to it that his (or her) cast is steeped in the play and fully aware of its story. A character in "Montserrat" speaks of the Goya portrait of the Spanish royal family. One look at a reproduction of this picture would have made the cast realise that those who were to portray the freedom-seekers had a good reason for their fight, while those on the side of authority needed all their loyalty to uphold the rule of a family whose meanness and stupidity were so apparent. In "Aftermath" more so than in "The Blind Wolf", though both by the same author, the rich simplicity of the language should have encouraged the players to love speaking it.

Next season is very far away. Already though, it is whispered that a Shakespearean play is being considered by one group. They would be well advised to forget it. The only amateurs who can get away with Shakespeare are college-boys and school-girls. They can be forgiven much. Let us hope that when the new season comes it will bring with it interesting plays, fresh approaches, higher standards, and indeed, the same hard work and sincere effort which made this season, if not memorable, quite successful.

(The Sligo Drama Circle, god luck to them, have made an almost complete tour of the festivals, and have collected cups of silver and medals of gold. Highly creditable work. Maybe, when they return from Athlone - not before they go - they'll let us see what they did with their play that made it such a winner.)

Irish Drama Movement Under Fire

from The Sligo Champion, April 9th, 1960

Mr. Denis Franks, the well-known Shakespearean lecturer and writer, had some harsh things to say about the Irish drama movement when he lectured in Sligo last week on "Shakespeare without Tears". He thought that the talk about the revival of the drama movement in Ireland was bogus and held the view that the standard of Irish drama was the lowest in Europe. He had this to say about drama groups: "In only too many cases it is a sense of exhibitionism and inflated ego that prompts so many groups to 'put on a play'". He added that it was a great pity that adjudicators were not a little more outspoken and if they said in public what they said privately the standards would be improved.

No-one can deny that Mr. Franks was not outspoken and said publicly what he would say privately, but his remarks can hardly be taken as encouragement to those genuinely interested in the drama movement. Most people connected with amateur drama will not agree that "in too many cases" it is exhibitionism and inflated ego that prompts them to stage a play. They maintain that amateur groups stage plays because they are really interested in drama and the stage. Exhibitionism and ego may enter into it but not to the extremes claimed by Mr. Franks. With the exception of the few professional groups performing in this country, the remainder are amateurs who learn, rehearse and stage in their spare time and very often at their own expense. To attribute to them the two main motives of exhibitionism and inflated ego seems to be going a bit far.

On the question of outspoken adjudications, Mr. Franks' statement gives the impression that adjudicators "soft pedal" their public criticisms rather than state outright what they really think. If this is correct, then the adjudicators are not doing the job for which they are paid. The adjudicators, professional and experienced actors and actresses, are brought to festivals to select the best groups and the best individual performers and at the same time to criticise constructively the standard of acting, production and choice of play. The groups who stage the plays want the opinion of an expert on their performances and to be told where the faults are and how they can be remedied. In most cases none of them would thank an adjudicator for telling them that they were good when, in fact, the opposite applied.

For amateur drama to survive and improve it must be guided and encouraged on the right lines by constructive correction and not blasted into obscurity by blistering criticism because it does not measure up to a professional's standard of perfection.

Drama in Sligo

from The Sligo Champion Centenary Number 1836-1936

Sligo has always enjoyed a reputation in the amateur theatrical world. Many years ago the Temperance Dramatic Society, under the direction of the late John Monson, performed many successful plays, but their big achievement came as a result of the presentation of the musical play "Flowers of the Forest". The Sligo Catholic Institute presented many plays and the dramatic and operatic society attached to the Institute numbered among its members many splendid amateur actors and singers. Among their many achievements, and one of their finest, was the production of Gilbert and Sullivan's "The Mikado", in which the late Mr. Jim Higgins (Mayor of Sligo) played an important part. The Institute Players at this time were under the direction of Mr. W. P. Gilbert and Mr. J. Shea.

To come to more recent times. The Sligo Premier Players performed many successful comedies under the direction of Jim Wynne and, later, by T. P. Mc Cusker, winning many Feiseanna trophies. However, it was not until 1935 that honour was brought to Sligo through the medium of the Unknown Players, who scored first places at Belfast and Marian Arts Guild (Dublin) with T. C. Murray's "Autumn Fire". The artistes in the Belfast and Dublin productions included Alf Rochford, Jill Noon, Margaret Hughes, Harry Hallowes, Bill Gallagher, Hannie Wynne, Rita Mc Lynn and Joe Burns. In each instance the production as under the direction of Jim Wynne, and the Players wound up two successful seasons by carrying off first prizes at Sligo Feis Ceoil and Feis Shligigh.

Theatre in Sligo

from History of Sligo, W. G. Wood-Martin, Vol. III

"When a trip to Dublin was a rare event it naturally required more attention to provide local amusements, and Sligo, from, if not before, the year 1750, contained a theatre. The original building was near the quay; it was subsequently moved to the vicinity of the Linen-Hall. 'His majesty's servants from the Theatre Royal, Crow Street', occasionally visited Sligo, even during the Dublin season, showing that in those days the townsfolk appreciated the drama, for in some instances the company remained during several months.

Mr. Owenson, father of the afterwards well-known Lady Morgan, was frequently before the Sligo public, and was, in his day, celebrated for his personification of Irish characters, and (says Sir Jonah Barrington) never did an actor exist so perfectly calculated to personify that singular class of people. 'In what might be termed the middle class of Paddies, no man ever combined the look and the manner with such feeling as Owenson ..... he sang well .... but he was, like most of his profession, careless about his concerns, and he grew old without growing rich'.

The Sligo theatre was (for the time) well lighted and fairly decorated. In the year 1826 there was a fracas in the building between Dr. Carter and a Mr. M'Donogh, which terminated in the prosecution and conviction of the latter. At the trial the cross-examining counsel said that evidently the Doctor, on that night at least, had lost all his patience!"

Amateur Drama Groups in Sligo over the Years

	Silver Apple Productions
	Bernadette Players
	Immaculata Players
	Sligo Unknown Players
	CIE Players
	Lough Gill Players
	The Passing Players
	Temperance Dramatic Society
	Sligo Premier Players
	Sligo Catholic Institute Dramatic and Operatic Society
	Profile Players
	Everyman
	Coolera Dramatic Society
	Sligo Drama Circle