The following are letters and comments submitted to local newspapers with regard to the activities and performances of Sligo Drama Circle.

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	Summer Theatre (1972)
	Enjoyed Play (1972)
	Sligo Summer Theatre - Why was the Audience So Small? (1972)
	Philadelphia, Here I Come - Or Go (1972)
	Summer Theatre in Sligo (1973)
	More Support For Little Theatre (1973)
	Sligo - Theatre Town of the Seventies (1973)

Summer Theatre

from The Sligo Champion, August 18th, 1972

I have been on a visit to your town with a Sligo friend. We are both keen theatre goers and we were delighted to learn through the Sligo Champion, which we get each week, that there was a Summer Theatre programme in Sligo. I can't begin to tell you how much we enjoyed our visit to "Philadelphia, Here I Come". What a delightful production! May I congratulate their producer. Mr. J. Meehan, and all of the cast on giving us such a splendid night's entertainment. Even the smallest part was beautifully done and small parts so often suffer in big productions. Worthy of mention are the characters who played Kate Doogan (Catherine Clancy), Ned (Andrew Cullen), Tom (Aidan Sexton), Joe (Frank Brannigan), Canon Mick O' Byrne(George Molloy) - a splendid Canon. Last, but not least, the actress who played Madge (Kay Guinane). Her's was a professional performance. I felt it was she who built up the final scene to the final agonising curtain. May the Drama Circle go from strength to strength and may they gain the support they deserve. I enclose a small donation towards their Little Theatre fund.

"A Dublin Drama Lover", Beechwood Road, Ranelagh, Dublin.

Enjoyed Play

from The Sligo Champion, August 4th, 1972

Dear Sir, I recently had the opportunity to visit Co. Sligo and I found the visit to be completely enjoyable. The beaches are lovely, the mountains breathtaking and the people delightfully friendly. I find, though, that I must especially praise the Sligo Drama Circle. I attended the production of Brian Friels' "Philadelphia, Here I Come" and I was particularly struck with the high quality of acting. The Mayor of Sligo attended this particular performance and he appealed to the people of Sligo to support the Circle's production and to help the Drama Circle to find a new home suitable for theatre productions. As I leave Dublin for my New York home, I can only add that I, too, would urge the people of Sligo to attend and support these theatrical productions. If all he plays are as well done and as well acted and directed as the one I saw, then the Sligo Drama Circle offers the best bargain in all of Ireland. I am only sorry that my time schedule does not permit me to see more of these very professional productions. Sincerely, Miss Luise Bethencourt, 102 Carpenter Avenue, Crestwood, New York, USA.

Sligo Summer Theatre

Why Was the Audience So Small?

from The Sligo Champion, August 4th, 1972

Not too long ago I said to someone, "You couldn't drag me to one of those 'Little Theatre - Drama Club' whatever you call it performances, not on your Nelly". To make a ridiculous story short, I got dragged, and now I am eating humble pie, very humble. I was taken to see a performance of "Philadelphia, Here I Come", here in Sligo, at your own Town Hall. This was Thursday night last. I am still wondering why the audience was so small. Why do the people of Sligo not support the Sligo Drama Circle? Is it because of the appalling discomfort of your Town Hall? If so, it is time that something be done about it. I suggest that efforts be made by you good people to provide your town with a proper theatre. Make no mistake, your local actors gave a very professional performance and I found very little criticism to make. This was not amateur night in the country. Having seen the play in Dublin and New York, I am in a position to make comparisons.

Congratulations Eily Kilgannon and Bian Mc Hugh, who played the best Lily Sweeney and Gareth O' Donnell (in public) I have yet seen. Eddie Fitzpatrick did a fine job of Master Boyle. I only wished someone had brushed his coat in the dressing room before he made his appearance. I would hate being upstaged by a powdery coat. Cormac Sheridan gave a sustained performance of a difficult part, and yet I could not find the 'Gareth O' Donnell' of Brian Mc Hugh in it - but that's only one man's opinion. Walter Mc Donagh was superb in his last scene. Moments of the play were really inspired. All in all, a well directed play, well produced and well acted, worthy of the writer.

Franken Ernest

"Philadelphia, Here I Come" - Or Go

from The Sligo Champion, August 4th, 1972

Dear Sir,

While on a visit to my childhood home,

I went to "Philadelphia, Here I Come".

And found the hall half filled with goodly train,

Some nuns and clerics, and the Mayor with chain.

The kindliness, the humour and good sense,

I saw on all sides of the audience.

The Irish gleam I see where e'er I go -

Was that reflected on the stage? - not so!

I cannot say the acting did not please.

They played their parts with life and expertise.

They well projected what they had to say,

But they were worthy of a better play.

The author splits his "hero" into two,

He, and his "private self", come into view.

Clever, and so original, you might say,

(But shades of Walter Mitty - Danny Kaye!)

Of course the point was - poor communication,

In Ballybeg and elsewhere in the nation,

(Leading so tragically to emigration!)

But why not give a "private self" to Dad,

Who's much more inarticulate than the Lad?

And oh! The mindless, endless, stock-in-trade,

Of Bloodies, Bastards, and the sex tirade!

The shocking crudities that shock no more,

But merely bore - the mixture as before!

One line did shock and in protest I stand -

"The Angelus" joked of in a Christian land!

That golden statement of the Incarnate Word!

That "Fiat" of the Handmaid of the Lord!

No sir, if that's the drama stuff of Sligo,

It's time to say, "Philadelphia, Here I Go"!

Yours sincerely, Godfrey Carney (Rev.), St. Margaret Mary's, Pilch Lane, Liverpool 14.

Summer Theatre in Sligo

A Letter to the Editor from Lionel Gallagher, The Evening Herald, August 25th, 1973

Sir, As Chairman of Sligo Drama Circle I was particularly interested in your second leader of August 20th when you expressed surprise at the lack of cultural entertainment for summer visitors by the drama movement in rural Ireland. I am not certain whether or not the larger towns such as Sligo are included by you in "rural" Ireland , but Sligo is one centre where we have endeavoured to provide theatre for both visitors and locals during the summer months over the last number of years.

This year, under the general title of "Summer Theatre Seventy-Three", officially opened by Brian Friel on June 26th, we have been mounting plays at least twice weekly in Sligo's Town Hall, and will continue to do so until September 6th. Here is our programme for August: (1) "Arms and the Man" (Shaw) August 2nd, 8th; (2) "On Baile's Strand" and "The Cat and the Moon" (Yeats) August 7th, 9th, 12th; (3) "Step-in-the-Hollow" (Donagh Mc Donagh) August 18th, 20th, 28th, 30th; and (4) "The Country Boy" (John Murphy) August 22nd, 24th. In addition to the variety of plays we offer, we also pride ourselves on the standard achieved. As you can see from the enclosed brochure, whatever profits are made from our summer theatre go into a fund to provide Sligo with a permanent, well-equipped theatre.

The difficulties you list in your editorial are all very real ones and are not easily surmounted. We believe, however, that we have done so, and hope that we will be able to increase our programme from year to year. Our major difficulty at the moment is to attract local people in sufficient numbers as we estimate that almost 80% of our audiences are visitors to the town. This year we had our best season ever from the point of view of numbers attending our shows. We would like to record that one centre, at least, is not guilty of the lack of theatrical entertainment for summer visitors you so rightly highlight in your editorial.

More Support For Little Theatre

from The Sligo Champion, August 10th, 1973

A Chara, I don't know how many people in Ireland, or even in Sligo town itself, are aware of it, but in the Sligo Drama Circle you have a very good theatre company and the makings of a great ___. This is the second summer in which I have had the pleasure to watch this company at work - both in rehearsals and in final productions. The acting and producing is often on par with some of the finest productions I have seen in London, Dublin and NYC.

In fact last year I saw both the Abbey Theatre and the Sligo Drama Circle productions of "Philadelphia Here I Come". In terms of character parts and lighting the Drama Circle was by far the better. I won't mention names as other people have done because you are always bound to leave someone out and the key-word in an enterprise such as this should be teamwork. It is very likely that when the technical difficulties endured because there is no permanent home come to an end, the Drama Circle will cause Sligo town to become a Theatre going centre comparative to Stratford-on-Avon. People will come to the North-West because of the theatre.

I hope that people in Sligo will support the Drama Circle by seeing the productions. (If you haven't, you don't know what you're missing!) And I hope the Drama Circle will give us something even more concrete to support by finalising plans for a site so that work on the Little Theatre can begin. Bravo!

Jan Meyer, 240 & 55th Street, NYC, USA.

Sligo - Theatre Town of the Seventies

from The Sligo Champion, August 10th, 1973

Dear Sir, I suppos that it is not really surprising that Sligo should have a really thriving Amateur Dramatic Society. Back in the thirties when most Irish towns thought of "doing a play" as a means of raising funds for a new school or the renovation of a church, the Sligo Unknown Players were setting standards to which few other groups could aspire for decades. In the late fifties and early sixties when the "Festival" boom hit the provincial theatre scene and "drama" became the fashionable thing in every town and village.

Sligo could boast three strong groups - the Unknowns, now somewhat in decline but still a potent force - the Bernadette Players and Sligo Drama Circle. When the gloss went off the acting business in the mid-sixties and higher standards and harder work took over, the pretty faces and seekers of sudden glory changed to other pursuits and the Amateur Movement settled down to the serious business it is today. Many companies dropped out and others reverted to fund-raising, once a year, let's-do-a-play organisation. But in Sligo the Drama Circle persisted as did many strong dedicated groups throughout the land. At first the Circle concentrated its attention on the Festival scene, now highly competitive with little of the air of carnival and camaraderie it had in earlier years. Success followed success, the highlights being victories in the Ulster Festival in Belfast's Opera House wit "The Playboy of the Western World" and in the All-Ireland in Athlone with "A Streetcar Named Desire".

But what made Sligo Different from other towns and the Drama  Circle different from most other groups was that Sligo had the Yeats International Summer School. Yeats the dramatist was just as important as Yeats the poet - if indeed the two may be separated - to the students and staff of this school. In the early years professional and semi-professional companies from Belfast, Dublin and Cork were invited to provide the theatre side of the course at the school. But in 1965 Dr. Henn of Cambridge, then Director of the Summer School, and some of the other academic staff saw the local Drama Circle perform "The Playboy" and prevailed upon the Yeats Society to invite the Drama Circle to perform the Yeats plays. This was done in 1966 and has proved so successful that the Circle has continued to fulfil this role and this year stages "On Baile's Strand" and "The Cat and the Moon" in Sligo's Town Hall on August 7th, 9th and 12th.

Being now geared for summer activity, the group embarked on a programme of short summer seasons of plays. In 1970 it was decided to extend this summer season as a contribution to Sligo's tourist industry and as a means of helping to finance the building of its own theatre which it had by now become essential if the group was to expand and develop as its members envisaged. The summer seasons grew in length and standard through 1979, 71 and 72 and was now attracting attention on a wider scale. In 1972 when Mr. Desmond Rushe was opening the season, Dr. Micheál Mac Liammóir honoured the group by his presence and associated himself enthusiastically with the Company's endeavours. This year Dr. Conor Cruise O' Brien consented to open the season and when he was unavoidably unable to attend, Brian Friel stepped in and he also praised and encouraged the venture.

But 1973 seems in every way to be the Year of the Theatre in Sligo. One doesn't see much reference to what is happening outside the Theatres of Dublin, Belfast, Cork and to a lesser extent Limerick in our National Press, Radio or Television but for theatre in Sligo it is a year of great activity. In addition to the Yeats plays, Sligo Drama Circle is presenting "The Country Boy" (John Murphy), "Arms and the Man" (Shaw) and "Step-in-theHollow" (Donagh Mc Donagh) at least twice weekly from June 26th to September 6th.

Earlier in the year the Circle had staged Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men" and Fitzmaurice's "The Pie Dish" as well as Yeats' "The Pot of Broth". Later the Company moved to Ballina with "Of Mice and Men" in exchange for Ballina's "The Patrick Pearse Motel" in Sligo. In March UCG came with "The Poker Session". July 31st and August 1st brought Bivouac Theatre from Oxford to perform a theatrical Miscellany ranging from Cornish Mystery Plays to a modern revue-type send-up of Imperial Britain. August also has Marie Keane and O. Z. Whitehead staging "Beckett" in Sligo and the Abbey Players bring "Dear Edward" to the Town Hall on August 19th.

The autumn season is still in the planning stage but already a group from Churchill College Cambridge has made contact with the Drama Circle concerning the presentation of plays by Yeats and Nigerian playwright Wole Soyinka in Sligo in late September or early October. If Oxford and Cambridge descend on Sligo in the same year it seems that the town must have arrived in theatre terms. When I asked a member of Sligo Drama Circle whether it resented or welcomed these visits from outside companies he answered me by quoting Yeats' "The Unicorn from the Stars", in the words of Martin "Bring them all in. We have a great thing to do, I have to begin - I want to tell it to the whole world. Bring them in, bring them in, I will make the house ready".

Lionel Gallagher, 6 Ard na Veigh, Sligo