Sligo Drama Circle Bid For National Honours

Sligo Drama Circle will give local theatre-goers another opportunity to see their prize-winning production of “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams when they present the play in Sligo Town Hall on Wednesday & Thursday of next week prior to their bid for national honours at the Eighteenth All-Ireland Amateur Drama Festival in Athlone. The Drama Circle have high hopes of taking the All-Ireland trophy because they have nominations from Tubbercurry and Cavan Festivals to their credit and they have received high praise for their brilliant interpretation of the Williams’ classic. The Sligo group will appear in the Dean Crowe Memorial Hall in Athlone on Saturday, April 18th, and they will be the last of the ten companies from all over the country to stage their production before the adjudicator, Mr. Robert T. Armstrong, Dublin-born professor of speech and drama at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London.

The Drama Circle have a formidable list of successes from festivals in Tubbercurry, Cavan, Carrickmore and Ballyshannon. In Tubbercurry, where the adjudicator, Mr. Alan Vaughn Williams, commended the producer, Mr. Liam Mc Kinney, for knowing what he wanted from his players and getting it, the group took the overall and production awards as well as a production medal and the gold medal for the best actor, Shane Cleary. Mr. Williams said he admired the group for taking on such a play. This was the type of work amateurs should do because it was all so rare that professionals would attempt a show of this size. He commended Shane Cleary for the strength and conviction of his performance and had both Joan Fitzpatrick and Deirdre O’ Connor in his last three for the best actress award.

At Cavan, where the Drama Circle won the open award, from an entry which included last year’s All-Ireland Champions, Strand Players, Dublin, and the previous year’s winners, Sundrive Players, Dublin, the adjudicator, Mr. Martin Dempsey said he didn’t believe an amateur company would be capable of attempting the play. It was the first time in his experience he had seen professional standards on an amateur stage. He described Joan Fitzpatrick, winner of the gold medal for best actress, as the most natural, pleasant and real person he had ever seen on stage in his life and complimented Shane Cleary, recipient of the best actor award, for the sincerity and strength of his playing.

Referring to the part of Blanche, played by Deirdre O’ Connor, he said he doubted if there were three people in the world who could play Blanche completely. Although the group did not carry off any of the major prizes at either Carrickmore or Ballyshannon, Joan Fitzpatrick picked up her second gold medal for the best actress at the latter festival. Another member of the cast, Cormac Sheridan, also figured prominently in the running for best actor award.

It is hoped the Sligo drama fans will come out in numbers next week to give their support to the Drama Circle’s bid for the national title as financial assistance at this stage will greatly alleviate the burden on their resources apart from the fact hat the show is one of the best productions from a Sligo group in many years.

from The Sligo Champion, April 10th, 1970