A look back at the weekend’s performances at Newry Drama Festival

Set in South Armagh in 1981, the Carney household’s preparations for the annual harvest and the traditional night of feasting and celebrations that follow, will be interrupted by a stranger, a visitor claiming to be from the IRA command.

The play was very well received by the audience and got a standing ovation. Adjudicator Gerry Stembridge remarked in his opening “the group was not only content with 20 actors on the stage but they had rabbits, geese and even a real baby”!

He praised the set: “a full scale house with actual lights, a stove and glorious dressing, a ceiling, a roof and lovely flooring”. The set, he went on to say, “had a sense of being lived in, a sense of family”. However, he felt that the down stage space could have been used more.

He offered due credit to Chris Atkinson and Kieran Tyrrell for set design and to Mary Clare Condon and Fiona Coughlan for costumes.

Stembridge found the lighting impressive and was “overjoyed to see the beautiful scene of a dawn sunrise through the kitchen window”, although he would have liked to see the scene changing throughout the day. He congratulated Noel Hayes (stage manager) on a “fantastic job” with the “superb presentation which was perfectly suited to the show”.

Stembridge went on to acknowledge the excellent work from the large ensemble. The characters in the family played by John Stack, Grainne Kenny, Fiona Coughlan, Shiela Heneghan, Richie Walsh and Mary Colbert “were superb” as, he said, were the characters outside the family.

He remarked that “it was joyous to see the grouping of young actors on stage right on point”.

Stembridge then moved to direction. The director was “so assured in the way she moved the entire play. She knew the value of movement and the value of stillness. She created a feeling of life - the life of this large family”. It was a difficult task to manage such a large cast but Ger Canning did so with ease. He highlighted the final scene with Caitlin and Quinn which was played with absolute stillness.

As with the previous night’s production Stembridge felt the last 15 minutes of the play slowed in pace and advised the director to "not try to make every moment significant”. However, he thought the melodramatic ending was ‘brilliantly choreographed“. Stembridge concluded by saying “Ger Canning has taken us to the mountain top with this production”.

Clontarf Players were the final group in the 70th year of Newry Drama Festival. Their production of D W Gregory’s ‘Radium Girls’ explores the true and tragic events surrounding the radium dial painters in the early 20th century.

Set against the backdrop of industrial America, the story follows Grace Fryer and her friends who paint watch faces with luminous paint.

When the girls begin to suffer from mysterious illnesses, Grace embarks on a courageous journey to seek justice against the powerful radium corporation.

Adjudicator Gerry Stembridge praised the set which he said was “in itself simplicity, but beautiful in its simplicity”. He was impressed with the clock’s luminosity and noted that none of the aspects of this set were described in the text but can be attributed to Clontarf’s set designer who created “a beautiful expressionist piece”.

As for lighting, Stembridge complimented the “really tasteful” lighting design. With so many scenes and transitions on a bare stage the light must create the atmosphere. There were approximately 50 transitions of lighting from one scene to another. Stembridge said he felt “around 45 worked and 5 didn’t, but overall the lighting design was gorgeous”.

He further commented on “the great stage management and the costumes”. Though the actors played multiple parts the audience were unaware of it, because of the very effective use of costumes and makeup which also reflected accurately the feeling of the period.

The final element of the presentation was the sound. Stembridge noted that the sound track was “gorgeously composed and beautifully placed. The play should feel and flow like a movie. The flow of sound was just remarkable - creating the atmosphere of a 1930s Warner Bros. Movie”.

In summary, Stembridge said “the presentation, sound design and movement of lights were stunning”.

Moving to the actors Stembridge noted the cameo roles – Edward Markley played by Derek Tynan, Arthur Rieder played by Ronan Morris and Dr Von Sochocky played by Dick Tobin. Those who played double roles also impressed him greatly. Gracie’s mother, who also was the dental receptionist played by Jackie Murphy, Karen Doyle who played a total of seven characters and Brid Turner who “gave a magnificent performance in all her roles”.

Rory Dodd, Tommy Campbell, Cathal Dugan and Daniel Elliott’s performances were also noted, as were the performances of Emer Hoy and Claudia Verdecchia.

Stembridge spoke of the direction as being “really good”. Myra Maguire excelled at portraying the personal relationships between the characters, hence there were very strong emotional moments.

He highlighted the scene between Tom and Grace, played by Ronan Richardson and Ellen O’Malley, where Grace hands Tom back the ring as “remarkable” in terms of emotional depth.

Stembrige did observe some late entrances. Also that there were a lot of mixed accents, an issue that he raised in other adjudications during the week. However, he found that the “pacing was appropriate throughout the play, the pauses were earned and that the play finished before he started tiring of it”.

Praise indeed for Clontarf players who, in fact later in the evening, won first place lifting many awards including the premier award of the festival. Congratulations Clontarf!

Festival Chairperson, Kate Carragher in her closing remarks, thanked audiences, patrons sponsors and groups for their contribution to making the 70th festival a very successful event. She noted that three of the five plays in the festival are now through to the All Ireland finals in Athlone – an indication of the quality of work seen throughout the week.

She thanked the committee who she said, “though small in number, all worked tirelessly for months to ensure that the festival maintained its reputation of being a flagship on the Irish circuit”. She reiterated her hope that Newry Drama Festival would continue to flourish throughout the 21st century and beyond.