The best amateur theatre in Ireland can be seen at the All Ireland Drama Festival in Athlone.
One week into the All Ireland Drama Festival in Athlone, P.P. O'Reilly speaks to the two adjudicators for the 1960 festival, who give their impressions of the event so far. The judges are Mícheál Ó haodha a writer and producer at Radio Éireann and Hubert Wilmot, founder and director of the Belfast Arts Theatre.
They both note the high standard of the competition this year, the variety of productions and a record number of plays produced for the festival in Athlone for the first time. It is also the first time for Hubert Wilmot to attend the festival. He is impressed by the standard of acting and the range of plays the amateur groups have chosen to put on. He is also struck by the great great audience support for all the productions being staged.
Brendan O'Brien is the All Ireland Drama Festival secretary says the standard of the competition is very high this year and he is pleased with the huge interest among the public which is reflected in the demand for tickets.
I think everyone in Ireland wants to be in the hall
The All Ireland Drama Festival took place in the Dean Crowe Memorial Hall, Athlone, from April 28 to May 15 1960. This was the 7th year of the festival, the idea for which came from the National Council of An Tóstal, a network of local festivals, who called a meeting of ten of the major drama committees in the country, and put forward the idea of a national drama competition. All were in agreement, and a sub-committee in Athlone was asked to organise the event.
The rules stated that up to five amateur drama groups from each of these ten large festivals could be nominated, with five distinct categories in the competition (two or more acts open, two or more acts rural, one-act plays open, one-act rural and verse plays). The first All-Ireland Amateur Drama Festival was held at the the Sprotex Hall in Athlone in April 1953.
This report was featured on an episode of 'Provincial News Round Up', a weekly review of events in the 32 counties, edited and presented by Karl Jones.
The reporter is P.P. O'Reilly.
From the RTÉ Archives Acetate Disc Collection which has been digitised with the support of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) Archiving Scheme.
