Nine nights of top class drama gets underway in Roscommon Arts Centre on Friday night, March 7th, with the opening night reception for Roscommon Drama Festival. County Mayor, Cllr John Kelly will officially get proceedings underway at Friday night’s reception. The opening production is a John B. Keane classic, ‘The Year Of The Hiker’ performed by Compantas Lir, Claregalway. Continuing the John B. theme on Saturday the 8th will be Sligo’s Cloonacool Players with their production of ‘Big Maggie’. Another much loved classic is in for the reckoning on Sunday night as Shoestring Theatre make the journey from Charleville with Brian Friel’s ground-breaking ‘Philadelphia, Here I Come’. Glenamaddy Players bring a touch of period elegance with Wilde’s wonderfully witty ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ on Monday 10th and Carrigallen’s Cornmill Theatre delights on Tuesday with Seamus O’Rourke’s ‘The Trappe Family’. Midweek, festival circuit regulars and last year’s winners, KATS will transport audiences across the Atlantic with Tennessee Williams’ ‘The Glass Menagerie’, while on Thursday the 13th Dunmore Amateur Dramatic Society brings the action back home with a tale of forbidden love in John Barrett’s ‘Borrowed Robes’. Clare’s Corofin Dramatic Group present their take on Martin McDonagh’s dark tale ‘The Beauty Queen of Leenane’ on Friday, with the grand finale being Coolera Players presentation of ‘The Caretaker’ by Harold Pinter on Saturday the 15th. Festival adjudicator Padraic McIntyre will be on hand throughout the Festival to share his thoughts and make the all-important decisions as each group competes for prizes, points and ultimately places at the All-Ireland Finals later in the year. Each night, festival goers are invited to the Festival Club which will be hosted by a number of venues around town. Details will be listed at the back of the festival programme. Tickets €14/€12 can be booked through the Roscommon Arts Centre Box Office on (090) 66 25824. A limited number of season tickets are still available. Extensive information on all aspects of the festival can be found on www.roscommondramafestival.com
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