Mayo town all set to host All-Ireland Confined Drama Finals
AFTER weeks and months of planning, Claremorris Drama Committee, under the chairmanship of Peter McCallig, is all set to host the 2025 All-Ireland Confined Drama Finals, which will be held in the Claremorris Town Hall & Theatre from Friday, April 25, to Saturday, May 3.
The results will be announced on Sunday, May 4, at a gala dinner in the McWilliam Park Hotel, which will be live-streamed.
On the lead up to these prestigious finals, drama festivals have been held all over the country for the past number of months.
There is a confined and an open competition within each festival. The open competition is for groups with significant experience. The confined competition is for newer groups or groups with less experience or smaller groups or those with fewer resources.
Points are awarded by an independent adjudicator at each festival, with the winners getting twelve points, the runners-up getting five, and the third-placed group getting two points.
A league table is tabulated based on the scores achieved by the groups at the festivals. A group can enter no more than eight festivals. The top nine groups in each section qualify for the All-Ireland finals.
The open All-Irelands are held annually in Athlone while the confined finals alternate around the provinces. This year it is Connaught’s turn, and they are being held in Claremorris.
According to Claremorris drama committee chairman Peter McCallig, the last few details to staging the All-Ireland finals have now been completed and he is confident that Claremorris would once again rise to the task of staging such an event in the town with a professionalism that would more than do justice to such a huge event.
“Yes, there is a lot of work to staging such a huge event in our town. However, such is the fantastic committee we have here in Claremorris, that like in the past, I expect these upcoming All-Ireland finals we are hosting will be a tremendous success. There’s a lot of work in it but we have experience, and we have great facilities,” said Peter.
Mr. McCallig went on to say that it costs a lot of money to stage the All-Ireland finals. “It costs in and around €60,000 to stage the festival. We are delighted that a local firm, CBE, has stepped in as sponsors.
"It is great to have a local sponsor, and I’d like to thank them on behalf of the group, the town and drama nationally. I would like to thank all our other many sponsors, patrons and everyone who has helped in any way to help and support the staging of such a huge event in Claremorris.”
Peter said that while there are always last-minute things to do, they have always tried to improve each time.
“We always try and do it better each time. In the early days when groups came, you had to give them a lot of technical help. They wouldn’t be familiar with the lighting system because it would be more sophisticated than they were used to in their own community hall. That’s a huge difference.
"The introduction of laptop computers brought about a big change too. All music and sound effects are played off them now and some use them to control the lighting.
“We also have a buddy system in that a member of our committee is allocated to each qualifying group, to take care of them on the day. They might have special dietary requirements or need something specific in their production. So, one member of our committee deals with each group, to give the attention required and to share the workload.
“We also have to observe pages of protocols around who has to be invited and who can be on stage on the opening night, and on the final night, and who can speak and so on,” he said.
“We have a lot of guests to invite from festivals all over the country and each qualifying group will have a free table of 10 at the gala dinner.
"We have to provide music, and we have to live-stream the event and put screens around the venue showing the results.
“But, as I have already mentioned, we have a very experienced committee and I have no doubt they will all come up trumps again in making these All-Ireland finals a massive success.”
TICKETS AND OTHER EVENTS
Hard-working Claremorris drama committee secretary/treasurer Linda Connolly-Beirne says all season tickets for the All-Ireland finals, which will be staged in Claremorris Town Hall & Theatre, have been sold out. However, there are still some nightly tickets available but they are going fast. To check availability and purchase tickets, contact Claremorris Town Hall & Theatre box office by calling or phoning (094) 9310999.
She also says there are a number of events to coincide with the festival taking place in the town.
With regard to the festival, Linda said it offers a great opportunity to showcase Claremorris town and the surrounding area and that the estimated value to the town for holding the All-Ireland drama finals is over half a million euros.
She explained: “We’re updating the listings on our website. We’re putting in all of the amenities in the area, from beauty salons to accommodation to taxis, dentists and leisure facilities.
“A Fringe Festival will run alongside the drama festival with cultural events spread across a range of venues and locations throughout the week.
"On Saturday, April 26, Declan Drohan will give a presentation on the poetry of Paul Durcan in the Library at 2 p.m. An art exhibition by artist and drama adjudicator, Geoff O'Keeffe, will open in The Gallery at 4 p.m. and will run for the week. There will be choral music by the Westport Singers in the covered area at the back of the Town Square.
“On Sunday, April 27, there will be classical music at Clare Lake/McMahon Park at 2 p.m. and an art demonstration/lecture by local artist, Kay Brennan, in the Studio at 12 noon.
“On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, April 28 to 30, there will be an art exhibition by Claremorris Artists Group in the Town Hall Studio.
“On Thursday, May 1, Andrew Newman will present an Introduction to Classical Music, and on Saturday, May 3, Geoff O'Keeffe will facilitate a Drama Workshop in the Family Resource Centre at 9.30 a.m. There will be traditional music at 6 p.m. in the covered area of the square.
“A photo exhibition by Claremorris Camera Club will run for all nine days of the festival.
“So, as you can see, along with the drama finals taking place each night, there is a huge number of events taking place in the town as part of this major event.”