Co.Wexford Youth Drama Competition
From the 10th to the 18th of April, the 63rd All Ireland Confined Drama Finals were hosted in Kilmuckridge Memorial Hall by the Kilmuckridge Drama Festival.
On Monday the 13th, Wednesday the 15th and Friday the 17th,the classes of 5th and 6th went to the Séan Ógs Hotel to see the Youth Drama Competition. On the first day of the competition, the Presentation Secondary School preformed ‘Our Day Out’ by Willy Russell. The play was about a school trip, hijacked by a mean teacher of the name Mr. Briggs, taking an interesting turn of advents as the day went on. The adjudicator, Carmel Corish Wallace, went up on stage after the show was over and complimented the cast on such a wonderful play and nominated ‘Mr. Briggs’ for the Best Actress award on Friday.
At the third play, on Wednesday the 15th, the 5th and 6th classes saw another play of ‘Johnny Baluba, Teen Detective’ preformed by Coláiste an Atha and directed by Michelle Burton. Another excellent play about teen detective Johnny Baluba and his assistant Oisín and their case to help The Vamp find a box which was taken from her by the protagonist, Peter. The adjudicator, again, praised the play and the actors in it and even nominated the actors who played the parts of Johnny and Oisín for Best Actors.
On the last day, Friday the 17th, the room was packed with people, it is a good job we got down early! The performance was Coláiste Abbain’s version of ‘Big Maggie’ by John B. Keane about family struggles after losing a loved one in the 1960’s. Once the play was over, and the adjudicator had praised the hard work that was put into the play, she and the rest of the panel went out to sort out the awards. An ex-student of St. Joseph’s, Kate Devereux, won an award for Best Supporting Actress for her part as Mr. Briggs. The Best Play award was awarded to the Presentation Secondary School for their fabulous production of ‘Our Day Out.’
We really enjoyed having the opportunity of seeing the three plays.
Written by Laoise Hamill and David Hearne, 6th class.