THE CO. TIPPERARY DRAMA 2026

HOLYCROSS www.tipperarydrama.ie Email: donal@dugganvet.ie

Festival Director : Donal M. Duggan, Holycross, Co.Tipperary Phone: 086-257 5159 donal@dugganvet.ie

Adjudicator: Geoff O’Keeffe

2026 Festival Plays:

Friday 20th (O) – Heaven – Balally Players -By Eugene O’Brien

Saturday 21st (C) – Moonglow – Tinahely D.G. -By Kim Carney

Sunday 22nd (O) – I Never Sang For My Father – Clontarf D.G. – By Robert Anderson

Monday 23rd (C) – The Burned Man – Formite Production – By Patrick Fogarty

Tuesday 24th (O) – Sive – Holycross/Ballycahill D.G. – By John B. Keane

Wednesday 25th (O) – DA – Brideview D.G. – By Hugh Leonard

Thursday 26th (O) – Dancing at Lughnasa – Thurles D.G. – By Brian Friel

Friday 27th (C) – The Salvage Shop – Nenagh D.G. – By Jim Nolan

Saturday 28th (C) – Greta Garbo Came to Donegal – Clann Machua – By Frank McGuinness

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Friday 20th (O) Heaven – Balally Players – By Eugene O’Brien

Synopsis of Play: Heaven by Eugene O’Brien follows Mal and Mairead, a middle-aged couple returning to Mairead’s hometown for a family wedding. Over the course of one weekend, they find themselves surrounded by memories, old friends, and the ghosts of their past. As they drink, dance, and reminisce, their story moves between the funny and the deeply emotional. What starts as a trip home becomes a moment of reckoning — about love, aging, loyalty, and the choices that shape a life together. Heaven captures the intimacy and complexity of long relationships — full of warmth, regret, and small moments of grace. It’s a play about ordinary people trying to make sense of where they’ve come from and where they’re going, finding something close to redemption in the process. Heaven won the Irish Times Award for Best New Play in 2022. Age Guidance – 14 + / Strong language and adult themes.

Group  Information: Based in Balally, a suburb in the Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown area of Dublin city between the villages of Dundrum and Sandyford, the Balally Players Theatre Company has been part of the amateur theatre movement in Ireland since its first performance in 1983. Amateur Drama is the most widely enjoyed arts activity in Ireland. We believe drama is an inclusive activity and we aim to offer all our members the opportunity for creative expression through a broad and diverse spectrum of work. Most years, we produce one or two full length productions, a Christmas Variety show, competitive one-act and longer plays for the festival circuit and a summer Shakespeare. Workshops designed to improve our skills are on-going throughout the year. The company has presented high standard theatrical productions in a wide range of genres over the years. Balally Players started competing on the Drama Festival circuit in Ireland in the late 1980s. The group has enjoyed considerable success on the One-Act Festival Circuit. Members have taken plays to France, Denmark, Canada and the USA. In August 2009 Balally Players was chosen to represent Ireland at the Mondial du Theatre (World Festival of Theatre) in Monaco. In July 2015 Balally Players was invited as one of many contributions from amateur drama groups around the world to perform Guests of the Nation at the ‘Spots op West’ theatre festival in Belgium organised by the International Amateur Theatre Association.

Saturday 21st (C) Moonglow – Tinahely  D.G. – By Kim Carney

Synopsis of Play: Maxine, a feisty, bitter Alzheimer’s victim, doesn’t want to move into a nursing facility. But when she meets Joe, a widower who shares her love for dance, her outlook begins to change. Although the two clash when lucid, their hazy memories overlap, and they begin an affair that rejuvenates and fulfills them. But can these lovers — played simultaneously by an elderly twosome and a young, vivacious couple — stay together despite their families’ wishes and their fading vitality?

History of the Group: Tinahely Variety Group (TVG) was founded in 1993 and have been a vibrant part of the local arts scene ever since. The group have enjoyed entering the A.D.C.I. drama competitions over the years and made it to the All-Ireland 1-Act Finals with two one-act plays “The Typist” in 2005 and “A Galway Girl” in 2010.  TVG competed in the ADCI Full Length Confined Drama Festivals with “Eclipsed” by Patricia Burke Brogan in 2019, Sean O’Casey’s “Juno and the Paycock” in 2020 and in 2024 were delighted to reach the All-Ireland Confined Finals in Claremorris with “Thy Will Be Done” by Michael Carey, marking a proud and significant achievement in their ongoing drama journey. For the 2026 circuit we welcome.

We are newcomers to the stage and our group and look forward to bringing “Moonglow” to the stage and making.

Sunday 22nd (O) – I Never Sang For My Father – Clontarf D.G. – By Robert Anderson

Synopsis of Play: I Never Sang for My Father is a quietly devastating exploration of family, duty and emotional distance. Through memory and confrontation, Gene reflects on his complex relationship with a formidable, emotionally guarded father, and the moments of closeness that never quite arrived. Robert Anderson’s classic drama examines love withheld, expectations inherited, and the cost of what remains unsaid..

Group Information: Clontarf Players is a theatre group, founded in 2015 and based in Clontarf, Dublin. Each year, they perform a play in November in the Sean O’Casey Theatre, East Wall.Past productions include A Man for All Seasons, Drama At Inish, Juno and the Paycock and The Plough and the Stars, The Importance of Being Earnest and The Last Days of Judas Iscariot. This is the third time the group have performed in the Open category.

Monday 23 (C) “The Burned Man By Patrick Fogarty : Fomire Productions

Synopsis of Play:   Deep in the Slieve Bloom Moun-tains, in a lonely cabin lit by firelight,a scarred man holds two strangers captive. As the snow falls outside, their night unravels into confes- sion, absurdity, and revelation. Elijah Bright — “the Burned Man” — seeks vengeance for the fire that killed his wife. But as the truth flickers to life, nothing is as it seems, and the line between victim and villain burns away.

Group Information: Fomóire Productions is a brand new theatre group founded by Patrick Fogarty and  Daniel Murray, and this is our first theatre show as a new group. Based in Tullamore, we hope to make new original theatre and to showcase it around Ireland.

Tuesday 24th (O) Sive – Holycross/Ballycahill D.G. – by John B. Keane

Synopsis of Play: Powerful and provocative, Sive is the story of greed and bitterness, of a scheming matchmaker and a resentful woman forcing a beautiful young girl to marry an old man.Set against the harsh poverty and difficult times of 1950s Ireland, Sive caused considerable controversy on its debut in February 1959.Since then it has become an established part of Ireland’s theatrical canon.

“ I put everything into the writing of the play. For me, writing the final cene was one of the most profound moments of my life, and I found myself overwhelmed by emotion…” John B. Keane

Group Information: Holycross-Ballycahill Drama Group was founded in 1966. Its first production “ Professor Tim” took to the stage in the spring of 1967 and for the next five years the group played to the local community. All that changed when the group decided to compete in the three act festival circuit. They entered in the rural section, which in later years became the Confined section. The Group has entertained audiences all over Ireland with their productions of a diversity of plays, with The Vigil, Murder in the Cathedral, Lovers, The Year of the Hiker, Semi Private, Up and Running, God of Carnage and Little Gem. In 2019 they won The All Ireland Confined with The Beauty Queen of Leenane. Since qualifying for the Open Section the Group has performed A Skull in Connamara and Dancing at Lughnasa.

Wednesday 25th (O) DA – Bridgeview D.G – bu Hugh Leonard

Synopsis of Play: The story revolves around the living memories of Charlie, a grown man who returns home to Ireland after the death of his father only to find the old man’s presence still very much alive Through a series of flashbacks and interactions with both living and memory characters, the narrative unfolds in a non-linear fashion, allowing audiences to witness the evolution of Charlie’s thoughts and feelings about his father and their shared history.

Group Information: Brideview Drama are based in Tallow Co. Waterford. The group was formed in the late 1980s and began competing in the early 90s, winning the confined 3Act in 2005 with ‘Moonshine’ by Jim Nolan. They qualified for the Open All-Ireland Finals for the first time in 2018 with ‘Stolen Child’, finishing in second place. They reached the finals again in 2019 with ‘Philadelphia, Here I Come’ finishing in 3rd place. In 2024, Brideview Drama achieved 2nd. Place in the Open All Ireland Final of the One Act competition with ‘Save Me’ written by Mark O’Leary.

In 2025 the group performed The Weir by Conor McPherson and once more qualified for the All Ireland in Ath-

Brideview annually stage a very successful Autumn production in their local community, which gives the youth of the area an opportunity to get involved and enjoy drama.

Thursday 26th (O) – Dancing at Lughansa – Thurles D.G. – by Brian Friel

Synopsis of Play: Brian Friel’s deeply moving memory play is set in the rural backwater of Ballybeg, Co Donegal during August of 1936. It is told through the eyes of Michael, now an adult, who is casting his mind back to hazy childhood memories of that sunny summer. Dancing at Lughnasa is a domestic drama that captures the lives of the five unmarried Mundy sisters: Kate, Maggie, Agnes, Rose and Chris. It is the study of their unquenchable passions, thwarted desires and yearnings as they navigate a meagre existence in their small, impoverished household. They are vibrant women who are struggling for self-realisation within a bleakly restrictive, patriarchal society. Their fragile stability is disrupted by the return of their brother, Fr. Jack, home from Africa after twenty-five years as a missionary priest. It is further impacted by the occasional visits of Michael’s charming but unreliable father, Gerry Evans. As the sisters listen to music from their crackling wireless set , they are overtaken by an irresistible impulse to dance. It is an outburst of rapture in which they momentarily escape the confines of duty and  repression. With great poignancy and comic flourishes , Dancing at Lughnasa proves to be inexhaustibly enjoyable.

Group History:  Thurles Drama Group has been competing on the three-act festival circuit for many years.  They have reached the All-Ireland Finals in Athlone on numerous occasions’ most recently in 2023 with The Seafarer by Conor McPherson.

The Group was founded fifty-nine years ago and to mark the fiftieth anniversary published a book entitled  “Them Was Days” They stage two productions yearly in the Source Arts Centre in Thurles. Occasionally, a Soiree of Theatre is also staged, with the objective of fostering new acting and directing talent.  The productions encompass all genres of Theatre and writing.

After many years of fundraising the group purchased an old parish hall/cinema in Thurles,  and it was recently renovated as a rehearsal and set-building space.  The Brid Ryan Drama Centre was oficially opened in 2023 Thurles Drama Group is part of the cultural fabric of the town.  The Society has a keen sense of community,  and the proceeds of each opening night are donated to a local charity or community group.

Friday 27th (C) The Salvage Shop Nenagh D.G. By Jim Nolan

Synopsis of Play: The play is set in Garris, a small coastal Irish town in Summer, early 1990’s. Act 1 Scene 1: The Salvage Shop, early Summer, night Scene 2: Early afternoon, the following day Scene3: Ten o’clock that evening Scene 4: Following night 15 minute interval Act 2 Scene 1: Saturday afternoon, some weeks later Scene 2: Ten days later Scene3: A week later Scene 4: Night, a week late.

The story takes place in a cluttered repair shop where Sylvester “Sylvie” Tansey mends broken furniture and other items in need of restoration. Running the salvage shop is Sylvie’s job, but being the bandmaster of the Garristown Brass Band is his passion. For years, he has been grooming his son Eddie to take over the coveted position of bandmaster when he retires. Alas, like many of the damaged objects in his shop, Sylvie’s relationship with his son has fallen into disrepair. A deep rift has developed between them, a result of Eddie having abandoned his father just before an allimportant national music contest, years before. Ultimately, this is a story about reconciliation, and the redemptive power of mutual understanding and forgiveness. Along the way, audiences travel an emotional road paved with deep sadness, joy, triumph, and humour.

Group History: The Nenagh Players group was founded in 1943 and has been very active every year since. They won the All Ireland Confined Finals in 1998 with “Flight to Grosse Ile “ by Jim Minogue and again in 2000 with “April Bright “ by Dermot Bolger. They moved into the Open section in 2002 and have won many individual awards since then. They have qualified for the Athlone finals on seven occasions.They have not competed on the festival circuit for the last number of years but are delighted to be back again this year.

Saturday 28th (C) Greta Garbo Came to Donegal – Clann Machua – bu Frank McGuinnes

Synopsis of Play: Ireland is on the verge of violent change, two couples are on the verge of ending, a woman tries to save her family, a girl tries to save her future. Above it all but in the midst of things, determining what happens next, is the loveliest and loneliest of all women, the great Garbo. But when the gods arrive, they can cause havoc, not least to themselves, as the divine Greta learns.

Group Information: Kiltimagh has had a long tradition of Amateur Dramatics going all the way back to the formation of the Kiltimagh’s “Young Mens” Association in 1906. Until the mid-1990’s, there were various active drama & musical groups within the community.

The seeds of the current organisation were sown in 2001, when a group came together to perform ‘Big Maggie’ by Sean B. Keane. It wasn’t until 2010 however when Clann Machua Drama Group officially formed to revive the great drama tradition in Kiltimagh. The Group’s first production was in 2011 performing ‘A Crucial Week in the Life of a Grocer’s Assistant’ by Tom Murphy

The group hosts its annual ADCI one act festival in November each year and are regular participants on the one act drama circuit.

The group also participate in the full-length circuit performing Sean O’Casey’s ‘Juno & The Paycock’ & ‘The Cripple of Inishmaan’ by Martin McDonagh. As well as taking ‘Sive’ and ‘Stolen Child’ and ‘ The Snapper’ to the All-Ireland Finals in 2022, 2024 and 2025 respectively.