A bloody good show!

DRAMA New group make All Ireland finals in first attempt

Vanessa Flood Galligan and Elaine Birkett met at a drama course last summer and little did they know that just over a year later they would be on the brink of performing at the All Ireland’s.

That meeting at the Drama League of Ireland annual summer school at University of Limerick sparked a flurry of activity that has seen them form their own drama group, write their own one act plays and qualify from the gruelling drama circuit for the showpiece finals in Castleblayney’s Iontás Theatre this weekend.

Vanessa, who lives in Denn, hadn’t met Belturbet based Elaine before, but the immersive atmosphere at the summer school, where the participants live, study and socialise together for a full week, meant the two were pals by the end of it.

“We had a great time,” Vanessa recalls.

“She gave me a lift home and we were saying it would be great to start a new group in Cavan Town, so you wouldn’t have to travel too far.”

While such aspirational conversations between two hung-over people typically evaporates into nothing when the car door closes, this partnership bringing together complimentary skills was different.

“I direct and act, while Elaine writes and acts - between us we have a skillset,” says Vanessa.

Within a month they had each penned a fresh, original play, and Vanessa generously says they made the correct decision in opting for ‘Bloodties’ by the more seasoned writer, Elaine, to enter the One Act All Ireland Drama Festival. Set in the late 1940s on the Burnham Family Estate in Mississippi, the gripping drama sees buried truths resurrected as an unwitting outsider gets caught in the middle of long standing family politics.

The three-hander required them to find a male to join their ranks. Having previously worked with Phil Gilbride, Elaine suggested he was the man they needed. The well regarded Killeshandra actor and director will be familiar to many readers through his role in The Night Joe Dolan’s Car Broke Down.

“It’s great because again he’s directing and is the main male part,” says Vanessa of Phil.

“We’re very lucky in our dynamic. I think we all get on very well and we all bring something different. There’s a respect there.”

After two dry runs in Mullagh and in Drumavaddy Hall - their unofficial home base thanks to the generosity of hall management - it was time for Hoodwink’s first competitive outing for their 35-minute play in the ‘Confined’ festivals.

“Our first competition was in Newtownabbey up in a 400-seater theatre. It was fantastic,” she says, the thrill from performing at such a great venue still detectable weeks later. Hoodwink placed a commendable second on their first outing. Better was to come with the next two festival - first place in both Maudabawn and Mullagh, before a trip to Kiltimagh saw them not even place.

“Funny enough, we thought it was one of our better night’s performances, where it was seamless, and we didn’t place - so how do you answer that?”

That slip-up meant that with six competitions running on the final weekend they needed a big performance.

“We were relying on Carrigallen to guarantee us the foot in the door for the final - we got first.”

Hoodwink Productions are now ‘Blayney bound and hope to impress adjudicator Ciaran McCauley in the 300-seater Iontás Theatre as they compete against four other groups over the three day festival running from December 1-3. They got a tough draw that will see them first up to perform this Friday.

Helping them backstage are Vanessa’s husband Aaron Galligan as set designer and lights engineer, while Chris Russon is sound engineer while Odette Reilly and Elaine’s husband Derek Birkett have the pressurised roles of stage crew.

Asked if Cavan’s sole representatives are confident going into the final, Vanessa prefixes her answer with, “I can’t speak for the other two” before asserting Hoodwink have the same chance as all the other finalists.

“I don’t think we’re underdogs, I think we deserve to be there and we could definitely place, and potentially win! Why not?”

What would it mean to the Hoodwink team if they won?

“For us it means we are recognised, and we’re taken seriously as a theatre group, and we’re off to a really good start - even getting to the All Irelands does a lot of that anyway, because it’s definitely no easy task getting there.”