Mixed emotions and high drama

Cavan Drama Festival runs from March 1-8

The Cavan Drama Festival is entering its 77th year bringing eight performances with actors coming from all over the country to the Townhall Arts Centre.

This year’s festival promises to pull on all the heart strings with a range of productions each night, from classic and debut performances.

Chairperson of the Cavan Drama Festival 2025, Rachael Cullivan, described Cavan’s arts scene as “fabulous” where people have a “lovely choice” of acts to attend.

While this is a great asset to the town and its artists, it poses a great challenge for the festival committee, one which they have grabbed and cast their whole energy towards.

“The festival has to make sure it’s still up there in people’s choices,” she said, which begs the question after all those years, what makes Cavan’s Drama Festival relevant today?

“There’s literally everything in this year’s festival, I don’t think there’s any emotion left untapped I’ll put it that way, I think it will be fabulous.

“It’s right at your door without having to travel very far - literally you’ve got eight different plays by completely different groups of different genres, that’s incredible over eight days you can have all of that,” Rachel encourages, not to mention “incredible value for money”.

“What is amazing about not just our festival, the entire All-Ireland festival circuit, is it is an unbelievable opportunity to see an absolute variety of plays.”

Guilt

This year’s festival will open on March 1 with ‘Dead Guilty’ by Richard Harris and performed by Lislea Dramatic Players from Newry. Directed by Anne Garvey, ‘Dead Guilty’ follows graphic designer Julia who is traumatised and housebound following a tragic car accident.

Friends rally round to care for her, but a series of mysterious events suggest that someone knows more about the accident than Julia has revealed.

Betrayal

Up second, the Clontarf Players from Dublin will bring ‘The Last Days of Judas Iscariot’ by Stephen Adly Guirgis to the audience, a provocative and darkly comedic reimagining of Judas’s fate.

Life

On the third night, Monday March 3, Elaine Murphy’s ‘Little Gem’ set in Dublin in the 1990s features three generations of women who tell their story of life and death, birth and rebirth. The act will be performed by the Bradan Players from Lucan.

Humour

Next to take to the stage will be ‘Rathmines Road’ by Deirdre Kinehan. The play, performed by Gorey Drama Group, is set over the course of one evening in the family home of Sandara. Described as funny, ferocious, fraught and incredibly tense, the play is about secret trauma and public revelation.

Terror

Carrigallen’s Cornmill Theatre will perform ‘A Whistle in the Dark’ by Tom Murphy, directed by Raymond Hackett. The play follows Irishman Michael Carney who is living in Coventry with his young wife, Betty. A generous gesture to his three brothers lands Carney a life of terror in his own home. (See page 14 for interview with director).

Identity

‘Translations’ by Brian Friel is set in a hedge school in the North West of Ireland in 1833. The production explores, language, love, relationships, co-existence, colonisation, nationality, and identity. The classic will be performed by the Pheonix Players from Sligo.

War

The Kilrush Drama Group will perform ‘Bailegangaire’ by Tom Murphy. The work tells the story of three women who are dependent on, and at war with, one another.

Finale

Closing the Cavan Drama Festival 2025 will be the Balally Players from Dublin with their production of ‘Ulster American’ by David Ireland. Ireland’s piece is a contemporary black comedy that features an Oscar winning Hollywood actor, an accomplished English theatre director and an up-and-coming female playwright who meet up on the eve of rehearsals of her new career-transforming ‘Irish’ play, due to premiere in London’s West End. As it turns out, none of them are on the same page.

High quality

Rachael says those planning to attend the festival are in for a night of the highest quality acting.

“Forget the word amateur, it’s amateur because they’re not paid fees to act, they’re not professional actors but oh my goodness the standard is unbelievable.

“I think anybody that has been there in the last few years can vouch for that. Some of the plays you see there the quality and standard is amazing.”

She described what is “unique” about the festival.

“Not only do you get a huge variety of plays, not only do you get people who travel from all over the country to put them on in Cavan, but you also have them adjudicated,” she said, adding that this year’s adjudicator is the “incredibly talented” writer director, actor and novelist Gerry Stembridge.

“For a very brief time you will hear his really interesting insights into what you have just seen on stage and, it’s like anything, the more you understand it, the more enjoyable it becomes.”

Whether you’ve been to a handful of plays or thousands, the festival is the place for you to get a taste of your favourite stage production genre.

“It’s definitely for anybody. It’s all really approachable theatre and there’s always a mix,” Rachel says, describing how the “most recent” writing will jump from the page while the classics will draw people to enjoy them time and time again.

There will also be a raffle and several prizes up for grabs, including one for those who purchase a programme. Rachel praised the “fabulous” local community for supporting and sponsoring the event. She also encouraged anyone who wishes to get involved with the committee to approach their members on the night.

Tickets

Admission is €20 nightly or a season ticket costs €100.

For bookings call 049 438 0494 or search www.townhallcavan.com