Drama Circle Rehearsing Festival Play

Now that Lent is at hand and amateur drama festival season is just around the corner, Sligo Drama Circle are preparing once again their festival play. After last year’s successful run with Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” the Circle is again relying on the same author. This year’s play, “The Crucible”, retells the story of the famous trials in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 where a large number of people were convicted and hanged on witchcraft charges. These trials have been the subject of careful scrutiny by historians over the years and it is now generally accepted that the majority, if not all, of the accused were innocent of the crimes of which they were convicted. Miller saw in the trials similarities to the contemporary McCarthy hearings, when a “Red Scare” re-echoed throughout the length and breadth of America. Indeed, it was contempt for McCarthyism that prompted him to write the play in 1949. The political message of the play may not be relevant to the America of today but attitudes adopted at present in the North of Ireland could well find a parallel with it. This is a point worth bearing in mind for those who hope to witness the Drama Circle’s production.

Rehearsal of the play is at an advanced stage and it is hoped to present it in the Town Hall at the end of this month. Production again is in the capable hands of Liam Mc Kinney who gives his usual blend of old and new faces. Those in the cast of twenty-one who have already appeared with the Circle are Cormac Sheridan, Joan and Eddie Fitzpatrick, Lionel Gallagher, Eily Kilgannon, George Molloy, Anne Mc Dermott, Geoff Rose, Catherine Clancy, Liam Gunning, Sheila Horan and Manus Shields. The new faces are O’ Gara, Bernadette Barrett, Ann Conlon, Cora Feely, Mary Murphy, Jim Stanley, Eddie O’ Reilly, Eamonn Tolan and Barbara Maguire. Costuming and setting are being taken care of by Joan Gallagher and John mc Gettrick and their respective committees. All in all an impressive presentation of “The Crucible” should emerge.

from The Sligo Champion, February 18th, 1972