Near-Professional Sligo Beat Lifford at Ballyshannon Drama Festival

The most successful Ballyshannon Drama Festival ever concluded in the Abbey Ballroom, Ballyshannon, on Sunday night when the Premier Award, The Four Masters Cup, was won by Sligo Drama Circle with “My Three Angels” with 91 marks out of 100. Close runners-up and winning the Rural Cup were Lifford Players in “The Black Stranger” with a total of 90 marks. Never before did the festival attract such large crowds and on Friday night over 100 people were turned away when Lifford, who came with a great reputation, staged their prize-winning play.

The standard reached was also the highest ever and the close marking was an indication of the tension on Sunday night when Mr. Norman Rodway, the adjudicator, was announcing the awards. Up to the last figure he quoted, the issue was in doubt. He said his verdicts were given because he thought those who should win, did win, and it would not be what anyone else thought. He referred to the Sligo set and said it was the best he had ever seen on an amateur stage. He said Sligo and Lifford were level up to the last five marks available for dramatic achievement. To him, these marks were for the overall effect of the show. “My Three Angels” was splendidly done and he was carried along on the crest of the wave of laughter. All he could say was that on the nights he saw these shows he thought the Sligo one better by that one point. He had never seen an amateur show which so very nearly approached professional standard as Sligo Drama Circle in “My Three Angels”.

from The Sligo Champion, March 31st, 1962