Summer Theatre 1976

Next Tuesday John Mc Gahern will officially open Sligo Drama Circle’s season of summer theatre in Sligo Town Hall. Although summer theatre is now only part of the circle’s programme of plays, which stretches from March to November, the summer theatre is still the shop window of the group’s activities, taking in as it does the tourist season and the Yeats International Summer School, and it has the blessing, both financial and otherwise, of the North-West Tourist Board.

This year the Circle has chosen an ambitious programme of plays. On the opening night, after a sherry reception, Mr. Mc Gahern will ring the curtain up on Hugh Leonard’s “Da” which will run each Tuesday and Thursday until July 20th, when a season of Brian Friel’s plays takes over. First of these is “The Freedom of the City”, the controversial work set in the Derry of 1970. This will be followed in late August by “The Loves of Cass Maguire”, which will run to the end of September. Slotted in during the Yeats Summer School will be the now traditional Yeats plays, and this year the choice will include “Cuchulainn”.

Sligo Drama Circle is particularly pleased to have John Mc Gahern to open its season. The author of “The Barracks” and “The Dark” hails from Cootehall, Co. Roscommon, almost within commuting distance of Sligo, and his more recent offering, “Nightlines”, has some of his short stories set in the Sligo suburban resort of Strandhill.

Unknown Press Source, 1976