Summer Theatre

Rehearsals for Sligo Drama Circle’s season of Summer Theatre have now reached an advanced stage and the first play of the season will be Brian Friel’s “Lovers” which will be presented in Sligo Town Hall on Wednesday night, June 30th. I learned yesterday afternoon hat it is planned to have a gala opening night to the season – sherry reception – and that it is hoped to have Bord Fáilte’s Entertainment Officer, Christopher Fitz-Simon, along to get the season formally and officially under way. This year the Drama Circle will present seven plays in all – two full length plays and five one-acts. The combined casts of the plays number more than thirty players and they are being directed by a team of six producers. The plays will be performed each Wednesday and Thursday night during July and August.

Besides “Lovers”, the programme for Summer Theatre includes “All the King’s Horses”, a comedy by John Mc Donnell; two one-act plays by Synge, “Riders to the Sea” and “The Shadow of the Glen”; and a one-act comedy by George Fitzmaurice, “The Magic Glasses”. The two Yeats plays chosen for performance this year are “The Land of Heart’s Desire” and “Full Moon in March”. Last year’s Summer Season by the Drama Circle was in the nature of an experiment, but the plays were so well received that the Circle was encouraged to extend the programme this year. As this is the centenary year of the birth of John Millington Synge, it was decided to present two of his plays together with a one-act comedy by his contemporary, George Fitzmaurice.

To date, this has been one of the busiest and most successful years in the history of the Drama Circle. “Death of a Salesman” played to full houses in Sligo and had a very successful run on the festival circuit, finally missing the premier award at the All-Ireland finals in Athlone by a narrow margin. “The Man Born to be King”, which was presented in Holy Cross Church before Easter, was the biggest production seen in Sligo for many years and artistically and financially was a great success. The profits from the Summer Theatre Season at the Town Hall will be added to the Drama Circle’s Little Theatre Fund. For some time past a sub-committee has been considering the question of providing Sligo with a permanent theatre and a report from this sub-committee will be available in the near future.

from The Sligo Champion, June 18th, 1971