Summer Theatre In Sligo

For some years past, the Sligo Drama Circle has presented a short season of plays during the Yeats Summer School. The plays have been enthusiastically received by the Summer School students and by other visitors to the town as well as by local playgoers. This has encouraged the Drama Circle to extend the season and, this year, starting on Thursday 2nd July and continuing on every Wednesday and Thursday until the end of August, they will appear at the Town Hall in John B. Keane’s Sive, Seán O’ Casey’s Shadow of a Gunman and Pot of Broth by W.B. Yeats. A major reason for the decision to present Summer Theatre in Sligo is to provide entertainment for visitors. Bord Fáilte and others engaged in the tourist business have, on many occasions, requested the co-operation of local individuals and societies in attracting tourists and making their stay more pleasant. The members of the Drama Circle hope that this new venture will make a significant contribution to tourism in Sligo.

Special publicity material is being provided for the convenience of holiday makers and the management of hotels and proprietors of guest houses will be asked to bring this to the notice of their guests. Sligo has a long tradition in amateur drama. Down the years those engaged in it have felt the need for a Little Theatre. The Drama Circle hopes that the profits from this season of plays will form the nucleus of a fund for the building of a permanent theatre in the town. While the Circle is extremely grateful for the facilities that have been provided both for the rehearsal and performance of plays, it is felt that with a properly equipped theatre, much more could be achieved. In recent years, very many young people have become actively interested in drama, and a permanent theatre is essential if they are to be catered for.

The plays have been in rehearsal for a number of weeks past. The combined casts number about thirty. Many of those taking part were in the cast of A Streetcar Named Desire which won the Esso Trophy his year at the All-Ireland Drama Festival in Athlone. The producer is Walter Mc Donagh who has directed many of the Drama Circle’s recent successes. The set designer is Liam Mc Kinney who directed and designed the sets for both A Streetcar Named Desire and The Glass Menagerie. The plays chosen should provide ideal Summer entertainment.

Sive was J. B. Keane’s first big success and since its first presentation in 1959, it has remained one of his most popular plays. Shadow of a Gunman is the first of O’ Casey’s great trilogy of plays of Dublin life. Since it first appeared in the Abbey Theatre in 1923, it has been played all over the world and it still ranks as one of the dozen or so classics of the Irish Theatre. Pot of Broth, which will be played on the same nights as Shadow of a Gunman, is a one act comedy by W. B. Yeats. It is an extremely funny playlet and should be an ideal contrast to O’ Casey’s tragedy.

from The Sligo Champion, June 26th, 1970, by T.P.