Exhibition of Memorabilia

Sligo Drama Circle, celebrating fifty years of drama in Sligo, represents the best tradition of drama in Ireland’s North-West. From very humble beginnings in the 1950’s where many Sligo people got the chance to tread the boards of Sligo Town Hall, to the present day where young and old have the chance to grace the stage of the Hawk’s Well Theatre, Sligo Drama Circle have been to the forefront in bringing to Sligo audiences the best of Irish and international theatre. Having grown up in an Ireland where there were no televisions and limited cinema, Sligo Drama Circle and its forerunner, Sligo Unknown Players, played an essential role in entertaining the people of Sligo.

The Sligo Drama Circle was founded in October 1956 to promote good standards of community theatre and increase the range of plays available to Sligo audiences. The first play was produced in March 1957 and since then, the Circle has produced the works of major Irish, European and American playwrights. The group has won awards all over Ireland including the Ulster Drama Cup in May 1967 at the Opera House, Belfast with J. M. Synge’s “The Playboy of the Western World” and the All-Ireland Esso Trophy in April 1970 with Tennessee Williams’ “A Streetcar Named Desire”. The Circle also achieved an excellent second place in the All-Ireland with its first production of Gerard Healy’s “Thy Dear Father” in 1957. The Circle has had a long association with the Sligo Yeats Society, performing the plays of W. B. Yeats and other writers of the Irish Literary Renaissance at the Summer School from 1966 to the early 1990’s.

In 1970 the group launched a “Theatre For Sligo” project which sought to provide a properly equipped and professionally run theatre for both players and audiences in Sligo. In February 1974, Bishop Dominic Conway announced his intention to present a site on Temple Street to the Drama Circle for the purpose of building a new theatre. This was a huge step forward for the Drama Circle. Much fund-raising was done and profit from summer seasons went towards this visionary project. This eventually came to a successful conclusion in January 1982 with the opening of the Hawk’s Well Theatre, on a site shared with Donegal – Sligo – Leitrim Tourism. The theatre was named after the play by W. B. Yeats which has been produced many times by the Circle. In the programme notes of our March 1982 show we made the following comment:

“We hope that the Sligo Drama Circle and the Hawk’s Well Theatre will have a long and happy association and that the words of Yeats about his own Hawk’s Well be prophetically true – ‘He who drinks, they say, of that miraculous water lives forever’ “.

The Sligo Drama Circle now renews that association with the Hawk’s Well Theatre as it re-launches its fascinating exhibition of memorabilia in the theatre foyer. The exhibition brought back many memories to those who saw it in the Hawk’s Well in June. It details some of the history of the Circle and includes old photos, posters, tickets and programmes from the past fifty years. The exhibition will be of great interest to the public, especially those who remember the days of the Drama Circle performances in the Town Hall. The exhibition is open to the public and is free of charge. It is open during box office hours and immediately before and after evening performances. Everyone is welcome to drop in at any time and browse through the exhibition. The new website of the Drama Circle also contains much of the original material contained in the exhibition and can be accessed at www.sligodramacircle.ie