The City of Derry Drama Festival

The City of Derry Drama Festival.

The 31st City of Derry Drama Festival held in March in the Waterside Theatre is now over and what a splendid season of theatre it was. There was a wide ranging choice of plays by playwrights from Ireland England and America so that on the menu there was something to satisfy all tastes. While the production and acting was by amateur groups the standard of work was on a par with professional companies. The productions were well attended.

IN my opinion the only downside to the festival was the play – Kings of the Kilburn High Road by Jimmy Murphy and presented by Droicead Nua from Co Kildare. The characters in this play were stereotype drunken foul-mouthed stage Irish. These were men who had left the West of Ireland in the seventies dreaming of making their fortune in London and returning home as “kings”. Twenty years later, still in London, they gather in a Kilburn pub to wake one of their number who will return home in a coffin. Over the course of the play with raucous singing and foul language they reflect on their lives and their place in an English society that no longer needs them.

To what extent these characters represent the tens of thousands of immigrant Irish workers to England in the 60ties and 70 ties is questionable. The vast majority of these immigrants integrated into English society and they and their descendants became successful and did well in England. The tragedy of these Irishmen is that they never integrated into English society but lived as self imposed exiles, bodily in England but in spirit and mind still in Ireland. The stance of these men to be apart in England reflects the problem of new wave Muslim immigrants in England who will have to integrate into English society or opt to live apart and become a social problem. Despite the flawed nature of the script the actors from Droicead Nua did their best with it and acquitted themselves well.

The cup for best production and the cup for best acting went to the Bangor Drama Club for the play –A View from the Bridge by the American playwright Arthur Miller--. The standard of production and acting by this group was of an unbelievably high order.

The festival adjudicator was a Derry man, Michael O’ Hara, a guru of the theatre who gave an interesting introduction to each play and an insightful constructive evaluation of each play at the end of each performance.

At the end of last year’s festival 2010 the president Maureen Gallagher had doubts that the festival could continue due to a dearth of funds. However this year the festival was assisted by the Derry City Council but even so the festival’s difficulty remains. Maureen said that currently there are 60 season ticket holders but for the festival to be financially viable this figure would need to increase to 200.This Drama Festival is a credit to the city an is a showcase for theatrical talent from all over Ireland .It would be a sad loss to the City if this drama festival were to fail due to alack of funds and support in the city. It behoves all those who have the cultural interests of the City at heart to turn out in strength holding season tickets for next year’s festival in March 2012.
Michael Gillespie Derry