An event committed to staging and sharing stories between communities for 75 years
The Western Drama Festival, Tubbercurry 1943-2018
THE Western Drama Festival Committee was founded in 1943 by drama enthusiasts and business people. In 1944 the first drama festival in Ireland was run in Tubbercurry. It is the oldest such festival in Ireland. The concept of running a drama festival was firstly the idea of a few extraordinary people from Tubbercurry who had a vision of this becoming an all Ireland event.
Tommy Marren who launched the 75 year Anniversary Festival said ” I could never speak highly enough of the influence of Amateur Drama has had on my career and in particular the proud tradition of drama in Tubbercurry.
I think of people like Joe Masterson, Tommy Joe Murphy, Oliver Flannery, Rita Gannon and many others who thought me the ropes in voice articulation, stage presence and self confidence that have stood to me over the years.
When people know I am from Tubbercurry they immediately associate the town with drama and long may it last!”
The WDF were instrumental, together with Scariff and Cavan drama festivals, in the establishment of the Amateur Drama Council of Ireland in 1952.
The first President of the council was the late Matt Devine, one of the founding members of the WDF.
From the founding of the WDF in 1944 there has grown an All Ireland Amateur drama movement that involves thousands people annually.
For seventy five years the WDF have successfully continued hosting full length and one-act festivals for drama groups from the 32 counties who have presented their plays in competition and whose aspiration is to qualify for the All Ireland Drama Final and win the All Ireland award.
The vision of our predecessors in the creation of an environment where theatre could blossom and flourish is something of which we are truly proud.
The Western Drama Festival Committee host drama festivals in Tubbercurry. They are established as one of the leading festivals in the country.
The WDF has on 4 separate occasions hosted the All Ireland Confined Finals and the All Ireland One Act Finals– major national events in the Amateur drama calendar. WDF’s recent hosting in April 2017 of the All Ireland Confined Drama Finals has gone down as being one of the best to have ever being hosted.
For many generations the community life of Tubbercurry has been enriched through having drama on its door step.
Drama is indigenous to Tubbercurry, a living entity born in 1943 and nurtured by successive WDF committees and its patrons.
The business people of Tubbercurry and South Sligo have given moral support, practical assistance and sponsorship towards amateur drama and the theatre.
Theatre occupies an important position in Tubbercurry and South Sligo reaching all members of the community young and old, offering an excellent opportunity to see live drama. It engages people of all ages, gender, and nationality in theatrical activity.
Oliver Flannery, RIP who recently died had been a lifelong member and President of the Western Drama Festival . Oliver’s words put it well, “Drama was and is part of our family life and of the lives of many other families in Tubbercurry during the last century. It provides entertainment, education and social interaction so vital for any community and from here, through the Festival movement, the drama ‘virus’ with all its benefits has spread throughout the whole country. Long may it last.”