BALLYDUFF: ALL-IRELAND DRAMA CHAMPIONS 2022
Ballyduff Drama Group have been crowned RTÉ All-Ireland Drama champions for 2022 with their performance of ‘ Rabbit Hole’, the Pulitzer Prize winning play by David Lindsay-Abaire.
The troupe, directed by Ger Canning, were commended by adjudicator Michael Poynor for their ‘remarkable ensemble performance”, and a bonus to their win will be the opportunity to stage the play in the Abbey Theatre, Dublin.
This wasn’t the only success story for the area, as the Palace Players, Fermoy scooped third place for their performance of the Christian O’Reilly play ‘Chapatti’.
Speaking with The Avondhu this week, Ms Canning testified to the team spirit of the cast and crew of Ballyduff, saying she was ‘eternally grateful’ to the entire team.
“It was great for me to work with these fantastic actors; it was a lovely, happy show to work on and the cast and the whole support team were a very happy family together. In our WhatsApp group, we had a phrase coined by John Stack - ‘WGT’: We Got This.”
The play, Rabbit Hole, deals with the aftermath for a happy suburban couple of the death of their child in an accident. Ger spoke of how, with such tragic subject matter, the success of the play relies on nuance.
“It’s a beautifully written play, where the writer presented a huge understanding of grief, and how there’s no set way to grieve, and how people grieve at different times. It’s about finding balance, because it’s a sad play without making it even sadder. The playwright actually addresses this, saying that there are only three points in the play for tears. We achieved that connection between script and audience with five fantastic actors. It was an amazing opportunity to create that connection for the audience with them.”
“We travelled to eight festivals before the awards in Athlone, and at all of them people came to us after the performance to say how it affected them; for some it was transformative, for others it was too difficult to watch. Others came back a second time. One lady told me how she had lost her son, and every line in the play, she’d said in her living room.”
ABBEY THEATRE
Ballyduff were also awarded the 2022 Abbey Award, and will perform ‘Rabbit Hole’ on the Peacock stage in early June. Announcing Ballyduff as the winners of the Abbey Award, the Abbey judges remarked that they “loved the ambition, the uniformity of the quality of acting and the ensemble”. They thought there was ‘great commitment to the emotional arcs in the play”, and that they really enjoyed the detail in such a naturalistic set.
The thought of playing at the national theatre doesn’t phase Ger or the team though.
“It’s hugely exciting and a huge honour, but it’s not intimidating. We’ve produced a tremendous piece of work, and we’re proud to present it on any stage.”
The Ballyduff Drama Group last won the RTÉ All-Ireland Drama award in 2004, and as Ms Canning recounts the group have been at the awards and placed 10 or 12 times since then. This year, not only did they scoop the top award but also came home with the award for Best Stage Management, while one of their actors, Ronan Bennett, won the ADCI/DLI Summer School Scholarship, as well as nominations for Set Design and for each of the actors.
At the awards, which were held in Athlone last Saturday evening, the Bunclody/ Kilmyshall Drama Group, directed by Kieran Tyrell placed second with ‘The Good Father’ by Christian O’Reilly. In third place were local group the Palace Players, who performed ‘Chapatti’ directed by Danny Buckley, also written by Christian O’Reilly.