Ballyduff take Ireland’s top drama award in Athlone
Ballyduff Drama Group became All-Ireland drama champions on Saturday night in Athlone when they were announced winners of the RTE All-Ireland Drama Festival 2022 for their production of ‘Rabbit Hole’ by David Lindsay-Abaire.
Earlier in the night, before the formalities began in The Radisson Hotel, they were announced winners of The Abbey Award which means they will have the honour of performing the play for three nights on The Peacock stage from June 2nd to 4th but if you haven’t booked your ticket by now, you may well be out of luck as tickets were being snapped up once booking opened.
Excitement was at fever pitch as approximately 350 people began to assemble for the celebration dinner on Saturday night. The nine competing groups were all hoping to make it to the top placings but it was to be Ballyduff ’s night with near neighbours Palace Players, coming in in third place.
The Ballyduff contingent raised the roof when Ger Canning was announced ‘ best director’, as did Palace Players’ followers when Mary Colbert was adjudged to be ‘ best actress’, the latter greeted with a spontaneous standing ovation as was confirmed by RTE’s Nuala Carey who was MC for the night.
Excitement was already high in the Ballyduff camp having The Abbey Award under their belt, but it began to intensify as the announcement of the award winners became known. Ronan Bennett took the ‘scholarship award for a place at the DLI Summer School’ in Limerick later in the year; the Brendan O’Brien Perpetual Trophy was awarded to Noel Hayes for ‘best stage management’ and the excitement was ramped up to fever pitch when the RTE All-Ireland Drama Festival Trophy for ‘best director’ went to Get Canning.
Next came the placings, with adjudicator Michael Poyner pointing out that there was just 5 marks between the top 5 plays. Palace Players were announced in 3rd place with ‘Chapatti’, followed by Bunclody-Kilmyshall with ‘The Good Father’ in second place and then, the announcement of the top award - ‘Rabbit Hole’ taking the ‘best play’ award.
While having to settle for third place, all involved with Palace Players were overjoyed with Mary Colbert’s award for ‘best actress’ which meant the celebrations continued into the early hours.
Throughout the awards ceremony, there were several nominations for the Ballyduff group including a nomination for best actor (John Stack), nominations for best actress for Grainne (Barry) Kenny, Ellen Quirke and Sheila Heneghan, while for Palace Players, Sean Ahern was nominated for the best actor award and Danny Buckley for the best director award.
While Palace had their moment of TV glory with they being featured on RTE’s Nationwide on May 3rd, Ger Canning was featured live on the Today Show with Daithí and Maura on RTE1 on Monday afternoon.
Other award winners included Robert Massey (Prosperous DG - ‘ best actor’), Bunclody-Kilyshall (‘ best lighting’ and ‘best stage setting’), adjudicator’s awards for Alison Murphy (Kilmeen) and Sean Byrne for his new writing (Butt DG ‘ An Incident With Dave Cotter’), Dermot Byrne (Dalkey ‘ best actor in a supporting role) and Sharon Made (Kilmeen ‘best actress in a supporting role’).