The cast and crew of Bunclody/Kilmyshall’s ‘Moonshine’ which was a finalist at the RTE All Ireland Drama Festival in Athlone.
MEMBERS OF Bunclody/Kilmyshall Drama Group had cause to celebrate at the awards ceremony of the RTE All Ireland Drama Festival at the weekend after their stage manager Liam Farrell picked up his third Best Stage Management Award.
Young actor Tim Connaughton also won the ADCI/DLI Summer School Scholarship Award.
The group, which performed Jim Nolan’s ‘Moonshine’, was performing at the finals for the second year in a row having enjoyed great success with their production of ‘Stolen Child’ last year, winning Best Actor, Actress and Stage Management Awards.
This year, Liam Farrell picked up his third award after receiving great praise from adjudicator Padraic McIntyre.
In his adjudication, he described the scene changes as “efficient and slick” and saying that they “literally happened in seconds”. He hailed the teamwork of all involved under the stage manager. He had previously commented on the tricky job of the set designers due to the multiple locations but described the church as a “truly wonderful set”.
In total, the group was nominated for three awards: Ronan P. Byrne was nominated for Best Actor, an award he won last year; and Mairead Connaughton was nominated for Best Supporting Actress.
Group stalwart Tommy Murphy, who played Rev. Langton in the play remarked that the group had reached the finals in Athlone four times since 2008 and had never come home empty-handed.
The group, he said, was blessed with a huge team of backstage people, set designers and builders and they were to be highly commended for all of their work and dedication.
The stage crew was made up of: Catherine Finn, Barbara McCombe, Marian McDonald, Conor Stephenson, Niall O’Muiri, Michael Dunbar, Gerry Kinsella, Josephine Byrne and Chris Atkinson, all of whom he said deserved the highest praise under the superb organisation and management skills of Liam Farrell.
He also thanked Chairman Rory Kinsella who was responsible for organising crews and volunteers to travel to various festivals and help with set and stage.
Tommy remarked: “The adjudicator remarked on the set changes. They happened in less than 30 seconds and I think even the audiences were in awe of how quick they were. I certainly have never seen better set changes in all my years in drama.”
[Full coverage of All Ireland Drama Festival in this week’s Echo]