Two Donegal groups swept the boards at last night’s AUDF Ulster Drama Festival.
Ballyshannon Drama Society and The Butt Drama Circle came first and second respectively.
The south Donegal group’s Rachel O’Connor won the Best Director and Best Actor awards for their production of A Delicate Balance. They also picked up awards for Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress.
As well as being runner up, the Ballybofey-based Butt Drama Circle landed the Best Actor award for their writer and director of Darkness Echoing, Shaun Byrne.
They also picked up the Best Set Design award (JC Bonar), Best Moment (Shaun Byrne) and Most Ambitious Play – Butt Drama Circle/Shaun Byrne.
The Ulster success came at a perfect time as both groups will compete later this week in the All Ireland finals in Athlone.
Ballyshannon Drama Society and The Butt Drama Circle will perform at the event on Thursday May 4th and Friday 5th respectively.
Darkness Echoing is written, starred in and directed by BDS member, Shaun Byrne. It also stars Mairead McMenamin and JC Bonar.
This is the second consecutive year the award-winning Ballybofey-based club has qualified for the prestigious finals. Last year, they just missed out on the top prize with An Incident with Dave Cotter, another play written, directed and starred in by Shaun Byrne.
The Ballyshannon Drama Society qualified at the early stages for this year’s finals with their fantastic production of A Delicate Balance.
The play is directed by Rachel O’Connor, who also performs in the show as Claire, and she is assisted by Carl Duggan.
The cast also includes Trish Keane and Richard Hurst as Agnes and Tobias, Deirdre Ferguson and Troy Devaney as Julia and Harry, and Kay O’Dea as Edna.
The 2023 RTÉ All Ireland Drama Festival takes place in the Dean Crowe Theatre Athlone from Thursday 27th April to Friday 5th May.
Tickets can be purchased for the finals here.
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