The shortlist for the 2014 Claremorris Fringe Festival of Drama has been announced. Plays will commence in the Dalton Inn approximately 15 mins after adjudication of main play in Town Hall finishes. Turnaround time between plays is 2 mins.
Friday April 4th
15 minutes after adjudication of main play in the Town Hall
There Was Once – A Portrait Of Constance Wilde
Sandra Coffey – Salthill, Galway City, Ireland
Sandra Coffey is a solo artist, writer and performer from Athenry, county Galway. She released her first album, Morning Zoo, last year to much acclaim. She is the founder and director of the Oscar Wilde Festival, Galway.
There Was Once gives a voice to the Constance Wilde story.
Breakdown Assistance
Tom Critch – Manchester, UK
Tom Critch writes for both stage and screen; having had a short script produced (www.primaverapictures.co.uk) and a short play performed (www.writersbloc.org.uk) He’s been on the Liverpool Everyman theatres Young Writers Programme, and is currently re-drafting a screenplay.
Breakdown Assistance. A boyfriend, a girlfriend, a broken car, a Birthday bash to get to and roadside assistance from the most unlikeliest of places.
Saturday April 5th
15 minutes after adjudication of main play in the Town Hall
The Handshake
Olly Kendall – London, UK
Olly Kendall is 34 and is the Managing Director of Westminster Public Affairs, a lobbying and PR agency based in London.
The Handshake: Loyalties are tested when a newspaper threatens to publish confidential details about an MP’s private life.
Poisoned
Anne Donnelly – Castlebar, Co. Mayo, Ireland
Anne Donnelly is originally from Carlow and now lives and works in Castlebar. When she’s not working or mothering she loves to write and has written poetry, short stories and some short plays. This is the second year she has been short-listed for the Fringe festival.
Poisoned is set in a funeral home in modern day Ireland. Seamus, the Undertaker, is getting ready for another funeral when he has some unexpected visitors.
Sunday April 6th
15 minutes after adjudication of main play in the Town Hall
Fancy/Free
Jane McNulty – Manchester, UK
Jane McNulty has written for EastEnders, Heartbeat, Peak Practice, Doctors, Crossroads and The Bill. Her play, Our Lady of the Goldfinches, about the murder of Jean McConville, toured in Spring 2012. Her short plays have been performed in the UK and Ireland. She is currently devising a piece of physical theatre.
Fancy/Free. Sonia and Cal may be birds of a feather, but will they ever agree over what makes life truly worth living?
To You, The Son I Never Had
Philip Pearson – Manchester, UK
Philip Pearson has been a journalist for nearly 20 years having worked at The Guardian, The Independent and The North West Evening Mail. He currently works at The Manchester Evening News.
To You, The Son I Never Had is a play about betrayal and the loss of innocence.
Monday April 7th
15 minutes after adjudication of main play in the Town Hall
Flop
Jonathan Skinner – London, UK
Jonathan Skinner is a playwright whose work has appeared regularly on the London fringe, throughout the UK, and internationally as far and wide as Australia, Dubai, and now, happily, Ireland too! Recent credits include: The Assistant (Greenwich Theatre); Kind (Oxford Playhouse); The Kiss (Barons Court Theatre); Indignitas (King Street Theatre, Sydney, Australia)
Flop. Gill and Dan make sweet love until a little something stops them – Dan’s little something…
What Would Tippi Hedren Do (Hypothetically Speaking, Of Course)?
Bob Canning – Petaluma, California, USA
Bob Canning was born in Brooklyn, New York and is now living in Northern California. His plays have won numerous awards, and have been produced around the U.S. His farce, Dances with Dinosaurs, is a semi-finalist at the prestigious Eugene O’Neill Playwrights’ Conference, and his musical, Saloon Singer, is comprised mainly of the “lost” or forgotten songs of Cole Porter, and will star a top rock star of the ‘60s. He is a freelance reporter for the hometown paper, The Argus-Courier, and a proud member of the Dramatists Guild of America. Bob wrote Tippi Hedren for longtime friend, actress Tippi Hedren, to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the filming of The Birds. He is thrilled to have it premiere at the Claremorris Fringe Festival.
What Would Tippi Hedren Do (Hypothetically Speaking of Course)? After a screening of Hitchcock’s The Birds, a professor at an adult education school walks a female student to her car, but a hypothetical mugger keeps interrupting their conversation.
Tuesday April 8th
15 minutes after adjudication of main play in the Town Hall
Something About Her
Mary T Bradford – Co. Cork, Ireland
Mary Bradford is from County Cork. Married with four children, she has enjoyed publishing success with short stories for many years. Her first short story collection is titled A Baker’s Dozen and is available in paperback and e-book format from Amazon.
Something About Her. Sure of a connection with the pretty girl he meets each morning at the bus-stop, Eddie is out to prove it to be true to his friend. When they finally speak, will Eddie be proved right?
Dance Night
Ken Armstrong – Castlebar, Co. Mayo, Ireland
Ken Armstrong is from Castlebar. He has written a number of plays for Theatre, Radio and Film. His play, ‘The Doubles Partner’ was the winner at last year’s Claremorris Fringe Festival.
Dance Night. Diana presents her short talk on the nature and joy of Amateur Drama but sometimes it’s hard to keep focused.
Wednesday April 9th
15 minutes after adjudication of main play in the Town Hall
My Rings For A Cushion
Kate Ennals – Lough Gowna, Co. Cavan, Ireland
Kate Ennals completed the MA in Writing in NUI Galway last year. She has poems published in Crannog, Skylight 47, the Galway Review. Kate won 3rd Prize in the Dead Good Poetry Competition. She is to be published in the next editions of Burning Bush 2, Boyne Berries and Ropes.
The themes of power, age and friendship come to the fore in My Rings for a Cushion when a young man and old woman are thrown together in an unusual situation.
Last Orders
Gillian Grattan – Thomastown, Co. Kilkenny, Ireland
Gillian Grattan lives in Kilkenny. Plays include Beyond the Forest, Ascension, Lost Weekend and Hooked! Fish Out Of Water was staged by the Irish Classical Theatre Company, New York, receiving the Katherine Cornell award. Gillian has produced radio drama and documentaries and is artistic director Of Evil Little Genius Productions.
In Last Orders, A sweet old lady two fingers our dying Celtic Tiger.
Thursday April 10th
15 minutes after adjudication of main play in the Town Hall
Let Me Share
Alan Balkema – Ballsbridge, Dublin, Ireland
Alan Balkema is an American enjoying retirement in Dublin with his Irish wife. He is delighted that Let Me Share will be performed at the Claremorris Fringe Festival. This, he says, is the pinnacle of his writing career. His previous experience was writing and editing research reports. He says that storytelling is much more fun.
Let Me Share features a middle-aged American woman as she reflects upon her troubled history.
Chance Encounter
Veronica Mackessy – Tramore, Co. Waterford, Ireland
Veronica Mackessy was born in 1936 in Waterford. She joined the Tramore Writers Group in 2010. Had some short stories and articles published in Irelands Own.
Chance Encounter Sheila chats to an old man while waiting for a bus with surprising results.
Friday April 11th
15 minutes after adjudication of main play in the Town Hall
Separate Table
Michael Joe Ginnelly – Mulranny, Co. Mayo, Ireland
Michael Joe Ginnelly lives in Mulranny and is the author of the highly-successful full-length plays “Awake In The West,” and “Pretend Sick.” He says that he didn’t really write them, that the characters wrote them themselves.
Separate Table is a comedy in which a daughter looks after uncooperative parents.
Boldly Going
Linda McLaughlin – Glasgow, Scotland
Linda Duncan McLaughlin is a professional actor based in Glasgow, Linda’s been writing for around five years, and has had some short stories published and one play produced so far. She’s delighted that Boldly Going has been selected for the Claremorris Fringe, and is looking forward to sampling some world-class craic in the bar…
Boldly Going is a comedy about fish-slices, plagiarising Shakespeare and how to survive an apocalypse using Star Trek philosophy.