Theatre at The Mill hosts Ulster drama

The festival programme has just been announced for April 19 to 24 at 8pm each evening. Tickets for all six nights are now on sale through the theatre website: www. theatreatthemill.com.

Altogether 32 productions started off at the end of February, giving almost 100 performances at the 11 regional festivals. The final six make up a fascinating programme of drama, with the fact that these are the six top productions this year ensuring the quality of performances.

The first play is ‘Philadelphia Here I Come’, staged by Lifford Players. Brian Friel’s drama is about Gar O’Donnell, who, having accepted his aunt’s invitation to leave Ballybeg in Ireland and live in America, faces his final night at home unsure about his decision. The author uses the device of two actors playing the leading role - public and private. Lifford fields a large cast in this emotional piece of theatre.

On Tuesday night, Theatre 3, Newtownabbey takes to the stage with ‘Three Tall Women’ by Edward Albee. This production has already won great acclaim for director, Alan Waugh, and the three actresses who appear in it. In Act 1 we see an old lady, her companion and a young visitor. The old woman recounts incidents in her life. Act 2 explores more of the truth as the three women become one, each representing stages in that life.

Wednesday’s play is the second Friel script - ‘Dancing at Lughnasa’ presented by Clarence Players. This play, first performed in the Abbey in 1990, deals poignantly with the lives of a family of sisters in 1930s Donegal. The story is narrated by Micahel, now grown up and the illegitimate son of one of the sisters. It’s a play of great sensitivity and atmosphere, and a modern Irish classic.

Dundalk Theatre Workshop travels north on Thursday night with ‘Copenhagen’ by Michael Frayn. This award-winning script tells the story of two Nobel-winning physicists, Neils Bohr and Werner Heisenberg, who meet for a conversation during the Second World War. The events of that single evening provide the substance of this fascinating piece of theatre.

Friday night sees a return to Irish plays, with the Bart Players’ production of ‘Drama at Inish’. This gentle comedy is set in the fictional town of Inish, where a travelling theatre company comes for summer season - staging the socially conscious dramas of Ibsen and Tolsoy. The effect on the locals is very dramatic indeed, as they seem to take on the worldly woes and trials of the characters in the plays.

Saturday is the final night and Alan Bennett’s ‘The History Boys’ promises to be a highlight of the week. Presented by Silken Thomas Players, this production has made a great impact at festivals all over Ireland. It’s Bennett at his bittersweet best, looking at the aspirations, successes and failures of a number of bright but crass school boys spurred on to apply to Oxbridge by dedicated teachers.

The festival adjudicator is Sam McCready - originally from Northern Ireland - where he was involved with the establishment of the Lyric Theatre, but later moved to USA as Professor of Theatre Studies at Baltimore University. His theatre work has taken him all over the world.

Sam has written a piece called ‘A Time To Remember’, adapted from the Holocaust memoir by Helen Lewis, herself a survivor of Auschwitz. It will be performed by his wife Joan in the Mill Theatre on Sunday, April 18, at 5pm. Tickets are 5 and may be booked online.