Workshop
'Acting is Reacting'
A workshop with Andy Hinds will be held in the Mill Theatre Studio on Monday 13 February 2012 from 7:30 to 10pm.
Places are limited, so if you're interested, contact Joanne to book a place.
Full details are in the Members' Area
The Mai
Balally Players production in March 2012
'The Mai', by Marina Carr, directed by Jean Monahan and Oran O'Rua will be performed in The Mill Theatre, Dundrum, from 27 to 31 March 2012.
Auditions for roles in this play were held in November 2011.
Full details are in the Members Area
A Christmas Carol
Dickens classic presented by Mill Productions in December
This Christmas, Mill Productions brought the Charles Dickens story to the stage in a magical presentation of one of the best known and loved stories of the season.
First published in 1843, the story of how the miserable Ebenezer Scrooge is redeemed and transformed from a mean old money-grabbing business man into a caring, loveable symbol of Christmas continues to delight audiences of all ages nearly 170 years later. It has been adapted for many media, apart from the stage, including film and opera. This magical production, directed by Geoff O'Keeffe, continued that long tradition by bringing one of the most enjoyable Christmas entertainments to the Mill Theatre.
The show ran from Thursday 8 to Saturday 10 December and again from Tuesday 13 to Tuesday 20 December 2011.
'Aristocrats'
Brian Friel play at the Mill Theatre from 1 to 5 November
The first week of November brought with it the first Balally Players production of the new season. 'Aristocrats' written by Brian Friel. It opened in the Mill Theatre on 1 November. The play was directed by Joe Jordan, who directed 'All My Sons' for Balally Players in January of this year.
The setting for this play is a family home, but no ordinary home and no ordinary family. The once-influential family's financial position is nothing like it used to be when family members return for a wedding to the crumbling mansion where they grew up. The play has been likened to Chekhov's 'The Cherry Orchard', where the aristocrats are has-beens and the vital life force is with the commoners upon whom the upper class once looked down.
The distant family members in this story were in residence on the Mill Theatre stage from Tuesday 1 to Saturday 5 November.
The cast of 'Aristocrats' take a bow at a performance of the play in the Mill Theatre on Friday 5 November 2011.
More background information on the play and pictures taken at one of the performances, are on the page for the play in the 'Productions' section.
Workshop
Stage Management - learning the ropes - Wed 19 Oct
Stage Management is that unseen, but vitally important task which organises and coordinates a theatrical production.
Throughout the couple of hours spent in this workshop, participants got an opportunity to explore the basics and also to learn from an experienced stage manager about how the role works to make a stage production run smoothly.
This two hour workshop was facilitated by Lisa Higgins. Lisa studied Stage Management as a post-graduate student with the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.
The workshop was held on Wed 19 October in St. Tiernan's Secondary School, Parkvale, Dundrum. Cost to Balally Players current members €5, non-members €10.
Annual General Meeting
Jean Monahan elected to the Chair for 2011-2012
The Balally Players Annual General Meeting was held on Wednesday 29 June in St. Olaf’s GAA Club. Jean Monahan was elected by the members present to lead the Committee for the coming year. The full list of members of the Committee is in the About section.
Acting Workshop
Monday 27 June - Methodist Hall, Ballinteer
A workshop devoted to improvisation was held in the Methodist Hall on Monday 27 June.
The tutor for the evening was Neil Curran, founder and chairman of 'No Drama Theatre' and 'Laughalot Improv'. More information is in the Members' Area.
'Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead'
Shakespeare, but not as you know it!
Once again, the group's 'Summer Shakespeare' came to Airfield House, Dundrum, from 18 to 21 June, followed by one night at the Mill Theatre on Thursday 23 June. The very wet weather moved the performance on Midsummer's Night, Tuesday 21 June, from the gardens to the library at Airfield House (above). This year it's Tom Stoppard's witty, alternative view of some of the Bard's characters in his unique play that has won many awards since it was first performed nearly forty years ago.
'Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead' is absurd, well, absurdist theatre to be more precise. But seriously, this comedy, written by Tom Stoppard, has been a huge favourite with audiences ever since its first performance on stage at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1966. It's based on the exploits of two minor characters from Shakespeare's Hamlet, the courtiers Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. The story is set mostly 'in the wings', in all senses of that phrase. There are brief guest appearances by major characters from Hamlet, including the Prince himself, each of whom graces the stage with fragments of the original work. However, between these momentary lapses, R & G give expression to their confusion in a play that is great fun at the most respectful expense of the Bard's immortal lines.
More information, photographs and a list of cast and crew members are in the Productions section.
'Tarry Flynn'
Mill Theatre 5th Anniversary, 8 to 18 June
'Tarry Flynn', which celebrated the fifth anniversary of the Mill Theatre, was opened by President Mary McAleese on Wednesday 8 June. It was a return visit for the President as she opened the very first production at the theatre in May 2006.
The set (shown above) was designed by Geoffrey O'Keeffe and it set the stage for the work of over thirty people in the cast and crew.
As was the case for the opening production five years ago ('Our Town'), 'Tarry Flynn' draws its actors and crew members from five local groups. The play is directed by Padraic McIntyre, Artistic Director of Livin' Dred Theatre Company based in the Ramor Theatre in Virginia.
The production is a fusion of action, music, poetry and drama. Set in the rural life of Cavan in the 1930s, Conall Morrison's imaginative adaptation is based in the world of Patrick Kavanagh's classic novel. Poet-farmer Tarry with his nose in a book, his head in the clouds, his hand on a spade and his heart yearning for love, is not on the same page as his fellow farmers.
See the Productions page for more about the play, including photographs taken at the dress rehearsal and the Gala Opening Night.
Comedy, with a bite!
'Unoriginal Sin' in the Mill Theatre
On the last day of April, the six actors and over ten support crew backstage brought a most enjoyable experience to a close. And they did it before a great audience that filled the Mill Theatre with laughter from beginning to end. 'Unoriginal Sin' was written by David Tristram, who described his play as "the comedy with a little extra bite". Perhaps that's because of the biting wit and hilarious lines he puts in the mouths of his characters as some of them hiss at one another. Or perhaps it's the fact that, underneath the fun and frolics, it has a wry and caustic take on what happens when Eve comes in from the garden of Eden cottage and meets Mr Adams.
What was great about this play was that it served a varied menu. A full, but light bowl of nourishing laughter if that's all you fancied - or a bigger helping, if you had the appetite to explore an extra layer or two as you followed these delightfully imperfect characters through a few days in their quirky lives. Either way, with no pretence at high art, it was very enjoyable to be in the company of these funny, unoriginal sinners for a couple of hours!
Director Brian Molloy brought 'Unoriginal Sin', the comedy written by David Tristram, to the main stage in the Mill Theatre after Easter, from Tuesday 26 to Saturday 30 April 2011 at 8pm each night.
Full details including pictures taken at rehearsal are in the page for 'Unoriginal Sin' in the Productions section of the site.
Medea
Greek Tragedy in the Mill Theatre Studio
Fiona Walsh directed 'Medea', the Greek Tragedy by Euripides, from Sunday 10 to Wednesday 13 April 2011. The play tells the story of the revenge of a woman betrayed by her husband.
The Mill Theatre Studio was a fine, intimate setting for one of the great plays of the ancient world - a shocking, stark tale about how the desire for revenge, fuelled by anger can unleash a terrifying madness.
See the 'Productions' page for more information.
'All My Sons'
Powerful, classic story at the Mill Theatre
Joe Jordan directed the Balally Players production of the Arthur Miller classic, which took to the stage at the end of January.
Based on true events in the United States during World War II, this great human story explores how the loss of trust and truth - the first casualties of war - tears apart a family and affects its friends and its neighbours. The story that unfolds over the course of one day is about what happens as they all come to terms with what one character calls "a certain talent for lying" and some of them seek retribution.
See the 'Productions' page for more information.
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