Balally Players

Dundrum One-Act Festival

dlr Mill Theatre Friday 2 to Sunday 4 November 2018

The Dundrum One Act Drama Festival returns to the dlr Mill Theatre, Dundrum, Dublin from Friday to Sunday, 2 to 4 November 2018. The Festival Director is Fiona Walsh.

Drama groups from across the country will compete over the three nights of the festival.

See the Dundrum Festival page in the What's On section for a list of the groups competing this year and the plays they will perform.

 

 

Two One-Act Plays

dlr Mill Theatre Studio 11 to 13 October 2018

Our 'Autumn One Act Double Bill' was in the dlr Mill Theatre Studio for three nights from Thursday 11 to Saturday 13 October.

The Giant Killers by Eve and Andrew Pearson-Wright, directed by Gary Wall, is the inspiring true story of football’s greatest ever underdogs. Set in the early years of Association Football, The Giant Killers follows a ragtag bunch of Lancashire mill workers who defied all odds to become the first working-class team in the country to play in the FA Cup. Left tired and despondent from the cotton famine of the 1870s, this small group of northern lads found pride and hope in a game that up until then had been reserved for the upper classes. Darwen FC rose up against prevailing social prejudice and the might of the Football Association, to earn a place in history as the first real ‘giant-killers’ in English football, and take on the “poshest team of all” – The Old Etonians. Scoring a massive moral victory for all working class people, the team proved that passion and spirit is worth more than wealth and privilege. When the Battlefield is the football pitch, everyone is equal. The Giant Killers is an absorbing, heartfelt story of a town that came together to achieve the impossible and win the respect of the nation. A rip-roaring evening out, whether you know the off-side rule or not!

The Flattering Word by George Kelly, directed by Aisling Uí Laoire – A celebrated actor, Eugene Tesh, pays an unexpected visit to an old friend. During the course of his visit, he uses his charm to eradicate the other character’s prejudice against theatre, convincing them that they in fact have an unrealised talent for the stage. What ensues are some very funny moments of attempting to realise one’s secret desire to make the big time!

'The Giant Killers' is Balally Players entry in this year's National One Act Festival and will be performed in the dlr Mill Theatre agian on Friday 2 November 2018 as part of the Dundrum One Act Festival.

 

Stage adaptation of Dickens classic

dlr Mill Theatre – February 2019

Set in the south of England during the first half of the nineteenth century, ‘Great Expectations’ by Charles Dickens, has some of his most memorable scenes and best loved characters. From the opening in a graveyard, where the young Pip encounters the escaped convict, Abel Magwitch, the story goes on to introduce other memorable creations such as the eccentric Miss Havisham, the beautiful but cold Estella, and Joe, the unsophisticated and kind blacksmith.

Originally published as a serial in Dickens' weekly periodical ‘All the Year Round’, between December 1860 and August 1861, the story explores social issues of his day through the lives of rich and poor and a struggle between good and evil.

This production for Balally Players, a stage adaptation written by Jo Clifford, is directed by Brian Molloy and will be on stage in the dlr Mill Theatre from Tuesday 19 to Saturday 23 February 2019.

 

Summer Shakespeare 2018

In the gardens of St Enda's Park – Tue 3 to Sat 7 July 2018

Our annual Balally Players' outdoor Shakespeare production was, once again, in the Walled Garden on the grounds of St Enda's Park, Rathfarnham.

This year's production was 'Much Ado About Nothing', directed by Brendan Phelan, and performances were from Tuesday 3 to Saturday 7 July 2018.

To many of the very many people who have enjoyed ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ it is considered to be one of Shakespeare’s best comedies. It has the humour and wit you might expect from the Bard; but it also has other aspects, not always associated with comedy, such as its serious contemplations on honour, shame, and the politics of courtly life in the 1500s. Thought to have been written in the latter years of the 16th century, it is a play from the middle of Shakespeare’s writing years. It’s a joyful comedy that ends with multiple marriages and no deaths.

For more, including a programme for the play and some photographs of a performance, see the What's On page.

 

Little Gem – March 2018

Award-winning play by Dublin playwright Elaine Murphy – dlr Mill Theatre Studio

The Balally Players production of this wonderfully funny play was back for three final performances in the Maureen O'Hara Studio in the dlr Mill Theatre on Thursday 22, Friday 23 and Saturday 24 March 2018.

In the three monologues, each of the women tells the story of one extraordinary year in their life. Party girl Amber has brutal indigestion the Sambuca’s won't shift, Lorraine has lost it at work and is shipped off to see the head doctor and Granny Kay is minding Gem and wondering about an itch she can’t fix...all told with love and humour. Be prepared to be beguiled and enchanted by this moving and entertaining play.

 

Of Mice And Men

Steinbeck play in dlr Mill Theatre – 6 to 10 February 2018

John Steinbeck’s short novel, published in 1937, is a classic of twentieth century literature. It has been widely acclaimed and taught in schools; but it has fallen foul of censors over the years, earning it a place in the American Library Association's list of the Most Challenged Books of the 21st Century.

The main characters in 'Of Mice And Men' are George Milton and Lennie Small. In the years of the Great Depression in the United States during the 1930s, these two men move around California looking for work on ranches. From the outside they are very different – one big, one smaller; one smart, one less so – but their fears and powerlessness, together with their hopes and dreams, give them common cause; and their companionship blurs their differences. Steinbeck, writing about what he called 'a base theme' in literature, commented that "if you understand each other you will be kind to each other. Knowing a man well never leads to hate and nearly always leads to love".

In this production at the dlr Mill Theatre, Steinbeck's own stage version of his classic novel was directed for Balally Players by Kate Canning.

For more see the Past Productions page.

 

 

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