http://www.clarecourier.ie/article.asp?id=4922

Less than a month after staging the hilarious Odd Couple, Muse Productions were back entertaining Shannon audiences once again with their annual One Act Festival.

Thursday night saw three confined and one open play, starting with Babysitting Calvin from Doonbeg in the confined section.   This comedy is about a man reincarnated as a baby, who attempts to disrupt a date between his late wife and erstwhile friend was very popular with the audience.  It was followed by a ghost story from The Suemas O’Kelly Players entitled The Monkey’s Paw which suited the wet and wild November night.  Fr Matthew Player’s staged a lovely character piece in Geraldine Aron’s The Galway Girl before Ennis Players closed the night with the first open play of the festival, the absurd Burridan’s Ass had the audience in stitches.

On Friday 13th there were four plays in the confined section, all of which were serious dramatic pieces. Lucy in the Sky by Clann Machua was set in a homeless shelter and examined the problems that brought the inmates to their plight.  The Window Cleaner by Coachford Players saw a chance meeting between a burglar and window cleaner and what each learned from the other.  The Sound of Silence by Amphitheatre Company was a self-penned piece exploring the isolation of a disabled man trapped in a useless body.   Finally, Jack Furey by Spike Players related a story of lost love and innocence set against the despair of encroaching dementia. Not an easy night’s theatre for the uninitiated, but certainly thought provoking and challenging.

Saturday night saw three plays in the Open section and the final Confined play of the festival.  The First Punk in Oldcastle by Millrace Drama Group told of a father and son separated by more than years, who finally come to a semblance of peace.  The only Confined play of the night was Fates Thread, described as “a ghost story… murder mystery and a light comedy”.   Kilmeen Drama Group staged the very popular Shakespeare’s a Dick, an hilarious comedy about a redneck cursed with the gift of eloquence!  Finally Schull Drama Group had another new piece of writing, Sally Smart’s Lies, in which she looked at the perils of online dating!     

Returning this year as adjudicator, Brendan Murray was very complimentary of both the venue and organisation of the festival, not to mention the huge variety of drama on offer over the three nights.  “Shakespeare’s a Dick” won Best Actor for Denis O’Sullivan as Ramie, Best Actress went to his co-star Colette Daly as Doris, the play also took the Audience Award. Geraldine Greene from Ennis Players won Best Director for “Burridan’s Ass”.

Most importantly, the placings for One Act Finals points were: Confined Section: 1st “Jack Furey” by Spike Players; 2nd “The Monkey’s Paw” by Seumas O’Kelly Players; 3rd “The Sound of Silence” by Amphitheatre Company.  Open Section: 1st “Shakespeare’s a Dick” by Kilmeen Drama Group; 2nd “Burridan’s Ass” by Ennis Players; 3rd “The First Punk in Oldcastle” by Millrace Drama Group.   Congratulations to all the groups and best of luck in the All Ireland Finals in Galway in December!

http://www.clarecourier.ie/article.asp?id=4900

03 November 2015

After the runaway success of last month’s hilarious comedy The Odd Couple, the team at Muse Productions will return to action from November 12th to 14th with their hugely popular One Act Festival.

Audiences will be treated to a feast of twelve plays over three nights performed by groups from all over the country.   Those who attended last year’s festival will remember great entertainment from Doonbeg, Coachford, Amphitheatre and Kilmeen.  This year many new groups will perform, including the very popular Ennis Players who were regular visitors to Shannon in years past.

The twelve plays feature a mixture of Comedy and Drama. Three of the plays are new works written by the groups performing.   In all four plays will compete in the Open section and eight in the Confined section so there should be plenty of variety on each night!

Tickets are €10 for each night, but there will be a special offer of a €20 Festival ticket that will encompass all three nights and also includes a free programme!  The Shannon One Act Festival will be performed cabaret style, so patrons will be welcome to bring drinks into the theatre for a relaxed night of entertainment.  The festival runs nightly at 7.30pm sharp from Thursday November 12th until Saturday November 14th in the Oakwood Arms Hotel.

There will be a third, and likely final, reading for The Odd Couple tomorrow night, Tuesday 23rd in the Oakwood Arms at 8pm.  As usual all are welcome.  We will be hoping to cast this week so people can take the summer to learn lines and be ready for rehearsal in September with an October 14-17 performance schedule

We will be holding a second reading for Neil Simon’s classic “The Odd Couple” this Thursday night June 18th in the Oakwood Arms.  6 males, 2 females required, all are invited and welcome to come along for an informal reading of the play at 8pm .  Please pass on the word and assure newcomers that they are more than welcome!

Hi all,

We haven’t decided our plans for this year yet, but we have a few plays we want to read. We’ll be reading a couple next Monday night 9^th Feb in the Oakwood at 8pm. Both are comedies, with fairly large male casts and a couple of female roles.

The Odd Couple is the Neil Simon classic, with 5 guys and 2 gals, all in the 30+ bracket.

Yes, Prime Minister is the play of the TV Show of the same name, 8 guys and 2 gals, similar age profile, some doubling may be possible.

We really just want to read these and get a feel for whether they’ll suit our cast and audience. Hope to see as many of you as possible, and bring along friends if anyone’s interested! Please pass along the word to those not on Email or Facebook!