Kilmeen Drama Group stages The Weir at The Everyman Theatre in Cork

Founded in 1970 and winner of four All-Ireland awards, Kilmeen Drama Group is set to stage McPherson’s ‘The Weir’ at The Everyman

Tue, 30 Sep, 2025 - 21:00

Colette Sheridan

"Conor McPherson understands the beauty and isolation of rural Ireland,” says Nora Scannell who directs and stars in The Weir, presented by Kilmeen Drama Group.

It will be staged at The Everyman. Kilmeen Drama Group, in existence since 1970, is one of the country’s leading amateur companies, having taken the All-Ireland title on four occasions, winning the RTÉ finals, three-in-a-row, from 2011 to 2013 in a historic record.

One of those victorious shows was The Weir. Scannell was in that production, playing Valerie, a woman from Dublin who pitches up in a country pub where she and the local men sitting around the bar relate unsettling stories — none as disturbing as Valerie’s real-life experience.

Just as McPherson is in tune with rural Ireland, Kilmeen Drama Group is a lifeline for the villagers of Rossmore, outside Clonakilty: “It’s everything. There’s a lot going on in our theatre. It is the heartbeat of the local community where we have the GAA, the theatre, and ploughing. We could do three or four productions in a year.”

Eight years ago, Scannell decided to put on a variety show for the community.

“My husband said that no one will want to get involved. But I thought I’d try anyway and put out a news bulletin. Six people showed up for the first reading. I was gutted.

“My husband would deny this but I’d say he made phone calls to the GAA asking if anyone would get involved to keep me quiet. We went from having six people interested to 106 people.

Members of Kilmeen Drama Group in 2012 celebrating their win in the All Ireland Drama Festival in Athlone. Picture: Molloy Photography.

"People in the parish who had never set foot in the hall for anything turned up. Some had walking sticks. There were others who nearly had soothers such was the range of the age group. It was so much fun.

"There was no competition, no adjudicator. Everyone got to do something, either singing, dancing, or acting. All the GAA people rowed in behind us doing the stage management. It actually was a lovely community exercise which was so successful that we repeated it last year and raised €40,000 for charity.”

Scannell, who teaches speech and drama in both primary and secondary schools, says there is a lot of talent around. But she admits that the biggest problem Kilmeen Drama Group faces is that young people in the area find it hard to commit to taking part in plays.

“A variety show is a different thing. It takes place over a short period of time. You might start rehearsing in September or October and perform it in January. But with a three-act play, if rehearsals start in September, you won’t be performing until March.

"And if you get through to the All-Ireland [in Athlone], that happens in May. So that’s nine months, a long time. I’d have concerns about Kilmeen Drama Group. It’s not just us.

"It’s the same up and down the country. For three-act plays, amateur theatre is taking a hammering. We’re maybe cash-rich but time-poor. It is having an impact on the theatre, the younger side of theatre.”

People have to take time off work and use their holidays to take part in productions.

Kilmeen drama group in 20024: Donal McSweeney, Nora Scannell, Sinead Meade, and Kevin O'Donovan in All my Sons.

“I wanted to put on The Weir for two or three years but I couldn’t get the cast. This year, Kilmeen has collaborated. There’s Sean Ahern, an All-Ireland actor from Brideview in Tallow and Ger Minihane from Schull Drama Group. Collaboration makes a play even more special.”

Despite the difficulties in attracting actors, Kilmeen Drama Group still manages to put on a summer show every year which is its fundraiser. “Typically, our summer show is our pot boiler.”

This year, the show was Widow’s Paradise, a comedy which brought in audiences of about 4,000 over two months, attracting tourists.

As Michael O’Mahony, stage manager for The Weir and a member of Kilmeen Drama Group since its inception in 1970, following years of being involved in local drama, says: “There have been plays put on in the parish going back 100 years.

There was an old shed in the village of Rossmore called Timmy O’Donovan Hall. That was pre-electrification when you had the humble oil lamp for lighting. The present theatre was built as a parish hall in 1948 by Fr James O’Donovan, a fairly far-seeing man.

Kilmeen Drama Group production of The Weir. Denis O’Mahony as Jack and Ger Minihane as Brendan. Seated outside the counter left to right Sean Ahern as Jim, Gearóid McCarthy as Finbarr and Nora Scannell as Valerie. Nora also directs the show.

Another big event the following year was the formation of Macra na Feirme. Back then, most people in rural Ireland didn’t have secondary school education. They went straight to work after national school. Macra introduced an educational programme with debating, public speaking, and drama. There was a huge interest in drama. In 1956, Fr James O’Donovan started the first drama festival in West Cork [Rossmore Drama Festival] and we’ve been holding it ever since.”

O’Mahony says that Flor Dullea, who died last year, had a huge influence on local theatre. “He was a native of Kilmeen parish and was the local school teacher who started producing plays. One of them was a production of Riders to the Sea which won the All-Ireland for Macra na Feirme in 1959. Flor moved to Cork where he joined the Southern Theatre Group. It was the time when John B Keane’s plays were becoming famous.

Flor became a director, an actor, an adjudicator, and a theatre critic. He kept coming down to Kilmeen playing a big role in theatre. Macra na Feirme was prompted to form Kilmeen Drama Group when they won another All-Ireland in 1969.

The group has 40 or 50 members. I’ve done most things, acting and stage managing.” O’Mahony was Kilmeen Drama Group committee chairman for 10 years.

Theatre has given both audiences and casts and crew a great outlet in Rossmore. “There’s a massive buzz working on a play. There’s great camaraderie in the group. It’s a great way of introducing people to the community, a way of getting to know people. And a number of people in the drama group went on to act professionally, going to the Gaiety School of Acting. Hopefully, they’ll come back to us.”

O’Mahony, who worked in the insurance industry until he retired, went on to study for a diploma in genealogy at UCC. He writes articles on local history for journals. That, coupled with theatre, keeps him busy, sometimes working up to 14 hours a day.

Like Scannell, he has concerns about the future of Kilmeen Drama Group: “People have so many commitments nowadays. If you get involved in a play it’s at least six months of your life. The play is the most important thing.”

The Weir, which takes place during a stormy night, has a haunting quality with the stories related by the men. Valerie’s story is profoundly personal and affects the men deeply.

Scannell is delighted to be reprising the role of Valerie, guided by a wise adjudicator who once gave her good advice: “He said to me that I’ll be very successful at acting if I stop acting and be real. I live by that mantra. I take the acting out of the performance and just live it.”

“This is the year of The Weir,” says Scannell. She quotes actor Brendan Gleeson, who is starring in the play at the West End. Prior to his recent performance as Jack in the same production at the Olympia, Gleeson said: “Conor McPherson’s The Weir is one of the rarest plays around.”