West Cork Drama Festival takes place this weekend in Rossmore

 The festival is one of the highlights on the Irish amateur drama circuit

Ballyturk cast members Niamh Power and Laura Connolly will take to the stage at the West Cork Drama Festival at Rossmore Theatre. Picture: Marcin Lewandoski

The townland of Rossmore in Co Cork will be alive with some of the best of Irish theatre as the curtain goes up on the West Cork Drama Festival on Sunday March 15.

Now in its 61st year, the festival has become a highlight on the Irish amateur drama circuit, at the impressive venue 10km from Clonakilty. It gets underway on Sunday: on the same night Jessie Buckley will be in LA's Dolby Theatre hoping to bring Oscar glory back to the Kingdom, Kerry's own Memory Lane Theatre Company will get the drama started in Rossmore, with its production of Edenderry playwright Eugene O’Brien’s Heaven.

 O’Brien created the acclaimed Irish drama TV series Pure Mule and the 2001 play Eden. Memory Lane’s production stars Johnny Corkery and Sorcha Uí Shúilleabháin and is directed by Pádraig Dennehy.

On Monday March 16, Holycross- Ballycahill Drama Group from Tipperary performs John B Keane’s classic tale Sive, directed by Jacqui Lacey. On St Patrick’s night, Waterford’s Brideview Drama Group will bring their version of another Irish classic, Hugh Leonard’s Da, directed by Jack Aherne.

On Wednesday March 18, the local Kilmeen Drama Group will stage its production of Enda Walsh’s Ballyturk, which first came to the Cork Opera House in 2014 starring Cillian Murphy, Mikel Murfi, and Stephen Rea. In director Denis O’Sullivan’s Kilmeen version the roles are played by women, led by Niamh Power and Laura Connolly. Indeed, Kilmeen will be bringing the show back to Cork city, in the Everyman next month.

Another local group, Bandon’s Gaggin Drama Group will stage A Living Will by Tipperary’s Jim Keane on Thursday March 19, directed by Pam Golden. Wicklow’s Gorey Little Theatre present the psychological thriller Gut by Scottish playwright Francis Poet on Friday March 20, directed by Stephen Acton.

The closing night, Saturday March 21, sees Nenagh Players stage Waterford playwright Jim Nolan’s The Salvage Shop, directed by Margaret Walshe.

The festival adjudicator is Alan Howley. All plays start at 8pm and tickets can be booked online via Rossmore Theatre