Kilmeen look to make amateur theatre history

Eddie Cassidy

Kilmeen Drama Group lifts the curtain tonight on the 2006 All-Ireland open drama finals in Athlone.

Based in Rossmore near Clonakilty, Kilmeen has been one of the country’s best performing groups over the last 10 years. But the top prize has eluded them.

“We have been second and third on so many occasions that we don’t want to tempt fate by suggesting this could be our year,” said producer Tim Coffey.

The group’s presentation of the Marina Carr-penned play Portia Coughlan scooped four wins in the qualifying stages. Significantly, five of the groups that have qualified for Athlone performed at the Ballyduff festival in Co Waterford where Kilmeen came out tops.

This is the first time that Kilmeen have won through to the finals three years on the trot and their chairperson Deirdre O’Reilly, who plays Portia’s friend, Stacia Doyle, in the production said.

“We have worked hard to get here and while we have prepared as best we can, the outcome will be down to the adjudicator and perhaps a little bit of luck.”