Transition year students gather for drama festival

Students from across the country are to converge on mid-Cork to demonstrate their acting skills in the All-Ireland Transition Year Drama Festival.

More than 35 schools have battled it out for one of the 14 coveted spots in the grand final, which will be held in the Briery Gap in Macroom this weekend.

The annual festival, now in its 12th year, is aimed at encouraging the artistic skills of students during the non-exam year.

To qualify, students were asked to write, direct and stage a 15- to 20-minute play with the help of their teachers.

While many chose to write and direct an original play, some opted for adaptations of classics.

The local St Mary’s Secondary School in Macroom has put together a comedy version of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.

Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Minister Jimmy Deenihan is guest speaker for Friday’s launch, while Patrick Fitzpatrick ( Zumo Bishop in Fair City) will be part of the adjudicating panel.

Organiser and Briery Gap manager Anne Dunne said: “The scripts, acting, costumes, creativity and performance is a credit to the schools, students and teachers involved in each production. I am delighted to report that the standard of the 2012 All-Ireland Transition Year Drama Festival can only be described as exceptional.”

The 14 schools performing are Scoil Rís, Limerick; Presentation Secondary School, Milltown, Co Kerry; St Mary’s Secondary School, Macroom; Scoil Mhuire Gan Smál, Blarney; Coláiste Cholmcille, Ballyshannon, Co Donegal; St Mary’s, Newport, Co Tipperary; St Mary’s Secondary School, Charleville, Co Cork; St Wolstan’s, Celbridge, Co Kildare; Sacred Heart, Westport, Co Mayo; CBS Kilkenny; St Joseph’s Doon, Co Limerick; The King’s Hospital, Palmerstown, Dublin; CBS Mullingar and McEgan College, Macroom.

Tickets from the Briery Gap at 026 41793.