Ballymoney Drama Festival

The Holywood Players

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Produced by

Anna Phipps

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​​Prepare to be surprised!  More than once!

 

A washed-up thriller writer has the script of a new play he believes to be a masterpiece. There is only one problem - he didn't write it!  He arranges to meet the actual author but then his thoughts turn to actual murder...

 

What follows is a plot which Michael Billington in The Guardian described as having 'more twists than a bent corkscrew'.

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First produced in 1978, Deathtrap holds the record for the longest running comedy-thriller on Broadway. It was nominated for four Tony Awards and was made into a film starring Michael Caine and Christopher Reeve. 

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Ira Levin was an American novelist, playwright and songwriter. His bestselling novels include A Kiss Before Dying, The Stepford Wives and Rosemary's Baby,  He received several Edgars (Edgar Allen Poe Awards) form the Mystery Writers of America and was given the Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1996. 

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We are delighted to welcome The Holywood Players back to Ballymoney. They are a well established and successful amateur drama group based, as their name suggests, in County Down. 

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Belvoir Players   

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Produced by

Joseph Quinn

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WARNING

strong language & adult themes

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First performed at the Edinburgh Fringe in 1977, Bouncers  has been translated into many languages and has enjoyed world-wide success. The director of this production has acted in four different versions of the play and, with permission, has made a few adjustments to the original script in order to make the play resonate more with today's Festival audiences. 

 

It tells the story of one night at a popular nightclub, told through the eyes of four bouncers We see other points of view too, as the actors give life to around thirty other comic caricatures who, for various reasons, come to the nightclub door. 

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John Godber is an English playwright renowned for his observational comedies. He began his writing career with scripts for Brookside and Grange Hill and, by 1993,  according to The Plays and Players Yearbook, he was  the third most performed British playwright after Shakespeare and Ayckbourn.. Godber has been visiting Professor of Popular Theatre at Liverpool Hope and Professor of Drama at Hull University. He is currently Creative Director of the Theatre Royal, Wakefield. 

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Belvoir Players Amateur Dramatic Society  was formed in 1964 in order to bring  residents together in a new housing estate in Belfast.. Over 200 shows later, it is based in the Belvoir Studio Theatre  which employs over fifty staff and runs a thriving Youth Academy.  We enjoyed Belvoir Players' One Act play last year and are  delighted to welcome them back to the competitive Festival in Ballymoney.  

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This amateur production is presented by arrangement with

Musical Theatre International on behalf of Josef Weinbger Ltd.

www.mtishows.co.uk / www.josef-weinberger.com

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Bart Players

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Produced by 

Lorna Jayne

Fletcher

Five women gather regularly in a small town beauty salon. Here friendships are forged as they share stories and offer each other advice. Their conversations are often hilarious but, although they may seem delicate, these women are tough. We see their inner steel when they are tested by tragedy. 

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This heart-warming, poignant comedy-drama was first performed in 1987 and has since been translated into seventeen languages. Its universal themes of  sisterhood and resilience have touched audiences all over the world. 

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The play was adapted into a very successful film in 1989, starring, among others,  Dolly Parton, Shirley MacLaine and Julia Roberts. 

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​ Robert Harling was born in the state of Alabama in 1951. He trained as a lawyer but took various other jobs to fund his dream of becoming an actor. Following the death of his sister from complications arising from diabetes, he wrote a short story about her for his young nephew. He later spent ten days adapting this into a stage play and then for the popular film which grossed 96.8 million dollars worldwide. Other screen plays followed, including The First Wives' Club in 1996.                                                    

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Bart Players have been  based in Belfast for over sixty years. They perform three shows per season, from light comedies to serious dramas, at their home venue, the Canon Lindsay Hall, St Bartholemew's, Stranmillis and across Northern Ireland.  They represented Northern Ireland at the British One Act Finals last summer.

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This amateur production of Steel Magnolias presented by arrangement with

Concord Theatricals Ltd on behalf of Samuel Frencg

www.concordtheatricals.co.uk

 

 

Slemish Players

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Produced by

Josie Corr

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WARNING

some strong language

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Sylvia is a dog (played by a woman). A middle-aged, middle-class man named Greg finds her in Central Park and brings her home, but his wife, Kate, does not share his affection for their new companion. 

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This  buoyant and funny play about relationships, premiered in 1995 with Sarah Jessica Parker in the role of Sylvia.

 

A, R Gurney described his play as having a 'timely message about the need to connect in an increasingly alien and impersonal world.'

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A. R Gurney (1930 - 2017) was an American playwright, novelist and academic. He wrote over forty plays, most of them based on his shrewd observations about society and class. He was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for his play Love Letters in 1998. ​​​

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Liam Neeson started his acting career with Slemish Players. Over the years the company, which is based in Ballymena, has won numerous awards at local Drama Festivals and reached the Ulster Finals. Slemish were the overall winners at last year's Ballymoney Festival for their production of The Night Alive. Josie Corr won the Vin Smyth trophy for the best director and the company took home awards for acting, decor. lighting and the best moment of theatre. 

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Rosemary Drama Group

 

Produced by 

Ian Lee

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WARNING

adult themes &

some strong langauage

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It is May, 1988. Tory MP, Robin Hesketh returns to his idyllic home in the Cotswolds to find that foxes have been digging up his garden and his wife, Diana, has not bothered to prepare lunch for their guests. 

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The title of this play refers to the official record of all parliamentary debates. As that suggests, it is, in part,  a comedy about politics but it is also a domestic drama about a long and troubled marriage where both partners are masters of the art of acerbic, witty debate. 

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After its initial preview performances, Hansard opened at the National Theatre in 2019 with Alex Jennings and Lindsay Duncan playing Robin and Diana. It was almost completely sold out and was subsequently broadcast to cinemas as part of the National Theatre Live series. 

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​​Simon Woods  was born in 1980 and is probably best known as an actor, particularly as Mr Bingley in the 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice  which also starred Keira Knightly and Matthew MccFadyen. Hansard is his first stage play.

 

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Rosemary is the largest and most active drama group in North Belfast. Its members stage three plays every year  both in one act and full length format, as well as their very popular Summer Theatre production. They have enjoyed considerable success on the Festival circuit and in recent years the group has featured in both the British and Irish finals. 

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This production lasts 90 minutes and will run without an interval.  Supper will be served, and the bar open, after the play and before Tristan Marshall's

Final Adjudication

                                         

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