THERE WERE celebrations to rival any theatrical performance over the weekend as Bridge Drama Group won the All Ireland Drama Festival in Athlone on Saturday night for the first time.
The group, which staged Neil Simon’s ‘Lost in Yonkers’ bridged a 17-year gap since the last time the trophy was won by a Wexford group. The group is only the second Wexford group to win the coveted award.
Founded in 1998, Bridge Drama began competing on the circuit in 2002 and won the Confined All Ireland in 2009. Since then, they have reached Athlone on two occasions, in 2013 and this year.
In total, the group won three awards: Best Play, Best Director for Pat Whelan, and Best Stage Set for Pat Curran, Pat Whelan, Sarah Whelan, Adrian Power, and Liam Clancy.
They also picked up three other nominations: Heather Hadrill for Best Actress; Denise Leahy for Best Supporting Actress; and 14-year-old Sean Byrne for Best Supporting Actor.
The group had enjoyed huge success in the run-up to the final in Athlone, winning seven of their eight circuit festivals and picking up over 40 awards along the way: 19 for acting, seven play, seven director and seven technical awards. It was also a favourite with audiences who flocked to see its numerous runs and the play also received rave reviews.
A homecoming party was held in The Porter House in Castlebridge on Sunday evening where celebrations continued after a noisy convoy travelled home from Athlone that day.
Director Pat Whelan, who won his first Best Director Award in 2013 for ‘Out of Order’, said that it had taken a few days for the reality of what had happened to sink in.
“It really only hit us on Monday morning and the lads said the same. It was like we were stuck in a bubble all weekend. Saturday was very tense – we had the anticipation all day and then the nerves that night.”
He said that the group had received lots of well wishes from other groups and that made them believe they were in with a shout.
[Full story and coverage of All Ireland Drama Festival in this week’s Echo]