Carlow Little
Theatre
HISTORY
Carlow Little Theatre society is one of
the oldest amateur drama groups in the country. In 1944 a group
of like minded people got together to discuss forming a local
drama society and thus we were born. In 1945 we produced our
first play 'The Whip Hand' Since our inception the society has
performed several One act plays and two full length plays each
year.
Extract from the Drama League of Ireland
Magazine 1956 UP- AND-COMING CARLOW GROUP Carlow Little Theatre
Society was launched in 1945. The membership was 30; it now
stands at 200. The society had no funds, no premises in which to
rehearse, no suitable hall in which to stage its productions.
The annual subscription was fixed at 5/-, to ensure that nobody
wishing to join would be debarred from membership on the grounds
of a restrictive fee. It was found however, that it would be
impossible to develop on such a slight income and members
decided to raise the subscription to 1-/-, at which figure it
now stands. A room in the old Christian Brothers
School was made available for rehearsals through the
kindness of the Very Rev D.B Kennedy, Adm. and Rev N. Cullen,
CC, Graiguecullen, allowing the members the use of St.
Fiacc's Hall at production times to accustom the
Players to actual stage conditions.
The ideal from the start was for the
society to acquire premises of its own, and ultimately to build
its own Little Theatre. In 1951, the Society acquired a house in
Brown Street, which had deteriorated from a
Georgian townhouse to a tenement and had been condemned as
unfit for human habitation. A Bank overdraft was secured and the
society entered occupation. Working parties of members were
formed. Floors were repaired, windows fitted, walls made sound,
ceilings re-plastered and the premises wired for electricity.
The work is still going on, and the premises are now as cosy as
a little Club and as much as any Society could wish to have.
Every night, members can be found there,
rehearsing, reading scripts, helping on renovations, or merely
sitting around relaxing in the pleasant atmosphere of good
fellowship which has been a feature of the Society since the
start.
Since its inception, the society
has produced at least one three-act plays each year and several
one-act plays each season. It encourages impromptu readings of
sketches to accustom members without stage experience to the
feel of acting while encouraging members to produce one-act
plays with the dual purpose of discovering new acting talent and
new producers. These plays are produced in public and are seen
by an invited audience of members and their friends. No charge
is made for admission and audiences of 300 or more are the norm.
Among its productions to date are Shadow and Substance,
Gaslight; Juno and the Paycock; The Rugged Path; The Whip Hand;
Home is the Hero; the Shadow of a Gunman; Pygmalion; Arsenic and
Old Lace. For its Tostal production this year, Myles na
Gopaleen's play, Faustus Kelly was chosen.
A turning point in the Society's
development was the coming of
Miss Ria
Mooney a few years ago to advise members on production and
acting technique. She gave a completely new orientation to their
methods and aims. They admit frankly that anything they know of
acting and production they have learned from this dynamic and
gracious lady.
Although she has very little
spare time as part of her duties as producer of the Abbey
Theatre, she always spares a week-end to come down to advise,
criticize, and mould the cast into a smooth moving team, before
each play is staged. Besides the invaluable aid given by Mill
Moloney, the Society has arranged lectures for its members by
Walter Macken, Ronald Ibbs, Brendan Smith, Gabriel Fallon, Anew
ster, Maurice O'Brien, DD Franks. In co-operation with the
Carlow Arts Council and Carlow Vocational Education Committee,
the Society arranged two RDS Lectures by Roger McHugh on the
Theatre in 1953/54. These were open to the public and drew large
audiences. Besides presenting their plays in Carlow, where they
drew overflowing audiences to the Coliseum Cinema,
the members have toured to Athy, Tullow and Bagenalstown where
they have been given enthusiastic receptions. Members have also
co-operated with Macra na Feirme in supplying Adjudicators for
the Macra Drama Competitions.
Source: http://www.carlowlittletheatre.com/history
© Artwork by Michael Brennan 2012
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