Rush Drama Festival 2023 Results

What a fantastic festival run we had at the Millbank Theatre. We had a variety of plays on our stage from groups across the country. We would like to thank all the groups for coming to Rush and a special thank you to Sarah Purcell for being our adjudicator. We are delighted to be able to your first festival as adjudicator. We would like to thank members and board members of Rush Dramatic Society for their support of the 2023 Festival. Thank you to Fingal County Council for supporting our Festival. And most importantly, thank you to our audience members for coming to support. We have loved the chats, the banter and hearing what you thought of the performances. The support you give us is heart warming.

We held a celebratory opening in Rush Library on Friday March 3rd. We were delighted to have Claire Butterly our longest Season Ticket Holder to offically open the Rush Drama Festival. It’s hard to believe it’s been 19 years since we started Rush Drama Festival. Our festival opened to every night sold out, which just goes to show how much the people of Rush love our Festival.

We were delighted with the Holycross Ballycahill Drama Group from Co. Tipperary with their performance of “A Skull in Connemara“. Throughout the 9 nights we had a mixture of drama and comedy. For the full line up click here. We were delighted with some originals to bring something different to our audiences.

Our 9 night festival only had 8 acts as another group dropped out, so our own members from Rush Dramatic Society came together to perform “Howie the Rookie” by Mark O’Rowe. Thanks to Brian Hosford for arranging this – and to Tom Duffy and John Hosford for their starring roles in this, it truely was a fantastic performance.

We wrapped our Festival on March 11th with Prosperous Dramatic Society from Kildare with “Olenna“. After a quick break, we returned to the auditorium for the results. This year we only had 2 acts in the confined section and the other 6 were in the open section. We live streamed the results on the Rush Drama Festival Facebook page. We also saved a copy of it on our youtube channel for those who are not on Facebook. We are already looking forward to next year which will mark our 20 year anniversary of the Rush Drama Festival. To watch the results see the video clip below.

Rush Drama Festival Nominations/Winners in the Confined Section
Adjudicator’s Award
Tom Singleton & Rory Dodd for their Masterclass in Stage management for the slick scene
change in The Importance of Being Earnest – Clontarf Players
Technical Award
Philip Byrne for the wonderful immersive atmosphere that we walked into – the smell of
chocolate in the air which was pumped by an infuser, the chocolates on every seat and the
mood music – luring us into a false sense of security to his fabulous dystopian set of The
Pitchfork Disney – Salmon Eile Drama Group
Best Actress
Nominations:
Ellen O’Malley as Gwendolyn Fairfax in The Importance of Being Earnest – Clontarf Players
Brid Turner as Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest – Clontarf Players
Phoebe O’Leary as Haley Stray in The Pitchfork Disney – Salmon Eile Drama Group
Winner:
Ellen O’Malley as Gwendolyn Fairfax in The Importance of Being Earnest – Clontarf Players
Best Actor
Nominations:
Daniel Elliott as Lane/Merriman in The Importance of Being Earnest – Clontarf Players
Ronan Richardson as Algernon Moncrief in The Importance of Being Earnest – Clontarf
Players
Robert Gallagher as Pressley Stray in The Pitchfork Disney – Salmon Eile Drama Group
Luke Devaney as Cosmo Disney in The Pitchfork Disney – Salmon Eile Drama Group
Winner:
Robert Gallagher as Presley Stray in The Pitchfork Disney – Salmon Eile Drama Group
Best Director
Myra Maguire – The Importance of Being Earnest – Clontarf Players
Best Play
1 st Place – The Importance of Being Earnest – Clontarf Players
2 nd Place – The Pitchfork Disney – Salmon Eile Drama Group

Rush Drama Festival Nominations/Winners in the Open Section

Adjudicator’s Award
Shaun Byrne for the writing, directing & acting & JC Bonar for set design – How the set
helped weave 13 scenes into the darkness and back to light in Darkness Echoing – Butt
Drama Circle
Technical Award
Seamus Farrell for the sound and lighting that beautifully framed every scene so sensitively
throughout the play – Faith Healer – Dundalk Theatre Workshop
Best Actress
Nominations:
Fiona Coughlan as Sally Poppy in The Welkin – Ballyduff Drama Group
Valerie O’Leary as Elizabeth Luke in The Welkin – Ballyduff Drama Group
Mary Colbert as Charlotte Cray in The Welkin – Ballyduff Drama Group
Pauline Clarke as Grace in Faith Healer – Dundalk Theatre Workshop
Ashleigh O’Neill as Carol in Oleanna – Prosperous Dramatic Society
Winner:
Fiona Coughlan as Sally Poppy in The Welkin – Ballyduff Drama Group
Best Actor
Nominations:
Shaun Byrne as Joe in Darkness Echoing – Butt Drama Circle
JC Bonar as Da in Darkness Echoing – Butt Drama Circle
Tim Ahern as Teddy in Faith Healer – Dundalk Theatre Workshop
Fergus Mullen as Frank in Faith Healer – Dundalk Theatre Workshop
Robert Massey as John in Oleanna – Prosperous Dramatic Society
Winner:
Robert Massey as John in Oleanna – Prosperous Dramatic Society
Best Director
Ger Canning The Welkin – Ballyduff Drama Group
Best Play
1 st Place – The Welkin – Ballyduff Drama Group
2 nd Place – Oleanna – Prosperous Dramatic Society
3 rd Place – Faith Healer – Dundalk Theatre Workshop

We look forward to welcoming you back at the Festival next year on our 20th anniversary.