Night of drama at Newgrange Hotel

Navan Theatre Group presented a very enjoyable night of drama recently at the Newgrange Hotel in Navan. The theatre night was the culmination of work within the group to develop skills amongst new and existing members and to create opportunities to explore different ways of interpreting scripts. Ciara Cassoni, a member of the group, took the lead in facilitating a series of workshops and in directing five excerpts from three plays to a full house in the Newgrange Hotel. Ciara is a drama therapist and as well as performing in several Navan Theatre Group productions, she has also written her first full length play 'At Odds'. She was delighted to have the opportunity to direct two excerpts from her play for the Newgrange show. The excerpts performed were well chosen and effortlessly dropped the audience into the heart of the plays in a way that engaged the imagination and whetted the appetite for more. The scenes performed were from 'At Odds', 'Drinking Companions' by Alan Ayckbourn and excerpts from 'The Memory of Water' by Shelagh Stephenson. The cast of 15 had been rehearsing since March and the quality of the performances reflected the energy and commitment of all those involved. The cast included Katy Leech, Ciara O'Reilly, Cathy O'Brien, Gráinne Ní Bhraonáin, Liam " Brádaigh, Mary Lavelle, Raymond Cullen, Maria Tynan, Robert Clarke, Gráinne Brady, Joanne Donoghue, Iseult Caffrey, Deirdre Doyle, Veronica Brennan and Des Lynch. Navan Theatre Group is keen to continue to promote a strong community focus to its work and Ann Reilly, on behalf of the group, acknowledged the support of family and friends at this informal night of theatre. Details of the group's annual November production at Navan's Solstice Theatre were also announced - this year the group will be presenting 'Translations' by Brian Friel and readings will commence on Tuesday 31st August in St Mary's Community Centre, Navan.