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Newpoint Players are flying high with their latest production winning at Tubbercurry, Ballymoney and Castleblaney drama festivals. Although they missed the top award at Newry Drama Festival last night coming runners up to Clontarf Players, Radium Girls they did win well deserved awards for Best Costume, Most Ambitious Choice and the Best Actor award on the night also went to Newpoint's Mickey Brannigan. Most importantly they have qualified for the All Ireland Finals in Athlone in May.
“In the Shadow Of The Glen: Reimagined by Sean Treanor,” is a one-act play written by J.M. Synge which was performed as one of the opening plays at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin in 1903. Newpoint performed it in the same venue for the Abbey’s centenary. Newpoint director Sean Treanor has revisited the play and added a prologue which extends the length of the play to that of a full-length. He has the players in animal masks (Allison Rodgers) and contoured costumes (Bernie McParland) to emphasise the basic brute nature of the characters and the landscape they inhabit.
Speaking on Newpoint Players past successes chairman Donal O’Hanlon said, “Newpoint Players have won the All-Ireland on four occasions. We always bring something different to the circuit and occasionally adjudicators don’t get it - see the 5/6 successes above. So we rely on the individual adjudicators to have done their homework and opened their horizons."
When asked about theatre reaction to the production, Donal said, “Theatre holds people in its grasp like no other branch of the arts. You see live people in front of you playing out someone’s lives, joys and traumas. You can almost smell them from where you sit, unlike a film or TV show). It can sometimes be difficult to entice people into the theatre but once you have them there, they are all yours. A lot of the fun on stage is to bring the audience to new places and, when it’s working as planned, you can manipulate their emotions like a conductor leads an orchestra. That being said, no show is ever the same two nights in a row because it is the collective audience response which creates the tension. Theatre is alive but every generation needs to rediscover and reinvent it for themselves. That is why our youth group is so precious to us."
When it comes to public support, Donal said, “We are incredibly lucky to have a long term sponsor in The Elliott & Trainor Partnership, a legal firm on the Downshire Rd, Newry. They support every show we do and, aware of the vast expenses incurred in the May Finals, they have generously donated £500 to our campaign chest. We would welcome other support if it were offered. We particularly feel we are representing Newry and the wider area when we go to Athlone. The results are televised by RTE on the great Gala Finals night and we regularly see other groups accompanied by people in official regalia extending the hand of friendship and networking with others on behalf of their town and communities."
When asked about the future Donal said, “I have mentioned our fabulous Youth Group. Newpoint are a registered charity whose purpose is to provide free drama workshops and training for the youth of our area. We count at least 50 former members who owe their careers in the Arts and associated professions to their time in Newpoint Youth, now in its 44th year. We seek funding for the summer program and are delighted to announce that this project has been supported by the Community Foundation for Northern Ireland through the Brian Conlon Foundation who do so much for local youth. This year the Brian Conlon Foundation has given us £3500 towards the show which works 4 hours a day, 5 days a week for 7 weeks through the summer: all absolutely free to the participants. The culmination is 3- or 4-night’s performance at the end of August. Work begins on 15th July."
Despite uncertainty surrounding Newry’s provision of public art facilities in 2024 due to proposed renovations at Newry Town Hall Newpoint are excited to welcome a new build but would remind the Council of how Covid closures killed off so many worthy projects and businesses and they should urgently address the matter. Just closing the doors on people is not an option. Newpoint, however, will survive!
