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The opening night of the 69th Newry Drama Festival welcomed Rosemary Drama group with their production of “Toast” written by Henry Filloux Bennett an adaptation of the chef Nigel Slater’ s account of his life through the tastes, smells, pains and pleasures of growing up in the 1960s.
Adjudicator Ailbhe Garvey Hughes commented that it was a great play to start the festival for audiences hungry for live theatre. She said that the play depicting the tragedy of Nigel’s early childhood with the death of his adored mother poses a great challenge to any group. “The smells of cooking brought an excitement to the production and the simple bare boned set served the play very well.” Costumes were very appropriate, and the short pants worn by Nigel were endearingly credible, in spite of his moustache.
Mrs Garvey Hughes further commented “hats off to those who made the props,” which were colourful and detailed. She praised the director Ian McDonald who she felt brought so much to the play, bringing action on and off stage and adding six extra actors which worked extremely well. He moved his actors with great skill. The ensemble worked beautifully, and the cuing was very sharp. The actors who played multiple roles played with great skill. The adjudicator mentioned in particular Eileen Lee who played the waitress bringing great comic timing to her role and Ian Lee who played Warren Blub who gave a delightful performance reminiscent of Brendan Grace’s ‘Bottler’. Ruth McCrea who played Mum was a well- considered role with Mrs Potter played by Shirley Sweeney offering a powerful contrast as the stepmother. The musician created a memorable impact on the production and the main character Nigel played by Mark Irvine gave a rock- solid characterisation - it was “a very demanding role and he was up to it,” commented Mrs Garvey – Hughes. She concluded by praising the entire cast “who demonstrated high energy and full commitment.”
Rosemary Drama group “ had produced a piece of seamless story telling and great credit was due to all” she said.
Newry Drama festival continues to run until Saturday 1April and nightly tickets are available at the door of the Town Hall from 7:00pm each evening.
