1987 saw the dawn of
a new era in the history of drama in Carrigallen. There was no
show that year as the back wall
of St Patrick's Hall had been demolished to accommodate the Corn
Mill Theatre which was built on parochial
grounds behind the hall. With the increasing demand on the hall
for other community activities its availability to the
Community Players became more limited. That, coupled with the
realisation that theatre patrons expected a level of
comfort that could not be provided in the hall, prompted the company
to embark on the project of providing a
purpose-built theatre and arts centre. Cathal Farrelly was chairman
of the Community Players then. There were lots
of dissenting voices when the idea was first mooted. After many
meetings and much discussion as to whether a store
for sets and props was required or a theatre, the latter was opted
for. At a meeting in St Patrick's Hall the decision
was taken to provide a home for drama. Present at that meeting
were Cathal Farrelly, the newly arrived parish
priest, Fr John A Young, Lyndon Johnston, Gus Ward, Maura McGuinness
and Eileen Ward. Fr Young had been
discussing the issue with Fr Patsy Young and he certainly helped
to convince the meeting that it was all or nothing.
The money will come', he said.
The project got a great
boost when the parish priest gave a site in parochial property
at the rear of the hall. A
request for grant aid was unsuccessful but, not to be deterred,
the company set about raising funds. A draw was
organised, £40 per ticket, and the people from the parish
and surrounding parishes and towns were generous in their
response. Further monies were raised by the Community Players
themselves from their own local productions.
The dream became a reality and work commenced on the site in 1987
as the subject of a FÁS Training Scheme,
ably supervised by the very experienced Pat Corr, Gulladoo. By
1989 the building was completed. Francie Smyth
kindly donated the mill wheel, which is decoratively erected in
front of the theatre and from which the name Corn
Mill Theatre is derived. Then came the furnishing of the building.
James Creed of An Grianán was helpful in
securing seating from a cinema in Drogheda which had closed down.
Cathal Farrelly got the seats at a bargain price
and Tommy Reilly, O'Reilly Wood Products, provided a van to get
them to Carrigallen. Frank Corrigan, haulier,
gave his lorry to collect the front-of-house velvet curtain and
other fittings from a vacant cinema in Sligo. In this
way the thrifty committee pieced together the fixtures and fittings
of the Corn Mill Theatre .
By 1989 the theatre was
functional. It consisted of a foyer, a 160-seater raked auditorium,
dressing room, box
office, toilets, store room, kitchen and wardrobe. There was a
catwalk and limited lighting installed since money
was scarce by this time. The draw mentioned above raised upwards
to £20,000. A very kind gesture was made by
Pat Keane of Keane Holdings, who, having won the £1,000
prize, gave it back to the theatre committee. A
memorable fund-raising event was the show A Slice of Leitrim &
a Drop of Kavanagh staged in the National
Concert Hall. This was co-ordinated between North and South Leitrim
and the finances were divided accordingly.
(Above) The Mill Wheel,which greets you as you enter the
village and stands outside the Corn Mill Theatre.
God's Gentry, directed by
Gus Ward, was the first production to take the stage at the Corn
Mill Theatre when the
doors opened in 1989. By this time the Community Players had fittingly
become the Corn Mill Theatre Company.
Whilst not a great success on the festival circuit, God's Gentry
was a huge box office success. The play required a
large cast and a lot of new talent was unearthed. Involved were
Seamus O'Rourke, Kevin Doonon, Brona O'Brien,
Charlotte Rosmond, Raymond Hackett, Michael Reilly, Cathriona
O'Reilly, Jim Williamson, Maura McGuinness,
Peter McNamee, Cathal Farrelly, Seán Ledwith, Margaret
Mimna, Brian O'Reilly, Kevin Lynch, Killian
McGuinness, Anne Doonan, Lil Fleming, Colette McCabe, Martina
McCabe, Patricia McCabe, Geraldine Lane,
Mary Dowling, Kathleen McCabe, Eamonn Daly, Thomas Lockhart, Seán
Reilly, Vincent Murray, John Donnelly,
Paddy McDermott, Rita Martin, Brian Caffrey, Tom Morrow, John
Morrow. The back-stage crew were: Lyndon
Johnston, Jonathan Finnegan, Pat McCann, Noel McGarahan, Dermot
Harte, Philip McIntyre, Finbar Jackson,
Ronan Ward, Elizabeth McGlynn, Una Ward, Seán Creamer,
a total of 45 people including the director, Gus Ward.
In 1990 The Honeyspike
showed its head again but was not as successful on the circuit
as the previous production.
John Donnelly, who played the part of Mickie, had by then a long
acting career which took him from the Gaelic Hall
to St Patrick's Hall and now the Corn Mill Theatre. Paul Williams,
presently a journalist with the Sunday World,
interviewed John back in 1984. He quotes John as saying: 'In the
time of the old Gaelic Hall, which was frequently
visited by travelling professional drama groups, I as a young
boy remember trying to get a look in the door, but
gaining admission to these shows was no easy task. One night they
were there. I was outside looking in but hadn't a
bob to my name. A well known character at the time, Tom the Post,
was on the door and beckoned to me to come in,
but I was too scared. The next thing was he came out, grabbed
me by the hair and put me sitting in a seat when no
one was looking. John's natural talent earned him numerous best
actor awards at drama festivals, culminating in his
winning best-actor award for his fabulous performance as Michael
Sherlock, a tinker in The Honeyspike in the
All-Ireland confined finals in 1975.
Two awards scooped soon
after the theatre opened helped to boost the morale of those who
worked so hard to make
it a reality. Top of that team will have to be Cathal Farrelly,
chairman, who did trojan work at that time. The two
awards were the Bank of Ireland/Farmer's Journal Community Award
of £1,000 in 1989 and the AIB Better
Ireland Award for Culture in 1990. These awards brought the Corn
Mill national acclaim. In the same year, 1990,
the development company, after many submissions, got a response
when a fact finding team arrived from the Arts
Council. The team included Larry McCluskey, CEO in Co Monaghan,
who had a keen interest in amateur drama.
In March the Committee was notified that an award of £30,000
was forthcoming. In July Ulster Bank, Arva,
granted £300 sponsorship towards Gormanstown summer school.
Pete Ward, Cootehill, drew the plans for the
theatre and gave expert advice throughout its building.
(Left) Henry Johnson in 'A Crucial Week in the life of
a Grocer's Assistant',1991.
(Middle) Gay Byrne & Kathleen Watkins (holding programmes)
visit the Corn Mill Theatre in 1991, with
some members of the Corn Mill Theatre: Cathal Farrelly, Gus Ward,
Eileen Ward, Ronan Ward & Alfie Harte.
(Right) Eileen Ward in her All-Ireland, award-winning role
as Nora Dan in 'The Communication Cord', 1992.
In 1991 A Crucial Week
in the Life of a Grocer's Assistant was directed by Cathal Farrelly.
It was a box office
success at home but the festival circuit didn't bring the success
many felt it deserved. Kathleen Watkins and Gay
Byrne (above, middle) visited the theatre in November 1991
and were pleasantly surprised to find such a wonderful
theatre in a village in Leitrim.
(Above) Cast & Crew from 'The Communication Cord' with
the awards they won on the festival circuit 1992.
The Communication Cord was staged in 1992 under the direction
of Gus Ward. This Irish farce proved to be a
tremendous success both on the festival circuit and at the theatre
box office, where over 5,000 spectators passed
through. After four open festival wins, hopes were high going
to Athlone. A wonderful performance on the night
was reflected on the final night when the company was awarded
third place. Best actress went to Eileen Ward
(above, right) for her memorable performance as Nóra
Dan. The adjudicator, Scott Marshall, remarked on the
performance: 'This was one of the finest pieces of acting I
have seen in an Irish comedy for a long time'. Desmond
Rushe, drama critic with the Irish Independent, wrote: "Eileen
Ward gave a superb performance as Nóra Dan.
In dress, appearance, gesture, voice and poise her naturalistic
acting was totally credible and achingly funny". In
total the Communication Cord was staged 35 times.
(Left) Sean Donnelly & Hugh Reilly with the All-Ireland
lighting award which they won for their work on
the 'Gentle Island', 1993
(Right) The Cast of The Gentle Island, Tony Fahy; Thomas
Lockhart; Noel Magarahan, Sean McIntyre;
Eileen Ward; Gus Ward; Maura Williamson & Jim Williamson.
In 1992 Cathal Farrelly relinquished his position as chairman,
a position he had held for ten years, to Eileen Ward.
Another Brian Friel play The Gentle Island was the 1993 choice,
again under the direction of Gus Ward. This play
pleased sufficient adjudicators to qualify for the All-Ireland
finals. The play was another success story when it came
fifth, and Hugh Reilly and Seán Donnelly were awarded 'Best
Lighting' of the festival. Resulting from a win for the
company in the Mid-Ulster festival in Carrickmore, Co Tyrone,
the Corn Mill Theatre Company were invited to
contest the Ulster Finals in the Grand Opera House in Belfast.
This regretfully never came to fruition as the opera
house was bombed two nights before the Carrigallen Company were
due to perform there. The contest took place
at an alternative venue. A hurried exodus from Belfast was enforced
due to a bomb scare in the festival club after
the show.
Another visitor to the theatre in September 1993 was Anne Walshe
of RTE who was doing research for the Arts
Show on RTE Radio. The Corn Mill featured in one of the arts shows
later in the year. After the highs of the
previous years, the company was brought back to earthwhen at first
nobody could be found to direct a play for the
1994 season. Into the breach stepped Killian McGuinness with his
production of Dr Cyril Daly's A Matter of
Practice in which Geraldine Cosgrove played an apothecary. Killian
decided to forego the festival circuit, a decision
he may have regretted later, since his production was a resounding
success.
New ground was broken in October 1994 when, under the banner of
Co-operation North, an amateur drama group,
Tongue in Cheek from the Ardoyne, Belfast, performed plays written
by their own Kate Muldoon in the Corn Mill
Theatre. This project was grant aided and so it was possible to
accommodate the visitors overnight. In reciprocation
the Corn Mill Theatre Company were invited north in January 1995
with two one-act plays, The Zoo Story and
Family Matters. The following year, 1995, Conversations on a Homecoming,
a difficult play to perform, was
directed by Gus. It was handled superbly and achieved fifth place
in the All-Ireland finals. The same cannot be
attributed to it at local level where it was poorly received.
Having spent three years as chairperson, Eileen Ward handed over
the reins to the capable hands of Maura
McGuinness. Geraldine Cosgrove and Charlie Ward have been secretary
and treasurer for a number of years. Rita
Reynolds is the current administrator and Fr John A Young, now
Monsignor Young, is president. His contribution
to The Corn Mill Theatre and its Company has been enormous down
through the years.
Numerous one-act plays have been undertaken by the company. It
was the standard policy to introduce new blood to
the boards through this medium. Some of the plays were Spring,
Spreading the News, The Travelling Man, On the
Outside, Dream Jobs, The Coiner, Pound on Demand, Thirst, Dopey
Dan, Backwater, Riders to the Sea, Drinking
Companions, Blackjacks (written by its cast), Kernaghan's
Law, Zoo Story, Family Matters and the All-Ireland
winning show in 1981 which Gus directed. Starring in that show
were Gus Ward, Killian McGuinness, Cathal
Farrelly and Mary Newman (a teacher in the Vocational School).
Gus directed and starred in The Drunk which
won the All-Ireland Scór Competition 1988. Killian Mc Guinness
played the garda. Gus, a man of many talents,
also won the All-Ireland Scór 1994 in the recitation section.
Maura McGuinness, a member of the Corn Mill
Theatre Company and teacher of speech and drama, directed the
annual Children's Theatre from 1992 to 1994.
These shows were always played to capacity audiences.
Sean McIntyre with his 'Best
Supporting Actor' award for his performance of 'Clocker' in 'Lovley
Leitrim.'
Having consulted with
the company, Gus Ward acquiesced to John's request to direct Lovely
Leitrim, which was
premiered in the Corn Mill Theatre in February 1996, where the
cast took a bow to tumultuous applause from the
audience. The play was a resounding box office success. On the
festival circuit Lovely Leitrim was also a winner.
The cast, crew, playwright and producer felt a great sense of
pride when the company performed in the 41st
All-Ireland final in Athlone where they finished in fourth position,
with Seán McIntyre (above) winning Best
Supporting Actor for his brilliant performance as Clocker Lynch.
The adjudicator, Irene Rostrow, on making her
selection, said: 'Who else can it be but Clocker Lynch?'
Lovely Leitrim was the Corn Mill Theatre's fourth
appearance in five years in the Athlone finals. The following
were involved in the year's production: Cathal
Farrelly, Pat Fitzpatrick, Niall Brady, Seán McIntyre,
Jim Williamson, Killian McGuinness, Thomas Lockhart,
Eileen Ward, Brona O'Brien, Peter McNamee, Brian O'Reilly, Raymond
Hackett, Gus Ward, Eugene Finnegan,
Eamonn Daly, Hugh Reilly, Ronan
Ward, Seán Donnelly, Seamus Mulligan, Mervyn Pryce,
Fr Patsy Young,
Elizabeth McGlynn, Una Ward, Declan Donohoe, Shane Flynn, Enda
Lyons, Martin Fullen.
© Ronan Ward Design
2003. All Rights Reserved.