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TEAM THEATRE ANNUAL VISIT: Every year the school is visited by Team Theatre. These are a group who travel from school to school and put on short productions for the Senior classes and follow these productions with workshops. The productions are topical and sometimes controversial and provide the students with plenty of talking points. The arrival of Team Theatre is always much anticipated and enjoyed by students. The following is a report published in the local paper which includes a review of the Team Theatre production for 1998 and a commentary on the workshop which followed. TEAM THEATRE PLAY SUMMARY Annabel is seventeen and doing her Leaving Cert. It was her birthday and her sister Poppy hadnt rang from America so she was upset. Her best friend Claire wanted her to go to a gig with her the following Saturday night and Annabel reluctantly agrees and they decide to mitch from school the following day and go shopping. At home, Annabels parents argue about work and their daughter Poppy. On the following day, when Annabel and Poppy go into town, they meet Terry Mc Allister, the brother of a schoolmate, busking. He invites them back to an eco-warrior camp. They turn up, but Claire has to go home. The girls meet some others at the camp, Derek, Sheila and Jo. Annabel stays talking to Terry for so long that she misses the last bus home and ends up sleeping in a tree beside Sheila. The next morning, a T.V. presenter comes to the camp and mistakes Annabel for one of the fulltime warriors and she mishears Annabels name, reporting it as Animal. The presenter wants to film her the next day and Terry persuades her to come back. At home she gets into trouble again with her parents for staying out all night and they were shocked when she tells them where she had been. They go to a conference and Annabel returns to the camp where she is chained to a tree. Her parents see this on television and are horrified to hear that there has been an accident at the camp. It is not Annabel but Jo who has jumped into a bucket of a JCB because Annabel lied and told her that she had been part of an Eco-Warrior group in America who had been engaged in this activity. Annabel becomes disillusioned with the whole lot and returns home to make her peace with her parents. Annabel looks up to her sister Poppy and therefore wants to be the same as her. She does this by joining Eco-Warrior group but soon discovers that it isnt all she expected. Terry has pretended that he is interested in saving the trees but is only interested in what he can gain for himself. Annabels parents show us that they have to work together in the bringing up of their children and Claire shows us how difficult it is to live in a family with problems. THE WORKSHOP: Our group talked with Muireann who played Annabels mother and Jo in the play. We discussed different aspects of the play and our favourite parts. We then had to pick three parts which were not shown in the play and which we would like to see (issues that were not resolved). We decided to find out about the initial relationship between Annabels parents and the group acted out a scenario that we dictated to them. The play was easy to understand and the themes were interesting and the workshops gave up a clearer view of aspects of the play itself. Contributors: Fiona Kiernan, Aisling Mc Cusker, Imelda Gray, Edel Mc Lean, Natasha Murray, Sheila Bohan, Mary Mc Keon and others. SCHOOL CONCERTS OVER THE YEARS: The following is a report from the local paper The Leitrim Observer, from Wednesday 29th May 1996 about the annual School Concert: Outside, the House Full sign was up. Inside they raised the rafters. Such was the order of the day for the Vocational School Variety Concert. And what a variety there was singers, dancers, musicians, storytellers and some fine acting performances. A wealth of talent was on display the beautiful solo singing performances of Breege Mc Caffrey, Matthew Keaney, and Edel Mc Lean (performing her own fathers composition) and the group pieces from Rita Reynolds and Natasha Murray and the Reynolds sisters -Mary, Anne and Rita. Musicians played individually-Andrew Morrow (fiddle), Aishling Mc Cusker (Accordian), Matthew Keaney (Flute) and Christina O Reilly (Accordian) Anne Reynolds (Tin Whistle), and in groups like Deirdre and Niamh Baxter, Matthew Keaney and Michelle O Reilly who played together in Killeshandra and the Brady twins Laura and Blaithin. Various musicians played accompaniment to the dancers Karl Mc Cartin (Horn Pipe) Imelda O Hanlon (St Patricks Day) and 4-and reel group, Karen Greene, Anita Mc Gee, Colette Lyons and Imelda O Hanlon. The audience were treated to two recitations, the first from Pauline Holohan with Percy Ffrenchs If I Were a Lady and the second from Rita Reynolds with The Orchard Story. Central to the night however were the three short sketches. First came Dessie Harrington and Shane Conolly in Mastermind. The one liners here were fast and furious as a frustrated Magnus Magnesson tried to get a straight answer from smart alec Paddy Mc Gillicuddy and had the audience in stitches. In the next sketch Cillas Blind Date, desperately seeking Cecil (Enda Lyons) chose a reluctant Felicity (Edel Mc Lean) for a date in Aughavas. Excellent in their roles were Natasha Murray as Mary, the bimbo in the pink high heels and Rita Reynolds as Bridie, the violent pig farmer. Lastly came the spooky The Haunted House a hilarious sketch in which a trio of tramps tries to outwit each other to claim a derelict house as their home for the night. What ensued was the spectacle of rashers, black pudding, chops, a stinking red herring and skin and hair flying across the stage. More fine performances here from the versatile Mary Reynolds, Elaine Buckley and Nicole Coyne. The whole evening was beautifully co-ordinated by M.C Breege Mc Caffrey and credit is well due to music teacher Mr John Crowe who worked so hard organising and co-ordinating the music and musicians, and also for playing himself at the end on his own and with Mr. Enda Mc Namara who had spent some months in teaching practise in Carrigallen and kindly volunteered himself to play the fiddle. Thanks are extended to all those involved in the Corn Mill Theatre for their help Sean Donnellan on the lights, Shane Flynn and Enda Lyons for the stage management, Mrs Rita Reynolds and Mrs Maura Mc Guinness for the box office and Mr Frank Murray for the door. Proceeds of the concert go to Telethon 96 and even with admission only being £1 for children and £2 for adults, £305 was raised in total. A big thank you therefore to everyone who participated in the concert, the teachers who helped with make-up and co-ordination backstage and all who attended. |
