ACTING UP:drama competition. judged by alan stanford

maevenuigdrama

“Acting Up” The Improvised Drama Competition

On Saturday 3rd November, 55 students from all over Ireland will compete in Ireland’s first inter-college improvised drama competition which is being held in the Bank of Ireland Theatre, NUI Galway. The teams of 5 people from UCD, DCU, DIT, UCC, IT Tallaght, NUI Maynooth and NUI Galway will be put through four improvisation challenges over the course of the day. Depending on the challenge, they will have between three and 15 minutes to prepare entirely original short plays and comedy sketches on a given theme. The competition will culminate in a grand final in the Harbour Hotel on Saturday night.

The performances will be adjudicated by Alan Stanford who is the artistic director of the Second Age Theatre Co. and one of Ireland’s most prominent actors and directors, Lelia Doolan who is a former artistic director of the Abbey Theatre, former chair of the Irish Film Board and founding member of the Galway Film Fleadh and by the playwright, Henry Comerford.

The event is made possible through the generous help of the AIB Event of Excellence programme. Riona Hughes, the NUI Galway Societies Officer, said that “The aim of the award is to support the societies in organising events of social, cultural, humanitarian and educational importance which enhance the community and enrich the society experience in NUI Galway.”

Collaborative theatre, a style of production in which the cast has an input into the authoring of a text through improvisation and workshops, is a tool that many cutting-edge theatre groups are employing now, including The Team Theatre Co. who presented “Particularly in the Heartland” at the Galway Arts Festival this year. Acting Up aims to encourage Ireland’s next generation of playwrights, directors and performers to develop the skills of improvised drama. Dan Colley, the convenor of the competition, said “This competition is a great opportunity for young and budding theatre practitioners to flex their performance muscles in a way that’s perhaps different from a safe, well rehearsed Shakespeare production”

Lelia Doolan, one of the competition’s adjudicators, stressed the broad application of the skills that required for a competition of this sort; “It encourages quick thinking on your feet and builds confidence in speaking in front of crowd, which isn’t just useful to people with ambitions to get onto the stage and into film, but just about any career that involves being able to expressing yourself well”

The competition is being jointly run by NUI Galway’s DramSoc and the Irish Student Drama Association (ISDA) who are celebrating their 60th anniversary this year. ISDA are an umbrella group for Drama Societies all over the island of Ireland. The associations’ biggest event of the calendar is a week-long student drama festival. This academic year it is being hosted by DIT from 24th March 2008 in theatres around Temple Bar in Dublin.

Further note:
• There will be a cheese and wine reception to launch the competition in the Siobhan McKenna theatre in NUI Galway at 9pm on Friday 2nd November.
• Alan Stanford is currently directing “Philadelphia Here I Come” by Brian Friel for Second Age, which is currently playing in the Helix, Dublin.
• Alan Stanford will direct the Christmas production at the Gate Theatre in Dublin “Great Expectations” by Charles Dickens, which has been adapted for the stage by Hugh Leonard.
• Alan Stanford played the role of George in “Glenroe” for many years.
• Lelia Doolan co-wrote “Sit Down and Be Counted” an insider’s condemnation of RTE’s conservative programming policies in 1969.
• Henry Comerford wrote “When She Was Good” which was produced at the Peacock in 1974.
• ISDA are trying to get in touch with their alumni from the past 60 years with a view to holding an anniversary dinner in March. Any old members are encouraged to contact Kerry Coventry at isdachair@gmail.com
• The preliminary rounds in the BOI Theatre are open to the public.



The judges, organisers and competitors will be available for further comments and photographs. If your organisation would like to send representatives to attend please contact Maeve on (0877964352)