Prosperous Drama Society wins All Ireland Drama Festival

Prosperous Drama Society has won the RTÉ All Ireland Drama Festival.

There were emotional and joyous scenes as the prize was announced in Athlone last Saturday night.

The group has been consistantly successful in getting to the All Ireland’s, but has been denied the win until this year, although they have won the All-Ireland in the One Act category on a number of occasions. 

Ashleigh O’Neill and Robert Massey won the best actress and actor awards at the festival also, while Lurlene Duggan won Best Director and Paul Kelly won Best Stage Setting. Prosperous Drama Society also won the Abbey Theatre Award.

They booked their place in the Athlone finals following wins in numerous festivals in Enniskillen, the Millbank Theatre in Rush and the Ivy Leaf in Castleisland, Kerry.

Prosperous’s production was of ‘Sylvia’ by AR Gurney. The play is about a couple who adopt a dog, the ‘Sylvia’ of the title and the hilarity which ensues. The four cast members were regular Prosperous stalwarts Robert Massey, Ashleigh O’Neill, Zita McGarry Kelly and James Murphy.

The play was directed by Lurlene Duggan; sound was by Claire O’Neill; lighting was by Ciarán Healy and Jimmy Grace and the set designers and builders were Paul Kelly, Brian Moran, Peter O’Neill, TJ Duggan, Ronan Kelly, Patrick O’Flaherty, Siobhan Keogh, Cyrena Hayes, Lucy Byrne, Emma Keogh, Tadgh Kelly, Patricia O’Neill and Joy Duggan.