Bray One Act Drama Festival

Participating in the Bray One Act Drama Festival

On Thursday 26^th of January, I alongside other TYs, fifth years and second years took part in The Bray One Act Drama Festival. So much hard work went into the creation of our play – Hospital Food by Eugene O’Hare and Art, Cameron and Eoin even got their hair cut really short in order to make the play really realistic and to get into their characters.

We had a tech rehearsal in the Mermaid Theatre in Bray on the Sunday and then a final one on Tuesday evening and both went really well .We were given the opportunity to double check the sound and lighting and get a feel for the stage we would be acting on.

I had been really sick the week before the show so I was just praying I would be better by Tuesday and thankfully I pulled through (just about!). On the Tuesday evening before the show we mostly just relaxed in our dressing room and listened to some music to calm our nerves, although I was actually more excited than nervous as I absolutely love to perform on stage. We were up against 3 other youth groups which included East Glendalough and Kilmac Youth Drama group. We were to perform last which meant we only came on at 10pm which was quite late but meant that we had more time to perfect our makeup and costumes.

We were so grateful to have the fabulous Cathy Kelly and Helen, two junior school mothers, in to apply our makeup and they did such a professional, amazing job. They even applied a bald cap! They also helped the girls put their headscarves on so that no hair could be seen as we were cancer patients and the appearance of any hair could ruin the effect.

After what seemed like years, we finally got onto the stage and let’s just say performing in the Mermaid Theatre was one of the most exhilarating experiences, one that I will treasure forever. Everything seemed to just fall into place and our lines just seemed to flow one after the other without any hesitation whatsoever. The atmosphere was buzzing and truth be told we were all extremely emotional taking our final bow when we realised all our hard work had paid off.

We sat backstage as we listened to the adjudicator give feedback on each of the plays and then she told us the results. The adjudicator told us our play was poignant and moving. She also said that it had the potential to go places and do bigger and better things which was a huge compliment. After these breath-taking remarks we realised we had won all three of the prizes and we were thrilled, beyond thrilled. We won best production, best actress and best actor and it was just the best feeling ever that someone else thought our play was unique. A special word of congratulations to Mia and Cameron who won best actor and actress. We are all delighted for them and they truly deserved it.

I cannot emphasise enough how happy I am to be part of such a lovely group of people and I can’t put it into words how much I loved performing this play. But of course none of it would be possible without the wonderful Ms. Carney who is so dedicated and works so hard to make sure we put on the best play possible. She brings us out of ourselves and finds the inner actors deep down and for that I can’t thank her enough. I am eternally grateful for her guidance, support and continuous search for us to keep improving our acting. Another huge thank you to anyone who came to support us including some fourth year girls and parents, it means so much to have the support there.

We are hoping to perform our play in school which we hope will change people’s outlook on hospitals and cancer patients in general. I cannot wait to start our next play in fifth year and my experience in The Bray One Act Drama Festival is one I’ll never forget.