Whats on
Events for Brochure from February – March 2012.
Thursday 23rd February
Annual Choral Concert
Portadown Ladies Choir celebrates 61 years of musical success this year, with Musical Director Gordon Speers and accompanist Stuart Nelson. This will be an entertaining evening of Choral Music at its best. The special artists include Harriet Jenkins –Mezzo –soprano and Niall Crozier Compere
Show 8-00pm Tickets £8 available from Gordon Speers Carpets or Pay at the Door
For details contact 02838335264
Saturday 10th March
P.M. Big Band Annual Concert
This Portadown based band features the classic line-up of brass, rhythm and vocals. The bands repertoire ranges from Frank Sinatra, swing to big band interpretations of modern pop and rock standards, a selection that should appeal to all those who enjoy live music played like it used to be.
Show 8pm Tickets £10 Available from Winnies Newsagents Contact 02838 335666
Drama Festival 2012
Tuesday 13th March
Rosemary Drama Group
WHEN WE ARE MARRIED by J B Priestley Comedy
In the heart of Northern England, three respectable couples, married on the same day, at the same church and by the same vicar, join to celebrate 25 years of blissful matrimony. The happy celebrations are brought to a sudden halt by a shocking revelation. As the home truths fly like confetti and conjugal rites turn to farcical fights, an evening of sparkling comic mayhem erupts. With a photographer from the local paper due to arrive any second, a missing housekeeper and a doorbell that won't stop ringing, can the three couples keep a lid on their embarrassing secret?
Wednesday 14th March
Belvoir Drama Group Belfast
ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO's NEST by Dale Wasserman Straight
McMurphy thinks he can get out of doing work while in prison by pretending to be mad. His plan backfires when he is sent to a mental asylum. He fits in frighteningly well, enlivening the place by playing card games and basketball with his fellow inmates His different point of view actually begins to cause some of the patients to progress but the head nurse is after him at every turn. Nurse Ratched becomes his personal cross to bear as his resistance to the hospital routine gets on her nerves. Contains some strong language
Thursday 15th March
Pomeroy Players
THE WEIR (Confined) by Conor McPherson Irish
This is a play that takes the audience from belly-laugh comedy to ghostly tension and tears, often in a very short space of time. A handful of people in a West of Ireland bar: the publican Brendan and two regulars Jack and Jim. Their evening is enlivened by the appearance of Finbar, the town's hotelier with an out-of-town woman, the soft spoken Valerie. She comes to act as a sort of catalyst for the men and reminiscences about an unexplained event at the local house she has rented set them off on a round of ghost stories that get creepier by the minute! Contains some strong language
Friday 16th March
Letterkenny Music & Drama Group
THE 39 STEPS (Confined) by John Buchan adapted by Patrick Barlow Comedy
This comedy version of "The 39 Steps" has been adapted from a book by John Buchan. If you remember Alfred Hitchcock's fabulous script, its suspense, and amusing chase between the hero and the spy masters, then you will certainly appreciate this spoof. Three men and a woman play all the roles that encompass the entire play from the beginning to the end. The leading character, Richard Hannay, is a sophisticated sleuth who finds a dead woman in his apartment. This starts the action rolling. Hannay is accused of her murder, tries to escape the police, and resolves to find the real killer. Hannay travels near and far, has a car chase, a train chase, and jumps out of a window. He ends up accidentally handcuffed to a woman who gives him a hard time. She, however, falls in love with him and they try to solve the mystery of the 39 steps together.
Saturday 17th March
The Clarence Players Belfast
WEEKEND BREAKS by John Godber Comedy
John Godber's play explores the complex relationship between a thirty-three year old theatre studies teacher and his elderly parents. Martin Dawson (separated from his wife and children after an affair) has invited his parents, Joan and Len, to visit him in the Lake District. This "enjoyable" weekend break evolves into an opportunity for the release of the pent- up frustrations of a lifetime. Godber successfully combines biting humour with serious intent in this thought-provoking comment on age, communication and life in general.
Contains some strong language.
Monday 19th March
Clockwork Theatre Group Dublin
THE INCREASED DIFFICULTY OF CONCENTRATION by Vaclav Havel Comedy
A unique opportunity to see a play penned by the late former President of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Havel, who passed away just before Christmas. A playwright and a poet before he reluctantly became a politician, he presents us with a comedy which borders on "Theatre of the Absurd" with fast changes and a mixed up time-frame -the clue is really in the title. Dr Humi is working from home today. His wife expects him to break up with his mistress and his mistress expects him to dump his wife. An unexpected visit from Dr Balcar and her colleagues from the Institute of Sociology interupts his work with his attractive secretary and pandemonium breaks out.
Tuesday 20th March
Holywood Players
THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST by Oscar Wilde Comedy/Irish
A play that overflows with razor sharp wit, sublime elegance and dizzy romantic comedy tells the tale of Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff, both young men who have taken to bending the truth to add a dash of excitement to their lives and secretly escape the social expectations of the English upper class exemplified by the battle axe Lady Bracknell. Jack has invented an imaginary brother, Earnest whom he uses as an excuse to escape from his dull home in the country in order to frolic in town. Algernon has an imaginary friend Bunbury, who provides convenient excuses for taking adventures in the country. However, their deceptions eventually cross paths, resulting in a series of hilarious discoveries.
Wednesday 21st March
Estuary Players Dublin
THREE DAYS OF RAIN by Richard Greenberg Straight
Walker Janeway and his sister Nan reunite for the reading of their father's will in their Manhattan loft where he lived. They are joined by Theo, the son of their father's late business partner. A play of intrigue, deceptions and new revelations the three actors play six parts in this Pulitzer winning play by Greenberg, a play in which Julia Roberts made her Broadway debut in 2006.
Thursday 22nd March
Newpoint Players Newry
THE BEAUTY QUEEN OF LEENANE by Martin McDonagh Irish
Set in the mountains of Connemara, County Galway, The Beauty Queen of Leenane tells the darkly comic tale of Maureen Folan, a plain and lonely woman in her early forties, and Mag, her manipulative ageing mother, whose interference in Maureen's first and possibly final chance of a loving relationship sets in motion a train of events that leads inexorably towards the play's terrifying denouement.
Friday 23rd March
Lislea Dramatic Players
THE SHADOW OF A GUNMAN (Confined) by Sean O'Casey Irish
Donal Davoren, a poet, is sharing a Dublin tenement with his friend Seamus Shields. The other residents believe him to be a gunman working for the Irish Republican Army, a belief that he makes no attempt to correct, as he thinks it enhances him especially in the eyes of the tenant Maria, who seems to be interested in the poet. Surely this can do no harm, or can it?
