Ballinrobe show set to be a success

Ballinrobe show set to be success


Ballinrobe Musical Society presents Come The Dawn

Preview
Mike Finnerty

AFTER playing to sell-out crowds for ten nights with their award-winning production of The Pirate Queen last year, Ballinrobe Musical Society will be hoping to make headlines again when their 2011 show opens next Saturday night.
Come The Dawn, a work of fiction about the Northern Ireland ‘troubles’, was written and composed by Belfast native Peter Kennedy, who has worked with the Ballinrobe Society for some 13 years as producer/choreographer.
Demand for tickets is reported as being ‘brisk’ with eight performances taking place between next Saturday, February 19, and Saturday February 26 in the Ballinrobe Community School auditorium.
Speaking last week at the launch of what will be a revised world premiere of Come The Dawn, Ballinrobe Musical Society Chairman, Pat McGovern, explained why this show was chosen to follow in the footsteps of The Pirate Queen, which scooped four AIMS awards.
“This show is something different, something new,” he told The Mayo News. “It’s also something that suits us, it suits a big cast. There’s going to be a lot of drama, it’s a big show.
“It was very brave and very courageous of Peter to write it. I suppose it’s a sign of the times that conditions are right to do it now.
“On reading it, I was immediately impressed by the courage of the man in taking on such a huge and delicate subject matter. I was even more impressed with an end product which is totally non-partisan and non-judgmental.”
“I think the show will be a great contrast to The Pirate Queen,” added Michael Sweeney, a long-serving cast and committee member of BMS.
“It’s also a great endorsement of Ballinrobe Society that Peter Kennedy is giving us his show. He is doing that because he knows that the set, the cast, and the Society is the best in Ireland.”
This year’s production will see 65 people take to the stage, including a handful of newcomers to the Ballinrobe ranks like Cork-born Paula O’Neill (a former member of Louis Walsh’s girlband Bellefire), Alan Greaney, Donna Ruane and Enda Gill.
However, most of the familiar faces are also back to add their unique talents into the mix with Michael Coen, Richard Crumlish, Liz Parsons, Niall Conway, Sinead Heneghan, Seamus Cafferky, Siobhan Campbell, Ann Kirrane and Walter Donoghue among the principal performers.
Young turks like Padraic Costello, Kenneth McCarthy, John Murphy and Mike Ansbro will be expected to bring the ‘X-Factor’ to fight scenes that have been described as ‘realistic to say the least’ by show insiders.
There is also considerable excitement about the ‘magnificent’ scenic work that has been carried out by renowned artist Karen Forde who travelled to Belfast to gain an insight into what would be required for Come The Dawn’s backdrop.
Construction work on the set began on December 27 and Niall Heaney’s dedicated team (which captured an AIMS award last year) have invested hundreds of hours into building Belfast’s streets, nooks and crannies. Not to mention a few surprises.
“There will be an equal ‘wow factor’ to last year’s ship,” smiled Pat McGovern, “but we don’t want to give too much away. There will be an explosion at one stage during the night and I think people will be impressed with what we’ve done.”
Among the special guests confirmed to attend next week are Don Mullan, the internationally-acclaimed author from Derry who wrote the book, Eyewitness Bloody Sunday, and Clare Kambamettu, the current Rose of Tralee.
Tickets for Come The Dawn cost €20 but there are concessions for students and OAPs on the first two nights as Ballinrobe Musical Society push back the boundaries once again in pursuit of excellence.
“I’m delighted and excited that we have the opportunity here in Ballinrobe to present to the public a work of musical drama which I believe to be one of the most important ever to come out of this island,” said Pat McGovern.

Box Office
TICKETS are on sale now from Sean Costello,
Abbey Street, Ballinrobe on 094 9541405. The box office is open from 10am to 6pm.

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