Posted 22 March 2011
Drama awards and TV choir competition success for UCD students
UCD Dramsoc has scooped four top accolades at the Irish Student Drama Association (ISDA) Awards for their production of “A Whistle in the Dark” by playwright Tom Murphy. And UCD Choral Scholars have won AN CÓR, an Irish language choir competition broadcast on RTÉ TV with their performance of Príosún Chluain Meala.
Four Student Drama Association Awards for UCD Dramsoc
UCD Dramsoc has scooped four top accolades at the Irish Student Drama Association (ISDA) Awards for their production of “A Whistle in the Dark” by playwright Tom Murphy. The awards included: Best Production; Best Director (Eoin Carrick); Best Actress (Catriona Ennis); and Best Supporting Actor (Sam Mc Govern).
A Whistle in the Dark premiered in 1961 at the Theatre Royal Stratford East London. It tells the tale of the uprooted Carney family, living in Coventry, England. Micheal, the eldest, is the exception to the cult of violence that prevails; he would live a civilised life. But he has taken the tragic step: thinking to influence his brothers, he has brought them to live with him and his English wife in his Coventry home. And now two more are arriving from Ireland to descend on him...
The Irish Student Drama Association (ISDA) is the umbrella organization of Ireland’s most prolific third-level drama societies. At its annual Theatre Festival, student societies travel to a city in Ireland and perform their plays in front of live audiences and a panel of expert judges.
The judges assess each performance, give feedback to each production team, and at the end of the Festival, decide the nominees and winners of the ISDA Awards.
The 2011 ISDA Festival took place between 04 -12 March in Galway, and involved 25 plays from 13 colleges around the country. The festival productions were a combination of the work of emerging student writers and productions of well-established plays from world-renowned playwrights.
Next year, UCD will host the 64th Irish Student Drama Association Festival.
UCD Choral Scholars win televised Irish language choir competition
With their performance of Sí do Mhaimeo í, UCD Choral Scholars have won AN CÓR, an Irish language choir competition broadcast on RTE TV 1.
For the competition, six choirs immersed themselves in the culture, language and history of traditional Irish songs, before performing in front of an expert judging panel over the course of four televised shows.
“We have performed music in many European languages, but it was particularly exciting to work on new arrangements in our own national language,” says Desmond Earley, Artistic Director of UCD Choral Scholars.
“With several native Irish speakers in the Choral Scholars, and a couple studying Irish for their BA, the group had good support when trying to understand the subtleties and nuances of pronunciation and translation.”
The final show of AN CÓR can be viewed online with the RTÉ Player.
UCD Choral Scholars will perform Handel's Messiah with the European Union Chamber Orchestra on Thursday 21st April at UCD. For tickets: www.ucd.ie/choralscholars.
UCD Choral Scholars is an award winning student vocal ensemble that performs a wide repertoire including early choral works, contemporary works and lighter and more popular works. The scholars come from a range of academic disciplines across University College Dublin. UCD Choral Scholars is a module of UCD School of Music, and a performing group of the UCD Ad Astra Academy.
(Produced by UCD University Relations)
