Submission guide for Fringe 2016

Entries are now being sought for Fringe 2016!  If you think you have what it takes to write a play for the Fringe, please read these submission guidelines.

Submission Guide for Playwrights:
What we are looking for? The Fringe is about contemporary drama based on fresh ideas or fresh approaches. We don’t, and we never will, short-list for performance, scripts based on clichéd characters, themes or approaches. We are looking for fresh, contemporary plays that will entertain and engage the audience. Writers should keep this in mind before submitting.
Include Action. Many entries are too static – they lack action – something happening on stage. People sitting down having a conversation does not make a play irrespective of how interesting the conversation is. Plays need movement.
Cast. Scripts with a large cast won’t make the shortlist.
Length. Each script should have a playing time of fifteen minutes (plus or minus two.)  If you give your script a quick read after you have written it and it reads anywhere around that time, it is in all probability too long. Plays play slower than they read. If your entry is too long or two short we can’t consider it. Length is difficult to judge.
Plays must be new. The play must be your own work and it cannot have been published or performed prior to entry. If your play is shortlisted it cannot be performed or published prior to the Claremorris Festival.
Formatting. Plays will have to be correctly formatted to be considered. (You’d be surprised how many we get that are formatted incorrectly. We simply don’t have the time to try and decipher who is saying what and what is speech and what isn’t.)
Title of file you submit must be the title of the play. (Again, you’d be surprised how many we get that have a different filename to the actual title on the entry form and on the script.)
Your name, address and contact details cannot appear anywhere on the script.
Please use page numbers. These are vital in case we drop your script after we print it.

Continue reading “Submission guide for Fringe 2016”

2015 results

Here is the complete list of award winners from the Claremorris Fringe Festival of Drama 2015.

Best Script: Bob Canning, California, USA, for ‘Nuestra Dama de las Viñas’
Runner-up Best Script: Sarah Pitard, London, for ‘2:18 Finchley’

Best Actor Male: Martin Wade, The Grey Lake Actors, who played #2 in ‘Crumbs’
Best Actor Female: Vivienne Lee, Half a Breakfast Theatre Group, who played Mam, Wife and Girlfriend in ‘Four Decembers Ago’
Best Director: Ken Armstrong, The Doubles Partnership, for ‘The Visibility’

Adjudicators’ Special Awards:
• Director Ken Armstrong of The Doubles Partnership for multiple roles played by actors in ‘The Visibility’.
• Director Frankie Moran of Long Haired Freaky People Productions for artistic use of sound effects in ‘2:18 Finchley’.
• Director John Paul Murphy for imaginative portrayal of animals and for costumes in ‘The Ape Cage’.
• Director Robbie Gallagher of Grey Lake Actors, for artistic effect of bed prop in ‘Crumbs’.
• Director Moira Mahony of Blendiva Productions, for use of simple door frame representation in both ‘Sleeping Dogs’ and ‘Mr Average’.
• Gearóid Ó hOireachtaigh, Half a Breakfast Theatre Group, for spectacular skateboard stunts in ‘Feline High-Rise Syndrome’.
• Liz Browne and Seamus McNally, St Patrick’s Drama Group for command and fluency of Irish language in ‘Failures’.
• Director Michael Goulding of Half a Breakfast Theatre Group for costume in ‘Four Decembers Ago’.
• Karl Healy of Blendiva Productions for the lighting and sound effects of the death scene in ‘Mr Average.’
• Director Christine McKeogh, Pansart Drama, for paparazzi entrance in ‘Nuestra Dama de las Viñas’.
• Director Michael Goulding of Half a Breakfast Theatre Group for dramatic entrance and use of space in ‘The Last Waltz.’
• Director John Nolan of The Red Card Players for imaginative and artistic use of mannequins in ‘Hospitality’.

Thanks to all who made the festival a success.

Festival programme

Official programme of the Claremorris Fringe Festival 2015, Friday 27th February to Sunday 8th March.

DATE TITLE GROUP AND DIRECTOR
Fri 27th Crumbs
by William Patterson		 The Grey Lake Actors – Robbie Gallagher
Failures
by Seamus McNally		 St. Patrick’s Drama Group, Westport – Mary Carr
Sat 28th 2:18 Finchley
by Sarah Pitard		 Long Haired Freaky People Productions – Frankie Moran
The Last Waltz
by Michael Goulding		 Half A Breakfast Theatre Group – Michael Goulding
Sun 1st The Visibility
by Ken Armstrong		 The Doubles Partnership – Ken Armstrong
Hospitality
by Joe Cottrell-Boyce		 Red Card Players – John Nolan
Mon 2nd Music at The Fringe: Sarah Buckley and Shane Horgan
Tue 3rd Music at The Fringe: Linda Conway
Wed 4th Music at The Fringe: Seamus Ruttledge
Fri 6th The Ape Cage
by Paul Thompson		 Parched Brigade Drama Group – John Paul Murphy
Feline-High-Rise-Syndrome
by Rex McGregor		 Half A Breakfast Theatre Group – Richie Heneghan
Sat 7th Mr. Average
by Stephen Lancefield		 Blendiva Productions – Moira Mahony
Sleeping Dogs
by Mena Mahon		 Blendiva Productions – Moira Mahony
Sun 8th Four Decembers Ago
by Phil Pearson		 Half A Breakfast Theatre Group – Michael Goulding
Neustra Dama de las Vinas
by Bob Canning		 Pansart Drama – Christina McKeown

You can find out more each play and its author at the site’s Programme page.