Eamon Morrissey, best known for his comic performances on stage and television, is set to open the 61st RTÉ All Ireland Drama Festival.
Known as Cass Cassidy on screen in the popular Fair City, Morrissey has a long and distinguished international career in acting. From his early life he took up acting while living in London when he was chosen for the part of Ned, the emigrant, in the 1964 world première of Brian Friel’s Philadelphia, Here I Come!. He continued to advance his career on the big stage, this time in Broadway where Philadelphia, Here I Come became a huge success.
In 1977, Morrissey won a Jacob's Award for his performances in Frank Hall's long-running satirical TV series, Hall's Pictorial Weekly. Each week he appeared as a variety of grotesque characters, most notably The Minister for Hardship (based on the then-Taoiseach, Liam Cosgrave). Two decades later, he appeared as Father Derek Beeching in "Speed 3", an episode of Channel 4's sitcom Father Ted.
Morrissey's most significant movie appearance to date came in 1986 when he took the central role of Arthur in Peter Ormrod's Eat the Peach.
Welcoming the announcement the festival director Joe MacCarrick stated that he is looking forward to having such a distinguished actor perform the official opening on Thursday 2nd May. As the finishing touches are put to this year’s national event, the 61st festival is completely booked out, a repeat of the festival’s success in 2012. Adjudicator, Tony Rushforth, will have the unenviable job of presiding over the competition and his critical analysis will be eagerly awaited after each nightly performance.
The drama festival is the grand final of a competition which sees 30 drama groups compete at 35 local drama festivals nationwide from the end of February to early April, the top 9 qualifying for a place at the Athlone finals. The 9 groups will battle for the coveted Festival Champions Trophy and as well as being in contention for the many acting and technical awards on offer. The festival is supported by a lively Fringe which features schools workshops, art exhibitions, and other theatrical performances at locations around the town.
Festival member Ronan Bushell commenting on the build up to the festival stated “the town has come alive with colour to welcome the influx of visitors who are descending on the town for the festival”. He went on to say “Athlone Town Council and Athlone Tidy Towns have pulled out all the stops in making the town look its best and with local shops participating in window displays and sporting county flags, the atmosphere will be immensely uplifting.”
The festival’s deputy PRO Julie Drew welcomed RTÉ’s broadcasting schedule from Athlone throughout the festival and advises drama enthusiasts, in particular, to tune in on a daily basis for the many programmes. “RTÉ will broadcast daily reports from the RTÉ All Ireland Drama Festival on RTÉ Radio 1 and on RTÉ One Television with RTÉ’s Karina Buckley reporting for The Ronan Collins Show, Marian Finucane and Morning Edition. The Ronan Collins Show and Marian Finucane will also be broadcasting live from RTÉ’s Athlone studio during the event.” Julie also encourages the public to get involved in the festival through social media with festival accounts on facebook and twitter. “We want to hear your comments about each and every performance on stage. We also want to know what you think of our adjudicator’s comments and of course the guessing game for the awards will start from when the curtain falls until the final performance on the 10th May.“
The packed fringe festival will see over 30 “free” events take place across the town during the festival. Fringe organiser Majella Flanagan highly recommends a recital at Shannon Coffee Dock on Thursday 9th May at 4pm. The Athlone Architectural & Heritage Group present a River Bank Recital with baritone Darren O'Hara accompanied on guitar by Athlone singer songwriter and renowned Polish harpist Justyna Kosmulska. The recital will include the evergreen Danny Boy a selection of classic Irish pieces and a special tribute to Athlone’s Count John McCormack.
Full details of the fringe festival are available on line at www.dramafestival.ie