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The adjudicator that first year was Dermot Tuohy from the
Gate Theatre and the price of a season ticket was £1:10:0
[one pound ten shillings which equals one pound fifty pence
to day.
In 1963-64 the festival moved to the Gaiety Theatre in Tipperary
Town while the Premier hall was being built. In 1965 it came
back to Thurles to the new and spacious Premier Hall. After
the required probationary years the festival was given the
right to nominate groups to the All Ireland finals. From then
on it became one of the most respected festivals on the circuit,
attracting the best groups who were adjudicated on by the
most reputable adjudicators.
In the late 1970's due to the advent of television amateur
drama went into decline and attendance's fell drastically,
so much that 1981 was the last year that the festival was
held in Thurles. There was no festival held in 1982.
The Holycross Connection
The Holycross/Ballycahill drama group
was very strong at that time, having great success at the festivals
they entered throughout the country. Two members, Pat McGrath
and Donal Duggan discussed the possibility of resurrecting
the festival and running it in Holycross. Holycross Abbey
had been restored and was now the parish church. The old church
had been renovated and was now St. Michael's Community Centre,
complete with stage and seating for five hundred people which
included a balcony. An application was made to the Amateur
Drama Council of Ireland [A.D.C.I.] for permission to run
the festival
In October 1982, two members of A.D.C.I. , Maire Ni Riann
from Limerick and Alan Sparling from Scariff came and inspected
the hall to ensure that everything was up to the standard
required to run a festival. The hall passed it's inspection
and a special exception was made to allow the festival nominate
groups to the All Ireland's in it's first year.
On Friday March 4th 1983, the Co. Tipperary Open Drama Festival
opened its doors in it's new home, a converted church beside
the 13th century Holycross Abbey and the swift flowing river
Suir. Under the chairman Pat McGrath and festival director
Donal Duggan, the festival had five open plays and four confined
plays. The adjudicator was Tom Honan from Co. Wicklow. Mr.
T.J. Maher
M.E.P. officially opened the festival to an attendance on
that opening night in 1983, of only fourteen people. The open
section was won by Wexford D.G. with "Lady Windermer's Fan"
and the confined section was won by Holycross/Ballycahill
D.G. with "Lovers"
The festival proudly celebrated it's 21st birthday in 2003.
Tom Honan who adjudicated the 1st festival in 1983 returned to
adjudicate the 21st.
A new relationship was formed with Tipp FM Radio and the award
for the open section was renamed "the Tipp FM Trophy" The
radio promoted the festival prior and during the festival.
This relationship proved to be mutually beneficial as the
festival gained from the publicity and the radio was happy to
be seen to be supporting such a high profile cultural event.
The contribution of Festival Director, Donal Duggan, was recognised in March 2003 when he was awarded the 'The Tipp FM Arts and Enterainment Award' for his services to Amatuer Drama for over 20 years.
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