Ballyshannon Drama Society
present
Margaret
by Shaun Byrne
Saturday,
9 March 2024
7.30 p.m.
Important: The theatre doors will close strictly at 7.30!
Please be seated by 7.20.
(Please note: no food or drink will be allowed in the theatre during any performance, as this is a competition.)
The Play
Margaret is in her late 80s. At times she is her old self: sharp, lucid and clear; other times confused, frightened and frustrated. She talks to an imagined Denis, to herself, to the audience.
The play joins her in the last days of her life in the Ritz Hotel suffering from dementia and explores her troubled relationships: with the Irish, the miners, her children, the public, her male colleagues, and the fallout from The Falklands War; as past demons, guilts and successes return to torment, flatter and deceive her.
‘You have no enemies you say? If you have none, then small is the work that you have done.’
The play joins her in the last days of her life in the Ritz Hotel suffering from dementia and explores her troubled relationships: with the Irish, the miners, her children, the public, her male colleagues, and the fallout from The Falklands War; as past demons, guilts and successes return to torment, flatter and deceive her.
‘You have no enemies you say? If you have none, then small is the work that you have done.’
The Cast
Margaret Thatcher
Rachel O'Connor
Denis Thatcher
Shaun Byrne
Crew
Director
Monica Doherty
Lighting and Sound
Seán O'Connor
Shane Patterson
Shane Patterson
Hair and Makeup
Brenda Duffy
Set Design
Monica Doherty
Shaun Byrne
Shaun Byrne
Set Construction
Seán O'Connor
Crew
John Travers
Carl Duggan
Paul McGonigle
Aiden McGuinness
Trish Keane
Gerry Byrne
Sean McLoone
Linda Ritchie
Brenda Duffy
Carl Duggan
Paul McGonigle
Aiden McGuinness
Trish Keane
Gerry Byrne
Sean McLoone
Linda Ritchie
Brenda Duffy
The Group
Ballyshannon Drama Society have hosted their Annual Drama Festival since 1952. They won the All-Ireland One Act in 1958 with 'Spreading the News' and in 2000 with 'The Extraordinary Revelations of Orca the Goldfish'. In 1961 they won the All-Ireland in Athlone with 'Old Road' and in 2011 took the All-Ireland Confined with 'Steel Magnolias'. In 2014 they qualified for the Open Finals in Athlone with 'The Gingerbread Lady', 2015 with 'God of Carnage' and 2016 with Harold Pinter’s ‘Old Times’, Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Importance of Being Ernest’ in 2019, in 2022 with Arthur Millers ‘All My Sons’, and in 2023 with Edward Albee’s ‘A Delicate Balance’. The Group were 2017 runners up in The One Act Finals with Shelagh Stephenson’s ‘Five Kinds of Silence’. We hosted the All-Ireland One Act Finals in both 1996 and 2014, and the All-Ireland Confined Drama Finals in 2022.