Transition Times: Want to write, act, direct, design? The Briery Gap Theatre Festival for Transition Year students is waiting, writes Louise Holden.
It started as a small local drama festival in Macroom, Co Cork, in 2000. Sixteen schools in the Cork area competed for a little single-county glory on the stage of the Briery Gap Theatre. Four years later that number has quadrupled and schools come to Macroom from all over the country. The Briery Gap Theatre Festival is open to all Transition Year students and the competition is getting fierce.
This Saturday, eight schools will compete in the Briery Gap Theatre Festival final. Over four hours the Briery Gap stage will be transformed from the streets of Verona to the Aran Islands to Dublin's Ballymun flats. Each school will get 30 minutes to impress the 250-strong audience and the panel of judges.
"You would not believe the standard that these students have set," says festival organiser Ann Dunne. "These finalists are like professionals. This festival is not well-known in professional theatre circles, but it should be.
"Anyone in the industry looking for talent would do well to sit in on Saturday's productions."
Every aspect of each production - costumes, lighting, sets, direction, adaptation and, in some cases, scriptwriting - is carried out by Transition Year students. There is a strong emphasis on teamwork, and productions are judged on their overall quality. The winning play, says Dunne, is always the one that displays quality in every detail, from lighting to performance. This kind of production is only achievable through teamwork, she adds.
"Last year's winners, Laurel Hill Secondary School [from Limerick], demonstrated a marvellous fluency in their production of George Orwell's Animal Farm. All the constituent parts, from costumes to props to line delivery, gelled together because the class worked together. It was a beautifully balanced work," Dunne says.
Individual category awards are presented for costume, sets and lighting. There is also a prize for the best actor, the best Irish-language production and the best original script.
"Every year we have many original entries - this year there are three in the final eight," Anne Dunne explains. "The themes always capture aspects of life in Ireland through the eyes of a young person. The students are never afraid to tackle strong subjects with sensitivity and humour. It's testament to the quality of the scriptwriting that year on year we see issues such as drug addiction, domestic abuse and teen pregnancy handled, but rarely do we see a production without some comic element."
Last year's winners of the best original script award wrote what about they knew best. In their classrooom drama, the students of Our Lady's Bower Secondary School in Athlone explored some of the issues that Irish teenagers face each day when they go through the school gates. This kind of material is not often seen on the Irish stage, and it fitted in with Ann Dunne's twin objectives when she started the competition: to get young Irish people interested in theatre and to develop new audiences.
Since the Briery Gap Theatre Festival was established in 2000, the demand from students to participate has been so great that the programme has spread from its original home in Macroom to three other centres in Mullingar, Galway and Listowel. Although there is no Dublin centre, many schools from the capital travel to Mullingar or further to take part in the heats. For city schools, this is a valuable aspect of the competition, enabling them to meet students with similar interests from throughout the country.
Working on small budgets to tight deadlines, the students enjoy an intense experience, Dunne has observed.
"They begin Transition Year expecting a relaxed ride; instead they get months of hard work and dedication, learning a lot about themselves, their friends and their teachers along the way," she says. "Because they only get one shot at the Briery Gap, we have a whole new crop of talent every year - no one gets to hog the limelight.
"Although the competition has been running for only four years, some former participants have gone on to work in the theatre already, in lighting and stage management."
Even those who have quite different career aspirations get value out of the experience.
"They learn how important it is to work with other people, and how success in any endeavour relies so much on teamwork," says Dunne. "They come to respect their teachers in a new way as they are all working as equals. They also get much more enjoyment from theatre and the arts when they have gained some appreciation of what goes in behind the scenes."
This year's Briery Gap Theatre Festival final takes place at 3 p.m. on Saturday. The competing schools are: Coláiste Colmcille, Ballyshannon, Co Donegal (Níl Aon Dul Ón gCinnúint); Ballymun Senior Comprehensive, Dublin (Thicker Than Water); Our Lady's Bower, Athlone (The Pilgrimage); Laurel Hill Secondary School, Limerick (Hockey, Hockey, Hockey, Oi Oi Oi); Mercy Heights Skibbereen (Girl In Tights); Regina Mundi College, Douglas, Co Cork (Totally Over You); Scoil Airegail, Ballyhale, Kilkenny (Mick), and Ursuline Secondary School, Blackrock, Co Cork (Girl on the Bridge). The festival is sponsored by Eason Ltd and Cork County Vocational Education Committee.
