Renowned Laois amateur drama festival releases 2026 line-up

An exciting week of drama is coming to Laois this spring, with the return of Mountmellick Drama Festival.

The line-up has just been released by hosts Mountmellick Drama Group for the festival which takes place in the beautifully restored 450 seat vintage theatre at Mountmellick Community Arts Centre.

Heavy hitters taking to the stage include the Dalkey Players with Sive by John B Keane, Hugh Leonard's Da by the Bunclody-Kilmyshall Drama Group, and The Year of the Hiker by John B Keane to be performed by the Upstage Players from Claremorris, Mayo. 

Other plays on the seven night festival include Chapatti by Christian Morris by the Glenamaddy Players, To The Outgoing Tide by Bruce Graham by the Slieve Aughty Drama Group, Jim Nolan's The Salvage Shop by the Nenagh Players and Seamus O'Rourke's From Under The Bed performed by the Bualadh Bos Drama Group. A final play is to be confirmed. 

Jessie Conroy is secretary of Mountmellick Drama Group, which is chaired by Trish Conroy and based at the arts centre.

"As a club we are immensely proud of the festival. We are very much looking forward to hosting it again, and welcoming the groups and our audiences. We are so lucky that we have built up a massive audience who come each year. It is a fantastic stage, the acoustics are wonderful, and there are sightlines from every seat," she told the Leinster Express / Laois Live.

"Its success lies in the fact that we all love drama and taking part in drama, we understand what audiences want and what groups want.

"There are some really interesting plays, and some classics that I'm sure the groups will put their own different edge to, there are some nice comedies too," Jessie said.

The adjudicator this year is the esteemed Geoff O'Keeffe, theatre director, visual artist, and drama adjudicator. He who will score each play nightly onstage, giving public and private feedback. The final night will culminate in announcing the winners to go on to the two All Ireland drama festival finals in Athlone and Tyrone.

Mountmellick's festival is one of 37 in a circuit all over Ireland, with amateur drama groups hitting the road for two months performing at several of them in a whirlwind of drama, networking and live audience entertainment.

The festival is expensive to host, as the groups and the adjudicator get some costs covered.

"It's expensive to run, and expensive for groups to take part in. We couldn't do it without the great local support including our main sponsor the credit union. We are very grateful for all the support throughout the years. The town gets a boost every year too, and it goes across Laois as some people will come from all over Ireland to it and stay in accommodation," Jessie said.

While Mountmellick Drama Group will be too busy acting as hosts rather than on stage, they have a new play coming up in February.

"We will be staging Albertine in Five Times by Michel Tremblay, it's a play about a older woman who is entering a nursing home, looking back on five different decades in her life. Each is performed by a different actor. We are busy rehearsing it now," Jessie said.

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Mountmellick Drama Festival will run from Friday to Friday, March 6 to 13 inclusive, under the auspices of the Amateur Drama Council of Ireland. Season tickets are €80, nightly tickets €15 and concession tickets €12, all shortly to go on sale online at mountmellickdramafestival.ie Limited tickets will also be available on the door.