Wexford’s Bridge Drama takes home RTÉ amateur drama title

An amateur group from Co Wexford were crowned 64th RTÉ All-Ireland Drama Champions with Lost in Yonkers by Neil Simon in Athlone on Saturday.

This is the first time Bridge Drama from Castlebridge has won the trophy.

The play was directed by Pat Whelan, who also won the best director award.

The production also took the award for Best Stage Setting, and adjudicator Padraig McIntyre described the Bridge Drama performance as a “powerful production”.

Founded in 1998, Bridge Drama started competing on the amateur drama circuit in 2002.

Lost in Yonkers is a dark comedy set in 1942 over a candy store in Yonkers, New York, with the theme of family running throughout. The play first opened in North Carolina in 1990. It won a Pulitzer prize for drama and a Tony award for Best Play in 1991.

Speaking before the awards presentation, festival director Joe McCarrick remarked on the success of the festival, with nine superb productions on stage, a lively and entertaining festival club, an absorbing fringe and a town with themed window displays, flags and flower arrangements.