BERNARD Farrell's play Stella By Starlight, which is running at the Gate Theatre, has been judged the best Irish production of the Dublin Theatre Festival in thee Waterford Crystal Festival Choice Awards. The play, a situations comedy set in a middle class Dublin family home, received mixed reviews when it opened. It is directed by Ben Barnes.
The awards were presented at the Gaiety Theatre by Waterford Crystal's head of corporate affairs, Mr Michael Flynn.
The best visiting production in the festival was judged to be Les Danaides, which ran at the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght. With a cast of more than 100 Romanian young people, this was the largest production ever staged in Ireland. The text was put together by Silviu Purcarete, a Romanian director, from fragments of a lost play by Aeschylus.
Taliesin, presented by the Welsh group, Arad Goch, at the Ark Children's Cultural Centre, was selected as the best children's show. The play was based on the legend of the Welsh poet/wizard, Taliesin, and included traditional music and dance.
Waterford Crystal is sponsoring the awards for the first time. Last year, the awards were sponsored by Irish Life, but this year the festival failed to attract a "named" sponsor. Despite this, it is predicted that it will break its' box office records this year.
The judging panel for the awards included broadcasters Seamus Hosey and Clodagh Walsh, Declan Gorman, who directed the Arts Council's recent Theatre Review, Doireann Ni Bhriain, Irish commissioner for L'Imaginaire Irlandais, and Mr Frank O'Dwyer, former deputy head of drama for RTE Radio.
The festival's two week run ends tomorrow.