'Unprecedented demand' for All Ireland Drama Festival tickets

Tickets for this year's RTÉ All Ireland Drama Festival went on sale a few hours ago - and already many of the plays are close to being sold out.

The festival is taking place in Athlone's Dean Crowe Theatre from April 26 to May 6, with the presentation of awards on May 7.

At 12 noon today (Friday) tickets for the plays went on sale, but there were some technical difficulties at first due to what festival organisers said was particularly high demand.

"We are having unprecedented demand for tickets this year. Please bear with us and keep trying the Dean Crowe Theatre website," stated a social media post on behalf of the festival shortly before lunchtime.

At the time of writing, on Friday evening, the opening night's production of The Welkin by last year's winners, Ballyduff Drama Group, was effectively sold out. Just one seat for it was still available on the Dean Crowe website.

Thurles Drama Group's production of The Seafarer by Conor McPherson, on April 30, was another particularly hot ticket; only 12 seats were left unsold at the time of writing.

Just over 30 tickets, meanwhile, were still available for The Father by Wexford Drama Group on May 3.

While there was slightly more availability left for the other plays, the strong demand from the public to get a flavour of this year's festival was already evident each night. The tickets were priced €22 (Concessions: €20).

Paula Dempsey is the festival's adjudicator this year. The plays being performed are: The Welkin (Ballyduff Drama Group), Happy Days (Newpoint Players), Faith Healer (Dundalk Theatre Workshop), The Seafarer (Thurles Drama Group), By the Bog of Cats (Dalkey Players), Oleanna (Prosperous Dramatic Society), The Father (Wexford Drama Group), A Delicate Balance (Ballyshannon Drama Society) and Darkness Echoing (Butt Drama Circle).

This year is a special one for the festival as the Amateur Drama Council Of Ireland, founded in Athlone in 1953, is celebrating its 70th anniversary.