Fagin steals theatre award

STUDENTS from St Mochta’s National School in Clonsilla proved they’re a class act at the recent annual Bord Gáis Energy Student Theatre Awards.

They won Best Overall School Musical for their production of ‘Oliver’ while the school’s Darragh Malone picked up Best Male Performance in a Leading Role for his fantastic performance as Fagin.

Other local winners included Aimee Kearney for her incredible performance as Kim in the St Vincent’s Castleknock College production of ‘Miss Saigon’, featuring Mount Sackville.

She picked up an award for Best Female Performance in a Leading Role while Belvedere College SJ in Dublin 1 won Best Overall School Play for their production of The Children of the Rising.

Special guests at the awards ceremony included members of the awards judging panel including; actor and author Amy Huberman, Dancing with the Stars runner-up Aoibhín Garrihy, best-selling novelist Sinéad Moriarty and writer and storyteller Dave Rudden.

Open to primary school pupils from 3rd to 6th class and all secondary school students, the Student Theatre Awards featured 12 categories.

Managing Director of Bord Gáis Energy, Dave Kirwan, congratulated all the winners at the ceremony in the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre.

“We set up these awards four years ago to recognise and reward the incredible effort that goes into schools’ drama all around Ireland at both primary and secondary level,” he said.

“The theme of this year’s awards was all about participation, and I think today’s ceremony was a great example of this.

 “It was fantastic to see so many schools from all over the country coming together to take part.

“I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all of this year’s winners and everyone who entered this year’s awards.  The talent, creativity and enthusiasm shown by students, teachers and parents has been exceptional!”

Now in its fourth year, 2,616 entries were received from a record 309 primary and secondary schools in this year’s Student Theatre Awards.

Over 1,700 students from 63 schools across Ireland attended the ceremony on May 17.

Bord Gáis Energy will be announcing dates for the 2018 Bord Gáis Energy Student Theatre Awards in the coming months. Local schools that wish to enter can register interest on www.bgesta.ie.