Concerts 2011 - Craggagh National School Co Mayo

Act 1: Red Riding Hood (JI, SI & 1st Classes)

We all know the story but you’ve never seen it brought to life in as spectacular a manner as you will witness today! Little Red Riding Hood is sent by her mother to visit her granny, but she must pass through the deep dark woods and in doing so encounters some rather unsavoury char-acters….all she needs is a heroic woodsman to rescue her!
Cast
Narrator - Anna McDonnell
Red Riding Hood - Amy McNicholas
Mum - Sarah Rosney
Wolf - Laura Rosney
Postlady - Lily Begley
Dad - David Murphy
Woodcutter - Oscar Rowland
Granny - Maud Rowland
Queen of Fairies - Alannah McNicholas
Hunters - Oisín Cronin, Conor Dwyer, Noah Schlosser
Forest Fairy - Anna Boyle
Forest Fairy - Cara Hession
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Act 2: Hamlet (2nd, 3rd & 4th classes)

This drama is one of the great tragedy themed plays by William Shakespeare. The themes of the plot cover indecision, revenge and retribution, deception, ambition, loyalty and fate. Prince Hamlet mourns both his father's death and his mother, Queen Gertrude's remarriage to Claudi-us. The ghost of Hamlet's father appears to him and tells him that Claudius has poisoned him. Hamlet swears revenge. He kills the eavesdropping Polonius, the court chamberlain. Polonius's son Laertes returns to Denmark to avenge his father's death. Polonius's daughter Ophelia loves the Prince but his behaviour drives her to madness. Ophelia dies by drowning. A duel takes place and ends with the death of Gertrude, Laertes, Claudius, and Hamlet.

Characters:
Hamlet, Queen Gertrude, King Claudius, Sentinels, Courtiers, Horatio, Barnardo, Marcellus, Polonius, Laertes, Ophelia
Actors:

Caoimhe Hessian, Daniel Walsh, Grace Conroy, Clara Gilmartin, Luke Groarke, Rebecca King, Kyle Howard, Alex Gilmartin, Dylan Walsh, Amy O’Shea, Rachel Murphy, Lilly Mc Greal, Siobhán Cassidy, Fleur Griffin, Conor Durcan, Eshal Skaria, Andrew Mc Donnell, Katie Mc Nicholas, Lorcan Conroy.
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Act 3: This Land Is Our Land (5th & 6th Classes)

HOW THE PLAY WAS CREATED

The pupils were asked to create a character.
The characters were then transposed to a cottage in Craggagh in the latter part of the 18th century.

THIS PERIOD
The memory of the Great Famine was still an open sore. People yearned to own their own land. A potato blight was spreading again through the west. The number of evictions for non-payment of rent was rising. On 16th August, 1876, under Davitt’s leadership, the National Land League of Mayo was founded in Castlebar.
Mayo played a prominent, and sometimes violent, role in a struggle which culminated in a se-ries of land purchase acts. These provided the finance which enabled the tenants to purchase the land from landlords and repay the loans with interest over a number of years. Tenant farmers became owner-occupiers within a generation
This brought about the greatest social change ever witnessed in Ireland.
The pupils were asked to develop their story within this scenario , add more dialogue, movement or what-ever they thought might enrich their own particular story.

Relevant Facts
1667: The Ormsby family were granted the Ballinamore estate.
1846-47: From October '46 to April '47 400 deaths occur in this parish due to the famine
1848: 145 people were evicted in Treenagleragh by Earl of Lucan
1876: Anthony Ormsby of Ballinamore (Black Anthony) owned 4,492 acres.
1879: 20,000 attended a land agitation meeting in Kiltimagh. The Land League had 700 members in Kiltimagh
1880: 2,500 were in danger of starvation due to famine
1884: 1884-The site for Craggagh School, originally twenty perches in area, was acquired on the Sir Compton Domville Estate. Very Rev. Matthias Leonard, Parish Priest of Kiltimagh, built the school in 1884. The total cost of the new school was £841-11-8 of which about one third was contributed locally.
1888 - Church of The Holy Family in Kiltimagh was built.
1938: The Demesne was sold

Cast
Mother - Katie Dwyer
Father - Dylan O’Shea
Sarah - Aoife Begley
Joseph - Seán McGreal
Matt - Keith Cummins
Master - Joe Kelly
Seamus - Patrick Gilmartin
Paddy - Brian Durcan.
Daithí - Danny Flannery
Frank - Riada Carney Slee
Cedric - Liam O’Boyle
Anthony Ormsby - Luke Murphy