RTÉ All Ireland Drama Festival 2026

April 30th – May 8th 2025, Dean Crowe Theatre

Awards on May 9th, Radisson Hotel Athlone

Nightly Tickets available from the Dean Crowe Theatre starting from 8th April 2026

Tickets

The RTÉ All Ireland Drama Festival is held under the auspices of the Amateur Drama Council of Ireland (ADCI).

Last updated 31/3/2026

Festival director

Michael McGlone

Céad Míle Fáilte chuig an RTÉ Féile Dramaíochta na hEireann 2026, which our committee and members run under the auspices of the Amateur Drama Council of Ireland.

In this, the 74th year since the establishment of the All Ireland Drama Festival Athlone, it is a great honour for me to welcome you to this wonderful annual cultural feast that celebrates the rich theatrical tradition of Ireland.

This is my second year as Festival Director and I would like to sincerely thank our very dedicated and hard-working committee and loyal members who have given their all to ensure the success of this year’s festival. I have visited a few festivals on the circuit and experienced some fantastic performances and would hope to visit even more next year. In the current climate of geopolitical instability and uncertainty, it is reassuring that local drama can still entertain and challenge local communities across the country.

I warmly welcome each of the nine groups who will compete in this year’s final, and I wish them every success as they bring their productions to the Dean Crowe Theatre. We are looking forward to each night with great anticipation, and this year’s festival promises to be a spectacular display of talent, creativity and artistic excellence. My hope for them is that they reserve their best performance of the year for the Dean Crowe Theatre stage and that they appreciate and enjoy their shared amazing achievements in getting to the Croke Park of amateur drama here in Athlone.

Our adjudicator for 2026 is Padraic McIntyre, and I extend a warm Athlone welcome to him. This is the second Open finals for Padraic, and he brings a wealth of experience to the task of deciding who our overall winner will be this year. No doubt the discerning Athlone audience will be sure to provide valuable insights and feedback after each night. Some of them have been enjoying All Ireland performances for over half a century.

The official opening will be performed by Rick O`Shea of RTÉ Radio One, who, over the last number of years, has become a household name since he joined RTÉ in 2001 and has recently been appointed as the new presenter of Arena, RTÉ1`s flagship weeknight arts and culture programme. We wish him well in his new position.

I would like to welcome Rick to Athlone, and we are delighted that he can join us this evening to officially open this year’s festival.

We continue to enjoy the support of RTÉ, our title sponsor, and this year we are celebrating 22 years of partnership with our national broadcaster. We wish to thank them for their enormous contribution, not only to the All Ireland Open Finals and also their live streaming of our awards ceremony on Saturday 9th May, but also to the wider drama community. Their coverage of the festival circuit nationally on television, radio and online shines a light on the fantastic drama stories up and down the country. It also shows their commitment to supporting the arts in Ireland, and for this we are extremely grateful.

I would like to thank our dedicated local business sponsors and Westmeath County Council, who support us unfailingly and assist in making this festival one of the highlights of the year in Athlone. We also have the wonderful support of the Abbey Theatre, which, through its award each year, sees one of our finalists grace the stage of the Peacock Theatre.

I have received great support from the NEC of ADCI, and I also wish to thank the management and staff of the Dean Crowe Theatre for their kind assistance always in ensuring that the festival is a great success.

As many of you know, this festival is not just about nine nights of plays which form the centrepiece of the event. This festival has a host of fringe events that include many varied and entertaining shows and exhibitions that I urge you to check out.

Promoting the arts to our youth is a priority for our committee. The Schools Playwright Competition and the Athlone Film Festival continue to flourish and thrive in this regard.

After our nightly adjudication, the Festival Club will take place in the theatre bar, where you can meet the cast, enjoy some light entertainment and perhaps even participate in our new ‘Festivals Open Mic’.

Finally, last but by no means least, to you, our dedicated audiences, each night. I hope you enjoy the festival thoroughly and that it will be a year of wonderful experiences and fond memories of first-class drama.

Go raibh maith agaibh uilig.

Michael McGlone

Festival Director 2026

adci chair

John Keane ADCI

Each year the open finals in Athlone signals the climax of the Amateur Drama Circuit. As chair of the Amateur Drama Council of Ireland i am delighted to welcome you all to what promises to be a feast of drama over the next 9 nights! On February 20th, 19 groups were ready to take to the roads in our Open Competition, I want to congratulate all 19 groups for the contribution you have made to this years circuit you can be extremely proud of your productions. Congratulations to our 9 finalists, I wish you the very best of luck as you take to the Dean Crowe stage may it be your best performance yet!!. To the 34 preliminary festivals, thank you for your work, commitment, and hospitability to the groups and adjudicator’s. This years adjudicator for the finals Mr Padraic McIntyre will have the arduous task of selecting the winner’s, best of luck Padraic & i hope you enjoy the week.
Hosting the finals carries a financial burden, I would like thank RTE for their sponsorship of the Open finals, their coverage of the festival circuit on television, radio, & online is invaluable to amateur drama. Indeed, i want to acknowledge the generosity of many sponsors across the country who sponsor our preliminary festivals.

From the list of festival awards two awards stand out for me, The Abbey Theatre Award will be awarded to one of the finalist’s which will give them the opportunity to perform their play on the National Stage, a wonderful experience for any Amateur Group! Sincere thanks to The Abbey Theatre for their support of Amateur Drama. The Scholarship to DLI Summer School will give someone the opportunity to attend Summer School in Limerick this year to learn from the best tutors! Many thanks to the Joint Committee for their sponsorship of this award.
To Festival Director Michael McGlone & his hard working committee who have left no stone unturned in preparation for these finals i wish you every success for the next 10 nights, I’m sure it will be from the top drawer!!
To you, our wonderful & loyal audience, your energy, encouragement, & attention, create an atmosphere that allows these productions to breathe!! Thank you!
I wish you all safe travels and hope you enjoy the festival!
Yours in Drama

John Keane

RTÉ Director General

Kevin Bakhurst RTÉ

RTÉ is proud to continue its support of The RTÉ All Ireland Drama Festival which, as the national festival for amateur drama, is a wonderful celebration of creativity and community across Ireland. The passion which the RTÉ All Ireland Drama Festival inspires among so many local drama groups who so proudly represent their communities as they compete for one of nine prestigious places in the final here in Athlone is one of the reasons we are delighted to be part of this wonderful occasion.

Congratulations to the nine drama groups who have taken to the stage as finalists over the past nine days. To come through regional heats that span the length and breadth of the country and make it this far is a great achievement, particularly with the high standards we have come to expect from talented amateur drama groups across Ireland.

As RTÉ marks 100 years of public service media in Ireland this year, we are very aware of the value of support for arts and culture, not just at a national level, but also in our communities, where celebrating and encouraging creativity are so important. It is why RTÉ Supporting the Arts remains one of the most significant and satisfying things that we do in RTÉ. Last year alone, RTÉ supported 185 arts and community events across the island of Ireland through the scheme.
The All Ireland Drama Festival proudly enables creativity to thrive in local communities across the country and RTÉ is honoured to continue working with the festival, to nurture acting talent, champion the power of drama, and bring this important event to audiences, not just through our live stream which enables audiences everywhere to join this wonderful occasion, but also through RTÉ lyric fm, RTÉ Radio 1, RTÉ.ie, and our social channels.
Congratulations to all involved, both on and off stage, in producing another truly great festival.

Kevin Bakhurst
Director-General, RTÉ

Adjudicator

Padraic McIntyre

Padraic is a native of Bailieboro, Co. Cavan and trained as an actor at The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff. He has an MA in Theatre Studies from DCU. Padraic is currently Venues Manager at Ramor Arts Centre, Virginia and Townhall Arts Centre, run by Cavan County Council. He was a founder member of NOMAD Theatre Network and is still an active member.
Padraic was Artistic Director of Livin’ Dred Theatre Company based in The Ramor Theatre in Virginia for who he directed 15 professional shows from 2004 to 2017.
Writing Credits include:
The Little Dance Girl (Livin Dred) Carnival at Glenaduff (Ramor Players) Going and Letting Everyone Down (Caomhnu Literary Festival) The Voice (Roscommon Youth Theatre) A Holy Show (Ramor Players) The King of Ireland’s Son (Aishling Children’s Festival) The Lost Weekend (Ramor Players) The Hero of The Half Acre (Ramor Players.) His radio play Two Little Boys was shortlisted for the PJ O’Connor Award on RTE Radio.
Padraic is currently acting in The Adventures of Shay Mouse a theatrical adaptation of Pat McCabe’s novel for children which is on a nationwide tour.
Padraic is the author and director of The Night Joe Dolan’s Car Broke Down which has sold out venues around the country and played The Olympia Theatre, Dublin in February 2026 for a record-breaking 15th Year.

RTÉ presenter

Nuala Carey

Broadcaster Nuala Carey is delighted to return to the heart of the midlands and the most welcoming of towns – Athlone, to host the prestigious 2026 ‘RTE All – Ireland Drama Festival’ Gala Awards Ceremony.

A lifelong lover of drama and theatre, Nuala has the fondest of memories of the kindness shown to her when she was a transition year student on work experience in the Abbey Theatre. Nuala took part in many amateur productions, acting with local groups in Monkstown, Co. Dublin and later Dalkey Players, and Dram Soc while studying English in UCD.
From competing on the All Ireland Drama circuit herself, Nuala fully understands and appreciates the commitment, dedication and sacrifices made by the cast and crew in producing theatre of such a high standard for everyone to enjoy. Congratulations to all the groups on their qualifying journey to the Dean Crowe Theatre. Nuala would also like to acknowledge the invaluable support of the families and friends offered to those taking part.
Thank you to everyone involved for a fabulous festival that encompasses talent in all its forms. Let the celebrations begin and have a wonderful night…!

RTÉ presenter

Rick O’Shea

Rick O’Shea has been a presenter with RTÉ since 2001 and is the current host of Arena on RTÉ Radio 1. He is also the founder and curator of The Rick O’Shea Book Club, Ireland’s largest online book community with more than 45,000 members.

Alongside his broadcasting work, Rick is a regular interviewer and host at literary festivals nationwide and an experienced curator of live literary events. His previous roles include serving as a book columnist for the Irish Independent and judging for major honours such as the Costa Book Awards, the Dalkey Literary Awards, Dublin Fringe, and the Irish Book Awards.

Rick is the national patron of Epilepsy Ireland and a board member of Fighting Words Northern Ireland.

He is honoured to represent RTÉ and speak at the opening of this year’s RTÉ All Ireland Drama Festival, recognising the vital role the amateur theatre community plays in nurturing creativity, community spirit, and the next generation of performers and storytellers.

2026 finalists

2026 events