RTÉ All Ireland Drama Festival 2022

A look back

2022 Festival

The 2022 RTÉ All Ireland Drama Festival took place at the Dean Crowe Theatre, Athlone from Thursday 5th May to Friday 13th May 2022, with the Presentation of Awards on Saturday 14th May 2022.

All around the country festivals took place and the nine best plays, all of them multi award winners, arrived in Dean Crowe Theatre in Athlone on a level playing pitch to battle it out  for the RTÉ All Ireland Title under the watchful eye of the adjudicator Michael Poynor.

For 70 years the people of Athlone have supported the committee and this year is no different. The retailers took part in the Shop Window Display and there were many more activities taking place.

See the finalists and winners below.

RTE Logo

Meet the Winners of 2022

Ballyduff Drama Group, Co. Waterford

Ballyduff Drama Group, directed by Ger Canning, were crowned RTÉ All Ireland Drama Champions for their performance of ‘Rabbit Hole’ by David Lindsay-Abaire at the Gala Awards ceremony in Athlone’s Radisson Blu Hotel on Saturday May 14th as the curtain came down on the 70th year of the RTÉ All Ireland Drama Festival. Bunclody/Kilmyshall Drama Group, directed by Kieran Tyrell, who performed ‘The Good Father’ by Christian O’Reilly were placed second and Palace Players, directed by Danny Buckley, who performed ‘Chapatti’ also by Christian O’Reilly were placed third. Find out moreRTÉ ALL IRELAND DRAMA FESTIVAL – About RTÉ (rte.ie)

Watch: The Today Show special report here
Watch: The Nationwide Special Edition here
Listen: the Arena special report here

Huge thanks to RTÉ lyric fm for carrying the daily festival reports.

Meet the Finalists of 2022

Festival 2022 Events Gallery

Schools Playwright 2022

Schools Playwright 2022

Schools Playwright Awards Athlone’s 2022 Schools Playwright Competition, held in conjunction with the RTÉ All Ireland Drama Festival Fringe and sponsored by the Athlone Credit Union saw Transition Year Students from eight counties compete – Cavan, Galway, Kildare,...

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Shop Window 2022

Shop Window 2022

The Shop Window Competition  Every year to show support for the festival, businesses in Athlone take part in the Shop Window Competition by dressing up their window to represent the story of one of the plays. It makes Athlone come alive with drama and excitement!...

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The Abbey 2022

The Abbey 2022

The Abbey Launch 21st April, 2022Festival Launch Night The 9 finalists, the Athlone Director and committee and ADCI representatives travelled to the Abbey Theatre in Dublin to meet up with RTÉ representatives the Abbey Directors and invited guests to launch the 2022...

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The Draw 2022

The Draw 2022

Draw Results On April 18th The Draw took place in the Dean Crowe Theatre which sees nights assigned to each of the 9 finalists for their play to take place. The results of that draw were as follows: May 5 with Palace Players, Co Cork, who performed the two hander...

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Gala Awards 2022

Gala Awards 2022

The Gala Awards Night Ballyduff Drama Group, directed by Ger Canning, were crowned RTÉ All Ireland Drama Champions for their performance of Rabbit Hole by David Lindsay-Abaire at the Gala Awards ceremony in Athlone's Radisson Blu Hotel on Saturday May 14th, as the...

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Regina Bushell Director

Regina Bushell – Director

RTE CEO DEE FORBES

Dee Forbes – CEO of RTÉ

RTE CEO DEE FORBES

Paula Dempsey – Adjudicator

THE COMMITTEE

Meet the team that work extremely hard behind the scenes to make this a success.

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