One Act Drama Festival 2026

Synopsis
A single ledge. A choice between two worlds. A fragile thread of human connection. On the precipice of a towering bridge, a desperate man stands ready to jump. As the world below reaches out to pull him back, Save Me unpeels a gripping mystery of pain, love, and what it truly costs to rescue a soul on the brink.

Group Information
Kilmeen Drama Group are based in Rossmore, West Cork and regularly participate on the 1-Act and 3-Act festival circuits, as well as producing shows locally in Rossmore. Kilmeen are the reigning 1-Act (From Eden) and 3-Act (Ballyturk) All-Ireland champions.

Cork | Open | 50 minutes

Synopsis
The play tells the story of two strangers who meet in a doctor's waiting room, both unhappy with the directions in which their lives are heading, but their wait is interrupted by a stream of other questionable patients. Contains strong language and some adult content.

Group Information
Skibbereen Theatre Society has been active since 1993. As well as staging local productions, we have successfully competed in both 3 act and 1 act drama festivals for many years.

Cork | Confined | 45 minutes

Synopsis
A man enters a shop in search of a gift for his dying mistress. He gradually finds himself confiding in the proprietress who, rather curiously seems to assume the characteristics of the absent mistress. As they very openly speak of their concerns and anxieties, the strangers are brought together and share a closeness which both have sought but never found.

Group Information
Shed by the Road launched in the autumn of 2025 to promote drama in Mallow and the North Cork Area. The brainchild of Danny and Eleanor Buckley who wanted to bring their drama home having threaded the boards with Palace Players for the last decade. Some familiar faces and some new ones, we look forward to the One Act Circuit.

Cork | Open | 38 minutes

Synopsis
The story is centered around Jack Furey, a country schoolmaster. Following his passing, a series of deeply buried secrets and hidden truths about his life, and that of the Flanagan family, are revealed.

Group Information
Camross Drama Group is a cornerstone of the rural community of Camross and its hinterland, serving as a vital cultural heartbeat since its foundation in 1950's. Since then it has been a consistent participant in One Act Circuit, winning All Ireland on 5 occasions. Recently they have participated on Full Length Circuit. The group has a dedicated core membership of approximately 20 active members who contribute to the vibrant local arts scene. Productions often focus on celebrating Irish culture, heritage, and rural life, fostering a deep sense of local pride.

Wexford | Confined | 40 minutes

Synopsis
Chamber Music is a 1962 one-act absurdist play by Arthur Kopit that is set in the women's division of a psychiatric hospital in 1938. It features eight women who believe they are famous historical figures. They have come together to represent the all the women of the asylum gather for an urgent committee meeting to plan a defense against a feared, imminent attack by the patients in the men's ward.

They believe the men are plotting to descend upon them like cannibals. Amidst their paranoid deliberations and shifting, overlapping monologues, the women decide a ruse is necessary and end up staging a mock trial that leads them to kill the aviator character, Amelia Earhart. Immediately after this chaotic act, they completely lose their train of thought and forget why they even carried it out, highlighting the fragmented, absurdist nature of their collective psyche.

Group Information
Estuary Players, From Baldoyle in Dublin, have a long history on the All Ireland Drama Circuit with their winning plays "The Price" by Arthur Millar in 2008 and "The Last Days of Judas Iscariot" by Stephen Adly Guirgus in 2009. Having taken a break for a few years Estuary Players are delighted to be back with Arthur Kopit's Theatre of the Absurd "Chamber Music".

Dublin | Open | 55 minutes

Synopsis
It is a psychological drama told entirely in reverse chronology. It explores how a single tragic incident can trigger a catastrophic chain reaction of consequences across multiple lives. The play begins with a woman called Eva holding a gun over the dead body of a man called Timothy whom she has just murdered. As the play moves backward in time we learn that Eva has spent five years trying to heal from the grief of losing her husband. Her fragile recovery is shattered when she accidentally comes face to face with Timothy - the man responsible for her husband's death. Driven by grief and a sudden thirst for revenge, she decides to take his life. By ending at the very beginning of the timeline, the script traces the exact sequence of random choices, collisions of people and twists of fate that inevitably led to that final fatal gunshot.

Group Information
Bualadh Bos is a community based theatre group in Oranmore, Co. Galway. It was founded over twenty years ago and performs one full length and two one act plays every year in Oranmore and surrounding theatres.

Galway | Confined | 45 minutes

Synopsis
Set in a pub in the North of England in the 1980s, Two is a witty and moving portrait of love, loss and the stories people tell to get by. A stream of colourful locals pass through for their drinks while the pubs Landlord and Landlady reveal a strained relationship. This modern classic brings an entire community to life, blending sharp humour with moments of unexpected tenderness.

Group Information
The Moat Club is a highly successful, award-winning amateur drama group based in Naas, County Kildare. Established in 1954, the group owns and operates the state-of-the-art, 200-seater, Moat Theatre. The group performs five productions a year and has a long standing relationship with both the Three Act & One Act Circuits, having won the Open Three Act All Ireland in 1974, 1979 & 2000 and the Open One Act All Ireland in 1983, 1989, 1999, 2016, 2018 & 2019. The group has had the distinguished honour of hosting the One Act All Ireland in 2005 & 2024.

Kildare | Open | 50 minutes

Synopsis
Set by the roadside close to a chapel gate in rural Ireland in the early 1900's. It follows the plight of travelling tinkers, Sarah Casey and Michael Byrne who are trying to get the priest to marry them. The play humorously explores poverty, freedom and the conflict between travelling people and the Catholic Church.

Group Information
Doonbeg Drama Group have been regulars on the Full-Length Circuit since 1990, and were All-Ireland Confined Winners in 2017 with 'The Night Alive' by Conor McPherson. The Group qualified for the Open Finals in Athlone in 2019 with 'Fool for Love' by Sam Shepard, and have taken part in three One Act Circuits since 2022, qualifying For the Finals in 2022.

Clare | Confined | 40 minutes

Synopsis
Melissa returns to her Dublin home after a business trip, expecting a familiar reunion with her husband, Philip. But as they reconnect, questions of trust, honesty and intimacy begin to surface. In this tense contemporary two-hander, Mark Yeates explores how well we really know the person we share our lives with. Through sharp dialogue, humour and emotional confrontation, an ordinary homecoming develops into a revealing examination of suspicion, secrets and the fragile nature of relationships.

Group Information
A proud highlight came in 2010 when we won the All-Ireland One Act Finals with Harold Pinter's Landscape. We returned to the Open Final in 2012 with Caryl Churchill's Three More Sleepless Nights and, most recently, reached the All-Ireland One Act Finals in Naas in December 2024. These achievements reflect the dedication and enthusiasm of everyone involved, both on stage and behind the scenes. Since our formation in 2004, Shannonside Drama Group has remained committed to quality theatre, developing talent, supporting our community and sharing the excitement of live performance with audiences.

Clare | Confined | 45 minutes