​Newry drama group to be made ‘homeless’ during Town Hall renovations

​The project is part of plans to enhance cultural activity in the city and promote the night-time economy.

The existing Grade 2 listed building will be renovated to a modern multi-functional venue.

In January 2023 a BRCD Contract for Funding was agreed for Newry City Centre Regeneration Projects supported by the. £5 million BRCD funding has been allocated for Public Realm at the Theatre and Conference Centre and Civic and Regional Hub along with £3 million for a Grade A Office Accommodation Fund.

“This year we are homeless as the Council are closing the Town Hall from the end of May and the only alternative suggestion from them so far is that we can all go to Warrenpoint Town Hall - for a period of almost two years.

“We welcome work beginning on such an exciting build and wish them well but would remind the Council of how Covid closures killed off so many worthy projects and businesses and they should urgently address the matter.

“There are so many empty units around the area which can be fitted out as ‘black box’ theatre spaces.

“Just closing the doors on people is not an option.”

The popular drama group is the first to qualify for the prestigious top award at the 2024 RTÉ All Ireland Drama Festival Final in Athlone.

This year, the group has the extraordinary luxury of having qualified mid-way through the season by winning the first three festivals it competed in.

Not only that, but Newpoint Players have won the All-Ireland on four occasions, and are bidding for a fifth.

The group's latest play; 'In the Shadow of the Glen: Reimagined' written by J.M.Synge has been adapted by Séan Treanor.

The one-act drama deals with rural lust and other earthy emotions.

Actors perform the breaktaking play in animal masks and contoured costumes, to emphasise the basic brute nature of the characters and the landscape they inhabit. Both elements have been widely praised and awarded by adjudicators.

So also have Declan McConaghy’s sound & lighting plots and Mary Goss & Tom Carville’s elemental dolmen set.

The characters move with a choreography mapped by Leo Reynolds.

To date, the group has won festivals at Castleblaney, Tobercurry and Ballymoney, but now they are aiming for one better, with the All-Ireland crown in sight.

Newpoint Players Chairperson Donal O'Hanlon said: “ We are excited to be representing Newry and the wider area when we go to Athlone.

“Theatre holds people in its grasp like no other branch of the arts.

“You see live people in front of you playing out someone’s lives, joys and traumas, you can almost smell them from where you sit.

“It can be compared to a fire: it is impossible to make a fire out of one lump of coal, but put many nuggets together and that fusion makes a warm fire.”

Newpoint is a registered charity, now in its 44th year, whose purpose is to provide free drama workshops and training and youth drama training in the Newry area.

The group has also been the recipient of a £500 donation from legal firm, Elliott & Trainor Partnership, who are championing the Players on their All-Ireland quest.

“Theatre is alive but every generation needs to rediscover and reinvent it for themselves.”