The Home of Compántas Lir

Compántas Lir is an amateur drama group based in the Claregalway and Carnmore areas of Co.Galway. Formed in 1983 the group has grown from strength to strength thanks to a strong acting cast, skilled crew, enthusiastic helpers and a hard working committee. This all adds up to a successful group which claims its home in the Carnmore Community Centre. 

Each year Compántas Lir produces a play and participate in the Drama Circuit looking to qualify for the All-Ireland Finals. This tour is usually in February-March of each year. The play is also show locally in the Town Hall Theatre. In addition the group produces a play for a Supper Theatre.

A Brief History of Compántas Lir:

 The first known reference to a drama group in the area is Timire Gaelige, the Lackagh Drama Group. Compántas Lir (Company of Lir) from the Claregalway/Carnmore area was formed in 1983 and have gone on to become one of the best known amateur drama groups in the country, regularly competing for national honours and making friends nationwide with their commitment and enthusiasm. Their first two productions Ten Little Indians  by Agatha Christie and Drama at Inish by Lennox Robinson were directed by Sighle Ní Chonaill. The group began touring on the amateur drama festival circuit in 1986 with John Murphy’s The Country Boy and in 1987, they qualified for the All-Ireland Finals for the first time ever with Tom Coffey’s Anyone Could Rob a Bank. This was to be the first of eleven appearances at the national finals in the interim. In 1988, they received rave reviews for their interpretation of the atmospheric The Sorcerer’s Tale and that autumn their one act play Halloween took second place in the All-Ireland finals in Carlow.

In Autumn 1990, Compántas Lir presented its first Supper theatre which has proved to be an outstanding and lasting success. In 1991, on the festival circuit with MJ Molloy’s The Wood of the Whispering, the group won third place in the All-Ireland finals in Carlow. The following year, they performed Brian Friel’s play Aristocrats for President of Ireland, Mary Robinson on the opening night of the All-Ireland Finals in Claremorris.

Since then, besides continuing to present their annual supper theatre, the group has performed the psychological thriller Gaslight in 1993 and the multi-award winning Mungo’s Mansion in 1994. In 1995, the group presented the broadway hit Harvey and in 1997 and 1998 they performed Moll and Sive, the two John B Keane classics. In 1999 they made their first appearance here in the Town Hall Theatre when they performed one of Billy Roche’s classic trilogy of plays, Poor Beast in the Rain, to full houses.

That also qualified for the All-Ireland Finals in Derry and the following year, their stunning production of Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband got them to fourth place in the All-Ireland, but there were national awards for the fantastic performances of Vincent Moran as Lorg Goring which won him Best Actor Award; for the costume team who had put together a glittering array of outfits; and for the set designers who built what critics stated was the most impressive set ever seen on the amateur drama circuit.

With the outbreak of foot and mouth resulting in the cancellation of the touring circuit in 2001, the group’s idea of a sabbatical was to stage the demanding Marina Carr play By the Bog of Cats with a cast of 12. In 2002, the group qualified for the All-Ireland finals once again with the George Shields play Professor Tim. The group holds annual drama and technical workshops for its members and new members, thus ensuring that amateur drama flourishes in the area and that there is a constant flow of new young talent coming through all the time.
2003 Dry Rot; 2004 ; 2005 Pygmalion; 2006 A Crucial Week in the Life of a Grocer’s Assistant.

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