It all started back in January, when the Junior Drama Club decided that they would like to move on from all the drama games and short scenes which we had been working on, and focus on a much bigger goal: a Junior Drama Club Performance in front of a large audience! It was revealed that the Junior Drama Club would be performing an abridged version of Shakespeare’s comedy, Much Ado About Nothing. There were a large number of pupils keen to walk the boards, and, after auditions had taken place, the cast list of 25 pupils was finally revealed!

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It was a great, rather than a small, pleasure to spend a winter evening at the end of 2013, watching Dalriada’s production of Lionel Bart’s “Oliver!”Seasoned audiences perhaps take it for granted that the orchestra for a Dalriada show will be made up almost entirely of pupils; this is certainly not the case at all schools but under Heather Montgomery’s skilful (or is it magical?) baton this year’s talented young musicians sounded to have no problem interpreting the complicated musical score. The blend of brass, woodwind and strings was underpinned by a range of percussion instruments played by only two performers who understood entirely what was demanded of them.

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Junior Drama Club cordially invites you to join us in a summer evening of drama, music – and murder! In our first ever summer production, ‘The Blunt End’, you will witness the School Principal, Ms Rosemary Blunt’s attempt at staging a Midsummer Pageant. As the evening proceeds, it becomes clear that the pageant is not going to be the success it might have been, but that is rather irrelevant when Ms Blunt is found murdered!

As the audience, it will be your job to watch the drama unfold on stage, to mull over the evidence while drinking tea/coffee and eating ice-cream with your friends, and to interrogate the characters to ascertain their exact movements and motives. Based on the evidence, you will then be well placed to identify the murderer and there will be prizes for the Sherlock Holmes or Jane Marple who works it out!

This should be a very informal evening of fun and we hope that as many of you as possible will support the cast. The production takes place in the John Armstrong Hall on Tuesday, 25 June at 7.30 p.m. Tickets cost £5 [£3 concession] and are available now from the school office. Please do join us; after all, as Ms Blunt says, ‘There’s no business like show business!’

Elementary, my dear audience!

Meets Thursday lunchtimes

Open to Years 8-10

What a busy year our 75th anniversary year in Dalriada is turning out to be for Junior Drama Club! Over thirty of our members, in Celtic dress, formed the cast of the 2012 version of ‘The Dalriada Pageant’ which told the story of the Kingdom of Dalriada and which was first performed for the opening of the school on its present site in 1937.

Currently, we are moving with great gusto towards our second, and very different, production of the year. Connoisseurs of murder mystery dinner parties will definitely want to get in ‘on the act’ and buy their tickets early for our Murder Mystery Drama production, ‘The Blunt End’ (Death in the Daisies)! There will, of course, be the obligatory murder, shadowy motives and murder weapons lurking in dark corners, but the cast have been sworn to secrecy on pain of death – or detention for life – so it will be up to, you, the audience to deduce the identity of the murderer.

Rehearsals are currently taking place during our Thursday lunchtime meetings and we will also be using Saturday mornings in the weeks leading up to the performance, all in the hope that we will be able to entertain you in a suitably cryptic fashion. We look forward to seeing you in June!

As the nights grow longer and colder, and Spring seems very far away, what better way to pass your time than watching one of the outstanding plays of the 20th century? The play in question is The Crucible by Arthur Miller, chosen this year by Dalriada Drama Society as their annual production. The cast and crews have been working tirelessly to ensure that they do justice to this ageless tale of fear, greed and power written by one of the greatest playwrights of all time.

The play was previously produced at Dalriada by Mr Roy Alcorn in 1979; so it is fitting that it should be re-visited as the school celebrates 75 years on the St. James’ Road site. This year’s producer Terry Hunter, from the English Department, says that, “The Crucible is without doubt one of the must-see plays of modern times. This is due to the universal themes which it portrays and explores: greed, revenge and betrayal. The fact that it was chosen by The Lyric Theatre in Belfast to re-open their theatre in 2011illustrates the importance, and hints at the contemporary relevance, of the play.”

Arthur Miller’s astounding and searing play pulses with the destructiveness of socially sanctioned violence, the power of hysteria, the blindness of zealots, and the heart of one tortured man trying to find his own goodness. So don’t miss out on what promises to be an unforgettable experience on Thursday 6th, Friday 7th and Saturday 8th December at 7:30 in the John Armstrong Hall: tickets are very reasonably priced at £6, concessions £4.

Dalriada School presents Les Misérables

Wednesday 7th – Saturday 10th December 2011

Doors open at 7 pm

 It is hard to believe it is eight years since Dalriada last staged this timeless musical and twenty-one years since Mrs Flynn first directed the annual school production – The Merchant of Venice for those of you not old enough to remember! Despite all the jokes about having said this before, this WILL be her LAST ONE!

As tickets go on sale and rehearsals become more fraught, Mrs Flynn & Mrs Montgomery would like to issue a special invitation to the cast of Dalriada’s last Les Mis, and indeed to any cast or team members from any Flynn/McQuillan/Montgomery show over the years, to come back and see if the current generation of Dalriads are as good as you were! Don’t forget to speak to us if you do make it.

Tickets available from the school office.         Adults £10     Concessions £8

 Ticket update:

Tickets still available for the new Wednesday evening performance:

Thursday performance Tickets available:

Friday performance Very limited availability:

Saturday performance. Sold Out:

Our dramatic production this year, Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, is on Thursday 2nd, Friday 3rd and Saturday 4th December. Tickets are available from the school office (02827663066) Adults £8 and Concession £5.

Update: Tickets are available now only for Friday night, so if you plan to come, book soon!