Kildare native adjudicates at Drama Festival

Kildare native Tom Byrne has been announced as the adjudicator of the 2024 RTÉ All-Ireland Drama Festival.

Tom is a native of Celbridge, Co Kildare but lives in nearby Leixlip.

He has over 45 years involvement with amateur drama and competed in his first festival in 1979.

He started his drama life with the Leixlip Theatre Group and saw stints with the Dublin Youth Theatre and Dublin Shakespeare Society among others. He went on to establish Bradán Players Leixlip and more recently Red Embers Theatre Company. Over the years Tom has directed over 120 different productions.

He has won numerous awards as a director and he competed in the RTÉ All Ireland Finals in Athlone in 2009 and 2010.

He holds the unique record of qualifying productions to six successive All Ireland Open One Act Finals – directing winning productions in 2005,2009 and 2010.In the finals of 2005, he not alone won with his production of “Small Box Psychosis” but also directed “Babels In Arms” which finished in third place.

Tom has written several works including a radio play “Howzee” surrounding his experiences as a football referee.

Since taking up adjudicating in 2011 he has adjudicated at ADCI qualifying festivals throughout the four provinces of Ireland.

In addition, he has adjudicated the Macra na Feirme national finals on two occasions, the 2016 All Ireland One Act Finals (Dundrum) and the 2018 All Ireland Confined Finals (South Wicklow – Carnew).

Tom is a member of the Association of Drama Adjudicators.