Drama festival sells out one week early

The final ticket for the RTE All-Ireland Drama Festival, which takes place in Athlone from May 3 until May 12, was sold over a week before the curtains are scheduled to rise on the festival's first performance. Speaking to the Westmeath Independent this week festival director Billy Nott revealed the final ticket was snapped up at the box office on Wednesday last, April 25, a full eight days before the festival's first show in the Dean Crowe Theatre tomorrow night (Thursday). The amateur drama festival features performances on nine consecutive nights. Mr Nott said filling the theatre's 470 seats for every one of the festival's performances so early was no mean feat. "We're delighted," he said. "To put it in context, the Abbey Theatre has 500 seats. We've only 30 seats less than the Abbey. It's phenomenal for a town of our size." Mr Nott continued to say local support has played its part in successfully moving tickets for the popular event. "We've had huge support locally," he said, adding that this year local businesses helped to promote the festival with flags given to them by the organising committee. Furthermore, Mr Nott said that a massive 50 percent or more of tickets sold were bought by people from Athlone or the greater midlands area. Mr Nott said that anyone without a ticket who would particularly like to attend a festival performance could try turning up at the Dean Crowe Theatre. "Odd tickets before available now and again," he said. "If you're a local it's worth turning up on spec - a ticket for some reason might become available."