DramFest 2026
Last weekend, 25 & 26 April, the Drama Department celebrated 22 years of our annual DramFest. This is a major event in the Drama Department’s calendar and is a chance for our students to perform in front of an audience. We were beyond proud of the dedication, confidence and courage they showed throughout the DramFest weekend.
We had 4 adjudicators, 4 performance venues and 52 different competitions from solo drama, duologues, Shakespeare, classical drama, improvisation, poetry, public speaking and impromptu speaking. Our 4 external adjudicators watched close to 60 hours of performances between them over the two days of DramFest.
Congratulations to all our prizewinners and a special mention to those who were awarded overall awards at the Award Ceremony on Sunday evening.
| Overall Awards 2026 | |
|---|---|
| Junior Poetry Prize - Awarded to a student in 1st to 3rd Year for exemplary poetry speaking | Sophia K (3B) |
| Junior Solo Drama Prize - Awarded to a student in 1st to 3rd Year for excellent performance of a drama solo | Branagh F (3B) |
| Junior Drama Duologue Prize - Awarded to a pair of students in 1st to 3rd Year for their performance in a duologue | Amelia O'D and Lila Jane McE (1S) |
| Junior Comedy Prize - Awarded to a student or pair in 1st to 3rd Year for their comedy performance | Eleanor F (3B) |
| Junior Adjudicator's Prize - Awarded to any performance or performer in 1st to 3rd Year that the adjudicators wish to highlight | India F (2R) |
| Junior Public Speaking Prize - Awarded to the best overall public speaker in 1st to 3rd Year | Ruolan (Tina) G (2B) |
| Junior Shakespeare Prize - Awarded to the winner of the Junior Shakespeare Competition | Ruby W (3B) |
| Senior Poetry Prize - Awarded to a student in 4th to 6th Year for exemplary poetry speaking | Honor FitzGerald (5K) |
| Senior Solo Drama Prize - Awarded to a student in 4th to 6th Year for the performance of a drama solo | Orla O'D (4T) |
| Senior Comedy Prize - Awarded to a student or group in 4th to 6th Year for a comedy performance | Isobel Johnston and Thinh Ann Ward (6M) |
| Senior Drama Duologue Prize - Awarded to a pair of students in 4th to 6th Year for their performance in a duologue competition | Catherine Leahy and Faye Geraghty (5K) |
| Senior Adjudicator's Prize - Awarded to any performance or student in 4th to 6th Year that the adjudicators wish to highlight | Emma Butcher (5M) |
| Shakespeare Cup - Awarded to the winner of the Senior Shakespeare Competition | Faye Geraghty (5K) |
| LSMD Shield - Awarded to a student in 4th to 6th Year for exemplary poetry speaking | Emma L (4O) |
| The Pat McHugh Cup for Outstanding Performance - Our top prize for the student who has stood out to the adjudicators over the two days of competitions | Francesca Darcy (5J) |
A huge amount of organisation and planning goes into DramFest each year and we had a total of 18 students helping us out over the weekend who worked tirelessly to make DramFest run as smoothly as possible. We would like to give special thanks to the following students.
Livia H (2B) Lauren T (4Y), Gracin McD (4Y), Zoe O’B (4J), Evanna M (4R) Annabel O’ L (4O), Ruby McK (4O), Grace H (4T), Alexis R.N. (4T), Orla O’ D (4T), Emily S (4Y), Róisín O’ C(4Y), Lara T (4Y), Niamh Carty (5L), Margot Marshall (5K), Bianca Busatto Balthazar (5L), Alexandra O’ Donnell (5K), Cara Holmes (5J) and Emma Butcher (5M).
Our DramFest events continued throughout the week, some of our prize winners performed in the lecture theatre at lunchtime on Tuesday and Wednesday which was a great success.
Ms Quinn hosted a panel talk on Tuesday morning with past students Caroline Menton, Venetia Bowe and Lisette Kinahan, who are involved in the acting and film industry. It was a fantastic opportunity for our students to hear from Venetia, Listette and Caroline who were so generous in sharing their knowledge and expertise with us.
1st and 2nd Year Drama and Public speaking students were invited to take part in an improvisation workshop on Wednesday with Hilary Cotter from ‘the Improv playground’. This was thoroughly enjoyed by all students.
We believe that DramFest in Alex celebrates not just performance, but the lasting impact of the arts in shaping confident, creative and expressive young people.
