Students land prizes at Feis

Naas students enjoyed some success at the recent All-Ireland Speech and Drama

Teachers of Ireland Feis.

The speech and drama students competed in the annual SDTOI All-Ireland feis at the Talbot Hotel, Stillorgan. 

All participants on the day had been  selected from thousands of video entries received from across the country.

Nineteen students from Naas-based Carol Gleeson School of Speech and Drama were selected as finalists and performed well, taking home a total of 11 prizes between them.

Notably, Kate Monahan reclaimed the highly coveted age 15/16 Montaine Cup for outstanding solo performance, having also won it last year, and then went on to win the Seniors Drama Shield for 2024 for her exceptional performance of Hestor Swane from Marina Carr’s By The Bog of Cats.

Fiona and Grace Lawlor won gold in the hotly contested age 11/12 duologue competition, while Niamh Carey and Aine McNally took home silver medals in the solo drama age 15/16 and age 8/10 respectively.

“It was another fantastic feis this year and is always a highlight in our calendar,” said school owner Carol Gleeson. “The organisers did a magnificent job as always and the excitement throughout the venue was palpable. The students came alive in front of the audience and it was a real joy to watch them perform to such a high standard throughout the course of the day. The prizes they won were the cherry on top.”

Ms Gleeson runs speech and drama classes in Naas GAA centre weekly for pupils from 6-17 years of age.