Waterford Youth Arts perform a play in a play with 'Revenge at Hotel Rapscallion'

Waterford Youth Arts brought their new murder mystery 'Revenge at Hotel Rapscallion' to Garter Lane Arts Centre last week after weeks of dedicated rehearsals.

The play was performed by the group's senior drama group aged 15 to 19, who have been in rehearsal since the beginning of August right up to the night before the play hit the stage, last Thursday, September 10.

Described as a cross between Agatha Christie's 'And Then There Were None' and Scooby Doo, the teenage actors told the story of a transition year class reluctantly putting on a murder mystery play, with fights and squabbles running in the background.

The project, written by Waterford Youth 'Arts alumni Mary O'Donohue, was a fantastical night of fun for audiences, as well as the entire cast and crew.

Thursday's opening night was "incredible", she said, "I could see all the fun the lads were having throughout the rehearsal process but on the stage finally [...] I could not be more proud of such an incredible group of people."

The project also brought about the return of Waterford Youth Arts' long-time collaborator Liam Meagher as director, who directed the very first Waterford Youth Arts summer play in 1990.

The show, much like other Waterford Youth Arts projects, had young people stepping into roles both on and off stage, with the teens in tech initiative in play allowing young people interested in the behind the scenes roles to be mentored by professionals for the duration of the project.

'Revenge at Hotel Rapscallion' saw both a teenage assistant stage manager and teenage lighting operators take on a more technical role for the production.

As one of the largest and longest established youth arts organisations in Ireland, Waterford Youth Arts showed up and showed out for their summer production this year.