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theatre · Wednesday 12 August 2026 · 8:00pm 
FSOMAPA presents Back to the 80's
At Ardhowen Theatre · Dublin Road, Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh
At Ardhowen Theatre · Dublin Road, Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh
Fermanagh School of Music and Performing Arts brings its senior students to the Ardhowen stage this August with a full 1980s musical, running four nights and five performances from Wednesday 12 to Saturday 15 August 2026. Back to the 80’s follows the graduating class of William Ocean High School through their final senior year, set to a soundtrack of the decade’s biggest hits and styled after films like Back to the Future and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. It is FSOMAPA’s big summer production, the kind of show that turns months of after-school rehearsal into a proper run on a professional stage.
The show follows a group of teenagers through the fun, the heartbreak and the loneliness of growing up, using the decade’s pop soundtrack to carry the story rather than treating the music as pure nostalgia filler. Expect big ensemble numbers, period costume and a live sense of a school-age cast throwing everything at a production they have been building towards all year. The Saturday performance runs twice, at 3pm and 8pm, giving families a matinee option alongside the standard evening shows on the Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. The Ardhowen’s technical setup for the run includes a smoke or haze machine and flashing lights, worth knowing in advance for anyone sensitive to either. FSOMAPA has staged similar large-cast productions at the venue before, including Sister Act Jr earlier in the summer, and this show continues that pattern of using the school’s senior performing arts wing to mount a full-scale summer musical.
The Ardhowen sits on the Dublin Road on the edge of Enniskillen, right beside Lough Erne, with parking available on site. Translink and Bus Éireann both serve Enniskillen town centre, a short taxi or walk from the theatre.
Enniskillen’s island setting, castle museums and lakeshore paths are all within easy reach of the theatre. There is more to see in Enniskillen and across Co. Fermanagh.
Heading to Ardhowen Theatre in Enniskillen? Fermanagh has plenty more to see. Read the Enniskillen area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.
In town for Ardhowen Theatre? These Dublin tours book out in summer.