The 38th British All Winners Drama Festival
By Editor
The 38th British All Winners Drama Festival 2011
The annual competition, which is organised by NDFA, and is this year being hosted in Guernsey, runs from Saturday 23 July - Saturday 30 July at Beau Sejour Theatre and the Princess Royal Centre for Performing Arts.
The national week long event is a celebration of the very best of British amateur theatre in which three youth plays, three full length plays and nine one-act plays will go head to head to take the title of British All Winner 2011. The event has attracted the support of De Putron Fund Management and the adjudicator is Tony Rushforth GoDA.
Included in the programme is a rehearsed play reading of the winning play from the original play writing competition, which receives the George Taylor Memorial Trophy and £100 prize money generously sponsored by Amateur Stage.
There are fantastic prizes of £1,000 for the winning Full Length play and £500 to the Adult One Act play supported by the Guernsey Amateur Dramatic and Operatic Club and £500 prize for the winning Youth Play sponsored by NODA.
Festival Co-ordinator, Caron Parker said, 'We are absolutely delighted to be hosting such a prestigious event. Guernsey is very supportive of the Performing Arts and is very much looking forward to welcoming teams from across the British Isles to our beautiful island. We have great facilities here in Guernsey and feel confident the competing teams will take home memorable experiences of their time both on and off the stage'.
Caron says, 'As part of the British All Winners Drama Festival Chickenshed has been invited to deliver workshops for anyone aged 7+'.
Chickenshed is an internationally renowned theatre company. They work using an inclusive creative process which means everyone is welcome, and everyone is valued.
Chickenshed has had enormous, unprecedented success since its formation in a disused chicken shed in 1974. Highlights include invitations to perform in venues as diverse as: the Royal Opera House, Ethiopia, the Edinburgh Festival and The Royal Lyceum.
Part of their programme includes a presentation of their acclaimed production 'Crime of the Century' and interactive Theatre for pre - school children 'Tales from the Shed'.
For further information about Chickenshed's programme contact: Laura Simpson: educationbawf@cwgsy.net
The RSC, as part of their Open Stages Project will also be present during the All Winners Festival and Ian Wainwright, Producer RSC Open Stages and Michael Corbidge will be holding a workshop on Monday 25 July. For further information please contact Stephanie Andrijasevic at etceteraltd@cwgsy.net
And if all of the above isn't enough to tempt you to get involved, on Friday 29 July is the Black Tie Gala Awards evening including a Champagne Reception, Full Length Play, Supper prepared by Guernsey's most reputable catering establishment, and presentation of the Awards. Caron says 'We have secured a late license and anticipate the festivities going on late into the night'.
To close the week attendees will be invited to enjoy a performance by 'Living History' in the historical grounds of Castle Cornet. This will be followed by the firing of the noon day gun over looking the picturesque town harbour of St Peter Port.
For more information visit the Guernsey All Winners web site
www.guernseybritishallwinners.org or contact Caron Parker at cjp@cwgsy.net
SOUTHERN COUNTIES DRAMA FESTIVAL
By EditorSouthern Counties Drama Festival at Oxted’s Barn Theatre
The All England Theatre Festival has a history dating back to 1919 when the British Drama League was formed. It is the only national competitive one act drama festival in the UK and organises an eliminating series of festivals which lead ultimately to the British final. The Southern Counties Drama Festival, (previously The Betchworth Festival), a preliminary round of this festival has been an important part of local amateur dramatics in Surrey and Kent for 60 years, celebrating its Diamond Anniversary in 2011.
The result is the return of an exciting week of festival drama in 2011 from 28th February – 5th March, at the Barn Theatre in Oxted, with 14 groups competing against each other and Jill Colby, a member of The Guild of Drama Adjudicators, pressed with the difficult task of deciding who should be declared winner to go forward to the next round of festival.
With a mixture of youth and adult teams during the week, most entrants are experienced in festival and several entrants have had recent success in the further rounds that lead to the English and British finals.
Tenacity and perseverance has ensured that this festival endures and you can support the endeavour by ordering your tickets by telephoning 01959 561811 or ordering online from www.barntheatreoxted.co.uk . General enquiries can be answered by telephoning 01959 561811 or by email at sc.df@btinternet.com. More information is also available at www.barntheatreoxted.co.uk/scdf.html
This year’s selection of plays is an eclectic and interesting mix of comedy, tragedy and drama and a week not to be missed.
Monday
28th February (7.30pm)
One Season’s King by George MacEwan Green
Performed by Woldingham Players
Synopsis
A most unusual and evocative play with a simple stage setting of almost mystical symbolism and shifting images with a remarkable and unexpected dance sequence in a country graveyard in the season of mellow fruitfulness.
The cast of three men growing old reminisce with poignancy on the beautiful woman they all fell for in their youth, effectively the point of the play - the passage through life to death.
Permission To Cry by David Campton
Performed by Oast Theatre TTAC
Synopsis
Julia Gibbon is an up and coming government Junior Minister whose life is thrown into turmoil by the conflict between private and public morality. She has to come to terms with personal grief when her turmoil is made public and she has to admit to herself that she was in love and allow her public façade to give way, revealing a very intense and private grief. This is highlighted by a series of dreamlike flashbacks depicting her relationship.
Tuesday
1st March (7.30pm)
The Donahue Sisters by Geraldine Aron
Performed by
Sevenoaks Players
Synopsis
Three sisters find themselves back in the old attic where they played as children. They have come home because their father is in hospital. What starts out as pleasant reminiscing takes on a more sinister turn as they re-enact a terrible shared secret of their childhood.
May we?... Oui, Mais by Wilf Hashimi
Performed by
Byfleet Players
Synopsis
Dolly and Walter share some moments in a space on the journey through. At times, the bonds are taut, and at others, they trail. Sometimes it is summer, and another cycle begins; at other times, in spite of the resources available to them, both Dolly and Walter are hampered.
Wednesday
2nd March (7.30pm)
Has Anyone Seen Freddie Drennan? By Stuart Tompkins
Performed by The NOMADS
Synopsis
A play for anyone who has suffered from the stress of directing. Dennis arrives full of high hopes to rehearse his amazing "Play in A Day" about Sir Francis Drake. However, Dennis quickly loses his cool and is overcome by panic and anguish as he is bombarded with incompetent assistants, an arrogant backstage crew and flying cups of tea! Hilarity ensues as Dennis struggles for control while learning the true meaning behind assistant directors, the Spanish Armadillo and embarrassment. By the way, has anybody seen Freddie Drennan?!
Interior Designs by Jimmie Chinn
Performed by Merstham Amateur Dramatic Society
Synopsis
Him, a brash, arrogant odd-job man, is offering his ‘services’ to three women: Holly, a successful TV newsreader; Irene, a solitary schoolteacher; and Amy, a frustrated housewife. Although of very different backgrounds, the three women share a common fate of loneliness and frustration. Interior Designs follows their yearning to fill the emptiness of their lives and their various attempts to trap the eligible Him.
Thursday
3rd March (7.00)
The Press Gang by Ellen Dryden
Performed by The Young Oxted Players
Synopsis
The play is set in the reprographics room of a large modern school in the 1990’s.
What’s On Your Mind by Ashley Montgomery
Performed by Glow Theatre Group
Synopsis
Five different characters bring their problems to a counsellor, each believing they are alone, that their problems are unique and they are truly and untreatably crazy.
Bouncers by John Godber
Performed by Heathfield & Tunbridge Wells Youth Drama
Synopsis
Eric, Judd, Ralph and Les are Night Club bouncers. They reflect on the drunken youths who frequent this and the other night clubs of the City.
Friday 4th March (7.00pm)
The Little Nut Tree by T B Moms
Performed by Heathfield & Tunbridge Wells Youth Drama
Synopsis
This well-known nursery rhyme is set in early 16th Century Spain. Genadio has found a rare tree that everyone wants. His mother wants to sell it as she can see financial security. The nosey neighbours can’t believe their eyes when a Merchant and then the Infanta (said to be a young Katherine of Aragon) come to the humble cottage to obtain the tree.
But Genadio will not let it go for money, even to Royalty, only as a gift of his love and respect for the Infanta. However, he is spurned by the Infant who says she cannot accept a gift from a peasant.
The Miracle by Lin Coghlan
Performed by Applause Youth Theatre Company
Synopsis
When the canal bursts its banks and a holy statue crashes through her bedroom floor, 12-year old Veronica takes it that she’s somehow been invested with a special gift to minister to the ailments and anxieties of her local community. With best friend Zelda in tow, Ron sets about using her new-found skills. Thwarted by cynicism and jealousy, she doesn’t find it easy - but soon the entire population of the town finds itself yearning for something magical to come into their lives. Ultimately, in the play’s dramatic conclusion, only Ron is able to make the difference which changes things for the better.
Lin Coghlan’s evocative drama was initially commissioned by the National Theatre Connections programme of plays for young people, and subsequently revived with a full professional company at the Cottesloe in 2008.
The Colour of Compassion by Ellen Dryden
Performed by
Heathfield & Tunbridge Wells Youth
Drama
Synopsis
Mary Secole a Jamaican Creole wants to be a Doctress, she practises her healing powers in the Caribbean and South America (Panama) before travelling to England to try to become one of Florence Nightingale‘s nurses in the Crimea. She is spurned as she has been before because she is coloured. Eventually she makes her own way to the Crimea where she meets a Dr Barry who hides an even deeper secret.
Saturday
5th March (7.30pm)
The Long Road by Shelagh Stephenson
Performed by St Paul’s Drama Group
Synopsis
When eighteen year old Danny is fatally stabbed in a random attack, his family struggles to find meaning and forgiveness. His mother’s determination to understand the atrocity brings her face to face with his killer and forces the family to confront the bitter senselessness of their loss.
The play evolved from a period of research with prisoners by Synergy Theatre Project, in collaboration with The Forgiveness Project, and award-winning playwright, Shelagh Stephenson. It premiered at London’s Soho Theatre in 2008 and returned later that year, after a sell-out run.
Described in the “Daily Telegraph as “rare and remarkable.... this is a drama that cries out for attention – and richly rewards it”.
The playwright has dedicated the play to ‘all those prisoners taking their first faltering steps towards redemption and understanding, and all those victims who choose to meet them on the road’.
St Paul’s Drama Group are privileged to bring this topical play to the Southern Counties Drama Festival.
Mantrap by Paul Reakes
Performed by The Oxted Players
Synopsis
Trevor Wyatt’s seemingly peaceful evening is shattered by the sudden arrival of a hysterical young girl begging to be let in. Her alarming account of attack and near murder by the lorry driver she foolishly accepted a lift from is dramatic, but nothing compared to the situation that develops within the next few hours. Petty larceny, manslaughter, policemen and a devilishly elaborate form of blackmail are all ingredients in this taut thriller.
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