A play called Mop and Bucket from a talented young South Warwickshire playwright cleaned up at this year’s sell-out Lighthorne Festival of One-Act Plays.
The piece, by Benjamin Keyser, from Tysoe, topped a field of 14 entrants, and scored a massive 92 points out of a possible 100 from the adjudicator. Any mark over 80 is considered to have attained the Guild of Drama Adjudicators’ benchmark of excellence.
The two-handed comedy tells the story of a disillusioned CEO who job swaps with the office cleaner, who turns out to have been a managing director herself in her native Eastern Europe before emigrating to the UK.
The prize, for the playwright’s company, Tysoe-based Broadly Speaking Productions, wins them an engraved trophy, automatic qualification for the National Drama Festival next month and a £1000 cash prize – the biggest in UK amateur theatre.
Under Festival rules, the money must be split 50/50 with a registered charity of their choice. The production team chose Stratford Food Bank.
Festival Director Rod Chaytor said:”It was a near-perfect delivery of a very funny and well-crafted play. We all think that, in the world of theatre, Ben is going to go a very long way indeed.”
Ben, 27, a PhD student at Loughborough University, who also directed, said:” We are absolutely ecstatic to have won the prestigious Lighthorne Festival.
“The cast have worked so hard on the play, and I can’t thank them enough for their efforts.
“Especially given the tough competition from so many amazing drama groups, it all felt a little unreal.
“Taking our small theatre group from our little Warwickshire village to the NDF is going to be daunting, but I’m incredibly excited for the opportunity and the doors that it will open for us.”
This year’s Festival, which took place as usual in Lighthorne Village Hall, is being dubbed the most successful ever – expanded for the first time to five nights from four, still over-subscribed by groups wanting to take part, with every seat sold over the run and thousands of pounds raised for the Lighthorne Village Hall Renovation Fund.
Rod added: ”In all, eight of the 14 teams scored over 80 points – a Lighthorne record by two. That is absolutely exceptional in terms of Festival results nationwide and shows the very high standard of theatre-work on display.
“Looked at overall, by any measure, this was the most successful Lighthorne Festival ever and puts us in very good shape for next year.”
The Festival was founded in 2013 and is unique in the UK, running café-style with hot food served during the interval.
Broadly Speaking will perform Mop and Bucket again at the National Drama Festival at the Artrix Centre, Bromsgrove, in the evening session on Thursday July 30. Tickets available now at www.ndfa.co.uk.
The 2027 Lighthorne Festival of One-Act Plays will take place in Lighthorne Village Hall between Tuesday June 8 and Saturday June 12. The adjudicator will be multi-award-nominated West End musicals director, Bob Thomson, GoDA.