The Lighthorne Festival of One Act Plays

Author: Rod Inness-Chaytor

  • Praise for Lighthorne Entrants at the National Drama Festival

    Lightfest 2025 winners Banbury Cross Players claimed no less than THREE nominations at the National Drama Festival (Thursday July 31 – Sunday August 3, 2025).

    A scene from the BCP performance of "Goodbye Charles" at Lighthorne Drama Festival 2025

    Phil Wintle, who directed the comedy “Goodbye Charles” by Gabriel Benjamin Davis, was nominated for Best Director. GoDA adjudicator Tristan Marshall, who coincidentally adjudicated the NDF as well as Lighthorne this year, described the production as a “masterclass” in direction.

    Ian Nutt was nominated for Best Actor for his triple interpretation of the characters André, Kennedy and David. The adjudicator said that to carry off one of those roles was impressive, and successfully to portray all three was exceptional.

    Banbury’s production, which transferred seamlessly from Lighthorne to the full stage of the Artrix Centre in Bromsgrove, Worcs., was also nominated in the category of Technical Excellence.

    And Conquest Theatre, Bromyard, who brought Educating Rita to Lighthorne but qualified to take it to the NDF by winning the Hereford Festival, received a fault-free adjudication at the National Festival.

    Tristan Marshall nominated Amanda Vincent-Perkins as Best Actress for her portrayal of student Rita and Hugh Farey as Best Actor in his role as lecturer Frank.

    Tristan said that Amanda had made Rita her own, and not a Julie Walters copycat, and that Hugh had portrayed Frank’s emotional vulnerability to great effect. 

    Plaudits for this year’s returning Lighthorne Festival of One Act Plays continue to come in, and it became a theme of the NDF.

    A call has now formally gone out for Expressions of Interest for Lightfest 2026. Some groups have already been in touch and more are welcomed.

    Our adjudicator for next year’s Festival, which will take place between Tuesday June 2 and Saturday June 6, 2026, will be someone we regard as being part of the Lighthorne Festival Family, award-winning actor and director, NDFA Chair, Ruth Cattell, GoDA.

  • Lighthorne Duo Take Top National Prizes

    Lighthorne Duo Take Top National Prizes

    July 2022
    This year’s Lighthorne winners and runners-up have taken the two top places in the National Drama Festival – but reversed the points scored, and positions.
    The Thursday Night Project won the Lighthorne Festival in June by just one mark with 91 points for “Every Brilliant Thing” by Duncan MacMillan with Jonny Donahoe, directed by Richard Brimblecombe.
    The Criterion Theatre, Coventry, came second with “The Gift”( Act II) by Janice Okoh, directed by Christine Ingall.

    The cast of the Criterion production of “The Gift” Act II – (left to fight) Max McLaren, Nyasha Daley, Ben Lord and Anne-marie Greene – on stage giving their prize-winning performance at the National Drama Festival at the Albany Theatre, Coventry.

    However, a month later, at the British Championships at the Albany Theatre, Coventry, it was the Criterion which took top spot with 91 points and Thursday Night Project who came second with 90.
    Adjudicator Jan Palmer Sayer, GoDA, who happened to oversee both competitions, said the difference was just a fractional improvement in on-stage reactions from the Criterion cast on the night.
    It is believed to be the first time in the near 60-year-history of the National Drama Festival (formerly  the British All-Winners) that one affiliated Festival has supplied both the Winners and Runners-up in the same year.
    Thursday Night Project qualified for the national contest by winning Lighthorne. The Criterion automatically qualified by a achieving a score of 90 or better.
    The two plays also picked up a raft of other trophies in Coventry. Criterion cast member Anne-Marie Greene, playing Harriet, took the award for Best Comedy Moment for her excruciating on-stage demonstration of “dancing like a black woman”. She was also nominated for best actor.
    The adjudicator said:”This was such a bold piece of theatre, challenging as it does our attitudes and understanding about the experience of being black and living in Britain. We have wriggled a lot, laughed a lot, enjoyed and admired this quartet of accomplished performers. I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. Stupendous stuff.”
    Mary Taylor, of Thursday Night Project, from Esher, Surrey, picked up the Best Actor award for her moving portrayal of Louise, the young and later adult child of a suicidal depressive.
    The adjudicator said:”This was an extraordinary experience.  There are few pieces that are so completely reliant on the sustained performance of a single actor, but this is one of them. I rarely use this term, but this was, genuinely, a tour-de-force.”
    The eighth Lighthorne Festival of One-Act Plays is set to take place in Lighthorne Village Hall between Tuesday June 6 and Saturday June 10, 2023. Founding adjudicator Mike Kaiser will return to take charge in what will be the Lighthorne Festival’s tenth anniversary year.

    The National Drama Festival –  https://ndfa.co.uk   – is also due to return for its third year at the Albany Theatre, Coventry, in July 2023.

    A full list of this year’s Albany winners and nominations is on the National Drama Festival Association’s website.

  • Lighthorne Festival 2022

    Lighthorne Festival 2022

    Nicola Dixon (left) as The Manager and Almira Brion as Emma in the Banbury Cross Players’ production of Mike Bartlett’s “Contractions”, directed by Chrissie Garrett, which won the 2019 Lighthorne Festival of One-Act Plays and went on to take the Best Actor award jointly for the two performers, plus the Backstage Award, at the National Finals held at The Rhoda McGraw Theatre in Woking, Surrey. Picture Peter Weston.

    April 28, 2022

    Dear Lighthorne Festival Supporters:

    After an enforced absence of two years, the Lighthorne Festival of One-Act Plays returns this year with a top quality programme featuring groups from across the Midlands and beyond.

    Nine groups will perform ten plays – two or three plays per night – over four nights. The Running Order is below.

    We will run on Wednesday June 8, Thursday June 9, Friday June 10 and Saturday June 11, 2022 (there will be no Thursday night off, as has been done in recent years).

    The Festival Box Office opens on Monday May 2 to the general public for season ticket sales only, priced at £55 for four nights, to include performances and supper. Individual tickets go on general sale on Monday May 9, priced at £15.00 per night and including a meal.

    To contact the Festival box office, either
    email: lighthornefestival@gmail.com
    telephone: 07823 538637
    or use the contact form on the Festival website – lighthornefestival.org.uk

    Please note, in particular, that this year, performances will begin EITHER at 7pm or 7.30 pm, depending on whether it is a two-play or three-play night. To ensure a prompt start, all audience members should be in their places in Lighthorne Village Hall at least 10 minutes before curtain up.

    Finally, as in all previous years, the Lighthorne winner will qualify for consideration for the NDFA National Drama Festival (formerly the British All-Winners) which returns to the Albany Theatre in Coventry this year, from Sunday July 17 to Saturday July 23 with a Conference on Inclusion and Diversity in British Amateur Theatre during the Saturday daytime in the on-site Albany Studio.

    Since the Lighthorne Festival launched in 2013, its winners and nominees have won places in every NDFA Final and picked up every national award open to them, including best production, best new script, best actor and the backstage award.

    We are thrilled to be back in business again and all of us are immensely looking forward to welcoming you to Lighthorne in June for what promises to be a great Festival – exciting, challenging, thought-provoking and funny – just as it should be. The Running Order is below.

    See you in June

    Rod.

    Rod Chaytor
    Chair
    The Lighthorne Festival of One-Act Plays.

     

    LIGHTFEST RUNNING ORDER, 2022
    (as of May 25, 2022)

    WEDNESDAY JUNE 8 AT 7 PM

    1) Criterion Theatre, Coventry. “Closer to God” by Anna Jordan

    2) Phoenix Players, Stratford. “Brummagem Pals” by Roger Gowland

    3) Shipwreck Productions, Droitwich Spa. “Dead End” by Cellan Wyn

     

    THURSDAY JUNE 9 AT 7.30 PM

    4) Second Thoughts, Stratford. “Happy Talk” by Angela Dandy

    5) Beezer Productions, Stratford. “The Sad Contessa” by Bernard Hall

    6) Phoenix Players, Stratford. “Pinteresque” by Roger Gowland

     

    FRIDAY JUNE 10 AT 7PM

    7) d’Overbroeck’s School, Oxford. “Faustus” by Christopher Marlowe.

    8) Armistice Theatre, Kenilworth. “The Great Bird” by Clara Bush.

    9) Criterion Theatre, Coventry. “The Gift” (Act Two) by Janice Okoh.

     

    SATURDAY JUNE 11 AT 7.30 PM

    10) Thursday Night Project, Esher. “Every Brilliant Thing” by Duncan Macmillan.

    11) Abbey Players, Nuneaton. “Housebound” by Simon Mawdsley.