The Lighthorne Festival of One Act Plays

Author: Rod Inness-Chaytor

  • Winners of Lighthorne Festival 2022

    Mary Taylor, from the Thursday Night Project, of Esher, Surrey, on stage in Lighthorne in “Every Brilliant Thing” . Adjudicator Jan Palmer Sayer said:”I rarely use this term, but this was, genuinely, a tour de force

    June 2022.

    Two plays achieved the highest-ever scores at the 2022 Lighthorne Drama Festival, and are among three from the village festival which have qualified for the National Finals in Coventry next month.
     
    “Every Brilliant Thing” by Duncan Macmillan, and performed by Thursday Night Project from Esher, Surrey, scored an astonishing 91 marks out of 100 from international adjudicator, Jan Palmer Sayer, GoDA.
     
    Runner-up “The Gift” (Act II) by Janice Okoh, from the Criterion Theatre, Coventry, was awarded 90 points – equalling the previous record from 2018.
     
    In total, five of the 11 entries scored 80 points or over, again equalling the previous record. A score of 80 on the standard Guild of Adjudicators mark sheet is considered to have met the Guild’s benchmark of excellence.
     
    A third play from the Lighthorne line-up – “Pinteresque” by Stratford playwright Roger Gowland – was placed third and has since also been selected to compete at the seven-night National Drama Festival.
     
    It will run from Sunday July 17 to Saturday July 23 at the Albany Theatre, Coventry, with a one-day Conference on Inclusion and Diversity in British amateur theatre in the Albany Studio on Saturday July 23.
     
    Rod Chaytor, chair of the Lighthorne Festival of One-Act Plays, said: “The overall standard has been truly amazing, in particular when considering what a difficult year this has been for drama festivals nationwide, with many deferring their re-start to next year or closing for good.
     
    “In large measure, our audiences returned and everyone seemed to have a wonderful time. We look forward to what will hopefully be a complete return to normal next year.
     
    “Those who managed to see these top-quality plays will now have the opportunity to view them again in Coventry together with a great line-up of performances from top-quality theatre companies nationwide. Those who missed them, or some of them, will now have a second chance.
     
    Under Lighthorne Festival rules, the £1,000 first prize – the biggest in UK amateur theatre – is split 50:50 between the winning group and a registered charity of the winning group’s choice. Thursday Night  Project nominated Place2be, a children’s mental health charity with over 25 years’ experience working with pupils, families and staff in UK schools.
     
    To book tickets for Coventry, go to the NDFA website  https://ndfa.co.uk  and click on “see the full Running Order and buy tickets.”
    Rod

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

  • Banbury Cross Players – prize at All-Winners

    Banbury Cross Players’ sound technician Robin Williams receives the Backstage Award from NDFA Patron Sir Derek Jacobi, flanked by adjudicator Jill Colby, GoDA, who also awarded the Best Actor prize jointly to BCP’s Nicola Dixon and Almira Brion.

    The Lighthorne drama festival’s 2019 winners have picked up two trophies at the British All-Winners Finals.

    Nicola Dixon and Almira Brion jointly won the Adjudicators’ Prize for Best Actor.

    Their group, Banbury Cross Players from Banbury, North Oxfordshire, also took the Backstage Award, voted for by the week-long Festival’s permanent crew independently of the adjudicator, for the team they most enjoyed working with.

    The double success comes as the Banbury group prepares for their 75th anniversary celebrations next year.

    The pair performed the chilling Orwellian drama “Contractions” by Mike Bartlett, in which young saleswoman Emma, played by Almira Brion, gradually finds her life and eventually her mind taken over in the interests of “business efficiency” by her ruthless female Manager, played by Nicola Dixon.

    Adjudicator Jill Colby, a member of the Guild of Drama Adjudicators, said:”They both had to be so different, but also a team, working off each other, which they did brilliantly. It was impossible to separate the two actors. It had to be a joint award.”

    The play, when it won in Lighthorne in June, was directed by Chrissie Garrett who then left to fulfil a long-standing family engagement in Australia, and handed the directorial reigns to producer June Ronson who oversaw its transfer onto the much-larger professional stage at the Rhoda McGaw Theatre in Woking, Surrey, for the British Finals.

    On the last night, the awards were both collected onstage by the play’s sound technician, Robin Williams, from the hands of NDFA Patron and theatrical knight Sir Derek Jacobi.

    Since it first launched seven short years ago, Lighthorne Festival nominees have won places in every NDFA British Final and picked up virtually every national award open to them, including best production, best new script, and now best actor and the backstage award.

    Rod Chaytor, Lighthorne Festival chair, said:” We were in the audience to support on the night Banbury performed and again on the final night when they were handed their richly-deserved prizes. We could not be more thrilled for them.”

  • Banbury Cross Players win Lighthorne Festival

    Nicola Dixon (left) as The Manager and Almira Brion (right) as Emma in Banbury Cross Players’ production of the dystopian drama “Contractions” by Mike Bartlett, which won the 2019 Lighthorne Festival of One-Act Plays. Picture Peter Weston.

    A North Oxfordshire theatre group has won the 2019 Lighthorne Festival of One-Act Plays with a chilling “Orwellian” drama about an employer brainwashing a young female employee.

    The play, “Contractions” by Mike Bartlett, portrays a young saleswoman, Emma, played by Almira Brion, who has her life and eventually her mind taken over by her boss. The all-female two-hander features a convincingly robotic performance from Nicola Dixon as the firm’s HR manager.

    The Banbury Cross Players’ winning production was directed by Chrissie Garrett and produced by June Ronson.

    As a result of winning the Lighthorne Festival of One-Act Plays, the production been selected for the National Drama Festivals Association’s British All-Winners Finals which will be held in Woking, Surrey, in July 2019.

    BCP were given a score of 87 out of a possible 100 by adjudicator Mike Kaiser, a member of the Guild of Drama Adjudicators.

    They just pipped the Black Country Hollybush Arts Group from Cradley Heath who scored 86 to take second place.

    Almira Brion, who played Emma, Nicola Dixon who played The Manager together with Banbury Cross Players director, Chrissie Garrett, receiving the Lighthorne Festival trophy from adjudicator Mike Kaiser, GoDA. Picture Peter Weston.

    Ginny Davis from Wellesbourne came third with a one-woman show, in which she plays eight parts, and in fourth place was the Caramba Theatre Company of Stratford-on-Avon. Caramba were the Lighthorne Festival’s inaugural winners in 2013.

    All the top four groups scored over 80, which is considered to be the GoDA benchmark of excellence.

    Rod Chaytor, Chairman of The Lighthorne Festival of One-Act Plays, said: “Banbury Cross Players were the very first group to sign up to the idea of a Lighthorne Festival when we first began to canvass quality local theatre groups back in 2012, and we will always be grateful for that initial support.

    “In addition, they are one of only three teams to have entered every Lighthorne Festival since its inception in 2013, and we are therefore doubly grateful to them for their ongoing loyalty.

    “It was therefore an absolute delight to see them take the Lighthorne Trophy this year and with a production which merited it, one hundred percent.

    “Part of our founding ethos was that we wanted to see good local groups learn and grow from each other by virtue of the Lighthorne Festival, and, to their great credit, BCP have done exactly that. It has been a pleasure to watch them develop over the last six years. The Director, Chrissie Garrett, had clearly put hours of work into planning and preparation and had paid huge attention to detail. The two actors performed their roles brilliantly. It was a a great show.

    “We are thrilled that BCP have now been selected for the National Drama Festival Association’s British All-Winners Finals in Woking next month. We will be there to support them, and wish them every good fortune in their attempt to become national champions.”