Following another highly-successful event, The Lighthorne Festival of One-Act Plays will have two entrants in the National Drama Festivals Association’s British Finals in the Isle of Man this July.

Lighthorne Drama Group is to compete alongside 2013 Winners Caramba.

The LDG entry will be “Tell Me Another Story, Sing Me A Song” by Jean Lenox Toddie, directed by Rachel Tompkins and Phil Quinn, acted by Jess Daniel and Dawn Gazey-Lewis, which came second in the 2014 Lighthorne Festival of One-Act Plays in June.

LDG’s opportunity has arisen because this year’s winners, Sudden Impulse from Nuneaton, were unable to apply because they are already committed to the Buxton festival, which clashes, and where they won the Best Actor award last year.

NDFA rules say that a second placed entry may apply if the winner of an affiliated festival is genuinely unable to compete and if both entries reach over 80% on the Guild of Drama Adjudicators’ scoring scheme. LDG achieved 83%.

Last year’s Lighthorne Festival winners, Caramba from Stratford-upon-Avon, have also been accepted to compete in the Isle of Man with their 2013 entry, Michael Frayn’s “Chinamen”, directed by Kate Guest and acted by Tim Guest and Nikki Baldwin.

They qualify for this year’s Finals because last year’s Lighthorne Festival was held a little later in the year. When the Lighthorne Festival applied for NDFA membership after its inaugural last year, it was done on the basis that the 2014 Lighthorne Festival would be held two weeks earlier, to get in synch with the NDFA calendar, but also that, exceptionally for this year’s Finals, both winners would qualify to apply in 2014. In the event, both have also been accepted.

The NDFA Festival, which is held in a different location each year, features a youth section and full-length plays as well as the One-Act competition and will be held this year at the restored Gaiety Theatre in Douglas between July 20 and 26.

Caramba compete on the evening of Tuesday July 22 and LDG on the evening of Wednesday July 23.

Supporters Welcome!!

The Committee of the Lighthorne Festival of One-Act Plays wishes both entrants every success and its representatives will be there to will them both on.

As a reminder, the third annual Lighthorne Festival of One-Act Plays will be held over four nights from June 3 to June 6 next year. Expressions of interest from potentially participant theatre groups in writing, please, by October 31, 2014, and firm entries including the name of the play, the director and other details, by January 31, 2015.

In the 2014 event, Leamington-based Irish company Tir na nOg came third with “In the Shadow of the Glen” by J.M. Synge, directed by Gus MacDonald. The Talisman, Kenilworth, received an honourable mention from GoDA adjudicator Mike Kaiser for “The Last Bread Pudding” by Nick Warburton.

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

Preparations are well under way for the Lighthorne Festival of One-Act Plays, 2014.

Twelve groups will perform a dozen plays over four nights in last year’s hugely-popular format of three plays per night, cafe-style, with supper served in the intervals.

Following last year’s inaugural event, we have been accepted as members of the National Drama Festivals Association and our event is brought forward to June 4/5/6/7 so that our 2014 winner, if their Guild of Drama Adjudicators score is high enough, can go forward to the NDFA British All-Winners Finals on the Isle of Man in July 2014. Caramba of Stratford-upon-Avon, our 2013 winners, have already qualified for it.

Elsewhere on this website is a copy of our updated 2014 rules, tweaked in a couple of places to reflect 2013′s experience. So they are clear, alterations have been marked in red. Also in the Entrants’ section is a Technical Document, a Briefing Document for 2014 entrants and the 2014 Running Order.

Two dates to remember: Copy for the programme, including cast lists, must be with us by Friday April 25. There will be a mandatory Familiarisation Briefing in Lighthorne Village Hall at 10.00 am on Sunday May 18, 2014.

We will keep you informed with regular updates. Looking forward to seeing you all in Lighthorne in June.

Best Wishes,

Rod.

Rod Chaytor
Chairman
The Lighthorne Festival of One-Act Plays

The Sudden Impulse production of Waiting For, a home-grown piece written by 19-year-old student Jack West, caught the eye of GoDA adjudicator Mike Kaiser at the inaugural Lighthorne Festival.

Mike rated it in the top three, together with the Priory’s Lions and Donkeys by Steve Harper and winners Caramba with Chinamen by Michael Frayn.

But it was Nuneaton-based Sudden Impulse’s other Lighthorne entry, The Zoo Story by Edward Albee, which went on to win honours at the prestigious Buxton Fringe Festival a month later.

The edgy drama – in which an increasingly deranged youth invades the privacy of an older man sitting quietly reading on a New York park bench, with hints of terrible happenings earlier at the neighbouring zoo – was nominated for best production and its two actors, Richard Shields as Peter and Liam King as the younger Jerry, were both nominated for best male actor.

Liam King went on to win the award.

Those who saw Zoo Story at Lighthorne will no doubt recall Liam’s low-slung jeans which appeared at any moment to be heading for a catastrophic costume malfunction.

Adjudicator Mike Kaiser said in his judgement that it was sometimes his role to reflect the views of the audience, among whom he had heard whispers that they found the jeans distracting.

But Liam, and Sudden Impulse’s Artistic Director, Simon N. W. Winterman, stuck to their guns and played it at Buxton exactly as they had done at Lighthorne a month earlier.

The Derbyshire judges obviously found the occasional heart-stopping jeans moments added to the overall edginess of the performance – and perhaps a metaphor for whether the character of Jerry was in control, or not.

Director Simon, who took both plays to Buxton, said:”We had an amazing week with incredible weather. We performed each of the plays five times, a staggering 10 performances in the sweltering heat, but it was an incredible time. Both productions received high acclaim.

“Early on we were ‘spotted’ by Robin Matheison who is the husband of Dame Janet Smith, the main festival organiser – he was impressed with Waiting For and insisted on taking us all for a drink outside the Opera House which was magnificent.

“I am also delighted to report that out of  55 separate theatre productions and countless performances, The Zoo Story was nominated for Best Production and both Richard Shields and Liam King  nominated for best performance, with Liam King going on to win the award for best performance for a male actor.

“This is obviously a triumph for all of us at Sudden Impulse but I hope Lighthorne can also share in our pride. The Lighthorne Festival remains one of the highlights of a wonderful summer.”

Sudden Impulse, among the very first to support the inaugural Lighthorne Festival, were also amongst those who immediately afterwards called for a re-run in 2014. They are again contemplating running two entries this year.