NOTE: Changes to this briefing plus additional year-specific information will be provided directly by email to the nominated contact and will be uploaded here if relevant.

General Briefing for Entrants

1) Ticket information with changes from last year

2023 Prices

Evening performances to include 2 course meal	£17.50
Saturday matinée	£10
Season ticket for 5 performances including 4 meals	£75
Performer food-only tickets	£8

 

General Rules

Cast, the director, up to two technical crew (sound/lights) and up to two props/set crew per participating group (provided two are required and they are different personnel to the sound/light crew) have free entry on the afternoon/evening of their performance. Chairs will be placed at the rear of the hall for their use. On non-performance nights festival participants will need to buy tickets at the full price.

In order to ensure every group can be represented on the Saturday night when the winners are announced and the prize-giving takes place, there will be a priority booking period of one week beginning Tuesday 2 May 2023 during which each participating group is able to book two full price tickets for the Saturday night performance.

Season tickets will also be on sale during this period and there will be no limit to the number purchased.

 

The box office will fully open to the general public for individual ticket sales on Tuesday 9 May 2023. Supporters of participating groups are encouraged to purchase tickets as early as possible as previous Festivals have sold out. Please ask your supporters to let us know which group they are supporting, as there will be a seating plan and we will try to seat them together. A pre-booked vegetarian food option is available and regret that no other dietary requirements can be catered for.

All tickets can be booked from Colin Such via the Box Office, for preference by emailing lighthornefestival@gmail.com or via an order form on the website lighthornefestival.org.uk or alternatively on 07823 538637. All tickets must be paid for in advance for the transaction to be deemed complete.

Groups performing first or third can order a 2-course meal, should they wish, at a reduced cost. The groups’ dining room will be the David Wright room (the bar). We regret that there is insufficient time for groups performing second to eat as well as set the stage for their performance. Food tickets for participants need to be pre-booked through the Box Office, using lighthornefestival@gmail.com, preferably as a group booking with a single payment. When ordering food tickets please supply a list of names indicating anyone requiring the vegetarian option.

2) Programme.

For our logistical needs and the free programme, we need (if not already given) the approximate run time and the names of the play, author, director, cast, and crew, plus a 50-word max synopsis of the play as you would wish to see it printed in the programme, no later than May 1, which is also the general copy deadline for advertising. The synopsis may be different to the one you submitted with your application. Advertising space in the programme is for sale to groups, and generally, via Committee Chairman Rod Chaytor (email address above).

3) Technical Rules and Briefing.

There will be a mandatory briefing for all participating groups on the penultimate Sunday in May, in Lighthorne Village Hall where it will be the responsibility of all participating groups to familiarise themselves with the Festival’s/ Lighthorne Drama Group’s technical equipment.

Technical requests and information regarding staging, lighting and sound, should be provided in advance.  Our technical lead will contact you in April to request this information and such information must be provided in advance of the briefing.  Failure to provide this information, or to attend the briefing will be treated as a wish to withdraw from the Festival.

Groups will be allocated a specific time slot on the briefing day to coordinate with the Stage Director and Technical Lead and are expected to attend.

Please see Rule Eight on the Festival website Rules for Entrants (here) which makes it clear that participating groups will be responsible for operating LDG/Festival equipment themselves to run their show. Also, please note that the May briefing is your allocated opportunity to tech your show. You will not be permitted to tech it on performance night – only to sound check for level. Our technical staff will be in Lighthorne Village Hall from 6:00pm on Festival nights for this purpose. All groups performing on the night must have sound-checked before the doors open to the public, which will be a prompt half-an-hour before curtain-up. Directors and casts will also have the opportunity at the Briefing to assess the performance area, which is not limited to the stage alone. You are encouraged to use all available space and entrances/exits for dramatic purposes, but please tell us in advance! During performance, some doorways are locked or curtained-off! Also, please note that the Lighthorne Festival encourages performers to take a curtain call at the end of their show, but Stage Director Penny Amis MUST be told in advance, whether the cast will be taking a bow, or not. If you feel you need more information, “familiarisation”, or further assistance of any kind, then we will do our very best to help but we must be told in advance and before the Briefing takes place.

4) Parking.

Parking in Lighthorne is not plentiful and wherever possible drivers are requested to car share. Street parking is possible on the hill opposite the village hall, but please do not park with 2 wheels on the pavement. Please do not use the Antelope pub car park unless you are using the pub’s drinking / dining facilities on the night you are parking there and, out of respect for our village neighbours, please do not park in Mountford Rise, the cul-de-sac adjacent to the Village Hall.

The village hall has disabled access andthe limited car parking at the village hall will be kept free for Blue Badge holders.

Participating groups delivering costumes, set and props will be allocated up to 3 parking permits per group for the night/afternoon on which they appear. If you intend using a trailer to deliver your set then please notify us in advance to ensure space is made available.

 

5) Sets and Props.

Restrictions on storage space mean that sets and props may have to be stored, until needed, on the car park inside the transport in which they have been brought to Lighthorne Village Hall. Dry weather may make temporary outside readiness near the rear stage door a possibility.

6) Dressing Rooms.

Casts, crew and directors arriving on the night they are performing should report to Stage Director at the stage door, reached by turning right at the top of the steps when approaching the Village Hall by the main entrance. They will be allocated and directed to one of two dressing rooms at the rear of Lighthorne Village Hall. With three groups per night sharing two dressing rooms, consideration is requested for other groups.

7) Seating.

Seating for actors, directors and crew competing that night ONLY will be set aside at the rear of the hall for their use while they are not performing. Numbers are limited. Consideration is requested for other groups. Please do not permit your friends and supporters who have bought seats elsewhere in the hall to join you and occupy actors’ seats during performances. Groups performing first and third and who have pre-purchased Food-Only tickets, will be allocated table seating in the bar area at which to eat.

8) Setting/Striking.

Festival Rules, stating that sets must be set and struck within 10 minutes of each group’s performance, will be monitored by the Stage Director who will liaise with each group. Start times must necessarily be flexible because precise running times cannot be predicted with complete accuracy. There will be a maximum half-hour interval between the first two plays and a maximum 20 minute interval between the second and third plays.

9) Adjudication

The GoDA Adjudicator will each night give a critique after the third play and, on the Saturday night, award the prize to the Festival Winner following the adjudication. Most adjudicators are amenable to having an informal chat with groups after the conclusion of the evening’s performances, and these should be arranged on the night through the Adjudicator’s Steward. Some adjudicators, if notified in advance, offer written adjudications in return for a fee payable by individual groups.

10) Prize and Charitable Donation.

The Lighthorne Festival offers the biggest prize in British amateur theatre which in the past has been £500 to the winning group and an equal sum to a registered charity of their choice. The Festival Committee will do its best to match those figures but with the caveat that, our previous experience of full houses which fully-funds the prize cannot be guaranteed.

The winning group will be required to nominate their chosen registered charity from the stage immediately after being declared the Winners. This means that each group must have decided in advance what their chosen charity would be. The Festival Treasurer will despatch payments to both the winning group and their chosen charity within seven days of the Festival’s conclusion, as well as writing to the winning group confirming that the donation has been sent on their behalf.

11) Publicity.

Groups wishing to use the Festival to advertise forthcoming events are welcome to hand out fliers outside the hall to attendees as they leave. Posters for groups’ productions may be pinned to a noticeboard in the foyer of the Village Hall. Please contact the Committee. No publicity material will be allowed on dining tables.

12) Photography.

The Festival photographer will be positioned at the rear of the hall, shooting without a motordrive and on available light. We are confident that their activities should not distract performers but if any group wishes to unsubscribe from photography will they please let Festival organisers know before the May Briefing.

The Lighthorne Festival of One-Act Plays.