Lighthorne Festival 2023

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We are delighted to have received so many excellent entrants to the festival this year which will take place from 7-10 June 2023 and will be our Ten year Anniversary Festival.

The Festival Committee are pleased to announce the running order for the 2023 Festival as below.  Season Tickets will be available to purchase from 2 May 2023 and individual evening tickets from 9 May 2023.  Check back soon for further information!

LIGHTHORNE FESTIVAL OF ONE ACT PLAYS
WEDNESDAY 7 JUNE – SATURDAY 10 JUNE 2023

Wednesday 7 June 7:30pm

Lynden Players, Middleton Cheney How the Vote was Won

After 40 years of campaigning for the right to vote, the women of Britain try a different approach. In this comedy, first performed in 1909, the women go on strike, and as distant relations gather at the small home of Horace Cole, he starts to change his mind.

New Kinver Players, Staffordshire Bookends

Ron and Bill haven’t met up for three weeks: Bill has been in Scarborough, reliving his honeymoon and Ron, having escaped from his old people’s home, has been living it up on the ferry to Amsterdam.

Second Thoughts, Stratford The Wind of Change

When Toad announces her new appointment to her friends, they are utterly incredulous. Incredulity turns to admiration. Admiration fast turns to anger. Will Toad be the hero of the hour or the villain of the piece?  A light-hearted comedy with a critical underlying message

Thursday 8 June 7:30pm

Beezer Productions, Stratford   A Long Time Dead

Dolores wants love badly. Very badly. Will Frank oblige? Will dancing lead to romance? Find out in this uproarious comedy.

Criterion Theatre, Coventry  Small Hours

It’s 3 o’clock in the morning, a young mum spends the night in a flat while her baby sleeps fitfully in the next room. Her husband is away and she cannot sleep. Small Hours is an intimate dissection of the claustrophobic world of a new mother struggling to cope on her own.

Please note that this play includes content around post-natal depression which may be distressing or triggering.

Didcot Phoenix Drama Group  Virtual Reality

Two men waiting for equipment to do an unspecified job. The one in charge insists on doing a dry run inventory of the contents of the expected crates. The purely hypothetical assumes a wacky, sinister autonomy that transports them to a frozen wilderness.

Friday 9 June 7:30pm

Phoenix Players Stratford   Intelligence

The year is 2035 and the UK population is reaching alarming levels. Behind closed doors, the Prime Minister and his “faithful” Aides are hatching a plan which will make it’s mark in history…

Banbury Cross Players   Getting Dark

For six year old  Karen, her world is gradually getting dark. Colours that meant so much to her are ebbing away and she needs constant artificial light to see.

Her parents are finding it increasingly difficult to cope with their daughter’s deteriorating condition, so they make a life changing decision!

Rugby Theatre    Root of all Evil

Gladys is 85 and her memory is not as good as it was. She gets very confused. Her family don’t help, especially when they can get access to her bank account. Who to trust? Can anyone help?

Saturday evening 7:30pm

Waterbeach Theatre Company, Cambridgeshire  One Night in Toledo

             On the terrace of a hotel in Spain, two women meet, having been invited to a mutual friend’s forthcoming wedding. As they chat they discover ties, both past and present, and an uncomfortable history begins to emerge. But in such a chance encounter, when confusion is easy, is it right to step in when danger beckons?

Box House Theatre Company, Southampton    Twisted Tales

A group of thespians stumble upon an ominous book filled with grisly and gory tales. Will the thespians be bound to act as the book’s puppets, destined for a life of performing but never truly free?

Lighthorne Duo Take Top National Prizes

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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

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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.

 

Winners of Lighthorne Festival 2022

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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

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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

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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.”

Local Groups Dominate Lighthorne Festival

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Kattreya Sheurer-Smith as runaway bride Kitty and Matthew Squance as quirky zoologist Tom, who finds her stuck up a tree, in the two-hander “Uke Belong To Me”, written by Kattreya and directed by her father, Stephen, which won the 2018 Lighthorne Festival of One-Act Plays with a record score.

Local groups dominate the Running Order for this year’s Lighthorne Festival of One-Act Plays, which will take place between Tuesday June 4 and Saturday June 8, 2019, in Lighthorne Village Hall.

The competition, which boasts the biggest prize in British amateur theatre, has in the past attracted touring groups from as far afield as Anglesey and Cambridge. This year, however, all 12 entrants come from within an hour’s drive of the South Warwickshire village, which will be hosting its seventh annual event this year.

Of those, nine are from Warwickshire, including five from Stratford. Two more are from north Oxfordshire, close to the Warwickshire border, and the twelfth is from Cradley Heath in the BlackCountry. Five groups are new to the Lighthorne Festival. Eight groups will be performing new work.

Festival Committee chair Rod Chaytor said:”It’s great that in the past this still-new Festival has attracted some of the top amateur theatre groups from across the country, as it will again, but I am delighted that this year the prize must go to someone fairly local to our venue.”

The Lighthorne Festival has a £1,000 first prize which, under Festival rules, must be divided equally between the winning group and a registered charity of their choice. The winners also take home a handsome, theirs-to-keep engraved glass trophy.

Festival Results 2018

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Kattreya Sheurer-Smith as runaway bride Kitty and Matthew Squance as quirky zoologist Tom, who finds her stuck up a tree, in the two-hander “Uke Belong To Me”, written by Kattreya and directed by her father, Stephen, which won the 2018 Lighthorne Festival of One-Act Plays with a record score.

A Cambridgeshire theatre group has won the 2018 Lighthorne Festival of One-Act Plays with the highest score the Festival has ever seen.

Big Squirrel, based in Ely, Cambs, scored an astonishing 90 out of 100 with their production of “Uke Belong To Me” written by and featuring Kattreya Sheurer-Smith and directed by her father, Stephen Sheurer-Smith.

Adjudicator Chris Jaeger MBE, a leading member of the Guild of Drama Adjudicators, said that Kattreya and her stage partner Matthew Squance had “done everything to perfection” in the rom-com two-hander. A score of 80 is considered the GoDA benchmark of excellence.

Judging at Lighthorne for the first time, he told the audience: “This is a truly unique festival – good quality plays, wonderful food, brilliant audiences and terrific atmosphere. It is a credit to the whole community of Lighthorne. In 20 years’ time, every Festival will look like this.”

It is the first time a piece of new work, rather than a published play by an established playwright, has won the Lighthorne Festival.

In second place were Lighthorne’s 2016 winners, White Cobra from Northampton presenting “Blind Date” by Peter Quilter with a score of 86, and Stratford’s Second Thoughts came third on 85 with “Whisking Eggs” by local playwright Jackie Lines.

Kattreya Sheurer-Smith and fellow actor Matthew Squance, of the Big Squirrel theatre group, based in Ely, Cambs, receive their engraved glass winner’s trophy from Lighthorne adjudicator Chris Jaeger, MBE, GoDA.

The top five groups, including Stratford’s Phoenix Players in fourth place and reigning British champions, Didcot Phoenix Drama Group from Oxfordshire, in fifth, all hit or surpassed the 80 mark.

The Lighthorne Festival, now in its sixth year, offers its winner £1,000 – the biggest prize in British amateur theatre – which, under the Festival’s founding principles, must be shared 50-50 between the winning group and a registered charity of the winning group’s choice. They nominated Macmillan Cancer Support.

Festival chairman Rod Chaytor said:”A score in the mid-to-high 80’s will easily win most Festivals and 90 or above will take the national championships. Whilst every Lighthorne winner in the past has hit the 80’s, none has before achieved 90. It is a ringing testament to the quality of the drama which groups bring to Lighthorne and demonstrates again that, year on year, standards continue to rise.”

He added: “I saw Kat and Matthew deliver “Uke” last year and went straight up to see them afterwards to invite them to close this year’s Lighthorne event. It is a lovely, heart-warming crowd-pleaser and they perform it brilliantly, including both of them playing the ukulele during the course of the show, on stage.”

Next year’s seventh annual Lighthorne Festival will take place between Tuesday June 4 and Saturday June 8, 2019. Expressions of interest from potential participants are invited before October 31, 2018, by emailing chairman Rod Chaytor on rod.chaytor@icloud.com.

 

National Champions Return to Defend Lighthorne Title

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Reigning British one-act drama champions, Didcot Phoenix Drama Group, will return in June to the Lighthorne stage where their successes of last year began.
 
The award-winning Oxfordshire group will open the 2018 Lighthorne Festival with “The Bench at the Edge”, a dramatic comedy by Luigi Januzzi.
 

Last June they won Lighthorne with Eugene Ionesco’s “The Lesson” which qualified them for the National Drama Festivals Association’s British All-Winners Finals, held at the Lamproom Theatre, Barnsley in July.

David Cooke as the Professor, Daisy Norton as the Maid and Corin Lawfull as the Pupil in the Didcot Phoenix Drama Group presentation of Eugene Ionesco’s classic 1950’s Theatre of the Absurd play, The Lesson.

 
There, they not only took the top prize in the One-Act section but also took the Youth Section trophy, which was won by 20-year-old Didcot actress Corin Lawfull.
 
This year’s Lighthorne line-up contains another four groups who have previously won through to the national finals – Abbey Players, Nuneaton; White Cobra from Northampton; Lighthorne Drama Group and Big Squirrel from Ely.
 
It also includes established favourites such as Armistice Theatre from Kenilworth; Stratford Playwrights; Phoenix Players, Stratford; Second Thoughts, Stratford; Rugby Theatre and Banbury Cross Players.
 
Newcomers include the Rose Theatre from Kidderminster, who were one of the groups chosen to provide the Rude Mechanicals for the RSC’s 2016 pro-am production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”.
 
Lighthorne Festival chairman Rod Chaytor said:” We are delighted to welcome back loyal local groups as well as top-quality newcomers such as the Rose Theatre and Big Squirrel from further afield. There is also an interesting mix of off-the-shelf published plays and new work this year.
 
“We are looking forward to a really exciting Festival in June.”
 
In a change this year, performances will begin at 7pm and the cost of a four-night Season Ticket, including supper on each night, has been reduced to £40.
 
One enforced change from last year – a Thursday night Festival break – has been repeated this year by choice.
 
Chairman Rod Chaytor added:” In 2017 we had to move our scheduled Thursday night programme to the Tuesday because of the sudden calling of a General Election – our village hall, where the Festival takes place, is used as a polling station.
 
“However, the Festival Committee appreciated the break. We canvassed participating groups and our 2018 adjudicator, Chris Jaeger, and they supported repeating the exercise, so this year’s Festival will follow the same Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday night pattern.”
 
The Box Office will open to the general public on Monday May 7, for  preference by emailing lighthornefestival@gmail.com or via a link on the website https://lighthornefestival.org.uk or alternatively by telephoning Colin and Ann Such on 01926 651411.
 
Tickets are £12.50 each including a meal. Vegetarian meals are available but, once ordered, cannot be altered. We regret that limited catering facilities mean that other dietary requirements cannot be met. There is no ticket price reduction for those who do not wish to eat.
 
The full running order for the 2018 Lighthorne Festival of One-Act Plays is:
 
 
TUESDAY JUNE 5, 2018 at 7pm
 
 
Didcot Phoenix Drama Group. “The Bench at the Edge” by Luigi Januzzi.
 
Armistice Theatre, Kenilworth. “The Party” by Dan Blizzard and Rebecca Gardner Tildesley.
 
Second Thoughts, Stratford. “Whisking Eggs” by Jackie Lines.
 
 
WEDNESDAY JUNE 6, 2018 at 7pm
Mayhem Theatre Group. “Imagine?” by Stephen Moran. 
Rugby Theatre. “Consensual Sex?” by Steve Crump.
 
Abbey Players, Nuneaton.  “Conclusions” by Chris Jaeger.
 
(This entry is part of the Festival but does not form part of the competition).
 
 
 
FRIDAY JUNE 8, 2018 at 7 pm
 
Banbury Cross Players. “Warm, Hot, Getting Hotter” by Lou Treleavan.
 
Phoenix Players, Stratford. “What Is Normal ?” by Katie Cherry.
 
Lighthorne Drama Group. “White Lies” by Richard James.
 
 
SATURDAY JUNE 9, 2018 at 7pm
 
White Cobra, Northampton. “Blind Date” by Peter Quilter.
 
Stratford Playwrights. “The Age of Asparagus” by Steve Farr.
 
Big Squirrel, Ely. “Uke Belong To Me” by Kattreya Sheurer-Smith.

Lighthorne Festival winners 2017 become national champions

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Lighthorne Festival’s 2017 winners have become national champions at the British All-Winners Finals.
 

Didcot Phoenix Drama Group took the top prize in the One-Act section with their entry, Eugene Ionesco’s The Lesson, as well as the Youth Section trophy, won by 20-year-old Didcot actress Corin Lawfull.

David Cooke as the Professor, Daisy Norton as the Maid and Corin Lawfull as the Pupil in the Didcot Phoenix Drama Group presentation of Eugene Ionesco’s classic 1950’s Theatre of the Absurd play, The Lesson.

Veteran adjudicator Russell Whitely, GoDA, praised Didcot for their “powerful” performance and said he had never seen an amateur group perform the Ionesco work better. He also said that Corin Lawfull’s portrayal of the pupil, at first coquettish, then confused and, finally, terrified, was “absolute, total perfection”.
 
Fellow Didcot actress Daisy Norton, 16, was also among the nominees for the youth prize.
 
Winning Director Karen Carey said:” We have performed in local festivals around Oxfordshire for over 30 years but this is the first time that the group has performed on the national circuit, so to win at this level is a fantastic achievement for the group and certainly one of the high points in its 34-year history.
 
“I’m extremely proud of the team, both on-stage and off, and very grateful for the support from members and their families. Being surrounded by science and technology industries, the arts in Didcot has often taken a back seat – but I think this proves there’s a lot of talent in Didcot.”
 
The group won the Lighthorne Festival of One-Act Plays last month, earning the right to enter the All-Winners Finals. They are the fifth group to go forward to the national championships from Lighthorne since it was founded in 2013, but the first to win it.
 
The week-long Finals, at the Lamproom Theatre in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, and organised by the National Drama Festivals Association, featured nine one-act and three full-length plays and represented a triple triumph for Lighthorne.
 
Playwright Nick Marsh, from Rugby Theatre, was handed the George Taylor Memorial Trophy for the best new play featured at a NDFA-associated Festival during the previous year.
 
Nick’s presentation was made by David Waters, managing director of publishers Stagescripts, whose award also includes a £250 cheque and a publishing deal.
 
His play, A Frank Exchange, was the Rugby Theatre entry in the Lighthorne Festival of One Act Plays in June 2016.
 
The judging panel, comprised of an established playwright and two GoDA adjudicators, said:”It is very well constructed, with several twists and climaxes, building to a strong, telling, harrowing conclusion.”
 
Lighthorne Festival chairman Rod Chaytor said:”We were aware that standards are building year on year, but this is empirical proof.”
 
”We are delighted to share Didcot’s triumph. It is a huge achievement to win at this level. They gave a stunning interpretation of a classic theatrical piece.”
 
“Equally, the Lighthorne Festival has always encouraged new work within a balanced programme and we offer our warmest congratulations to Nick Marsh.”
 
Next year’s Lighthorne Festival will be held between June 5 – 9, 2018. Preliminary expressions of interest are invited from would-be entrants between now and October 31 this year, with confirmed entries by January 31, 2018.