Lighthorne 2017 results

An Oxfordshire theatre group has won the fifth annual Lighthorne Festival of One-Act Plays with a piece of classic theatre – “The Lesson”, by French playwright Eugene Ionesco.

David Cooke as The Professor and Corin Lawfull as The Pupil in the Didcot Phoenix Drama Group winning production of “The Lesson” by Eugene Ionesco, directed by Karen Carey.

Newcomers Didcot Phoenix Drama Group scored the Festival’s highest-ever marks with their production, directed by Karen Carey.

The still-controversial 1950’s Theatre of The Absurd play – hated by some but hailed as a masterpiece by many – deals with a dysfunctional and disconnected encounter between a youthful pupil and an ageing, lustful professor, which degenerates into violence.

Adjudicator Paul Fowler, national chairman of the Guild of Drama Adjudicators, described it as:” A fiercely intelligent production, directed with confident brio and acted with thrilling pace, wonderful physicality and great attention to the details of this strange and difficult text.”

He also spoke of: “David Cooke as the twitching and ranting professor whose murderous meltdown helped to make Didcot Phoenix’s The Lesson such a powerful experience.”

As winners, Didcot Phoenix picked up a £500 prize – the biggest in British amateur theatre – plus the right to send an identical sum to the registered charity of their choice. They chose Restore, an Oxford-based mental health charity.

They also won a handsome engraved trophy and the right to be considered for the National Drama Festivals Association British All-Winners Finals, to be held at the Lamproom Theatre, Barnsley, next month.

Two groups were joint second – Lighthorne Drama Group with the two-hander, “12hr Life” written by Robert Scott and directed by Victoria Pritchard, and the Mayhem Theatre Group from Halesowen, West Midlands with “The Librarian”, written by Stephen Moran and directed by Linda Evans.

Paul Fowler picked out actors from both plays for special mention.

He said of the two LDG actors: “Alex Kapila and Peter Reynolds, as the strangers drawn together at the station buffet, produced a pair of beautifully matched and sensitive performances whose on-stage chemistry added greatly to this production.”

He praised Ruth Cattell in the title role of “The Librarian” from Mayhem for:”A rich and nuanced performance at the heart of this gripping play.”

June Ronson was singled out: “As the wonderful Marcie in The Allotment – such a calm and detailed performance for Banbury Cross Players.”

Mr Fowler also made special mention of respected Warwickshire actress Susi Walker, who played the ghostly actress Miranda Yolanda in Parlour Hen’s production of “Moving On”, written and directed by former Stratford actress Sarah Campbell.

The adjudicator described it as: “A performance of great dignity from an actress blessed with the most wonderful voice.”

“Moving On”, which came fourth, and “The Librarian” were both also nominated for the George Taylor Award, a competition for new work offered by the National Drama Festivals Association for new plays performed at affiliated Festivals, of which Lighthorne is one.

They were among 12 one-acters performed over the four-night Festival, which is presented cafe-theatre style with a supper served in the intervals and is recognised as being nationally unique.

Lighthorne Festival Chairman Rod Chaytor said:” Didcot achieved the highest mark ever awarded at Lighthorne and the next three groups were all marked at a level which would win many Festivals outright.

“It is tangible proof that the Festival is attracting more and more top-quality groups, encouraging our longer-standing entrants significantly to raise their games, to the benefit of all.”

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.

Lighthorne Festival 2017

Dear Festival Friends:

The General Election has caused us to amend the schedule for the 2017 Lighthorne Festival of One-Act Plays because our Village Hall venue is a polling station.

The planned programme for Thursday June 8 is therefore being shifted en bloc to Tuesday June 6 and the Festival will take a break on the Thursday night.

We are extremely grateful to the three groups involved – Kenilworth Priory, Phoenix Players Stratford and Banbury Cross Players – for agreeing to this change and to Lighthorne Drama Group for moving their rehearsal from the Tuesday night to accommodate it.

The planned programmes for the Wednesday, Friday and Saturday will go ahead unchanged and no other groups will be affected.

Our adjudicator, Paul Fowler, GoDA, has been fully consulted and is supportive of the rescheduling. Adjudicators are used to “split” Festivals where, for example, a one-act competition might take place over a couple of nights, followed by two nights of full-length plays before a return to the one-act section again. I am 100% certain that no groups will be disadvantaged in any way by the changes.

As a reminder, the Box Office is currently open for priority booking by groups for the night they are appearing (plus two tickets each for the Saturday night).

The Box Office opens to the general public on Friday April 28, after which time priority booking allocations cannot be guaranteed.

To purchase tickets, contact the Festival box office at: lighthornefestival@gmail.com
or telephone: 01926 651411
or use the contact form on the website – lighthornefestival.org.uk

Lighthorne Festival 2017 (original announcement)

Twelve Amateur Theatre companies will perform a dozen plays over four nights in this year’s fifth Lighthorne Festival of One Act Plays.

Participating groups include newcomers Total Arts Community Theatre from Tamworth, Staffs, who are former national champions, together with a number of other former national finalists, and previous winners Abbey Players from Nuneaton.

The annual event will be staged from Wednesday June 7 to Saturday June 10, 2017, in Lighthorne Village Hall.

Festival Chairman Rod Chaytor said:”The Lighthorne Festival has now become firmly established and continues to attract groups with national reputations from a wide geographical area.

“But it is also very pleasing to see the regular return of local groups who have been with us from the start.”

Paul Fowler (right), this year’s Lighthorne Adjudicator and current chairman of the Guild of Drama Adjudicators, appeared on stage as an Oliver Hardy impersonator in the 2016 Lighthorne Festival.Lighthorne Festival is said to be unique because of its village setting, its charity-focused prize structure and cafe-theatre format in which the audience sits informally at tables, a glass of wine in front of them, and supper is served during the intervals.

As in previous years, groups will be competing not just for a handsome, engraved glass trophy but also a £500 cash prize plus the right to donate a matching sum to a registered charity of their choice.

Entrants will also be competing for the opportunity to enter the National Drama Festivals Association’s British All-Winners Finals to be held this year from Monday July 17 to Sunday July 23 at The Lamproom Theatre, Barnsley.

NDFA’s one-act playwriting competition, the George Taylor Memorial Award, has again attracted strong interest from Lighthorne entrants with half the entries being self-written original work.

This year sees a change of adjudicator with Paul Fowler, chairman of the Guild of Drama Adjudicators, taking charge. Paul, a Lighthorne regular, has unique experience of the Lighthorne Festival, having been an audience member in the inaugural year of 2013 and last year having appeared on stage with his theatre group, White Cobra of Northampton, in “Another Fine Mess” by Gillian Plowman, and also directing the winning entry, “Housebound” by Simon Mawdsley.

The Box Office for this year’s Lighthorne Festival opens on Friday April 28 , 2017 and can be accessed by emailing lighthornefestival@gmail.com or via a website link on lighthornefestival.org.uk or by ringing 01926 651411. Tickets are £12.50 each including a meal. A four-night Season Ticket is available at a reduced rate of £45.00.

The running order for the 2017 Lighthorne Festival of One-Act Plays can be found in the Entrants section on the website.

Lighthorne Festival winners 2016

A touring company from Northampton has won the fourth annual Lighthorne Festival of One-Act plays.

White Cobra took the coveted trophy with Housebound by Simon Mawdsley, a comedy about a burglary gone wrong, which they entered at the last minute to help the organisers after another group pulled out.

Lighthorne Festival winners 2016, Housebound by Simon Mawdsley, directed by Paul Fowler, performed by Winners White Cobra Theatre Company of Northampton. Richard Jordan as Bone the burglar, and Kate Billingham as Fiona, the agoraphobic housewife.

The East Midlands theatre company, previous national champions, had already submitted their first choice, a tragi-comic story behind a Laurel and Hardy tribute act, entitled Another Fine Mess by Gillian Plowman.

The group performed both plays on the second night (Thursday June 9, 2016) of the four-night Festival in which ten amateur theatre companies presented 12 plays in Lighthorne Village Hall, Warwickshire.

Second were Great Witley Operatic Society from Worcestershire with the Burnand and Sullivan comic operetta, Cox and Box.

Nuneaton’s Abbey Players, who were defending their title as the 2015 champions, came third and fourth respectively with their two plays, Boxing Day and Just a Straight Man. The adjudicator was Jan Palmer Sayer who is a Council Member of the Guild of Drama Adjudicators.

White Cobra now qualify for consideration for the National Drama Festivals Association British All-Winners Finals, to be held this year in Hertford at the end of July. Lighthorne is a NDFA-recognised Festival.

Two local playwrights whose plays were performed during the Festival, Ginny Davis from Lighthorne Drama Group with her gentle WI comedy Arrows of Desire, and Nick Marsh from Rugby Theatre with his World War Two thriller A Frank Exchange, have been nominated for NDFA’s original writing competition by the adjudicator and the Festival chairman, Rod Chaytor.

DSCF8104

Arrows of Desire, tells the story of the chairman of a village WI group battling dwindling numbers, written by local playwright Ginny Davis and performed by Ginny herself (right) together with Sharon Bayliss, who played the part of Anna Gold (left), directed by Victoria Pritchard.

He said:” For the second year running, our top four participants achieved or surpassed a score of 80, which is the Guild of Drama Adjudicators’ benchmark of excellence, and two other groups were as close as possible behind.

“We have again this year been getting really positive feedback from our village, the wider audiences and participating groups. Everyone seems to have had a fantastic time.

“Our guests this year included two other GoDA Council members, two national Council members of the National Drama Festivals Association, a national officer and two regional officers from the All-England Theatre Festival plus a regional officer from the National Operatic and Dramatic Association.

“It is a tribute to our event and the village team which runs it that so many Festival organisers of national significance came from all over the country to see how we do it, just to enjoy it, or both.”

The organisers paid tribute to the Stratford-based theatre company, Caramba, their inaugural 2013 winners, who also stepped in to fill a breach with a self-written monologue by director Kate Guest; and another Stratford group, Phoenix Players, who managed to shift an 11-hander from one night to another to accommodate forced changes to the running order.

Next year’s Lighthorne Festival will run from Wednesday June 7 to Saturday June 10, 2017. Expressions of Interest from would-be participating groups are invited to chairman Rod Chaytor on rod.chaytor@icloud.com by October 31, this year.

 

Running order 2016

WEDNESDAY JUNE 8, 2016 AT 7.30 PM

Abbey Players, Nuneaton

“Just A Straight Man” by Rob Smith and John Mawson

Trevor Richard Shields
Barney Craig Spencer
Directors Richard Shields and Craig Spencer
Crew Steve Lewin, Darren Chadwick, Dave Sedgwick

Two stage performers returning from a successful tour in Las Vegas are preparing for their next show, but their success hides a bitter undercurrent of tension.

Caramba Theatre Company, Stratford-upon-Avon.

“Dear Cassandra” by Kate Guest

Cassandra Austen Kate Guest
Director Tim Guest

Cassandra Austen outlived her sister Jane by about 40 years. Near the end of her life, she decided, for unknown reasons, to destroy many of Jane’s letters. This short piece is an intimate portrayal of her decision, inspired by Jane’s remaining letters, other accounts of the famous novelist and a little artistic licence.

This play is not entered for the Festival competition.

Abbey Players, Nuneaton

“Boxing Day” by Bruce Olive

Woman Charlotte Keen
Man Craig Spencer
Director Craig Spencer
Crew Steve Lewin, Darren Chadwick, Dave Sedgwick

It’s the day after an Australian Christmas and a married couple review their relationship.

THURSDAY JUNE 9, 2016, AT 7.30 PM

White Cobra, Northampton

“Another Fine Mess” by Gillian Plowman

Steve Richard Jordan
Phil Paul Fowler
Meg Kate Billingham
Director Martin Borley-Cox

Laurel and Hardy’s slapstick comedy still makes people laugh nearly 100 years after they made their first film together. Stephen and Phil’s tribute act to the duo includes some of their classic sketches. But as they rehearse in the back room of a pub, a shocking revelation from Phil threatens everything.

Banbury Cross Players

“The Regina Monologues” by Rebecca Russell & Jenny Wafer

Cathy Rebecca Calverley
Annie Katherine Groves
Jane Joanne Firth
Anna Deborah Watson
Katie Melanie Austin
Katherine Jan Batchelor
Lighting Robin Williams
Director Helen Watson

Six modern women with one thing in common. Each tells their story and shares their experiences of miscarriage, love affairs and betrayal with humour, pathos and a great deal of wine, showing that the plight of their sixteenth century sisters – also married to a Henry – is still relevant five hundred years on.

White Cobra, Northampton

“Housebound” by Simon Mawdsley

Bone Richard Jordan
Fiona Kate Billingham
Director Paul Fowler
Stage Managers Bernie Wood, Denise Swann
Sound & Lighting Philip Welsh

A man in a mask and a woman in real trouble! Add some phobias, a wasp and a dash of reggae and you’re left with a big hearted comic drama full of menace, laughter and dirty carpets.

FRIDAY JUNE 10, 2016 AT 7.30 PM

Lighthorne Drama Group

“Arrows Of Desire” by Ginny Davis

Sally Brown Ginny Davis
Anna Gold Sharon Bayliss
Director Victoria Pritchard
Sound/lights Tom Willcock

President of West Nippleton WI, Sally Brown, holds tradition dear. A proposal for radical change is on the agenda at this month’s meeting. Will Sally hold her ground or will an unexpected visitor bearing bad tidings, challenging opinions and Cupid’s arrow change her mind?

Rugby Theatre

“A Frank Exchange” by Nick Marsh

Elsbet Ruth Long
Ten Haken Andy MacCallum
Dettmann Tom Browning
Heléna Cheryl Ryan
Henk Jonathan Pollard
Meinicke Nick Marsh
Director John Dulcamara
Lighting Luke McMaster
Sound Ash Hirons
Costume Sarah May

As a Dutch police employee absorbed into the wartime Nazi organisation, Helena Claassen is already under pressure for someone with nationalistic sympathies. To worsen matters, her German boss has a charm that can undermine the most resolute of subjects, and Helena finds herself having to make an impossible choice.

Phoenix Players, Stratford

“Dance Before Dying” by Kaylee Holt and Baz Stilinski

Callum Baz Stilinski
Mrs. Traherne Andi Hardy
Belle Katie Cherry
Loz Laura Codd
Marcus Adam Clarke
Kate Kirsty Asad-Caudell
Miss Wilkins Linda Burridge
Karen Fiona Robson
Dave Graham ‘Junior’ Ball
Nick Jon-Luke Goodman
Barman Graham Robson
Director Kaylee Holt
Sound/Lighting Andy Jepson
Stage Crew Graham Robson and Gala McBride
Costume Jacqui Lindsay and Caroline Adams

Callum has tragically died but his spirit is in a state of unrest and determined to find out about his own death. With the help of his spirit guide he turns up at his own wake to find the answer he seeks.

SATURDAY JUNE 11, 2016 AT 7.30 PM

Priory Theatre, Kenilworth

“A Little Box of Oblivion” by Stephen Bean

Mr Cool Dan Cowan
Mrs Neuro Lydia Ward
Mr Doom Paul Saunders
Dick Daniel Kirk
Woman Karen Shayler
Director Chris Sharp
Stage Manager Nigel Sharp
Sound/Lights Rob Henderson

Mr Cool is spending a quiet hour in the park reading his newspaper when he is asked by a stranger to keep his eye on a box. The stranger rushes away leaving Mr Cool at the mercy of helpful strangers. Life begins to take on a surreal quality when one of them calls the police, another predicts doom before a young “Private Eye” turns up with all the answers.

Armistice Theatre, Kenilworth

“Thicker than Water” by Rebecca Gardner Tildesley

Yvonne Rebecca Gardner Tildesley
Dr Carlisle Mike Tildesley
Charlie Dan Blizzard
Maggie Ruth Jones
Rev. Fraser Alec Brown
Sandra Lisa Webster
Christine Selina Toor
Director Mike Tildesley
Props/costumes Lesley Brown
Lights Jen Parker
Sound Marcus Webster
Backstage Gareth Jones

Five siblings from a dysfunctional family meet in a hospital waiting room to visit their mother during her final hours. As the evening progresses, old family disputes come to the surface, secrets are revealed and after a chance encounter, they finally realise that blood really is thicker than water.

Great Witley Operatic Society

“Cox and Box” by F. C. Burnand and Arthur Sullivan.

Bouncer, the landlord Paul Thompson
Box, a printer Michael Faulkner
Cox, a journeyman hatter Ian Walton
Directors Judi Walton and Cast

A landlord lets a room to two lodgers, one who works at night and one who works during the day. When one of them has the day off, they meet each other in the room and tempers flare.

TALENTED LINE-UP FOR LIGHTHORNE 2016

Eleven top Amateur Theatre companies will again perform 12 plays over four nights in this year’s fourth Lighthorne Festival of One Act Plays.
 
Four of this year’s participating groups, including last year’s Lighthorne winners, Abbey Players from Nuneaton, together with Lighthorne Drama Group and newcomers Great Witley Operatic Society from Worcestershire, are former national finalists. 
 
Another Lighthorne newcomer, White Cobra from Northampton, won the 2014 national championships in the full-length play section.
 
And a two-handed play brought forward by yet another new group, Take 2 from Stourbridge, features two award-winning actresses.
 
The annual event will be staged this year in Lighthorne Village Hall from Wednesday June 8 to Saturday June 11, inclusive.
 
Festival Chairman Rod Chaytor said:”The Lighthorne Festival continues to attract groups from an increasingly-wide geographical area and of ever-growing reputation. Standards can only rise.
 
“But it is also very pleasing to see loyal stalwarts such as Banbury Cross Players and Phoenix Players, Stratford, returning again, having been with us from the start. 
 
“Last year’s third-placed Armistice Theatre from Kenilworth are also back and their neighbours the Priory Theatre, Kenilworth, will no doubt be seeking to go one better than their last year’s second place.
 
“Highly-reputable Rugby Theatre are also with us again, having made their Lighthorne debut last year, and we are delighted to welcome our first Coventry amateur theatre group, Wheatsheaf Players.”
 
Abbey Players have submitted two plays.
 
As in previous years, groups will be competing for a £500 cash prize plus the right to donate a matching sum to a registered charity of their choice.
 
Lighthorne Festival is said to be unique because of its village setting, its charity-focussed prize structure and cafe-theatre format in which the audience sits informally at tables, a glass of wine in front of them, and a hot supper is served during the interval.
 
Entrants will be competing not just for the title, cash prize and handsome theirs-to-keep engraved glass trophy, but also for the right to enter the National Drama Festivals Association’s British All-Winners Finals to be held this year from July 25 to July 31 at the Hertford Theatre.
 
NDFA’s one-act playwriting competition, the George Taylor Memorial Award, has again attracted strong interest from Lighthorne entrants with nearly half the entries being self-written original work.
 
This year sees a change of adjudicator with Jan Palmer Sayer, of the Guild of Drama Adjudicators, taking over from Mike Kaiser, GoDA, who officiated at Lighthorne for its first three years.
 
The Box Office opens on May 2 and can be reached by emailing lighthornefestival@gmail.com or via a website link on lighthornefestival.org.uk or on 01926 651239. Tickets are £12.50 each including a hot meal. This year for the first time there is a four-night Season Ticket at a reduced rate of £45.00.
 
The running order in full of the 2016 Lighthorne Festival of One-Act Plays can be found in the Entrants section on the website.

Results 2015

Winners Abbey Players perform “Recidivists” by Matthew Clift. L to r, Richard Shields as Frank and Nathan Harvey as Honey.

Winners Abbey Players perform “Recidivists” by Matthew Clift. L to r, Richard Shields as Frank and Nathan Harvey as Honey.

A Nuneaton drama group has won the third Lighthorne Festival of One-Act plays.

Abbey Players top-scored with the four-night event’s opening piece – “Recidivists” by Matthew Clift.
 
The dark comedy, directed by Abbey’s Artistic Director Dave Sedgwick, is set in a grim prison cell inhabited by homophobic prisoner Frank, played by Richard Shields, whose prejudices are confronted when camp performer Honey, played by Nathan Harvey, is moved in.
 
Abbey beat an impressive 10-strong field including the Loft from Leamington Spa, the Priory from Kenilworth and Rugby Theatre.
 
They picked up an engraved glass trophy, a £500 first prize and the opportunity to nominate a charity of their choice for a further £500 donation. They chose Cancer Research. The win also gives them the right to apply for selection to the National Drama Festival Association’s British All-Winners Finals to be held next month in Woking, Surrey.
 
Adjudicator Mike Kaiser, a Council member of the Guild of Drama Adjudicators, placed the Priory Theatre of Kenilworth in second place with the Alan Ayckbourn comedy “Between Mouthfuls”. Armistice Theatre, also of Kenilworth, came third with World War One drama “Hero” by Michael Lynch. Lighthorne Drama Group came fourth with “Lifecoach” written by Coventry playwright Nick Walker.
 
All four groups scored over 80% on the Guild of Drama Adjudicators’ scoring system.
 
Lighthorne Festival chairman Rod Chaytor said:”It is very pleasing that – in direct contradiction to the national picture regarding drama festivals – ours is growing and flourishing.
 
“Having, for the first time, our top four all score over 80%, which is the GoDA benchmark of excellence, is very gratifying. Standards continue to rise year on year.”
 
Two original works performed at the Lighthorne Festival have been nominated for the NDFA George Taylor award for original drama and will be considered by a panel which sits during the BAWF July Festival.
 
They are Nick Walker’s “Lifecoach”, and “Impersonators”, written by Stratford playwright Noel Dollimore, which was performed at the Festival by the town’s Second Thoughts theatre company.
 
In all, 10 theatre groups performed 12 one-act plays over the four night Festival at which the audience is seated at tables, cafe-style, in Lighthorne Village Hall and served a hot meal in the interval. The festival format is agreed to be unique nationwide.
 
Abbey Players’ win keeps the Lighthorne Festival title in Nuneaton. It was won in 2014 by the Sudden Impulse theatre company, which is also based at the town’s Abbey Theatre.
 
Applications for the 2016 Festival, running from Wednesday June 8 to Saturday June 11, 2016, are invited to rod.chaytor@icloud.com by October 31, 2015. 

Top Theatre Companies Compete in 2015 Lighthorne Festival

DSCF9067Eleven top Amateur Theatre companies will perform 12 plays over four nights as they compete in this year’s third Lighthorne Festival of One Act Plays.

It will be staged between June 3 through June 6, 2015, in Lighthorne Village Hall in what has now become an annual event.

The Lighthorne Festival, now nationally-recognised and a member of the National Drama Festivals Association, has once again attracted a top-quality line-up from Warwickshire and wider, including as last year, award-winning Loose Cannons from Anglesey. Also as in previous years, groups will be competing for a £500 cash prize plus the right to send an identical sum as a donation to a charity of their choice.

Lighthorne Festival is reckoned to be unique because of its village setting, its charity-focussed prize structure and cafe-theatre format in which the audience sits informally at tables, a glass of wine in front of them, and a hot supper is served during the interval.

This year’s entrants include, for the first time, Abbey Players from Nuneaton, the Loft from Leamington Spa and Rugby Theatre – all acclaimed for the high standards of their theatre work. Abbey Players have submitted two plays.

They will all be competing not just for the title, cash prize and handsome theirs-to-keep engraved glass trophy, but also for the right to enter the NDFA British All-Winners Finals to be held between July 19 and July 26 this year at the Rhoda McGaw theatre in Woking.

Last year’s BAWF Finals in the Isle of Man featured contributions from two Lighthorne Festival entrants – Caramba from Stratford-upon-Avon, who won the inaugural in 2013, and Lighthorne Drama Group who came second in 2014 but were allowed to go through because last year’s winners, Sudden Impulse from Nuneaton, were unable to take part in the Finals due to a previous commitment to another Festival.

Out of the nine Isle of Man finalists in the One-Act section, Caramba were placed equal third with LDG one place lower in fifth and Caramba’s Tim Guest was nominated for his individual acting.

A One-Act Playwriting Competition, the George Taylor Memorial Award, also sponsored by NDFA, has attracted strong interest from Lighthorne Entrants this year with nearly half the entries being self-written original work. New work performed at NDFA-affiliated Festivals may be submitted on the joint recommendation of the member-Festival chairman and the adjudicator to be judged by a panel with the winner announced at the BAWF Finals.

This year’s Lighthorne adjudicator will be, as in the past two years, Guild of Drama Adjudicators Council member Mike Kaiser. Next year, 2016, Mike will hand over to fellow GoDA member Jan Palmer Sayer, who took charge at last year’s NDFA Finals at the beautifully-restored seafront Gaiety Theatre in Douglas.

For this year’s full line-up see the Running Order in the Entrants section.

NDFA British All Winners Festival of Plays 2014

Two drama groups have been praised by a judge after winning their way through the Lighthorne Festival to take part in a national competition.

Lighthorne Drama Group and Stratford-based Caramba were both singled out by Guild of Drama Adjudicators member Jan Palmer Sayer following the July 2014 contest in the Isle of Man.

Members of the Caramba and LDG teams, Festival Committee members, friends and supporters, pose for a group picture beneath cloudless skies outside the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company offices on the dockside in Douglas, Isle of Man, halfway through the National Drama Festivals Association’s British All-Winners Finals, held at the Gaiety Theatre in Douglas in July 2014.

In a written critique, she said: “Lighthorne Drama Group’s production of Tell Me Another Story, Sing Me a Song was a super example of how to not only design a simple, but versatile set but use it to perfection, framing significant moments perfectly against the white blocks.”

She also highlighted: “the cracking pace of the near-miss encounters in Caramba Theatre Company’s Chinamen” and shortlisted actor Tim Guest for his individual acting in which he played two parts, referring to his “hilarious duo, Stephen and Barney”.

Out of the nine finalists in the one-act section, Caramba were placed equal third with LDG one place lower in fifth.

Both theatre groups qualified via the Lighthorne Festival of One-Act Plays for the National Drama Festival Association’s British All-Winners Final, a week-long contest held this year at the beautifully-restored seafront Gaiety Theatre in Douglas.

Caramba’s Chinamen won the inaugural 2013 Lighthorne Festival event. LDG were second-placed this year but won a place in the finals because the 2014 Lighthorne winners, Nuneaton’s Sudden Impulse, were already committed to the Buxton Festival, whose dates clashed.

LDG also qualified because, like Caramba the year before, they achieved more than the minimum 80% score under the GoDA marking system.

The two-handed LDG play, which follows a 40-year-changing relationship between mother and daughter, was performed by Dawn Gazey-Lewis and Jess Daniel who travelled to the island together with co-director Phil Quinn, sound/lights technician Tom Willcock and prompt Rebecca Cairns amidst a dozen-strong LDG party.

Manx locals, Legion Players, won the National Festival’s one-act section with Playing With Daisy, successfully defending the title the same group and director won with a different play at the All-Winners in Teignmouth in 2013.

More than half the Lighthorne Festival committee travelled to the island to support LDG and Caramba. I am delighted to be able to tell you, first hand, that the NDFA BAWF finals are a brilliant experience from every viewpoint.

The chance to qualify via the Lighthorne Festival and compete at the highest level  –  quite apart from the Lighthorne £500 cash prize to the winning group plus £500 to their chosen charity – is a tremendous incentive.

As a reminder, for those contemplating a 2015 Lighthorne Festival entry, expressions of interest in writing are requested by October 31, 2014. The Festival Committee has again this year voted to restrict the Festival to four nights and the number of competing plays to 12.

Firm entries, including the name of the play and the director, must be with us by January 31, 2015. All subsequent entries will go on a waiting list.

There will be a mandatory pre-Festival briefing at 10.00 am on Sunday May 17, 2015, in Lighthorne Village Hall for all competing groups except those whose geographical location would make it unreasonable.

The Lighthorne Festival will take place between Wednesday June 3 and Saturday June 6, 2015.

The NDFA British All-Winners Final for 2015 will take place at the Rhoda McGaw theatre in Woking between July 19 and July 26, 2015.

Best Wishes to you all.

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

 

Results – Lighthorne Festival of One Act Plays 2014

DSCF8643

Winning Director Simon Winterman holds the (nearly visible) glass winner’s trophy alongside Festival chairman Rod Chaytor. Photo: Geoff Mayor

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.

DSCF8871

Dawn Gazey-Lewis ( left) and Jess Daniel (right) share a tender moment as mother and daughter in the Lighthorne Drama Group production of “Tell Me Another Story, Sing Me A Song” by Jean Lenox Toddie, directed by Rachel Tompkins and Phil Quinn, at the Lighthorne Festival of One-Act Plays in June 2014. Photo: Geoff Mayor.

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.

DSCF9093

Sophie Sherratt as the Tart, Ray Durkin as the Patrolman and Phil Malkin as the Naked Man in the Wheelie Bin in the Sudden Impulse production of “One Was Nude And One Wore Tails” by Dario Fo, directed by Simon N.W. Winterman, which won the 2014 Lighthorne Festival of One-Act Plays. Photo: Geoff Mayor.

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.