Players triumph at theatre awards
● KINGSLEY Players triumphed at the 2019 Cheshire Theatre Guild Awards held at Altrincham Little Theatre, winning a record-breaking six cups from 12 nominations.
For the second time in three years, the players were awarded the special Adjudicators Award for promoting a great ‘spirit of community theatre’.
Lynn Pegler, writer and director of new play Peterloo staged in April, was presented with the Write Now! Award For Best New Writing, and Mike Vickers and Lol Lynch won the Ron Gleave Shield For Best Lighting And Sound for the amazing special effects in the production. The 14 strong cast performed an excerpt from the show at the awards ceremony.
In the youth section, the imaginative May production of James And The Giant Peach resulted in a Best Director award for Jake Powell and Best Costumes for Joan Barker and her wardrobe team.
And talented young actor and singer Chloe Rigby beat off stiff competition to win the Geoffrey Kellet Cup for Best Supporting Female Actor for her role as feisty Emma Fairfax in the musical Dr Dolittle, staged in January.
There were also nominations for Malcolm Barker ( Pride And Prejudice) and Simon Hetherington ( Peterloo) for Best Supporting Male Actor; Best Costumes for Dr Dolittle and a Best Poster highly commended for Mike Vickers’ design of James And The Giant Peach.
In the youth section there were Best Lighting And Sound and Best Young Actor nominations for Ben Mather-Dodd, Matthew Betteridge and Maddison Withey (James And The Giant Peach).
Kingsley Players chairman Colin Smith said: “We had a fantastic evening at Altrincham – trophies, nominations and praise across all aspects of amateur dramatics, including our wonderful youth theatre.
“It is so satisfying to receive such recognition as a reward for all the talent and hard work displayed by the whole team.”
Kingsley Players will next be on stage with two productions in the autumn – Enda Walsh’s Ch@troom on September 27 and 28, and Alan Ayckbourn’s How The Other Half Loves for four nights from October 23-26.
For more information about future productions, visit www. kingsleyplayers.co.uk ● Kingsley Players production of Peterloo