Drama festival winners take a bow
All the winners at the 2108 drama festival show off their trophies at the end of this year’s two-day event last Saturday night.
Words and pictures by Hugh Boag and Colin Smeeton There was a lighter than usual offering at the drama festival this year. But what it lacked in volume was easily made up for in the depth and breadth of the plays on offer.
In a probable first in the long history of the Isle of Arran Drama Association one-act drama festival, the number of junior plays outnumbered the adult plays. And with Whiting Bay Junior Drama performing at the festival for the first time, adjudicator Dr Paul Dougall said it was good to see that the lifeblood of theatre was ‘growing and developing’ on the island.
An enforced change to the programme meant there were just two plays on Friday night with the remaining three performed on Saturday. Platform Party
The festival kicked off with the Lamlash Junior Drama Club performance of Platform
Party. Remarkably, the same play was performed at the drama festival 20 years ago.
The play, by Alan Richardson, is set at a prize-giving ceremony at a drama festival and to say not all goes well is something of an understatement. Shannon Galbraith gave a strong performance as Madge Davenport, the compere for the ceremony, who has a very trying time.
It proves trying too for the long-suffering ‘adjudicator’, Gilbert Hamnell, well played by James Smith, who eventually loses the plot completely. The talented young cast certainly kept the play moving along nicely and the adjudicator said they had coped extremely well with a ‘very, very challenging piece’.
He gave some constructive criticism of the staging of the play but said that when the action started it ‘bowled along very nicely’ and said the laughs came through. Happy Deathday
Second up were the Lamlash Drama Club with the Isabella C Rae play Happy Deathday.
Set in eternity, Lance, played by the always excellent Allan Little, gets a bit of a shock at the start of the play by discovering he is dead. Now at the gates of Heaven with his mother, played by an almost unrecognisable Nickey Summer and his still loving second wife Emma, well played by Cecilia Paul, he has some explaining to do.
Despite the subject matter, the play has a lot of laughs as the plight of Lance descends deeper into crisis, particularly after the surprise arrival of his friend Dave, Steve Garraway, on stage, in a strong supporting role, and his first wife Aileen, played in nononsense style by Jill McKillop.
Mr Dougall praised the strong performance of the players throughout the performance but had some issues with the staging and lighting saying it was ‘all a bit static’, but the play went on to win the adult prize the following night.
The second night featured three plays, the adjudication and the presentation of awards. In store for the audience were two plays by the Whiting Bay company, one from regular members and another from the junior section.
The trio was completed with the Shiskine Drama Club whose junior members, slightly older than their Whiting Bay counterparts, performed their version of a Shakespearean play.
During the adjudication, Dr Dougall praised the productions for how well he thought they were managed and how enjoyable he found the wide variety, noting in particular the youth teams, who he said excelled in three main criteria – timing, tempo and transitions.
Super-Secret Surprise Casserole
This charming comedy written by Christine Harvey and Jennifer Waugh – performed by the Whiting Bay Junior Drama Club – featured some of the youngest actors of the festival and who, under the directorship of Allan Little, earned the best moment in theatre award from the adjudicator.
Eliciting many laughs from the audience, the adjudicator singled out the performances of the witches, Tilda Lytton and Rosie McNamara, for their confidence, while praising the remainder of the cast of Daisy McNamara, Greta Lytton and Page Crosley-Wood for their excellent delivery of lines and complimentary casting.
The fast-paced performance, with subtle and laugh-out-loud humour, was not only enjoyable but also provided the audience with a taste of the high quality of the next generation of future Whiting Bay actors.
Autogeddon Revisited
As the name alludes, this original drama, written by David Simpkin, is based on the campaigning narrative poem by Heathcote Williams, detailing and discussing the devastating effects of the motor vehicle on human lives. The polemic, performed by David Simpkin and Andy McNamara, was described by the adjudicator as ‘fresh and new’ and ‘well-ordered’ but that it ran the risk of being overly detailed and lengthy.
Set in a laboratory, in the present day, it not only conveyed a large amount of information but also engaged the audience and kept them in a state of suspense, which gradually built up throughout the play.
Receiving the second highest total of marks, the production received the Millhill Players’ Trophy for the actors and producer Ann Luttrell.
Catch As Catch Can
Taking on what the Shiskine Junior Drama company describe as a ‘sort of Shakespearean’ play, the young cast of Catch As Catch
Can by George Freek, earned the admiration of the adjudicator and the Mary Stewart Orr Trophy which is awarded to the best youth team in the festival.
While believing that the cast could have ‘loosened up a bit’, the adjudicator praised the props and set as being good, and the expanse of the stage being used to good effect.
Produced by Sheila Gilmore and Euan Kinniburgh, the entire cast, comprising Ross Dobson, Rory Morrison, Innis Thorborn, Ellie Ewing, Rachel Brown, James Smith and Erin McNiven, all performed their parts with well-rehearsed and natural skill and flair.