All England Theatre Festival Programme and Results for North West Quarter-Final Programme for 2011

Reg. Charity No. 1071518

The Festival

The 2011 North West Quarter-Final will held at the Victoria Hall, Grange-over-Sands, Cumbria, on Saturday May 7th. This year we have only three teams, since there was no West Pennine festival.

Plays to be Performed

Saturday, May 7th, 2011
Representing the Isle of Man District THE LEGION PLAYERS The Opposite of Claustrophobia by ROB JOHNSTON Director: OLGA GRAY Stage Manager: BOB AND TRISH BROWN
Ann needs a miracle. For two long years she has lived in the shadows. She is trapped in an abusive marriage to her estate agent husband, a man more concerned with drinking the right kind of Earl Gray tea than the welfare of his wife. She desperately wants to leave, but her depression has mutated into a crippling agoraphobia, so she suffers in silence and waits for time to pass. Until one day she hears a noise in her kitchen. The intruder, Joe, insists he is not a burglar. And he has his own strange story to confess. Over the course of an afternoon these two onely souls attempt to heal each other’s deep emotional wounds – and then deal with the consequences.
Cast
Ann Joe	STEPHANIE GRAY CHRIS CHAMBERS
Representing the Cumbria District CUMBRIA AMATEUR THEATRE SOCIETY Pity about Kitty by JIMMIE CHINN Director: BERYL DIXON Stage Manager: JEAN HOWARTH
The place: A room in a hospital  Time: The present Kitty, popular, good-looking, good natured and ever willing to help, is giving evidence at a medical tribunal investigating a patient’s death. But she finds herself carried along by events and the helpful deeds she performed are misinterpreted.
Cast:
Staff Nurse Kitty Curtis Senior Nursing Officer Cross Sister Betty Strong Sir Cuthbert Spry Dr Lance Wooley Councillor Dingle	JENNY SHIPLEY KATH SMITH JANE FRANCE RAY TURNER JUSTIN PLY IVOR WOODHEAD
Representing the Dee and Merseyside District HAND IN HAND THEATRE PRODUCTIONS Bentley: Road to Justice written and collated by BEV CLARK and DAVID CROSBY Director: BEV CLARK Assistant Director / Stage Manager: MIKE LOCKLEY Lighting: SIMON COLE
On 28th January 1953, Derek Bentley was hanged for the murder of a policeman even though Christopher Craig pulled the trigger. Derek’s sister Iris campaigned for forty years for his Full Pardon.
Cast
Iris Bentley Derek Bentley Christopher Craig Mr Bentley / Cassels (Defence) / PC Pain Mrs Bentley / Spokeswoman Lord Goddard / Man from ministry Humphriies (Prosecution) / MP/ Maxwell-Fyfe Mrs Miles / Woman / Carole Mrs Craig / Young Iris / Maria PC Harrison / Policeman / Older Craig Norman / Clerk / Musician DS Fairfax / Schoolmaster / Roger Ben Birnberg / PC MacDonald	VAL MARSHALL EDWARD BIRKETT JAMES WOODFINDEN BARRY WILLIAM POWELL AMANDA MARSHALL ALEX MAY CHARLES BRITTON BETHANY LING CHERYL LAVERICK MARK WATERS DREW FORREST CRAIG McGRATH MIKE LOCKLEY

The Adjudicator - Mr Robert Meadows, GoDA

Robert has adjudicated for the Cheshire Theatre Guild Full Length Play Festival (2002-3, 2009-11) Stoke on Trent Full Length Play Festival (2003-5), NSD Full Length Festival (2005-10), Shropshire One Act Festival (2004), Isle of Man Festival (2004), ISA Schools Drama Festival (2005-7), the Guernsey One Act Play Festival (2005), Wilmslow One Act Play Festival (2005-6, 2009), Larne Full Drama Festival. (2006), Bangor Full Length Play Festival (2009). Elmbridge Drama Festival (2010) and, most recently, the Welwyn Drama Festival. He has adjudicated for the Northern, Southern and Western Division preliminary, quarter and semi-final rounds of the All England Theatre Festival over the eight years. Most recently he adjudicated the Full Length Portadown Drama Festival in March 2011.

His writing credits include: Underwych (Funded by Heritage Lottery Fund, 2007), Salt Tellers (HLF, 2005), The Marbury Mysteries (Funded by the Local Heritage Initiative, performed in July 2002), Victory V (1995), A Stroll in the Park (Funded by Cheshire County Council 1992) and A Rough and Ready Lot. His original adaptations include The Rocking (1994), The Night of the House of Horrors (1998) The Death of Kings (The Shakespeare Theatre, Calgary, Canada in May 2001). Other works include A Martyr For a Cause (Gateway Theatre 1983), The Conscience of the King (1995 Bridport), Chicken and Mustard (First performed Sherman Theatre, Cardiff, 1987), Dead Wood Rising (1999) and The Underwich Project (2001). He has devised and scripted murder evenings that have been performed in venues across the country.

His day job is as an arts and education trainer and consultant working with schools and cultural organisations across the UK and Europe.

Robert has always enjoyed the experience of drama festivals both as a participating actor or director and as an adjudicator. He is looking forward to being the adjudicator for this year’s festival.

Trophies To Be Awarded

The Magrath Trophy - for the winning company
Awarded to Hand in Hand Theatre Productions

The Barbara Williamson Trophy - for set decor
Awarded to The Legion Players

Subsequent Rounds of The All England Festival and British Final
Northern Semi-Final	Venue: Todmorden Hippodrome, Todmorden Date: May 21st, 2011 Adjudicator: Jan Palmer-Sayer
English Final	Venue: The Harrogate Theatre, Harrogate Date: 4th June, 2011 Adjudicator: Scott Marshall
British Finals	Venue: The Wyvern Theatre, Swindon Date: 1st/2nd July, 2011 Adjudicator: Mike Tilbury