19-21 April 2007
The photogallery of the night is available here. (a few photos from the British final here)
Want to go straight to the list of winners in Swansea?
The GDL's One-Act Play Festival has now very much established itself as a roving event. Following our departure from our long-standing home in Nantymoel, after a year in Cardiff in 2005, we moved to the Dylan Thomas Theatre, where in 2007 we were once more greeted with Swansea Little Theatre's usual skills, excellent facilities and the warmest of welcomes.
We were 'under new management' this year, with previous organisers Geoff and Barbara Lake still away in Florida, so GDL Chair Teri McCarthy dived in and worked wonders pulling the whole thing together, ably assisted at the venue by GDL Treasurer Suzy Stacey in Box Office, and GDL Delegate rep George Smith and GDL Secretary John Minkes running the raffle and various other things besides.
The Dylan Thomas Theatre has been closed for refurbishment for the last few months, and it was a great pleasure to share with the company their delight in their very impressive new foyer area and improved backstage area.
We missed Peggy Mason-Gray, our President, who passed away earlier this year. It felt completely appropriate to dedicate the Festival to Peggy, who always enjoyed the event so much.
Another act in memory of a past drama legend: Bob McTurk, from Penarth. Bob had an extremely long-standing connection with both the GDL and particularly the Drama Association of Wales, which he chaired for 20 years from 1985 to 2005. A trophy in his name and his memory was donated by the GDL, and in recognition of his love of directing, it was agreed that the award should be made for Best Director at the festival.
We've grown: the festival ran for 3 nights this year, adding one extra night from last year, with all productions from GDL member companies. The opening night's house was qute small, but by the last night, there was a good level of support. There was also a guest performance, from The Unknown Theatre Company, of David Ives's Sure Thing - at 10 minutes, too short to enter the Festival proper, but a much enjoyed addition to the youth-orientated opening night.
As last year, the standard, across all three nights nights, was extremely high, with a mixture of new writing (Telstars Theatre Company and The Players Theatre) as well as another production of a piece of new writing from last year (Murder at the Wedding, from Telstars) large and small casts, comedy and seriously moving works, and a lively and enthusiastic show from Cardiff youth group Stars Performing Arts, who are new to the competition.
GODA Adjudicator, Christine Hughes, was on duty to provide the adjudications and to make the decisions as to who won what - full details listed below.
Home company Swansea Little Theatre were the winners on the night for their very funny Cruise Missile - and were invited, along with Players Theatre for The Bridge and Telstars Theatre Company for A Little Extra Help to perform at the All Wales Final in Theatre Hafren in Newtown, 1st or 2nd of June.
At the All-Wales Final, Players' Theatre were the overall winners, and in turn were invited to represent Wales at the British Finals of the One-Act Play festival in Solihull at the end of June.
They represented themselves and the GDL extremely well, but in the end, GODA Adjudicator Scott Marshall plumped for the English company with their performance of Olwen Wymark's Find Me. Players' Theatre were also responsible for leading the late-night singing at the end of the post-performance receptions, encouraging input from the other countries, and fostering the most visible bonding between the countries that this writer witnessed anywhere at the event. Some photos are available here.
Winners at the 2007 GDL Festival were:
name of award |
winner |
production |
group |
Glamorgan County Cup for the Glamorgan Drama League production to attain the highest marks in the competition |
The Company | Cruise Missile by Jean McConnell | Swansea Little Theatre |
| Bob McTurk Memorial Trophy for Best Director | Jo West | A Little Extra Help by Jo West | Telstars Theatre Company |
Best Individual Performance Award |
Jonathon James as The Stranger | The Bridge by Gabe Torrens | The Players Theatre |
The Bea Wells Memorial Trophy for the Best Comedy Performance
|
Paul Robinson as The Supervisor | A Little Extra Help by Jo West | Telstars Theatre Company |
Youth Trophy - donated by Mari Major |
The Company | Dancing on Checkers' Grave by Eric Lane | The Unknown Theatre Company |
The Jean Howell Trophy Adjudicator's Award |
The Company | Beauty is a Beast by D.M. Bocaz-Larson | Stars Performing Arts |
The photogallery of the night is available here.
Entries for the 2007 Festival came from:
| Thursday | ||
| The Unknown Theatre Company | Dancing on Checkers' Grave | Eric Lane |
| Stars Performing Arts | Beauty is a Beast | D.M. Bocaz-Larson |
| Friday | ||
| Swansea Little Theatre | The Virtuous Burglar | Dario Fo (trans Joe Farrell) |
| Bridgend Castle Players | But Yesterday | Jimmie Chinn |
| Telstars Theatre Company | Murder at the Wedding | Wally Richards |
| Saturday | ||
| Telstars Theatre Company | A Little Extra Help | Jo West |
| The Players Theatre | The Bridge | Gabe Torrens |
| Swansea Little Theatre | Cruise Missile | Jean McConnell |
| Guest performance on Thursday night from The Unknown Theatre Company with Sure Thing by David Ives. | ||
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