FOR three nights last week the Woolstore Theatre hosted a One Act Play Festival, with local drama groups and playwrights competing for the opportunity to perform in this year’s All England Theatre Festival.

The adjudicator was Sonia Woolley, a professional actress and director, for many years associated with the Salisbury Playhouse and whose television credits include Tenko and the second series of Casualty.

The Mere Amateur Dramatic Society offering was Gold Braid and Cap Badge. It won the Marshall Award for Best Original Play for Adrienne Howell as well as Best Actress for Juliet Booth, who played Daisy. Ms Woolley described it as an interesting and well-constructed piece with a satisfying ending.

Little Grimley Presents Strictly Sex Factor (On Ice ) by David Tristram, directed by Caroline Fielding, came second in the competition as well as winning Best Supporting Actor for Mark Rhodes, who played Bernard.

The Athenaeum Limelight Players had a confident quorum of actors with very different personalities who performed with panache. Especially commended was the unscripted dancing set change that added greatly to the enjoyment.

Pewsey Vale Amateur Dramatics Society Youth Theatre were undoubtedly the unexpected en masse stars of the festival with their original play We Are All Individuals, written by their director Nettie Baskcomb Brown. The synopsis was ‘A dark comedy with Orwellian undertones’.

The audience had no idea what they were getting – what they saw was a very skilfully constructed play with an extremely disciplined cast of young people. Special mention must be made of the young actress at the front of the flock who attracted the attentions, not once but twice, of the Woolstore butterfly. She remained completely focused and unflustered while it flapped on her T-shirt, resisting any instinct to brush it away! The flock behaviour was perfectly choreographed, the costumes simple and effective, the message relevant and current. It won the George Trophy for Best junior actor for David Smith who played the scientist and the well-deserved discretionary Adjudicator’s List Prize.

Pewsey Vale Amateur Dramatics Society’s second play of the evening was Tony Layton’s Sharks In The Custard, directed by Steve Clements. It opened with a rather static duologue between two cleaning ladies in a modern art gallery. The Adjudicator commented that it was an interesting idea – bucking the system but difficult piece to bring together as it was very wordy and without much action. I felt it was a dull play for a festival, despite the vivacity of the actresses and the excellent selection of differing regional accents, it was under rehearsed and by the end boring.

The final evening saw two very contrasting plays – ALPS Warminster chose Have We Come That Far, written and directed by Marc Cox. The adjudicator complimented Jenny Sachs’ warm performance as Cynthia and Aynsley Minty’s WWI soldier Edward. Her observation that this was a rather downbeat production that could have benefitted from uplifting was well observed.

The Woolstore Bowl for the play that will go forward to the Mercia Division Quarter Finals in Wootton Bassett at the end of the month was another David Tristram comedy, What’s For Pudding, performed by the Woolstore Country Theatre and directed by Derek Miles. Ms Woolley described this as a light, brittle comedy with a well-rehearsed and confident cast. Derek Miles has a history of picking the right play for a festival, this was witty, fast paced and perfectly cast.

Romy Wyeth