The Wilmslow Festival of One Act Plays, which has been running for over sixty years, will see many varied short plays, around 45 minutes, presented by groups from all over Cheshire and Manchester. Some plays are written specially for the festival.
“We’ve been overwhelmed with entries this year,” said Publicity Officer Bill Beton. “We have fourteen plays in total, from twelve different groups, including Wilmslow Guild Players. Unusually, this year we have a strong bias towards comedies. Ten of the fourteen plays are comedies.”
The festival runs from Wednesday 26th to Saturday 29th May, with different plays being presented each night at Wilmslow Guild on Bourne Street. The plays are watched by an independent adjudicator, who gives a verbal adjudication at the end of each night. Awards are made on the Saturday night for Best Production (junior and senior) and Best Individual Performance (junior and senior). There are also two discretionary awards, The Adjudicator’s Award and the Syd Mence Cup for a Piece of Theatre Magic.
The festival is affectionately referred to as “The Friendly Festival” by some of the participating societies, many of whom have been entering the festival for years. Over the years it has seen some famous feet “tread the boards”, such as Doris Speed (of Coronation Street fame); Alan Garner, the local children’s author; and Albert Finney, now an established international star of stage and screen.
Wilmslow Guild Players will be entering two plays in their own festival this year. The first play will be a junior play entitled “Hell Has Our Phone Number”, directed by Lee Tipton. This will be the first time for many years that the Guild Players have entered a junior play. Director Lee Tipton said “I decided to see if we could do a junior play seeing as we have a number of up-and-coming young actors in our company.
"It would also give them something to perform that’s all theirs and not clouded by the adult actors. It would also keep their interest up between pantomimes! The play is principally a comedy based on the dialling of a wrong number that connects an office worker to Hell. It’s very tongue in cheek and has benefited from additional musical choices to add to the action.”
The second entry by Wilmslow Guild Players will be a senior play entitled “White Lies”, directed by Jessica Hale. This comedy is set in a London restaurant, where four ladies gather thirty years after their graduation. One of them, Bea, is only concerned with herself and the other ladies decide it's time for payback. But their little revenge stunt goes further than they planned.
Other entries in the festival come from MADS Theatre Macclesfield, Hyde Little Theatre, Bollington Festival Players, The Whitehead School of Dance and Drama, Cheshire Academy of Performing Arts, Shoreline, PADOS (Prestwich Amateur Dramatic & Operatic Society), ‘Know Your Onions’ Theatre Group, The Really Useful Reject Players and Nantwich Players.
The festival is open to the public, with tickets costing £3 for each night. Tickets can be booked by email or on 01625 520126. A full running order is on the Wilmslow Guild Players website.
“We have a lot of plays to get through in four days,” said Bill Beton, “so each evening starts early with the first play commencing at 7pm. We’re looking forward to some terrific entertainment.”
Photo: A previous one act play by Wilmslow Guild Players - "Garlic and Lavender".
