Review #1:
Publication: Shoreham Herald
Publication Data: March 31 1983 issue – page 19
Text Header: Festival
Text: Content
GEMINI PLAYERS were the winners of the Southwick one act drama festival with their version of the first act of Sweeney Todd at the Barn Theatre on Saturday.
They beat stiff competition from the Southwick Players and Wick Theatre Company to win a place in the regional finals at Croydon at the end of April.
Unfortunately Southwick’s festival clashed with one in Arun and the entries were reduced to three. Normally there are about six local drama groups vying for a regional place, which can in turn lead to the English one act drama finals.
Judging the festival was Colin Dooley, who nominated Neil Shephard the best actor and Vicki Wood the best actress.
Neil appeared with Wick in their drama Research, as an author who goes into a mental hospital to research facts for a book.
Vicki, meanwhile played Margaret in the Southwick players comedy Muck from Three Angles.
Review #2:
Publication: Brighton & Hove Gazette
Publication Data: April 1983 issue
Correspondent: Walter Hix
Text: Content
The Southwick Drama Festival was won this year by the Gemini Players with an excerpt from the Stephen Sondheim musical version of Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street. It was well staged and well characterised, particularly by Alan Gray in the title rôle. But I found the company at large to be short on diction so that a lot of the lyrics were lost.
Greatly to my surprise, adjudicator Colin Dolley awarded the second cup to the Southwick Players who presented Muck from Three Angles by David Halliwell. I found the play to be rather distasteful rubbish not very well performed and would certainly have preferred the Wick Theatre Company entry of Research by Michael Coyle. This play, staged in a mental hospital, was much more demanding with a particularly good performance from Neil Shephard as a voluntary patient who may or may not have been mad, the play leaving us to guess.
Best actor and actress awards went to Neil Shephard and Vicki Woods both of whom have leading rôles in the forthcoming Southwick Players – Wick Theatre Company joint production of Tom Jones.
With only three entries, two of them from locally based societies, there must be a question mark over the future of the festival.
Organiser John King will welcome suggestions for revitalising the festival next year. If anyone has any ideas they can write to him at the Southwick Community Association.
