Review #1:
Publication: Shoreham Herald
Publication Data: April 18 1975 issue – page 2
Text Header: Wick win festival
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WICK Theatre Company won Southwick and Fishersgate Community Association’s 21st annual festival of drama with their production of Antigone at the Barn Theatre on Saturday.
They also made a clean sweep of the best actor and actress awards. Jack Bingham was named best actor for his portrayal of Creon, and the best actress award was shared by Monica Joyce [Antigone] who was also the producer, and Jenny Leworthy [Mrs Lunn].
The Aquarius Theatre group, Brighton, won their own runners-up cup with Over-ruled.
Other companies taking part in the festival on Friday and Saturday were the Steyning Downland W.I. Drama Group presenting A King’s Command; The Barnstormers, Brighton, The Rose and Crown; The Rother Players, The Frontier; and the Ashington Players, A Phoenix Too Frequent.
The adjudicator was Mr Basil Soper of The British Guild of Drama Adjudicators.
As this was the festival’s 21st anniversary, it was held in conjunction with the Community Association’s annual arts and craft exhibition on Saturday. About 400 exhibits were contributed by 152 entrants, and about 500 people visited the exhibition.
Review #2:
Publication: Brighton & Hove Gazette
Publication Data: April 18 1975 issue
Text Header: The Wick takes top trophy
Text: Content
THE SOUTHWICK and Fishersgate Community Association Drama Festival last Friday and Saturday produced a commendably mixed bag both in the style of plays presented and in the quality of presentation.
Winner of the major award was the Wick Theatre Company with Monica Joyce’s production of Antigone.
Owing to the sudden indisposition of the originally selected player, Monica, in addition to directing, found herself at short notice with the rôle of Antigone which she played so well that she became a joint winner of the best actress award. Even allowing for the high quality of her acting, I was even more impressed with the inspired direction which she brought to the play, the constant changes in tempo which kept the story alive, and kept the incisive and divergent character of the various elements of the story, even to the small parts of the guards.
Taking part in this really very fine production were Jack Bingham, who won best actor award for his playing of Creon, Betty Dawes as the nurse, Suzanne Brocken as Antigone’s sister Ismene, Peter Joyce as her fiancé Haemon, Pat Johnson as a messenger, Alan Upton and Barrie Bowen as the guards, Matthew Bingham as Creon’s page, and Laura Martin, Sheila Deasey, Jane Durance, Jonathan Skelton, and Andrew Theaker as the chorus.
The Aquarius Theatre Group had presented a runners-up trophy for the festival – and were the first group to win it with Betty Midderigh’s production of Bernard Shaw’s Overruled. In this, the other joint winner of the best actress award was Jenny Leworthy as Mrs Lunn, with a delightfully controlled performance. Her husband was played by Phillip Court, and the other couple were Reg Nash and Margaret Smith as Mr and Mrs Juno. This was a neat performance through-out, not over-stylised and bringing out the humour to the full.
Steyning Downland Women’s Institute Drama Group entered A King’s Command by Beatrice Leader. This story of Neill Gwynn and the players at Drury Lane Theatre was played in an uninspired way, with dear Nell as a middle-class suburban housewife rather than the loud-mouthed guttersnipe that she was. Clearly the producer had no knowledge of the period.
Also on Friday was and entry from the Barnstormers, a youth drama group from Brighton. These enthusiastic young people rather defeated themselves by selecting a J. B. Priestley play, The Rose and Crown, in which the characters are middle-aged or elderly. It was clearly not a good vehicle for very young players and this, taken with the lack of an experienced producer, placed them in a position where they could not possibly succeed, although they rightly earned the approval of the audience for their enthusiasm.
The Ashington Players completed the programme of entries with Christopher Fry’s A Phoenix Too Frequent. Dodo, the serving maid, is a richly comical rôle that was almost entirely missed; Dynamene, the lady mourning the death of her husband, was rather dull and lacked vocal projection so that she was, at times, difficult to hear. Tegeus, the soldier, was the best of the three but had the disconcerting habit of suddenly raising the volume of his voice. This production of a very funny play was just not very funny.
Adjudication was by Basil Soper who pleased all the participants with his constructive assessments of their performances.
