BHAC : 2018

2018 : Brighton & Hove Arts Council’s Full-Length Drama Competition

Adjudicator : Jane Collins

Competitors : in order of appearance

1
September 18 – 22

Hurstpierpoint Players

Habeas Corpus
By Alan Bennett
Produced by Jill Hewer

2
September 18 – 22

Burgess Hill Theatre Club

A Steady Rain
By Keith Huff
Produced by Sean Lippett-Fall

3
September 26 – 29

Wick Theatre Company

Plaza Suite
By Neil Simon
Produced by Graham Till

4
October 05 – 13

New Venture Theatre

Happy Now?
By Lucinda Coxon
Produced by Claire Lewis

5
October 10 – 13

Southwick Players

The Corn is Green
By Emlyn Williams
Produced by Susanne Crosby

6
October 10 – 13

Rottingdean Drama Society

Mother Courage and her Children
By Bertolt Brecht
Produced by Jo Newman

7
October 18 – 20

Henfield Theatre Company

Brighton Beach Memoirs
By Neil Simon
Produced by Sheila Nye

8
October 24 – 26

Saints Theatre Group

The Ghost Train
By Arnold Ridley
Produced by Linsay Oliver

2018 : Brighton & Hove Arts Council’s Drama Awards Evening

When : December 4 2018

Where : Hove Dyke Road Brighton & Hove Sixth Form College [BASVIC]

Bea Waters Challenge Cup for Best Overall Production

Henfield Theatre Company
Brighton Beach Memoirs

The Arthur Churchill Award For Excellence

Stephanie Gilbert for Catherine
Mother Courage and her Children
Rottingdean Drama Society
[Awarded for excellence as the most promsing newcomer]

The Gabbus Denney Best Director

Claire Lewis
Happy Now?
New Venture Theatre

Best Actor

Ben Pritchard for Joey
&
Culann Smyth for Denny
A Steady Rain
Burgess Hill Theatre Club

Best Actress

Louise Yeo for Miss Moffat
The Corn is Green
Southwick Players

The Mike Padley Award for Best Supporting Actor

Sam Bullen for Peter the Cook
Mother Courage and her Children
Rottingdean Drama Society

The Mike Padley Award for Best Supporting Actress

Victoria Thomson for Jean McCormack & Muriel Tate
Plaza Suite
Wick Theatre Company

Best Technical Achievement

For the steady rain
A Steady Rain
Burgess Hill Theatre Club

Best Lighting Design

Mike Cawte
Brightin Bech Memoirs
Henfield Theatre Club

Best Sound Design

Ian Black & Dan Skelt
The Ghost Train
Saints Theatre Group

Best Set Design

Martin Oakley
The Corn is Green
Southwick Players

Best Stage Crew

The Ghost Train
Saints Theatre Group

Best Costumes

The company
Habeus Corpus
Hurstpierpoint Players

Best Publicity

Charley Roberts, Gary Cook, Amanda Reeves
The Corn is Green
Southwick Players

The Coffin Mews Award

[Awarded to recognise an outstanding achievement not recognised in another category]

Mother Courage and her Children
Rottingdean Drama Society
[For excellent ensemble work that permeated every aspect of the production and all the activities surrounding it, creating a real sense of a community event that was engaged with the past and the current political situation and I believe the writer of this play – Bertolt Brecht – would have totally supported.]

Media & Reviews

Publicity #1:
Publication: Shoreham Herald
Publication Data: September 6 2018 issue – p25
Correspondent: Elaine Hammond
Text Header: Eight companies competing at this year’s drama awards
Text:
A writer, director and theatre-maker who has worked all over the UK has been confirmed as the adjudicator for this year’s Brighton and Hove Arts Council Drama Awards.

Jane Collins, professor of theatre and performance at Wimbledon College of Art, will be watching eight companies across Sussex before deciding the winners.

Two of the plays will be at The Barn Theatre in Southwick, staged by award regulars Southwick Players and Wick Theatre Company.

The awards season opens with Habeas Corpus, Alan Bennett’s farcical comedy of ill-manners, performed by Hurstpierpoint Players from September 18 to 22, with judging on the Friday.

Burgess Hill Theatre Club will be putting on A Steady Rain by Keith Huff on the same dates, with judging on the Saturday. This gritty two-hander explores various relationships on the tough streets of Chicago.

Wick Theatre Company performs Plaza Suite by Neil Simon from September 26 to 29 at 7.45pm, with judging on the Friday. This wonderful farce sees three couples successively occupying the same suite in the Plaza Hotel.

Happy Now? by Lucinda Coxon will be staged by New Venture Theatre in Brighton from October 5 to 13, with judging on the Saturday. Blisteringly truthful and wonderfully funny, this is a wise and darkly comic take on contemporary life.

Southwick Players will perform The Corn is Green by Emlyn Williams from October 10 to 13, with judging on the Thursday. Set in a tiny Welsh mining village in 1900, this is a story of triumph over adversity.

Rottingdean Drama Society stages Mother Courage and her Children by Bertolt Brecht on the same dates, with judging on the Friday. Described as the greatest anti-war paly of all time, this play was written in response to Germany’s invasion of Poland in 1939.

Henfield Theatre Company will also be staging a Neil Simon play, this time Brighton Beach memoirs, from October 18 to 20, with judging on the Saturday. Eugene must cope with the mundane existence of his family life in Brooklyn – a recipe for hilarity.

New to the awards is the Saints Theatre Group, performing The Ghost Train by Arthur Ridley at St Paul’s in Worthing from October 24 to 26, with judging on Friday. A young man accidentally strands six passengers at a small Cornish wayside station. They decide to stay the night in the waiting room and soon regret the decision.

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