Where : Brighton Ditchling Road R.E. Records Ofice
Review #1:
Publication: Shoreham Herald
Publication Data: January 9 1976 – page 9
Text Header: Wick are ‘best players’ again
Text: Content
WICK Theatre Company have won the Brighton and District Drama Festival for the second year running and again carried off the best actor award.
Their play was J.B.Priestley’s Yorkshire comedy When We Are Married, presented at the Barn, Southwick, last month and, coincidentally, shown on BBC 1 this week. Douglas Tucker, in the role of Councillor Albert Parker, was named best actor by adjudicator Basil Soper.
When Wick entered the festival for the first time in 1974 Douglas, manager of Barclays bank, Southwick, earned the award for his portrayal of the Inquisitor in Jean Anouilh’s The Lark, which won the best play award.
This year’s festival results were announced at the Drill Hall Brighton on Saturday.
Nine companies entered.
Review #2:
Publication: Brighton & Hove Gazette
Publication Data: January 9 1976 – page ?
Text Header: The Wick scoop festival honours – with two top awards
Text: Content
The Wick Theatre Company have once again swept the board in Brighton and District Drama Association’s Play Festival. Last year they took the three top awards, and this year they keep two of them – the best play, which was won by J. B. Priestley’s When We Are Married, and best actor, Douglas Tucker.
The third main award, best actress, went to Daisy Prince for her part in the Myra Stewart Players’ production of Daughter of the Left Hand by Norman Holland. Daisy has been a member of the Players since 1951 and is one of four producers with the group.
The best actor award was another triumph for Douglas Tucker, a Southwick bank manager, who also won the cup last year. This is the third year running that the Wick have produced the best actor of the festival. Douglas is a veteran member of the Wick Group, which was founded in 1948 and stages all its plays at the Barn Theatre in Southwick. Audrey Laye directed When We Are Married, and she received the cup from Constance Cox, president of the drama association. It is play Audrey has always loved, and her enthusiasm for it obviously rubbed off on her talented and experienced cast.. “We enjoyed the play from the moment we started rehearsing,” said Audrey, who admitted that it was quite a challenge being producer following the company’s success at the last festival.
The Wick also won its own Southwick festival in May, the first heat of the British Drama League, and went on to come fifth in the next heat. It is quite a reputation to keep up.
There were seven entries for the festival, more than usual, and groups put on their plays during November and December with adjudicator Basil Soper attending one performance of each. The top four companies were very close, with only six points separating them. Runners-up were Brighton Arts Theatre with The Chalk Garden by Enid Bagnold, third the Prospect Drama Group with The Rape of the Belt by Benn Levy, and fourth the Myra Stewart Players, who put on Daughter of the Left Hand.
Trophies for the best supporting actor and actress were won by Malcolm Donaldson of the Prospect Group, and Joyce Wright, who appeared in the Aquarius Theatre Group’s production of The Crucible by Arthur Miller. The Prospect also collected a third award, a new cup given in memory of Harold Petty who was chairman of the drama association, for special technical work. The Prospect won it for the fine set members produced for The Rape of the Belt.
Association secretary Janet Hopping summed up the drama festival as one of the best ever, not only for the number of entries but because of the variety of plays put on, giving Basil Soper quite a tough job. Now that the association is no longer confined to just Brighton and Hove – it draws members from Worthing to Seaford and north to Haywards Heath – Janet is hoping the festival will become even bigger and better in future years.
