BHAC : 2006

Review #1:
Publication: Shoreham Herald
Publication Data: November 2006
Text Header: Betty’s a diamond!
Text: Content

It was the sweet smell of success for Southwick at the Brighton and Hove Arts Council drama awards evening. Southwick Players won the award for best overall production with their 50th anniversary production of Look Back in Anger, directed by Brian Gill. A merit certificate for best actor went to Guy Steddon for his performance as Jimmy, the angry young man. The company also gained awards for best lighting [Mike Medway] and best stage setting [Len Shipton].

Members of the Young Wick Theatre Company, just six years old and in only its third full-length production, were thrilled to receive two major awards. The first was the adjudicator’s award for the most promising potential professional, which went to Danny Bayford for his performance as Spike in Multiplex, and the second for best director, won by Mark Best. The company was also named runner-up in many of the other categories.

The main Wick Theatre Company was awarded two merit certificates, one for best costumes, and the other for publicity material for its production of Blithe Spirit.

Principal star of the evening, though, was Betty Dawes, Wick’s president and founder member. She was presented with the ‘contribution to the arts’ award for her enduring work in the theatre. This started in 1946 when, as a member of Unity Youth Club in Fishersgate, she had the idea of branching out into a drama section. This eventually became the Young Wick group and, as members became a little bit older, the ‘Young’ was discretely dropped. The main company has been Wick ever since.

Betty, who lives in Southwick, was also active in the hard work that went into getting the original Barn in Southwick turned into a theatre. She has been busy ever since with acting, directing and administration for Wick. Also, in the early 1970s, she branched out into opera and has directed a string of productions for another company, Southwick Opera.

Betty said: “I was surprised and pleased to be given the award 60 years on from when I first started in youth theatre. A great satisfaction to me now is how youth activity in the theatre has been revived across the generations, with the latest Young Wick Group enjoying great success.”