January 2015 - All England Theatre Festival

A
Registered Charity
Number 1071518
News & Review
ALL-ENGLAND
THEATRE FESTIVAL
January 2015
Issue 1
Number 29
Reaching out to drama groups throughout England
England
Well here we are again, ready to start a new
round of Festivals for the 2015 season.
Some people will think I'm mad to get so
excited, knowing the hard work and
commitment that is about to start, but my
friends understand and know the feeling too.
The first round festivals will take place from
February to early April, throughout England
and I would love to see as many teams as
possible, of all ages and abilities taking part,
as this is a great opportunity to meet likeminded people, to share, to learn and
improve. I have been taking part in festivals
for over forty years and I am still learning.
Why not go onto our AETF Web site and
find your nearest festival.
The only nation-wide
eliminating contest
for one-act plays
in performance
I had a wonderful time in 2014 both
attending festivals and taking part. My own
group Total Arts Community Theatre
performed a production “For the Love of a
Butterfly” which was a joy to be in and went
on to represent England, after gaining
awards for stage décor, exceptional
creativity, and the overall winners trophy.
Chairman
The Elms, Lichfield Road,
Hopwas, Tamworth
National Contacts:
Area Contacts:
Northern
Ian Clarke 01423 712240
Western
Ann Aplin 01454 228 243
Eastern
Margaret Watford 01932 228 525
Central
Jean Cunnington 0121 707 6684
www.aetf.org.uk
The Trustees of The All England Theatre
Festival are a group of people who give up
their time to support the one act play festival.
They represent all the areas of the country
and are always keen to improve the festivals.
They will meet together in January, to look at
the structure of AETF and the way that it is
organised, in order to secure its future. I have
produced a questionnaire which has allowed
groups to express their feelings and views on
the AETF. In this way we hope to help the
festivals to grow and flourish.
We continue to produce our twice yearly
newsletter (thanks to Jean Cunnington) and
our brochure continues to inform members
on what festivals are taking place around the
country.
Our Membership Scheme is open to
individuals, families and groups who wish to
support AETF and we hope that as many of
you as possible will decide to take up this
membership in 2015.
The English Final will take place in Harrogate
in June 2015; whilst the British Final takes
place in Bracknell in July 2015.This will be a
really exciting weekend so book early to
avoid disappointment.
B78 3AF
Chairman - Sue Fortune
[email protected]
Vice-Chairman - Ian Clarke
[email protected]
Treasurer - Roger Cunnington
[email protected]
Secretary - Ann Aplin
[email protected]
Stage Writes, which was funded by the
Heritage Lottery Funding in order to establish
a record of amateur theatre memories, had a
very good response and still needs to
continue to collect more memories and
stories from anyone involved in the theatre
both past and present. (stagewrites.org.uk)
However, when the group started entering
festivals, we didn't win many awards and
were just pleased to get a mention, but we
loved the atmosphere, the sharing and the
learning and meeting old and new friends.
In 2014 we became the first group to
represent England in each of the four
countries and although we did not gain the
British title, our play was well received by
both groups and audiences from all four
countries. Congratulations must go to the
Scottish Drama Association for a wonderful
weekend.
So let's all get involved in AETF, backstage,
front of house, on stage, directing,
supporting, old, young and in-between and
make 2015 a season to remember.
Sue Fortune
English Chairman
All-England Theatre
Festival
The Elms, Lichfield Road, Hopwas, Tamworth, B78 3AF
Northern Area
Cairn Hotel, Ripon Road, HG1 2JD (01423 504005) for Grand
Final attendees (quote ‘All-England Theatre’ when booking).
Please be mindful that these rooms will go on open ‘sale’
during the final four weeks before the event. I shall also be
overseeing the Area semi final two miles down the road in
historic Knaresborough where the ever hospitable
Knaresborough Players in their delightful Frazer Theatre will be
hosting a two-day event over the early May Bank Holiday
weekend for all our preliminary round winners.
First of all may I take this opportunity to warmly welcome
Dennis Bloor on board as the newly-appointed Chairman of
AETF North. Dennis will be familiar to our East Riding friends
for his long service as Treasurer of the Hull preliminary round.
I look forward to welcoming you to Harrogate on 6th June
and/or Knaresborough this summer and hope that, with your
commitment and support, 2015 will prove a watershed marking
a permanent upturn in the fortunes of AETF North.
Ian Clarke
AETF North Secretary and
AETF Vice Chairman.
Kathryn Leigh of Knaresborough Players, director of the winning play
at the 2014 Nidderdale Festival, receiving the trophy from
Dr Sue Hickson NDDA President
With a splendid English Grand Final at Evesham still vividly
implanted in my memory another festival year has announced
its arrival with indecent haste. Up here in The North our ‘early
arrival’ festivals (the Manx and Richmond) are already well
past the early planning stage and, by the time our last
preliminary round festivals in Bridlington and Port Sunlight end
in April, we hope to have seven richly entertaining productions
in place ready to compete at our semi final for the honour of
representing The North at the English Grand Final which we
are proudly hosting on home soil. (see below).
Central Area
By the time you read this the trustees will have attended a
symposium to discuss ‘where they think the AETF should be in
five to ten years time’, your thoughts correlated at the Area
meeting in September last year were all put forward. It is hoped
that the results will be distributed shortly, so that any new
initiatives can be implemented before the start of the 2016
Festival Season.
It would be dishonest to continue without raising a few
unpalatable facts. AETF North is at a critical stage in its
life-cycle. Last year was financially catastrophic. A number of
festivals are experiencing increasing hardship both financially,
and in their ability to attract participants. Our festival organising
personnel have barely changed in my decade of involvement
with the AETF and, with no new blood to
invigorate local and Area committees, many
events are now managed by a gerontocracy.
Any organisation that cannot renew itself is
in serious difficulty and I would urge a new
generation of organisers to step up to the
plate before it is too late. At an extraordinary
general meeting in Birmingham in January,
AETF Trustees will be debating issues such as these (they are
by no means confined to The North). Their task is to emerge
with a strategy that will make the AETF much fitter for purpose
in an era of seemingly limitless competition for cultural and
leisure-time attention. Your ideas are important in this process,
so please don’t hesitate to send them in.
Another year has passed and the festival season is again upon
us, whilst hoping that everyone had a wonderful Christmas and
wishing everyone all best wishes for a prosperous and
successful new year; it is to be hoped that in 2015 there will be
even more AETF entries in the nine preliminary round festivals
in the Central Area than ever before.
Congratulations have already been given to TACT for reaching
the British Final Of One-Act Plays last
year, but I would urge you to talk to any
of their membership if you want to hear
first hand the fun that can be had, even
if you are pipped at the last hurdle
when attending that event. It is our
hope that everyone who attends an
AETF festival, whether as a participant
or a member of the audience, also
derives both enjoyment and fun from
the experience.
What does the new season offer us here in The North? Well, it
will certainly keep me busy since I am tasked with organising
the English Grand Final at the splendid late Victorian pile of
Harrogate Theatre on 6 June. Harrogate, both as a town and
as a gateway to the Yorkshire Dales, is a superb location for
our flagship event. 43 rooms have been block-booked at The
Last year I went on at length about
support, and although the year within
the Area was good, I still feel that to
2
All-England Theatre
Festival
The Elms, Lichfield Road, Hopwas, Tamworth, B78 3AF
Western Area
TACT at the British Final
We in Western Area are looking forward to what we hope will
be another successful year. We have had good reports on the
entries for some of our Preliminary Festivals - numbers are up
although there is an increasing reluctance to go forward.
Experienced clubs know that although exciting it can put a
strain on both their finances and on their commitment to other
productions during the year. However with Somerset teams,
Troupers and Frome Drama Club,reaching the English Final in
the last two years those of us in their neighbouring counties are
encouraged to emulate their achievement.
give yourself that little extra edge within the competition, and
thus undoubtedly enhance your own performance, you should
remember to bring as many of your own supporters to the
AETF festivals you attend, especially within the Central Area.
By bringing a party to every Quarter and Semi-Final you attend,
not only sends a message to everyone else, it will also enable
the AETF to continue. Our Central Area Festivals are all two
session events, which offers a great day out for everyone
entertainment, education and enthusiasm
from all concerned. Jean and I look forward to
seeing as many of you as possible during the
festival season, at your own Preliminary
Round Festivals as well as the Finals.
Alan Burgess & Aynsley Minty from Frome Drama Club
It is good to report that Southern Division will be holding a
Quarter Final this year, last year it was abandoned which
meant that the winner of the Totton Preliminary round had a
'bye' to the Area Semi-Final. We feel that this is never very
satisfactory as the team doesn't have a chance to benefit from
another adjudication.
Our 11th AGM took place on the 28th September in Solihull, and
a hearty discussion took place on where we hoped the AETF
would be in the future. We would however like to reiterate the
fact that the Area needs everyone’s support, primarily bumson-seats, but by putting new blood into the organising
committees as well, would benefit all.
Mercia Division will benefit from having the Woolstore Festival
in as a Preliminary Round again - this excellent festival in a
delightful little theatre is held biannually.
It will be Western Division's first year without the use of the
Carlton Theatre for the Teignmouth Festival as it is now demolished and about to be rebuilt - though in a very different form.
However their indefatigable organisers have found another
venue. We wish them the best of luck.
As an Area, we are again the one with the largest number if
individual AETF members. Those members income together
with their donations made a significant impact on the AETF
finances this year. Thank you all for your support in pushing
individual AETF membership, please keep it up.
Wessex Division is holding its Quarter Final at The Olympus
Theatre at Stoke Gifford - a popular venue which is now
established as the home of the Bristol Festival.
Roger Cunnington.
Central Area – Chairman.
Our Area Semi Final is going to a new venue The Barrington
Theatre in Ferndown, Dorset; an excellent venue which had its
own independent festival until a few years ago and we are
hoping this might revive interest in Festival work in that part of
the world. At any rate we are looking forward to going there and
would welcome visitors from other Areas - in 2015 all the Area
Finals are on different dates so May 16th in the New Forest
would make a delightful weekend away!
Dennis Dunford
Western Area Chairman
3
All-England Theatre
Festival
The Elms, Lichfield Road, Hopwas, Tamworth, B78 3AF
course the actors and actresses a successful and enjoyable
festival season and would urge the competing groups to
encourage all your membership to give you the support your
efforts deserve.
Aside from the challenge of organising the British Final I look
forward to debating the future of the AETF competition with my
fellow Trustees in an extraordinary general meeting to be held
in January. The meeting was derived from my perception (at
least in the Eastern Area) that there has been a long-term trend
of declining interest and commitment by groups in participating
in the AETF competition.
e Eastern
session, Area
£14 double. The theatre to be asked if
was agreed.
The summer already seems a fond but distant memory, the
highlight of which was a splendid English Final in Evesham,
won by Total Arts Community Theatre based in Tamworth.
Their enchanting production of “For the Love of a Butterfly”
featuring AETF Chairman Sue Fortune was repeated in late
June at the British Final in Stirling, Scotland, narrowly losing to
the ‘home’ production.
As the year draws to a close, preparations are already well
advanced for the Bedford, Elmbridge, Maidenhead, Southern
Counties and Waltham Forest Eastern Area Preliminary Round
festivals that will be staged between February and April 2015.
The Eastern Area Final will be held on 23rd May, the winners of
which will proceed to the English Final in Harrogate on 6th
June.
Taking a long term view, over the 30+ years I have been
involved with the AETF competition there are many factors
contributing to this decline, including:
·
·
The English winners will have the honour of representing the
country in the British Final that the Eastern area is arranging for
3rd & 4th July at the delightful Wilde Theatre, in the South Hill
Park Arts Centre, Bracknell. The venue is a converted Grade 2
Listed Georgian stately home, set in magnificent landscaped
grounds adjacent to a public park. There is plentiful free
parking and an impressive bistro bar in the arts centre and I
very much hope you will support this important event that
represents the pinnacle of the annual drama festival
competition.
·
·
·
·
Greater mobility – transport is far better now and
people aren’t now limited to those social
activities in their immediate area
Significantly more leisure activities competing for
a limited resource
Declining interest amongst youngsters to be
involved in more traditional, formal and
structured drama groups – preferring to work in
small autonomous groups with greater personal
involvement in running the group, selection of
more challenging contemporary plays etc
Increasing work pressures
Preference for more informal involvement,
avoiding long-term commitments
Financial pressures, both on individuals and on
participating groups
I believe these pressures are even more marked in the Eastern
Area where there is generally a significantly weaker sense of
“community” than elsewhere in the country. It seems
remarkable to me that Greater London has only one One Act
drama festival in the AETF competition, despite having a
population of 8.3 million.
Our discussions will incorporate feedback from a survey of
participating groups and individuals and I’m confident this will
identify many other factors and form the basis of a lively debate
on where the AETF sees itself in the future and how it should
promote itself to ensure the AETF organisation and annual
competition are still thriving in another 30+ years.
Wilde Theatre
Accommodation for the weekend’s festivities will be at the
Hilton Bracknell, a short walk from the theatre and is very
competitively priced. The English and Scottish performances
on Friday evening 3rd July will be followed by a party with buffet
and barn dance entertainment in the South Hill Park foyer bar
and marquee. The Irish and Welsh performances on 4th July
will be followed by the trophy awards and a sit down buffet with
dance band entertainment in the Hilton Bracknell main function
room.
Finally I welcome feedback (whether positive or negative) on
any aspect of the AETF organisation – be it your local
preliminary round festival or subsequent rounds and Finals or
indeed on the structure and composition of the National
Executive. I look forward to hearing from you !
Full details of the British Final and a booking form for
accommodation, tickets and the after-show parties are
available on the AETF website: www.aetf.org.uk
We are very grateful to the Howard de Walden Estate, London
for their generous sponsorship of the British Final.
Ian Thomas
Eastern Area Chairman,
I wish all involved in organising and running the many festivals,
the directors, set designers/builders, technicians and, of
4
All-England Theatre
Festival
The Elms, Lichfield Road, Hopwas, Tamworth, B78 3AF
Treasurer’s Ramblings
As national treasurer I have made somewhat controversial
observations, last year at this time I reported on the fact that
the decision was taken, not to hold four of our quarter-finals. I
said that I hoped that this experiment would not be
successful. I have been proved wrong, we again have the
unfairness for the teams taking part in two Areas who have to
go through an extra round of competition to get to the English
Final.
The AETF is again diminishing, I would prefer us to be
expanding. This could be done by taking in the winner and
runner-up from the Preliminary Round Festivals. As I stated
last year the Quarter-Finals are the events that should provide
the learning curve for our competing teams and audience, as
well as providing an income to the AETF. More entrants at
Quarter-Finals should encourage far larger audiences and
provide a second chance to those who almost made it. The
overall object of this would be to provide a further opportunity
to learn, to encourage competition and increase our income
and thus support to all taking part.
Is your festival in need of a good makeover? Or, at the very
least, some fresh ideas? The state of this particular union is,
frankly, mixed. Some festivals are struggling to get entries,
others are struggling to get an audience, whilst some are
positively thriving. Are there any magic wands out there? The
focus for the 2015 Drama Festivals Conference is on success
– how to achieve it, how to keep it and how to enjoy it. We hope
we will have a surprise celebrity guest (herself a keen amateur
actress in her youth) as a keynote speaker here and,
professional engagements permitting, she hopes she can be
with us. But, whether she can make it or not, the Drama
Festivals Conference is going to be a weekend to remember
with opportunities for networking, meeting other organisers (as
well as GoDA adjudicators) and for bringing some new ideas
home. Making the most of our change to a central London
venue, there will be a theatre visit on the Saturday night to opt
into as well as an informal dinner on the Sunday evening, so
book the date in your diary now.
Whilst talking of money, your thoughts would be appreciated.
The AETF gave overall some £1k to the winning teams at our
festivals last year - that does not include any funding given by
Preliminary Round Festivals. What, if any, financial support do
you think should be given to our winners and where should it
come from?
Responses to questions raised in out twice yearly newsletter
rarely if ever get a reaction, although, if I ask the same
question when meeting someone at a festival, the response is
often immediate and opposite to whatever was suggested. The
trustees would like to achieve some form of dialogue with
anyone involved with the festival movement, rather than just
through meetings. Again your thoughts are required on the
best way of attaining that dialogue?
On a slightly different tack, could I ask you all to put even more
effort into persuading your group and those you are associated
with to become members of the AETF. Whilst I accept that
many groups belong to NODA for the governance and
insurance deals it offers, membership of the AETF supports
the idea of competitive drama and the community spirit that
competition encourages. Individual membership is also a
worthwhile option which we should encourage, especially as
the Gift Aid that we claim back from HMRC is providing a nice
additional income; the Trustees and I thank all who have
become members and helped in this way. Membership forms
are available from the AETF website: www.aetf.org.uk
Throughout the year, I will continue to circulate information to
national and festival organisations and adjudicators as plans
for the conference firm up, but if you would like to be kept in the
loop, please send me your details and I’ll add you to the list. I’d
also love to hear from any of you about festivals which are
enjoying particular success or resurgence and whose
organisers might be prepared to share their ideas. I already
have a couple of these “in the bag” but, the more the merrier.
In the meantime, watch this space – it’s going to be an
interesting one.
AETF National Treasurer.
Roger Cunnington.
Jan Palmer Sayer GoDA
Conference Organiser
[email protected]
07768 431870
9 Welwyn Road, Hertford, SG14 2BD
Sharing is good, and with digital technology, sharing
is easy.
Richard Stallman
5
All-England Theatre
Festival
The Elms, Lichfield Road, Hopwas, Tamworth, B78 3AF
2014 AETF Festival Stats
·
All Festivals making up the AETF family including all
Preliminary or First Round Festivals together with our own
AETF Festivals make returns each year. Although seen by
some as a pointless exercise or a chore, they do help to give
an indication as to how the festival movement and the AETF in
particular is doing. And provide information as to how we are
continuing to support our local communities. The conclusions
derived are based solely on the information supplied to us.
There are two sections to be considered: -
·
·
David Tristram with 5 titles being performed at 6 First
Rounds.
Alan Ayckbourn with 4 titles being performed at 6 First
Rounds.
Anton Chekhov with 2 titles being performed at 5 First
Rounds.
v The most popular play is again this year, a difficult question
to answer with so many groups performing in two or more
festivals, with the same play.
·
On the surface it would appear that “After Midnight
Before Dawn” by David Campton and “The Proposal”
by Anton Chekhov both with four performances in
different festivals would be the contenders.
·
The fact that some 20% of plays performed this year
were original will also have contributed to the
difficulty of finding a single popular production.
·
And not forgetting that five festivals were unwilling or
unable to provide me with a copy of their programme.
1. THE PERFORMANCE STATS 2014
These are based on returns from all Festivals making up the
AETF family.
·
This year has been a particularly good year, five
festival failed to make a return giving us an 88%
success rate.
·
Within the family there are 29 Independently
Organised Festivals, together with 19 AETF
Preliminary Round Festivals &/or Finals. Of these 48
festivals, 6 were not scheduled and 2 were cancelled.
Unfortunately the 6 not scheduled were all AETF
organised events.
·
There were some 136 performance evenings, &/or
matinees, which took place in 40 venues throughout
the country. Overall 356 groups took part, cast and
crew numbering over 3,300 watched by an audience
of some 8,650, providing an income of approximately
£63k.
·
With regard to programmes and the promotion of the
AETF, a number of our own festivals failed to use the
programme covers provided. And there were a
number of Independent Festivals who failed to include
the AETF logo & advert within their programmes.
v
Analysis of the data received reveals that: · Taking part at our 32 Preliminary Rounds Festivals
there were 302 (260) different play titles, (The figures
in brackets are from last year.), of which 53 (73) were
original plays; there were some 171 (206) different
authors.
· Interestingly out of the 302 performances we have
information on, 23 (43) were monologues or
duologues and 29 (31) were three handers; of the
remaining 115 had between four and seven characters
whilst 87 (102) had over 8 characters.
· From the returns, of the 302 performances 219 (236)
wanted to be considered as part of the ongoing AETF
festival whilst 41 (43) adult and 42 (40) youth entries
did not.
3. SUMMARY & CONCLUSIONS
It is the compilation of the ‘Stats Return Form’ and provision of
a programme by all festivals which enables the above report to
be produced. I would like to thank all festival organisers for their
help in keeping me updated by providing them.
Overall and comparing to previous years, as far as stats go this
appears to have been our poorest year for some fourteen
years, mainly due to the six AETF festivals that failed to take
place and the lack of returns from two of our largest events.
However, the standard of the plays has been phenomenal, the
AETF organises the only on-going, one-act play competition in
performance, and provides England's representative at the
"British Final of One-Act Plays" each year. In 2014 there were
219 groups who vied for that honour of representing England.
2. THE PLAY STATS 2014
These are based on returns from the Preliminary Round
Festivals only.
v The most popular authors this year were: · Nick Warburton with 6 titles being performed at 7 First
Rounds.
· David Campton with 4 titles being performed at 7 First
Rounds.
·
‘Anon’ with 6 titles being performed at 6 First Rounds.
Forever looking to the POSITIVE, we are now ready to embark
on the new festival season, and I hope that we will be looking
6
All-England Theatre
Festival
The Elms, Lichfield Road, Hopwas, Tamworth, B78 3AF
towards a better year. We know that time and finances are tight,
however in looking forward to the continued support of our
Preliminary Round Festivals, with their encouragement we
hope more groups will feed into the on-going side of competitive
drama next year.
The six most popular authors this year supplied 170
performances out of the total of 302. On a secondary note we
currently do not correlate the name of the group performing
against the play performed, perhaps we should?
Calling all amateur theatre groups:
Shakespeare needs you!
I close hoping that the above information has been of some
interest, and reiterate that it is from this information that the
AETF is able to prove that it is providing a worthwhile level of
support and assistance to the many communities throughout
England that are involved, and thus ensuring the continuance
of the national competitive festival scene.
To mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death in 2016,
the RSC are touring 12 venues across the UK with a production
of A Midsummer Night's Dream: A Play for the Nation and are
looking for amateur theatre companies to collaborate with in
each location as part of their Dream 16 project.
AETF National Treasurer.
Roger Cunnington.
The RSC is looking for a local amateur company to supply six
amateur actors and one director from an amateur theatre
group local to each theatre to play the Mechanicals (Peter
Quince, Nick Bottom, Francis Flute, Snug, Tom Snout and
Robin Starveling). Chosen groups will also be invited to
perform at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-uponAvon at the end of the tour. The amateur company chosen will
receive equal billing with the RSC in local press and marketing
materials.
The RSC's partner theatres are: Northern Stage and Theatre
Royal, Newcastle; Citizens Theatre, Glasgow; Grand Theatre,
Blackpool; Alhambra Theatre, Bradford; Marlowe Theatre,
Canterbury; Norwich Theatre Royal; Nottingham Theatre
Royal; Hall for Cornwall, Truro; Barbican, London; New
Theatre, Cardiff; Grand Opera House and Lyric Theatre, Belfast.
A new editor:
Having been editor of this newsletter since it’s
inception some 16 or more years ago, this is my
last edition. I am extremely grateful, that with a
little cajoling, Ian Clarke has agreed to take over
the mantle. Please help Ian out be sending him any articles of
interest - his email is: [email protected]
The auditions are open to amateur companies based within or
around the towns and cities that the production is touring to.
The RSC and the venues where the production will be
performed are currently working to identify those groups. The
venue will then invite amateur companies to apply.
Jean Cunnington
If your amateur company considers themselves to be local to
one of the partner theatres listed above you should contact that
theatre for an application form (rather than the RSC directly).
Follow the link below for contact details of the venues and more
information:
www.rsc.org.uk/explore/projects/a-midsummer-nights-dreama-play-for-the-nation.aspx
Many of you reading this magazine will be sorry to hear of
the sudden death of Jane Levan.
Jane, a member of the Guild of Drama Adjudicators since
1992 died on 16th December from pneumonia.
A lovely lady with such a warm personality, Jane was
ready to help whenever she could always giving 100%.
She will be sadly missed by festival organisers but
particularly by her family and the groups in the Bristol area.
We know that Jane was preparing to take a play to Minack
in 2015 but one of her latest projects was with the Court
Players at Rangeworthy who were struggling to survive as
a drama group. Not only did Jane arrange workshops
which started in May she also offered to direct their latest
production, which took place just 10 days before her
untimely death, and was a complete success. Court
Players say, “She was a real inspiration to the group and
everyone who was involved in the latest production learnt
so much from her.”
Our thoughts are with Jane’s family and friends.
7
All-England Theatre
Festival
The Elms, Lichfield Road, Hopwas, Tamworth, B78 3AF
We stock a wide range of materials on theatre history; books
about theatre, playwrights and practitioners; design, lighting
and stage management, and much more besides.
To give you a taste of the plays on the DAW shelves, the scripts
are listed in categories:
DAW have reverted to our original telephone number
029 2045 2200
But also, we have moved once more - we hope for the
foreseeable future! please note we are located at:
Drama Association of Wales,
The Old Library,
Singleton Road,
Splott,
Cardiff CF24 2ET
Observant, long-standing members of the society will find this
address familiar, as we return to our long-standing home.
There is a story to our return: we'll be telling you about it soon.
If we're not available when you telephone, please do leave us
a message and we will contact you at the first opportunity.
The Drama Association of Wales formerly housed the largest
specialist Drama Lending Theatre Script Library in the world.
The library has now transferred to the Royal Welsh College of
Music and Drama and is available to DAW members. You can
contact the RWCMD directly on their Issue Desk on 029 2039
1331 or alternatively by email at [email protected].
For now, we have left in place the information about the library,
and how it was when it was with us, so you can see the sort of
range that was available. This way you'll have an idea of the
kind of material that is likely to be available from RWCMD
Our lending library is the largest, English language, specialist
lending library in the world. We stock more than 300,000
volumes, comprising
· Plays
· Technical
theatre books
· The entire
Playsets and
Lending
collections of
the former
British Theatre
Association
and the Inner
London
Education Authority (ILEA)
Full Length Sets
These include works by:
Alan Ayckbourn • Agatha Christie • Anton Chekhov • Yazmena
Reza • John Godber • Marie Jones • Arthur Miller • Harold
Pinter • Pam Gems • George Bernard Shaw • Henrik Ibsen •
Diane Samuels • Ronald Harwood • William Shakespeare •
Alan Bennett • Lucy Gannon • J B Priestley • Noel Coward •
Neil Simon
We also stock works as diverse as the murder mysteries of
Peter Gordon and the entire Farndale Avenue series from
McGillivray and Zerlin. And hundreds of other playwrights.
One Act - Female Casts
We have collections such as:
The entire series of Deckchairs by Jean McConnell and works
by Jimmie Chinn • Enid Coles • David Campton • Cherry
Vooght • L. Du Garde Peach • Doris M Day
We also hold the Sam Bate and Rae Shirley collections kindly
donated by their families.
One Act - Mixed Casts
Our large collection includes works by playwrights such as:
Tom Stoppard • Samuel Beckett • Caryl Churchill • Anthony
Booth • Margaret Wood • Christopher Fry • the entire Coarse
Acting series by Michael Green • the three Davids…Edgar,
Tristram and Foxton • James Saunders • Michael Fosbrook •
collections of one act plays such as Confusions by Alan
Ayckbourn
General /Sources
In recent years many private and county library collections
have passed into DAW's hands making the DAW Theatre
Library not only more comprehensive in its stock but also much
bigger in size.
We have been fortunate in being able to house collections from
the libraries of Kensington and Chelsea, Gloucester, Somerset,
BBC Research library, London, the Inner London Education
Authority library (ILEA) and the Greater Manchester Drama
Federation, as well as many private libraries.
See below for examples of the kind of material we have
available.
We have an extensive collection of single copies of
contemporary plays; we are in receipt of review copies from all
major and smaller publishing houses. So if you are looking for
a play which is out of print or have seen a production of an
interesting new script and want to take a closer look,
then we may be able to help.
Examples of library stock
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