The 2014 One-Act Play Festival has come and gone leaving the participants filled with the pride and memories of being involved in one of the best festivals of recent years, bursting with community talent at its best.
We are extremely happy to report that the festival was a resounding success!! All four nights of the festival drew large, enthusiastic audiences who weren’t shy to show their enjoyment of the plays, nor express their appreciation for the hard work put in by all the casts and crews. Franklin Players would like to sincerely thank every audience member for supporting the festival, and for making it an incredibly fun and enjoyable fortnight for everyone involved.
We would also like to thank the adjudicators, Suresh Nampuri, Sydney Natas, and Jai’prakash for giving up their time to judge the shows and provide feedback.
This year’s selection of plays was diverse, bridging the serious, thought provoking and comedy to pure farce occasionally mixing a number of theses facets to good effect. The new sound system and improved lighting brought the plays to life and the attention to detail in table settings made the audiences feel at home and ready for some good entertainment.
Nine of the scripts were home grown, written especially for the fest with only one being a previously acted international script. With this latter script it was down to the actors to bring the house down which they duly did.
A substantial amount of new blood was brought in for this year’s fest, with quite a number of first time actors and directors, who pulled out all of the stops to gain the recognition that they deserved.
The competition was adjudicated by three experienced members of the acting profession who provided a broad range of comment aimed at enhancing the development of the new actors and producers alike, before announcing the festival winners.
The measurement of success is always the reaction and appreciation of the audiences and it was clear that they loved every minute. This all resulted in the Fest being a commercial success, providing the finances necessary to keep the society in good stead in the year ahead.
For a synopsis of each play, download the program here »
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE AWARD WINNERS:
Best Overall Production : What Tangled Webs
Runner-up Best Production : Joined At The Hip
Best Director : Els De Bundel and Nicky Pantland (Joined At The Hip)
Best Original Script : Joined At The Hip (Dave Morgan)
Best Set : Zoo
Best Actor : Hendrik Greyvenstein (Zoo)
Best Supporting Actor : Mark Paps (Joined At The Hip)
Best Actress : Els De Bundel (Chicken, Airbags and Wors)
Best Supporting Actress : Samantha Keller (What Tangled Webs)
Best Female Novice : Jessica Urbani (What Tangled Webs)
Best Male Novice : David Dunn (Marital Bliss-ters)
Best Cameo Performance : Calen Critchfield (Zoo)
Best Sound Design : Malopo
Best Lighting Design : Zoo
MERIT AWARDS:
Social Relevance : Malopo
Best Artistic Direction : Hendrik Greyvenstein (Zoo)
Most Entertaining Production : Zoo
Most Audacious Performance : Nkopane Makhetha (What Tangled Webs)
PRODUCTION CREW:
Festival Producer : Carri Lyons
Stage Manager : Monika Jacobs
Lighting & Sound : Robert Cunningham
Front of House : Carri Lyons, Wendy Brehm, Kenyon MacMurray
Tuckshop : Anthony Vosloo, Caylee Harman, Steven Vosloo