Local drama groups will be competing for a place in the England finals, at the amateur one-act play festival at the Blackmore Theatre

Following the success of their production of The Vicar of Dibley, the Exmouth Players are now preparing to host the 40th Exmouth Amateur Festival of One Act Plays as part of The All England Theatre Festival 2019.

This is a prestigious event. Winners or runners-up from the Exmouth Festival could progress all the way through to the English final and, ultimately, represent England in the British final. That would be quite an achievement for any local entrants who have elected to put themselves forward to go through to the regional quarter-finals. Anything is possible.

The Exmouth Festival is one of three preliminary rounds taking place in the Western Division of The All England Theatre Festival this year. It runs from Monday, April 8 to Saturday 13 at The Blackmore Theatre. Monday to Friday performances start at 7.30pm and the Saturday performance at 7pm.

This year’s entries are: Mezzalchemy and Mezzamorphoses from the Exeter Drama Club: Salteron Drama Club; Sidmouth Amateur Dramatic Society Youth and Juniors; Axminster Drama Club; Teignmouth Players; Exmouth-based Stagecraft; and The Exmouth Players, with three entries. Some plays contain strong language and may not be suitable for some audiences, so the advice is to enquire when booking.

Trevor Brice from the Exmouth Players s

Trevor Brice from the Exmouth Players said: “Please come and support this year’s participating drama groups and see which of them you think deserve to go through to the quarter-finals. There are various trophies on offer for best play, best actor, best original script and so on. Only those with season tickets - attending all performances during the week - are entitled to vote for at least one of the awards.

“All performances take place in front of a professional adjudicator. This year we welcome Ian Sarginson GoDA. At the end of each evening, Ian will deliver his comments on the drama groups’ performances. On the final night, the adjudicator announces the winners and runners-up of the various awards and, ultimately, the winning group and runners-up who have elected to go forward to the next round.”

The running order for the week and all other information can be found at blackmoretheatre.co.uk or by visiting the Blackmore Theatre Facebook page.

Please call Ticketline 07484 509514 to book tickets.

Adults: £10 (per evening) – Season Tickets (for all 12 plays) £50

Under 16s: £6 – Season Tickets £30