Getting in on the act!

This year, Richmond School Theatre Company are entering the One Act Play Festival which will be hosted at the Georgian Theatre Royal in April. The students compete in the northern preliminary round of the All-England Theatre Festival – the only countrywide elimination contest for one-act plays for performance throughout England. The festival provides a brilliant opportunity to showcase work and compete against like-minded groups, as well as benefit from expert adjudication. The adjudicator will give a public adjudication of each entry and at the end of the Festival they will select and announce the company to go forward to the next round. As well as hoping for a place in the next round there are many individual awards and trophies up for the taking.

We are entering two groups and performing two of Mark Wheeller’s plays, Missing Dan Nolan and One Million to Stop the Traffik. We recently showcased our entries to parents and families to allow them to see our work in progress before the main event.

Missing Dan Nolan is based on the true story of Dan Nolan, a fourteen-year-old boy who went fishing in Hamble (between Southampton and Portsmouth) on the night of the 1st January 2002. Unbeknown to his parents, he and his three friends had taken a litre bottle of vodka. Late that evening the boys became separated and, although the other three arrived home safely, Dan never returned. Twenty-one months later, human remains were discovered on a remote pool area in Swanage, 33 miles in a straight line 60 miles by road. These remains were positively identified as Dan’s.

One Million to Stop the Traffik tells true stories of people who are trafficked. Sunni and Whinney, just six and eight years old, were sold by their parents and their story inspired the formation of STOP THE TRAFFIK. “People should not be bought and sold” became their mantra. One Million to… STOP THE TRAFFIK goes on to tell the incredible true story of their determined quest to get 1,000,000 signatures to enable them to go to the United Nations and call on governments to fight human trafficking.

The competition takes place on Saturday 18th April and Sunday 19th April 2020. Once the exact timings have been confirmed, tickets will be available from The Georgian Theatre Royals box office on 01748 825252 or online at www.georgiantheatreroyal.co.uk.

We hope you are able to come and support the students and we look forward to updating you on this exciting theatre project.