Scottish Community
Drama Association
Newsletter July 2010.
Dear Club Contact / Member,
Scottish Youth Finals at Dingwall 19th June 2010
Congratulations to Kirkintilloch Youth Players for winning the Youth Finals with “Tick Tock” by Amy
Angus. Lorna Campbell has sent in the following report on the event:
“The culmination of this year’s Youth Festival took place in the new Dingwall Academy, on a
gloriously sunny day at the end of June. Despite some technical problems, the standard of
performance from all the teams( Dingwall Academy, CarnoustieTheatre Club, Young Portonians
and Kirkintilloch Youth ) was excellent, with all the actors showing incredible talent and focus. The
Quidi Vidi Trophy was awarded by Gerry Ramage to Kirkintilloch Youth, who were performing an
original play by one of their producers. Yet again the Youth Final proved to be one of the highlights
in the SCDA calendar and is to be recommended .(Why not make a point of attending next year’s
event?). Well done to all those involved in organising the festival and our congratulations go to
Kirkintilloch Youth.”
2010 Geoffrey Whitworth Competition
Congratulations to Brenda Read-Browne of Gloucestershire for penning the winning entry,
“Cuffed”. There were also 3 plays listed as “Highly Commended” and another 4 plays were
“Commended”. The winning entry along with the 3 “highly commended” plays, have been sent to
the SCDA Edinburgh Library from where they can be borrowed.
British Finals of the One Act Play Festival
Congratulations to Lurig Drama Group Cushendall from Northern Ireland for winning the British
Finals with “Melody” by Deirdre Kinahan.
Many thanks to Lorna Campbell for sending in the following report:
“After months of planning by the organising committee, (made up of members from Glasgow
District and Western Division) this year’s British Final was held on 25th -26th June in The Village
Theatre, East Kilbride.
An Opening Ceremony was introduced by our Chairperson Keith Robinson to welcome all the
visitors to Scotland, and this got the event off to a great start. Scotland’s team, Thistle Theatre
Company opened the festival and were followed by Oasis Theatre Group from Southampton
representing England. Saturday night started with The Unknown Theatre Company, Cardiff,
representing Wales and the final performance was from Northern Ireland’s entry by Lurig Drama
Group from Cushendall. Four very different but excellent performances of a very high standard,
what a great weekend of theatre!
The festival closed with the adjudicator, Russell Boyce, having the unenviable task of choosing a
winner from the four fantastic performances. After much consideration, Lurig Drama Group were
announced as the winners and they received a standing ovation from the other teams.
The atmosphere throughout the whole festival was extremely friendly and relaxed and it was great
to see the teams getting on so well with each other (almost all the actors were under 25). This was
especially evident during the ceilidh and disco, both of which were enjoyed by all.
The committee are to be commended for all their hard work prior to and during the event. Much
thought had gone into making the event memorable and this was certainly achieved.
Congratulations to Lurig Drama Group and to all those involved in the event.”
There will be full reports on the Scottish Finals, the British Finals and the Geoffrey
Whitworth Competition in the next issue of Scene magazine.
Feed-back
We have been getting some good feed-back regarding the newsletter, and it’s great to be getting
contributions and information sent in by members. Thanks very much – we’re delighted to receive
your news and ideas. Please keep it up !
Office Closures
The office will be closed all day on 5th August, and between 9.30am and 2pm on 24th August so
that Brenda can attend training courses.
The office will also be closed from 3pm on Thursday 26th August until 9.30am on Monday 6th
September for holidays. If you need to order scripts, please make sure you send your order to
Brenda by 24th August at the latest to ensure they are ordered before the office closes.
Highland Division AGM 2010 date change
We have been notified that the Highland Division has had to change its AGM date this year. It will
now be held on Saturday 2 October 2010, 10a.m. for 10.30a.m start, at the National Hotel,
Dingwall. Please contact Highland Division for more information.
Edinburgh Fringe Festival
Several of our member clubs will be taking part in the Edinburgh Fringe this year. For full details of
where and when, go to www.edfringe.com
Drama Association of Wales Summer School 15-21 August 2010
DAW will be running two summer schools at Aberystwyth University from 15-21 August:
SEX, LOVE & CLANDESTINE RELATIONSHIPS IN 20th CENTURY DRAMA tutored by Peter
Wooldridge, and ACTING THE BARD tutored by Richard Cheshire.
Further details can be found at www.scda.org.uk or www.dramawales.org.uk
If you’d like to discuss the schools, please contact Gary Thomas at DAW on 029 2045 2200 or by
email to gary@dramawales.org.uk
Edinburgh Library
Our Edinburgh library will be closed until 24 August for the summer holidays, however the
email and postal service will continue as the librarian will be popping in from time to time.
Acting For Real (information only, not an SCDA approved event) Sep 25th & 26th 2010
Course Fee £240 (Includes VAT,Single Accommodation, 2 Lunches & 1 Dinner)
A two day course exploring character and applying some of the development methods used in
professional theatre. Influenced by the work of Mike Leigh, Konstantin Stanislavski and Lee
Strasberg participants will be taken through the processes of creating and sustaining a role
This introductory course of workshops is designed for anyone with a passion of theatre and
performance and is for all abilities and who is over the age of 15.
The course will be held in Kyleakin on the dramatic Isle of Skye close to the Skye Bridge and is
accessible by both bus and train. Free parking is available. For more information email
jcsenterprises@btconnect.com
Membership Renewals
We’ve had a lot of renewals returned already, which is great. Thanks very much for responding so
quickly. If you haven’t returned your renewal form yet, could you do so as soon as possible
please?
Scripts on Review
The following scripts have been received from the publishers and have been passed to the Scene
committee for review:
The Late Middle Classes by Simon Gray
Through a Glass Darkly adapted by Jenny Worton
Any Given Day by Linda McLean
Love’s Young Dream by Ros Moruzzi
Morte D’Arthur adapted by Mike Poulton
The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists adapted by Howard Brenton
La Bete by David Hirson
Once they have been reviewed, they will be passed to the SCDA library in Edinburgh.
SCDA Merchandise
A wide variety of SCDA branded clothing is available for order, from polo shirts to lambswool
jumpers. Further details are available from lilacstitches@aol.com SCDA directly benefits from the
profits of the sales of these garments
SCDA AGM and Conference
This will be held on 13th November 2010 at the Conference Rooms, Stirling Enterprise Park,
Stirling. Full details will be in the next issue of Scene. Booking forms for the conference, which
follows the AGM, will be sent out to clubs and individuals soon.
Best wishes
The team at HQ