Caithness community drama clubs take centre stage again with return of SCDA festival
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Community drama will make a welcome return to Caithness later this month when teams from Wick and Thurso compete in the district festival of one-act plays.
The Mill Theatre in Thurso is the venue for the event on Saturday, February 26, under the auspices of the Scottish Community Drama Association (SCDA). Three plays will be performed, although one is non-competitive.
It will be the first time the annual festival has gone ahead since the start of the pandemic, with seating limited to 72.
Thurso Players will present Just Vicky, an original play by Faye Sutherland who also directs it.
It is set in a psychiatrist's office. Vicky, an inpatient of a mental institution, is finally ready to open up about what made her have a breakdown.
By walking through key memories, she explains how a controlling voice in her mind fed into her paranoia and low self-esteem – ruining her relationships and making her, in turn, hate herself.
The role of Vicky is played by Emily Taylor, while other cast members are Erin Bonniface, Clare Bonner, Kane Cameron, Rachael Haddlesey and Julie Kedward. The producer is Maeva Donaldson and stage manager is Alan Newton.
Faye said: "I am incredibly excited to get back into the creative process of creating an entry for the SCDA one-act festival.
"I have a fantastic team behind me, full of dedicated people who are encouraging and great fun to work with. I am looking forward to seeing how this festival goes."
Wick Players will perform Womberang, by Sue Townsend, which is described as comedic yet poignant.
The play is set in a hospital outpatient waiting room where the ladies' clinic is in progress and patients from various walks of life wait their turn to see the doctor.
Rita Onions breezes in. Her verve and energy, combined with a lack of respect for authority, spreads an infectious anarchy through the patients as she tackles officious hospital staff and generally sorts out the patients' personal problems.
Cast members are Clare Sturrock, Frances Yellop, Gina Alexander, Margaret Thomson, Marney Bruce, Sam Banks, Carys Miller, Chloe Bunch, Fiona Sinclair and Jayden Alexander.
Jayden, who is also director of the play, said: “It’s so great to get back together as a club again. The past couple of years have proven difficult not only for us but for many other organisations and charities.
"Our dedicated cast, committee and backstage crew look forward to presenting this humorous play to audiences as part of this year’s SCDA festival. It’s superb to see events like this open up again and we can’t wait to get back on the stage, this hopefully being the first of many.”
Stage manager Allan Bruce, who is vice-chairman of Wick Players, pointed out that preparations had gone well even though the first two weeks of rehearsals were by Zoom.
“It's nice that we're getting back to what we do best, which is putting on productions and entertaining an audience," he said.
“We're hopefully going in the right direction, and it's great seeing the enthusiasm of everyone – it has surely got to help people's wellbeing.”
The other play is A Marriage Has Been Arranged, by Alfred Sutro – a non-competitive entry from Thurso Players, directed by Audrey O’Brien.
It is described as a short comedy of manners set in the Edwardian era as Lady Aline, from an aristocratic but poor family, and the self-made Mr Crockstead – wealthy but lacking the socially accepted attributes of "a gentleman" – navigate the process of a marriage proposal.
At Thurso Players' own request, it will be given a public adjudication without marks.
Cast members are Martin Shepherd and Claire Hughes, and the stage manager is Eric Maughan.
Audrey said: "Like everybody over the course of the pandemic we’ve really missed being able to mix socially and take part in our hobbies so it feels brilliant being able to reconnect with everyone at Thurso Players and get back on stage again.
"Working within the revised restrictions, we’ve recently staged a musical evening and a panto and now we’re really looking forward to being part of the SCDA festival of one-act plays.
"The SCDA has been such an important part of supporting and developing community drama over so many years and we’re delighted to see the welcome return of the festival."
The adjudicator is Ben Humphrey, who is new to the festival circuit.
Tickets will be on sale at McBeath's jewellers in Thurso and the Flower Patch in Wick. The festival begins at 7pm.
The festival is organised and arranged by the Caithness District Committee of the SCDA, comprising a number of people involved in amateur drama, supported by members of both Wick and Thurso Players.
The Highland divisional final will be held in Nairn over the weekend of March 25/26, with Russell Boyce as adjudicator. Orkney will host the Scottish final in April.
