Festival's 'super 70th' will be filled with firsts

By Hannah O'Hanlon

 

Kintyre's 70th drama festival will be a year of firsts, with the premiere appearance of junior team, Dalintober Drama Club, and a troupe from Benderloch and North Connel.

 

Six teams will perform across two evenings which organisers are sure will be 'packed with fun, laughter and some high drama' in the Victoria Hall, Campbeltown, on Friday and Saturday, February 22 and 23 at 7pm.

 

Accent Players kick the festival off on Friday with Grave Prospects, a comedy with a twist, set in a graveyard.

 

Dunaverty Players follow, with a sci-fi comedy/drama, Mission to Planet Bob.

 

The final play on Friday, Melons at the Parsonage, is by the ever-popular Peninver Players.

 

Saturday starts with brand new junior team, Dalintober Drama Club, in The Mystery of Magpie Manor, a 'whodunnit' with music.

 

Next is the first ever visit to our festival by Benderloch and North Connel, bringing comedy, English for Pony Lovers - the English language can certainly cause confusion!

 

Finally the second visiting team, Dunoon Players, present A Respectable Funeral, a comedy and drama when a family gathers after their mother's funeral.

 

Jim Gibson is the adjudicator charged with the difficult task of judging these plays, and the prize presenter is Hilda McSporran, who acted in the very first Scottish Community Drama Assocation festival in Campbeltown in 1949.

 

A new team prize for acting, the Jenny Black Memorial Trophy, will also be presented in memory of Hilda's dear friend who also took part in that first festival and passed away this year.

 

There will be an 'extra special' raffle too - Denzil Meyrick, a strong supporter of all things Campbeltown, as his books testify, has donated a complete set of signed DCI Daley novels for the event.

 

To mark its 70th anniversary, there is an exhibition of the festival's history in Campbeltown Library.

 

Tickets for the festival are £8 per night, or £14 for a season ticket (£4 per night, £6 season for children).

 

These can be bought at the Yorkshire Building Society, Longrow South, Campbeltown, or at the Victoria Hall on the night.

 

Accent Players busy during rehearsals. NO_c07drama01