Break a leg!
The Cambridge Festival of Drama is back at ADC. Festival secretary Chris Avery dives into 50 years of celebrating amateur theatre
Cambridge Edition: Can you tell us about the festival’s history and what led to its inception?
Chris Avery: The first Cambridge Festival of Drama was held in 1968. The aim was always to enable local groups to present a short play to an audience and a professional drama adjudicator. After each session – often consisting of two or three plays – the adjudicator would comment in front of the teams and audience on what they had seen, with reference to the acting, direction and stage presentation of each play. Marks would be awarded based on a national scoring scheme and, at the end of the festival, trophies would be awarded to winners in the various categories, including the overall winners. This structure remains and the festival is still competitive, but the emphasis is now much more on meeting socially to celebrate what we love doing: putting on a play. Cambridge has always been called ‘the friendly festival’ – and we love it when participants tell us how welcome they felt, how supportive they found the atmosphere and how much fun they ended up having.
CE: Why do you think it’s important to celebrate local amateur theatre?
CA: Drama festivals are a great way to learn about all aspects of play making, and everyone is encouraged to watch as many plays and hear as many adjudications as possible. Adjudicators, who come from the Guild of Drama Adjudicators, are trained to be friendly, approachable and supportive to the teams, as well as being knowledgeable and entertaining for the audience.
CE: Can you give us a flavour of what to expect from this year’s event?
CA: We have seven plays this year: a mixture of comedy, drama and history. Swavesey Village College has entered for many years and, this year, we have a team of both current and ex-students now in sixth form who entered on their own initiative. Both teams are performing Shakespeare because that’s what they wanted to do! We also have entries from regular participants, some teams coming back after several years and even one from London who joined us last year and were eager to return. Proof of the pudding!
Tickets are available at camdramfest.org.uk
