Young players bag post-tour bonuses - The Evesham Observer

Young players bag post-tour bonuses

Evesham Editorial 18th Aug, 2018   0

A POPULAR Evesham performing arts group is celebrating a hat-trick of successes following a recent acclaimed local tour of a Shakespeare classic comedy.

Youngsters who make up the Festival Players toured Evesham, Bidford, Broadway and Pershore with their production of The Comedy of Errors at the end of May and performed the production to enthusiastic audiences, finishing with a packed matinee at Number 8 Community Arts Centre in early June.

Now, as a result of the Tesco Bags of Help scheme, which included The Festival Players as one of its three token-drop options for the months of May and June, the group has been awarded £1,000 towards the cost of its next production.

Founder and director for the group of mostly teenage actors, Eric Jones, said, “This is a great boost to the Festival Players and will help us to stage another production next year. It costs about £2,500 to put on even a straightforward play so this award from Tescos is a real shot in the arm”




For next summer the group are planning to perform one of Agatha Christie’s great murder mysteries – but with a unique and surprise ending.

“It will help a great deal in the planning. We shall have to look very carefully at the dates for 2019 as several of the players are taking GCSEs and A levels, which are not over until the early part of June. The production may therefore well be in July 2019,” he added.


One of the Festival Players most enthusiastic performers, Harry Stanley who played Antipholus of Ephesus in The Comedy of Errors, was awarded the drama prize at the De Montfort Schools annual awards evening.

The school has a good reputation for drama and performance, as well as GCSE Performing Arts successes with A Midsummer Night’s Dream and the Queen musical We Will Rock You having been presented under its belt most recently.

The prize which included a medal for Harry to keep and a voucher for tickets at The Royal Shakespeare Theatre, was for ‘enthusiasm and commitment to drama’.

“Harry has that in bucket-loads, although I had no part in choosing the winner of the trophy. He is a great character and a fine actor,” said Mr Jones.

Another Festival Players member has received a Merit pass in his LAMDA Silver, Grade 7 exam; Alex McCullough, who played the comic Dromio of Ephesus in The Comedy of Errors.

The group, many of whom attend The De Montfort School, will begin rehearsing for the Agatha Christie mystery/murder for 2019 when their school production of Arthur Miller’s ‘The Crucible’ is over in the autumn term.

Anyone wishing to join the group or consider LAMDA tuition can e-mail at [email protected] for more.

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