Spotlight On… CADS, Double Bill of Comedy for Royston Arts Festival
Local drama group CADS has had a considerable amount of success entering its plays into drama festivals. For Royston Arts Festival, expect an award-winning comedy double bill.
The first is the intriguingly entitled Don’t Blame it on the Boots, by Cambridge-based playwright Nick Warburton. Nick’s plays are regularly broadcast on radio and he has also written extensively for television as well as stage. In this play, the audience gatecrashes on rehearsals for, and subsequent performances of, Shakespeare’s Hamlet by an amateur drama group. Eric has been cast as the ghost of Hamlet’s father; his fiancée Liz, who happens to be in charge of costumes for the show, would like him to wear the boots her late father wore at Stratford-upon-Avon when he played the same role. Eric isn’t keen, largely because the boots are the wrong size, but he’s also a bit distracted by the young (and very keen) female actor playing Ophelia. Trying to keep the peace (and wishing she’d produced Macbeth instead) is the increasingly harassed director, Kate. In the end, the boots do make an appearance but in mysterious circumstances…
Two years earlier, the Welwyn Drama Festival staged a “virtual” festival. Groups submitted filmed pieces which were then judged online. Local author Roy Maddox rose to the challenge, with something that could be filmed with a virtual cast. The play was filmed using Zoom, a little piece called Seven Movies. Roy’s play features seven neighbours who decide to form a film club. Everyone then gets together on Zoom, ostensibly to discuss the film but in practice to discuss almost anything else that occurs to them. In the process, prejudices are revealed, gossip exchanged and secrets discovered. Roy says, “In the event, the play clearly struck a chord with the audience and also did rather well in the competition, winning performance and director’s awards.”
Don’t Blame it on the Boots will be followed by a screening of Seven Movies. Seating is unallocated and arranged cabaret style with tables and chairs in the hall, so arrive early to get a good seat.
