The Hereford County Drama Festival was founded in 1931 and is an annual drama festival performed in front of an audience. It is also one of the first rounds of the All-England Theatre Festival. The festival is run by volunteers and is a non-profit initiative to promote amateur theatre.
It is a head-to-head competition where local drama groups from in and around the county compete in front of a professional adjudicator. Plays are between 20 and 55 minutes long and can be of any genre.
At the end of each session the adjudicator will deliver his critique of all of the plays seen with feedback on all aspects of the production. Each play is marked against strict criteria for acting, directing, stage presentation and dramatic achievement.
At the end of the festival the adjudicator will announce the winners with the top one or two entries progressing to the next round of the All-England Theatre Festival.
LADS have been entering plays into the festival on and off for the past 70 years and have won ALL of the prizes on offer several times, including Best Director, Best Actor and Best Actress, Best Youth Performance, Best Novice Entry, Best Original Play, Best Stage Setting, The Kathleen Dade Memorial Trophy for any aspect of a production awarded at the adjudicators discretion, the Champagne Award for a magical moment of live theatre as well as first, second and third place.
The furthest we have ever progressed in the All-England Theatre Festival is the Central Region Semi-Finals but so far the finals have eluded us. We will keep entering and hope to get there one day and maybe even as far as the British Finals.
A list of our first place winning entries can be seen below.
Roll of honour
Winning entries at the Hereford County Drama Festival
1952 Land of Heart’s Desire
Director – Unknown
1987 Relics
Director – Grace Fletcher
1988 Words of Advice
Director – Dilla Roberton
1993 Better Late
Director – Shirley Lewis
2017 The Last Bread Pudding
Director – Ben Mowbray
2018 The 25p Man
Director – Catherine Crosswell
2019 A Fight to the Death
Director – Richard Pett
2022 Dearly De-Petted
Director – Catherine Crosswell
2024 The Gallery
Director – Catherine Crosswell