Welcome to Southend Drama Society - More Than 60 Years of Drama

SOUTHEND Drama Society has been left with a shelf full of silverware, followings its successful run in a knockout theatre competition.

The amateur group, based at Wesley Methodist Church, Leigh, was pipped at the post by a couple of points to a place in the final of the All England Theatre Festival, which is to be held this month.

However, the group’s multi-award winning production of a one-act play – The Last Bread Pudding by Nick Warbuton – picked up a final award for stage presentation at the eastern division semi final held recently at the Eastwood Studio Theatre at the Eastwood School, Rayleigh Road, Leigh.

Back row – John Greenfield, Peter Nawrat, director Darran Lebeter, John Banks, Paul Jennings
Front row – Samantha Lowe, Juliet Banks, Chloe Baum and Carrie Groves.

In all, the group has won six trophies for the performance which was guided by first-time director Darran Lebeter. These included:

Best Stage Presentation at the Eastern semi-finals for a set created by John Greenfield and Charlie Mellor on May 23
Winning team Eastern area (east division) quarter final on April 25
Winning team at the Southend Festival on March 26
Best director for Darran Lebeter at the Southend Festival
Best female performance for Samantha Lowe at the Southend Festival
Best comedy at the Southend Festival.

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WELCOME TO
www.southenddrama.co.uk
*The official web site of Southend Drama Society*
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*ALL ENGLAND DRAMA FESTIVAL 2009*
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*SOUTHEND DRAMA FESTIVAL: 23rd MARCH - 28th MARCH 2009*
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Oh what a night! No, we're not talking about the 1975 hit single by the Four Seasons, but the rather lucrative evening had by the cast and crew of Southend Drama Society's production of the Last Bread Pudding at this year's Southend Drama Festival! As is the tradition with this Festival, following a week of various drama groups performing their plays in front of an audience and the presiding adjudicator (this year it was Scott Marshall), the most stressful moment for all concerned comes on the Saturday night when the award nominees and winners are announced. This year was certainly no different. This year, we were nominated for a total of 9 awards, which is a remarkable achievement in itself. They were: Winning Team - Ray Cooney Trophy Best Director (Darran Lebeter) - Chris Dunham Award Best Female Performance (Samantha Lowe) - Florrie Holland Cup Best Comedy - Borough Players Shield Best Stage Presentation Best Performance in a Supporting Role (Carrie Groves) Best Performance in a Supporting Role (Peter Nawrat) Best Male Performance (Paul Jennings) Adjudicators Special Award: Peter Nawrat & Chloe Baum and Samantha Lowe & Paul Jennings Of those 9, we won 4, which were: Winning Team - Ray Cooney Trophy Best Director (Darran Lebeter) - Chris Dunham Award Best Female Performance (Samantha Lowe) - Florrie Holland Cup Best Comedy - Borough Players Shield ... which means we go through to the Eastern Area Final, which is taking place at the same venue on Saturday 25th April 2009. Congratulations to the individual winners, as well as the entire cast and crew of The Last Bread Pudding. Special congratulations need to go to Darran Lebeter for winning Best Director in his first outing as a Festival director.
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*ALL ENGLAND THEATRE FESTIVAL: 25th APRIL 2009*
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Southend Drama Society is celebrating once again after winning the latest round of a knockout theatre competition. The group is now through to the semi finals of the All England Theatre Festival with its production of the one-act comedy, The Last Bread Pudding by Nick Warbuton. It is only the second time in the society’s history to have reached this stage of the prestigious contest, which pits amateur dramatics groups against each other in a head-to-head competition. The last time Southend Drama Society reached this stage of the festival was in 2004 with its ground-breaking stage version of Ink and Incapability from the TV sitcom Blackadder. Thanks to the ensemble efforts of the cast – Samantha Lowe, Paul Jennings, Carrie Groves, Peter Nawrat, Chloe Baum and Juliet and John Banks – the society has now won five trophies to its name. At the previous stage of the contest in March, Southend Drama Society won four awards including best director for Darran Lebeter, best female performance for Samantha Lowe and best comedy. The semi-final for the eastern division is scheduled to take place at the Eastwood Studio Theatre at the Eastwood School, Rayleigh Road, Leigh, on Saturday, May 23, starting at 6pm.
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*ALL ENGLAND THEATRE FESTIVAL: 23rd MAY 2009*
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SOUTHEND Drama Society has been left with a shelf full of silverware, followings its successful run in a knockout theatre competition. The amateur group, based at Wesley Methodist Church, Leigh, was pipped at the post by a couple of points to a place in the final of the All England Theatre Festival, which is to be held this month. However, the group’s multi-award winning production of a one-act play – The Last Bread Pudding by Nick Warbuton – picked up a final award for stage presentation at the eastern division semi final held recently at the Eastwood Studio Theatre at the Eastwood School, Rayleigh Road, Leigh. Back row – John Greenfield, Peter Nawrat, director Darran Lebeter, John Banks, Paul Jennings Front row – Samantha Lowe, Juliet Banks, Chloe Baum and Carrie Groves. In all, the group has won six trophies for the performance which was guided by first-time director Darran Lebeter. These included: Best Stage Presentation at the Eastern semi-finals for a set created by John Greenfield and Charlie Mellor on May 23 Winning team Eastern area (east division) quarter final on April 25 Winning team at the Southend Festival on March 26 Best director for Darran Lebeter at the Southend Festival Best female performance for Samantha Lowe at the Southend Festival Best comedy at the Southend Festival. The group had only reached the Eastern semi-finals stage once before for its ground-breaking stage version of Ink and Incapability from the TV sitcom Blackadder in 2004.
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*What the Press Said...*
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Leigh Times, 7th April 2009: Leigh Times, 5th May 2009: Southend Echo, 14th May 2009:
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*Southend Arts Council's Report*
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The Southend first round of the Eastern arm of the All England Theatre Festival is now complete, ably adjudicated by Scott Marshall from GODA (Guild of Drama Adjudicators). Various local groups competed at Eastwood Theatre throughout the past week to win or acquire one of the coveted prizes. The winners were Southend Drama Society with their hilarious production of the Nick Warburton festival favourite "The Last Bread Pudding" directed by Darran Lebeter who also won the Best Directors prize. Runners up was RODS with Harold Pinters "Ashes to Ashes" directed by Graeme Smerdon they are festival regulars and have indeed won in previous years. They also won the adjudicators special award. The youth teams included Young RODS with their special take on Romeo and Juliet called "East Side Story". which featured some talented young newcomers. Art Labyrinth took the original play award and the College Players from Hornchurch the award for all female cast. But the winning Youth Team was Deanes School under the guiding hand of Zoe Harrison with their production of "Us and Them". The winning team Southend Drama now go onto the Divisional final also at Eastwood School to be held on Saturday. The full list of prizes given are as follows Most promising Juniors - Young RODS Best Junior team - Deanes School Best Original Play - Arts labyrinth Best Stage - East Essex Players Best All Female play - The College Players Best Comedy - Southend Drama Society Best Supporting Perf - Stuart Budd Best female Perf - Samantha Lowe Best male Perf - Chris Scott Best Director - Darran Lebeter Adjudicator's Award - Rods - Ashes to Ashes The Runners-up - Ashes to Ashes The Winning Team - Southend Drama Society Southend Drama Society now go on to the Divisional Final - Saturday 25th April 2009 at the Eastwood Studio Theatre, Leigh on Sea. Adjudicator – Charles Evans GODA. Enquiries to Kay Banning 01268 752239. The original article can be found here.
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*IMAGES:*
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Below are a series of photos taken from the dress rehearsal of Southend Drama Society's entry to this year's Southend Drama Festival - *The Last Bread Pudding* by Nick Warburton, performed by Southend Drama Society on Thursday 26th March 2009.
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