MADF and the Isle of Man Arts Council have decided that young drama students on the Island should be able to see the Easter Festival of Full Length Plays for free!
The MADF Chairman will be contacting schools tomorrow to relay this message.
Having grown up on the Isle of Man and then gone to University to study Drama, I feel I really missed out on the excellent opportunities MADF offered with its festivals simply because I didn’t know they were there. If I had attended the Easter festival, even just during my GCSE and A-Level years, I would have seen 28 plays – many of which would have been classics that I could have referred to in my course essays and seminars in the future. Not to mention if I had attended the One Act Festival which presented 14 adjudicated performances this year alone!
Not only this but the nature of the amateur festival is that you get to watch a range of productions adjudicated by GoDA accredited Adjudicators. This is not something professional productions offer so readily – you may get to read a short critique in a newspaper, that does not however offer the same sort of learning as watching a trained professional breakdown what goes into each production and present their opinions on direction, acting, sound, lighting and staging in such a detailed way.
To make the most of University courses in theatre, film and performance – the ability to express your opinion and to have a wide knowledge of your subject is invaluable. To be able to talk with passion and experience about productions you have seen can open doors. So many students out there are yearning to have successful careers in the performing arts, but fail to make the most of chances that are around them to immerse themselves sufficiently in that world.
This year we have plays by Harold Pinter (who should need no introduction and will be on any Uni reading list), a famous play named Scaramouche Jones (which I heard referenced many times at University). One Man, Two Guvnors which was a massive hit in the West End from 2011 to 2016, the Pulitzer Prize winning Night Mother and The Flint Street Nativity an adaptation of the British Television Comedy.
Coming from a small, albeit wonderful Island can mean not having the access that people who can pop along to the West End any time they like have but we do have such a fantastic wealth of talent, opportunities and one of the most beautiful theatres anyone could hope to visit which we should be shouting about and utilising whenever we can.
Please encourage all the students you know to make the most of this fabulous festival!
- Vanessa Williams, MADF Online Admin