Nationally-recognised Lighthorne Festival expanding for its 10th anniversary

The nationally-recognised Lighthorne Festival of One-Act Plays is expanding by adding a fifth session for its 10th anniversary.

The Box Office is now open for the annual event, which is a cafe-style festival in Lighthorne Village Hall from June 7 to June 10.

Each evening performance will see three one-act plays and this year will also see an added Saturday matinée session, featuring two youth groups.

The evening ticket price includes a hot supper served in the first interval and a bar.

Once again, the festival has attracted contestants from both the local area and nationwide – this year from as far afield as Cambridge and Southampton.

They will be competing for a theirs-to-keep, engraved glass trophy as well as a £1,000 top prize. Under Lighthorne Festival Rules, the cash prize must be divided 50:50 between the winning group and a registered charity of their choice.

The winner – and possibly a high-scoring runner-up – will also have the chance to compete in the National Drama Festival at the Albany Theatre in Coventry, in July.

Last year, Lighthorne’s winners and runner-up took both first and second place in the National Finals.

A professional adjudicator will decide the winners and, to help celebrate the anniversary, this year sees the return of Shropshire-based, Mike Kaiser, GoDA, who was the founding adjudicator when the Lighthorne Festival launched in 2013.

Co-founder Rod Chaytor, who has chaired the event since it launched, said: "It is sad, but true, that a number of the festivals around the country which all closed during the pandemic, have since found it difficult to reopen.

“Among those which have successfully re-launched, many have found themselves with a reduced number of entries and have therefore contracted to a smaller number of sessions.

“Lighthorne is believed to be the only Festival nationwide to be actually expanding this year, and it is a tribute to its popular format, its friendly atmosphere and the hard work of the team who put it together.

“We are delighted to be welcoming back our founding adjudicator, Mike Kaiser, who was instrumental in helping to get our Festival off the ground when we opened in June 2013.”

Tickets are available by emailing: [email protected] , by calling 07823 538637 or online at: www.lighthornefestival.org.uk