Woking Drama Festival 2024

Branson - Youth Entry

Branson follows the story of Jim Ross, a ‘good’ man, from childhood to adulthood and discovers how his actions define who he is to his fellow townsfolk. Until, one day, the railway comes to Branson and the fortunes of the town are changed forever - but at what cost?

The play was directed by one of our very talented members, 17 year old Luca. We were incredibly impressed by the innovative and challenging production he put together who without doubt did WYT proud at the Festival.

The sound and lighting were also run by 2 of our under 18s and we were therefore thrilled and very proud that the whole production from cast, crew to director was staged solely by our under 18 members.

Nominations

  • Best Actress (2 nominations)
  • Best Lighting
  • Best Costume

Adjudicator's Comments

The discipline, concentration, general characterisation and energy the cast put in to it, and the commitment to the script, was well done by everybody. They should be very proud of themselves.

Amazing piece of staging

Very ingenious and worked very well

It looked great, visually extremely good

Lighting was most effective

Director did a great job 

Audience Comments

Brilliant show tonight! Well done everyone.

Amazing performance. Well done everyone! We loved it.

Well done WYT! It was fantastic, very entertaining. I especially loved seeing how everyone congratulated and supported one another after receiving the adjudicator’s feedback.

Amazing! Well done to all of WYT!

Well done to absolutely everyone involved. And particularly to the 17 year old director. What a success!

Incredible! 

  • Branson cast photo
  • Branson cast in rehearsal
  • Branson cast in rehearsal
  • Branson cast in rehearsal
  • Branson cast in rehearsal
  • Branson cast in rehearsal
  • Branson cast in rehearsal
  • Branson performance
  • Branson performance
  • Branson performance
  • Branson performance
  • Branson performance

Across the Veil - Adult Entry

A popular streaming channel comes to The Rhoda McGaw Theatre to investigate its many ghosts, but they discover more than they bargained for as events fly out of control.

We were honoured to be one of only 2 plays recalled to perform at the Gala night of the last ever Woking Drama Festival.

Awards

  • Best Use of Sound
  • Technical Excellence

Nominations

  • Best Actress
  • Best Actor
  • Best New Play
  • Best Director
  • Best Costume
  • Adjudicator's Award

Adjudicator's Comments

An amazing evening

A brilliantly written play

A terrific idea.

The challenges set by the technical part of it were enormous

It’s a big ask this play and I didn’t think they’d be able to do this as technically well as they did so congratulations for that, all the technical people and backstage crew working away, absolutely fantastic

A great job with the direction, it’s so complicated 

A really good piece of writing and directing  

One of the hardest pieces I have seen a side attempt in a long time

Incredibly ambitious 

Real challenge for the actors who rose to that challenge

One of the most interesting theatre nights I’ve had for a very long time, thank you for bringing it and well done

Audience Comments

It really was very technically inspiring! A great production.

LOVED IT!  Really brilliant. 

It was absolutely fantastic to watch!!

A wonderful piece of work.

What a success, and a wonderful adjudication! Beautifully acted, clever technical wizardry and really scary at times. Well done Bruce and everyone else!

Amazing show, well done everybody and what a brilliant adjudication.

Massive well done! It really was fantastic.

Wonderful evening. Well done all of you!

It was, of course, brilliant. The adjudicator loved it too. Well done to you all.

Great evening, really enjoyed it. The adjudication was brilliant. Congratulations to everyone.

It was fantastic!

I am still mildly traumatized. But at least my heart rate appears to be back to normal.

It was brilliant!

Woking Drama Association Comment

The first play recalled on the Gala Night was 'Across the Veil' performed by Woking Youth Theatre...an amazing play, which is probably the most technical the Drama Festival has ever seen.

Not only did the play involve pre-recorded segments it also cleverly used LIVE camera work too!
This is why they, quite rightly, walked away with the awards for Best Use of Sound and Technical Excellence.

We are very proud that the much-praised technical aspect of the show was run by WYT members Freddie Austin (vision mixer), Erin Harrison (sound) and Will Jones (lighting).

  • Across the Veil promo shot
  • Matty and Sam geek out
  • Sam messes with Stu's head
  • BB enthuses about a previous live stream
  • Matty crosses the line
  • Beast and Stu setting up their cameras
  • Sam recounts his ghostly experiences
  • Freya arrives unexpectedly
  • Ellie attempts to pacify Freya
  • The live stream begins
  • Ellie coaxes the ghost of Lily to come forward
  • The team examines their ghost footage
  • Eliie uncovers the ghost's secret
  • Across the Veil's gripping climax
  • Erin receiving her Best Use of Sound Award

Photos courtesy of Front of House Photography