Claire Dyson as The Old Gentleman in Escape , as First Narrator in Hard Times and as Volumnia in

                Shakespeare Showcase (Richmond Drama School)

        Hello, Dolly! - Directed by Gillian Wade, Musical Director Mervyn Bryn Jones, Choreographer Babette

           Langford (Twickenham Operatic Society)

            Be My Baby – directed by Linda Sirker (TTC)

            The Small House of Uncle Tom – sequence by the children of Edmundian Players in the King and I.

            Shoni Robertson-Finn as the mute Troppo in Salad Days (Barnes Charity Players)

            Heather Morgan

The Swan Awards for Drama

The artsrichmond Swans season, 2007-2008, is now well underway and is proving to be as varied and as exhilarating as usual, and as adjudicators, we have been again pleased to experience the high quality of theatre in the borough. As the season progresses, we thought it might be useful to give some insight into some of the methods of approach we use.

The adjudicators are appointed on the authority of artsrichmond's executive committee, which invites affiliated societies to suggest possible new adjudicators each year, consults the current judges and others involved in the local amateur dramatic scene and then tries to ensure that there is sufficient rotation and new blood to avoid any suggestion of bias or lack of objectivity.

The adjudicators are then totally responsible, together, for selecting the short lists of nominations and the ultimate winners in each category, with the exception of The Accolade, awarded for an outstanding contribution to drama in the borough over a period of years, which is awarded under the aegis of the executive. So while the executive does not get involved in the choice of other award winners, it does oversee the management of the awards to ensure fairness, and over the years there seems to have been fundamental satisfaction with this, so that the awards are recognised as being prestigious, authoritative and much valued by the local amateur societies.

In judging an individual production, it is assumed that the script itself is a given. It may or may not have been well chosen, but we do not judge the writing or the contents of the play. It is the value added by the production company to the script that is taken into account. It is important that the company brings originality to the production, not just a reproduction of an earlier stage or film version of a play. Performances should be done with energy, style and fluency.

Only the amateur aspects of a play are judged. If any member of company is paid a fee for the production (eg. acting, design, music, directing), then those aspects of the play are not taken into account. All other members of the company are eligible for awards. This does not preclude professional participation in a company, as long as the contribution is unpaid (eg. if a director who has worked professionally gives his services free of charge to a production, then that production would still be eligible for a Best Play award.)

Within any award category, certain individual contributions may be recognised. Hence, in the Best Design category, the most impressive elements of design may be specifically identified, so that the award could go for instance to a lighting designer or a costume maker. Equally in the categories for Best Performer in a Musical, the award could go to an actor, a singer, a dancer or a musician.

The differing resources of the affiliated societies are considered when the adjudicators are making their decisions and, indeed, The Cygnet Award specifically recognises the small-scale productions that are mounted by companies with limited resources and a small number of acting members. The adjudicators define which companies are eligible at the beginning of the season. However, these societies are not precluded from consideration for Best Play (and, certainly, this award has often been won by small studio productions).

For the youth and child categories, it is the young person’s age at the time of the performances that is considered. Even though there are now two age categories, these are difficult awards to judge, as a young person’s abilities as a performer may develop considerably even with the age ranges now specified.

We hope these thoughts are useful to producers on our method of approach. We are certainly looking forward to the remainder of another memorable season of fine theatre.