Cornwall Drama Association Theatre Festival 2023-2024 Award Winners

Here are the winners of the 2023-2024 Theatre Festival awards. 
Our congratulations go to all those who were nominated.

CDA AWARD FOR BEST SET IN A MUSICAL

  • Avalon Youth Theatre‘Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

CHRISTINE WOOLF AWARD FOR FINE ENSEMBLE PLAYING – EITHER CATEGORY

  • St Agnes PlayersThe Dining Room

PAULA THORNTON AWARD FOR BEST COSTUMES IN A PLAY

  • St Agnes Players‘The Dresser

CDA AWARD FOR BEST PERFORMANCE IN A SUPPORTING ROLE – MUSICALS and PANTOMIMES

  • Nicola Unwin as ‘Barbara Castle’ in ‘Made in Dagenham’ Helston Theatre Company

EILEEN STRATTON TROPHY FOR BEST SET IN A PLAY

  • Gweek Players‘Home I’m Darling

MARY DOWNIE AWARD FOR BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A PLAY

  • John Sweet as Edward in Kindly Leave the StageCallington Amateur Dramatic Society

CAROL TAYLOR AWARD FOR BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A PLAY

  • Stephanie Randlesome as Fran in ‘Home I’m Darling Gweek Players

CDA AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING COSTUMES IN A MUSICAL or PANTOMIME

  • St Stephen Pantomime CompanyHansel and Gretel

SALLY ROBINSON TROPHY FOR OUTSTANDING MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

  • Millie Millington original incidental music for  The Railway ChildrenHelston Theatre Company

ROY CROSLEY AWARD FOR A YOUNG ACTOR OF 18 OR UNDER – EITHER CATEGORY

Miriam McDonagh as Gaston in ‘Beauty and the Beast’ Young Generation
Henry Rutherford as Jamie’s Dad and Sandra Bollock in ‘Everybody’s Talking About Jamie’ BOOM Theatre

PEPPER AWARD FOR BEST ONE ACT PLAY

  • ‘Alan Bennett monologues A Chip in the Sugar and Bed Among the Lentils’ St Austell Players

CDA AWARD FOR BEST CHOREGRAPHY IN A MUSICAL or PANTOMIME

  • St Austell Amateur Operatic SocietyGuys and Dolls

JOHN WALTON AWARD FOR THE BEST YOUTH PERFORMANCE

  • Parker Register as Lumiere in Beauty and the BeastYoung Generation

RICHARD POULTER TROPHY FOR BEST ACTOR IN A PLAY

  • Brian Hart as Norman in The DresserSt Agnes Theatre Players

EILEEN STRATTON TROPHY FOR BEST ACTRESS IN A PLAY

  • Tracey Clarke as Susan in ‘A Bed Among the Lentils’  St Austell Players

PAMELA DINSMORE AWARD FOR TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT IN EITHER CATEGORY

  • Page 2 Stage ‘We Will Rock You Young @ Part ’ – use of media and creative imagery

CDA AWARD FOR BEST ACTOR IN A MUSICAL

  • John Englandas Eddie O’Grady in ‘Made in Dagenham’ Helston Theatre Company

CDA AWARD FOR BEST ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL

  • Jess Madeley as Miss Adelaide in ‘Guys and Dolls’St Austell Amateur Operatic Society

DORIS BERRYMAN TROPHY FOR BEST DIRECTOR OF A MUSICAL

  • Gemma Crook’Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor DreamcoatAvalon Youth Theatre

FRED SHEPHERD TROPHY FOR BEST DIRECTOR OF A PLAY

  • Kathy Morris. The Dining RoomSt Agnes Players

FREDDIE ROWE AWARD

for significant contribution to amateur drama in Cornwall. Presented to Vron Spear. for her contribution over the decades to many groups and societies

CHRIS HANSELL AWARD FOR BEST PANTOMIME

  • Sleeping BeautyHelston Theatre Company

CDA TROPHY FOR BEST PLAY

  • Hurricane DianeTouch Theatre

CDA TROPHY FOR BEST MUSICAL PRODUCTION

  • ‘Made in Dagenham’ Helston Theatre Company

SPECIAL AWARDS

  1. The first Special Award goes to another set of fine individual performances, and we recognise the work that goes into both monologue performance and the clever production involved in their combination. The award goes to Touch Theatre for the six good and well linked monologues in Bombshells.award
  2. Carnon Downs Drama Group for the magic, circus tricks and puppetry performed in Doctor Faustus . They were clever, slickly handled and we can only imagine the hours of hard work that went into making them look so easy. They added much to the symbolic and visual values of the production.
  3. Our next Special award of the evening goes to an original script. This year we have seen a number of pantomimes where sparkling, incisive and witty dialogue, together with hilarious topical references, have utterly delighted the audience (and adjudicators). This one combined the traditional pantomime mix of rhyme and prose with many, much appreciated local references and clever witty humour. It was tailored to the group and the individual actors so well, and at the same time was accessible to the wider audience. It went down a storm on the night. The award goes to the script written for the Ruthern Valley Players production of Sleeping Beauty at Christmas by Simon Malloni.
  4. The next Special award recognises the dedication to his craft of an actor, no longer in the first flower of youth, who was prepared to risk life and limb – or at least a heavy cold – by immersing himself (or should that be herself) completely, night after night, in a properly deep bath of water. This was done for the sake of the perpetual beauty offered by the Fountain of Youth in the script of Carnon Downs Drama Group’s pantomime Mother Goose, and for the unfettered delight of everyone in the audience. It may not have actually procured eternal youth for the Dame, but did secure the admiration of all who saw it, and this award goes to Jon Groves and the Carnon Downs Drama Group for the Dame’s full immersion into the Fountain of Youth pond.
  5. This next Special award is for a remarkable stage debut. For an apparently instinctive understanding of stagecraft, a very funny and slick performance, and for recognising the importance of the collaborative act that is acting as part of an ensemble cast, this award goes to Kelvin Leighton-Julian as Prince Gregory in Callington Amateur Dramatic Society’s Snowenna and the Seven Piskies.
  6. This is for a Comedy Duo whose immaculate comic timing, clear enjoyment in their parts, and relaxed and confident engagement with the audience all made them the epitome of what it means to be a lynchpin of a village pantomime. For their performance as Electric Eels in Probus Parish Players production of Little Mermaid, the award goes to Peter Keam and Andrew Kennedy.
  7. Our last Special award is for an absorbing and immaculately presented experience. From the steam train that took us to the big top tent, to the Edwardian village fete games and stalls that kept us entertained while the railway carriages transported more of the audience to the theatre in the field, to the pinafored children waving to the train on an intermediate platform, this was a beautifully imagined and delightfully achieved impressive immersive experience. The award goes to Helston Theatre Company’s summer show The Railway Children.