THE OLDLAND PLAYERS
Founded in 1967 the Oldland Players are a group in the Bristol area, who've been creating quality community theatre for over 50 years.
One Act Festivals 2024
The Oldland Players were delighted to perform again at The Bristol One Act Drama Festival, and The Avon One Act Drama Festival, this year with another pair of very different entries, "In the Mood" by Frank Gibbons and "Those were the Days" by Shari Gledhill
In the Mood:
Jeanie's little café is struggling to survive and a pending family problem could easily prove to be the last straw. Also, her apparent reluctance to tackle issues such as poor hygiene, inferior cooking, power supply malfunctions and a mischievous deaf cat isn't helping the situation.
Cast
Jeanie (Vikie Meachin); Richard (Ollie Cuenca); Sandy (Mani Chubb); Max (Rod Lovell); Eleanor (Ev Milker); Nell (Anna Vigor)
Gary (Nick Milker); Toasty man (Simon Crutchley); Customer (Carol Tavener)
Director: Kit Muffett
 Cast and crew for the One Acts 2024 with the awards from both productions |
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 In 'The Mood' cafe |
 Hard at work |
 "Never mind you've got an axe to grind" |
 "You can't expect me to eat or drink anything here!" |
 "Have you got a cheese toasty?" |
 "I think you need a hearing aid" |
 "This paining is coming home with me!" |
 ITM8_web |
These are the Days:
Married couple Matt and Vicki re-live their relationship from its unlikely beginnings to its end.
Cast
Matt (Stephen Coles); Vicki (Kit Muffett)
Director: Kathleen Kirwan & Hannah Johnson
Cast and crew for the One Acts 2024 with the awards from both productions |
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 These are the Days |
 These are the Days |
 These are the Days |
 These are the Days |
 These are the Days |
 These are the Days |
 These are the Days |
Bristol
The first performance was held at The Olympus Theatre in Bristol, on Friday 23rd February, as part of the Bristol One Act Drama Festival and what a night it was!
We came in 1st place overall (These are the Days), winning the Bristol One Act Drama Festival Shield and going on to the next round, as well as picking up the Audience choice for Best Play. In addition Kit won Best Actress and, together with Hannah, won Best director. To keep things even, Hannah also won the Les Solomon Decor Award for lighting of These are the Days.
Apart from Kit winning Best Actress our other leading actors and actresses Stephen and Vikie were nominated for their roles, as were Rod and Anna, whilst Kit was also up against herself for Best Director. A full list of awards and nominations is below:
These are the Days:
1st place - Bristol One Act Drama Festival Shield
Audience choice for Best Play
The Chris Jaeger Award for the Best Director: Kit Muffett & Hannah Johnson (Award)
Best Actress: Kit Muffett (Award)
Les Solomon Decor Award (lighting): Hannah Johnson (Award)
Best Actor: Stephen Coles (Nomination)
The Pauline Pincott Costume Award: (Nomination)
In the Mood
The Chris Jaeger Award for the Best Director: Kit Muffett (Nomination)
Best Actress: Vikie Meachin (Nomination)
Best Supporting Actor: Rod Lovell (Nomination)
Best Supporting Actress: Anna Vigor (Nomination)
The Pauline Pincott Costume Award: (Nomination)
 TOPs haul of awards at the Bristol One Act Play Festival 2024 |
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 TOPs winning first prize at the Bristol One Act Play Festival 2024 |
 Charles Cash Trophy Award - Audience Choice |
 Les Solomon Decor Award |
 Best Actress Award |
 The Chris Jaeger Award for Best Director(s) |
 TOPs haul of awards at the Bristol One Act Play Festival 2024 |
Avon
After our success at Bristol we were hopeful for our second performance as part of the Avon Drama One Act Festival, on Friday 8th March.
We didn't quite repeat our haul at Bristol as we came in 2nd place overall (These are the Days), but having won the Bristol One Act Drama Festival Shield we were going on to the next round anyway.
In addition Kit won Best Actress, again, and Vikie won Best Supporting Performance. We also won the Adjudicators choice for 'Moment in Theatre' for 'the exploding haddock' from 'In the Mood.
Apart from Kit and Vikie winning Best Actress and Best Supporting Performance our other leading actor Stephen was nominated for his role, as was Rod for his. A full list of awards and nominations is below:
These are the Days:
The Peter English Award - 2nd place overall
Priory Plate - Best Actress: Kit Muffett (Award)
Best Director Cup: Kit Muffett & Hannah Johnson (Nomination)
Goodway Memorial Cup - Best Actor: Stephen Coles (Nomination)
Adjudicators Award (Vickie's death): Kit Muffett (Nomination)
In the Mood
Adjudicators Award (Exploding haddock): (Award)
Graham Bradshaw Cup - Best Supporting Performance: Vikie Meachin (Award)
Best Supporting Performance: Rod Lovell (Nomination)
The Richard Brayshaw Cup - Technical Award (hair, costume and set): (Nomination)
 Kit & Hannah at the Avon One Act Drama Festival 2024 |
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 Hannah at the Avon One Act Drama Festival 2024 |
 Kit at the Avon One Act Drama Festival 2024 |
 Andrew at the Avon One Act Drama Festival 2024 |
 The Priory Plate award for Best Actress, Avon One Act Drama Festival 2024 |
 Stephen Coles at the Avon One Act Drama Festival 2024 |
 Kit & Stephen at the Avon One Act Drama Festival 2024 |
As noted above, having won the Bristol heat of the drama festival, 'These are the Days' went on to the Western Area finals, held at the Merlin Theatre, Frome on May 11th.
Unfortunately, because Steven was unavailable, Kevin Kirwan stepped in at short notice to take on the role of Matt. Although there were only two other awards available that day, as well as the overall winner, we were nominated for one of them; 'The Stanley and Madge Williams Shield at the Adjudicator’s Discretion'.