National drama trophy for local Occupation play
A LOCALLY-written play about life during the Occupation has won a trophy at the National Drama Festival in Coventry.
Bad Eggs was first performed at Guernsey’s One Act Play Festival in May as a Gadoc entry, where it won The Bucktrout Trophy as the play with the highest marks.
That led to it being invited to take part in the national festival in the UK, which it did thanks to some local fundraising and sponsorship from Guernsey Arts.
Written by Dani Robin, the play was inspired by true events experienced by her grandmother and great-grandparents during the occupation of Jersey.
Unfortunately, neither Mrs Robin nor her husband, Alan, who was one of the crew and designed and built the set, were able to go along.
There was also off-stage drama for the cast, when actor Steve Molnar went down with Covid, leaving director Ethan Hitchon to step into the breach and take on his role at the last minute.
Bad Eggs was one of 12 one-act plays entered into the festival and ended up receiving the Sydney Fisher Trophy for Best Team, one of only five awards in the section.
This was Mrs Robin’s first play since writing one for her GCSEs several years ago. ‘It’s really validating to know that I’m able to create something that people can relate to,’ she said.
‘It’s been a bit of a journey.’
The festival adjudicator gave positive comments about the play, saying that it was a great insight into Channel Island history and she liked that it was based on real events, said Mr Hitchon.
The trophy was awarded by the theatre crew and came out of the blue. ‘It came at the very end during the awards’ ceremony. We were one of the very first awards announced and it was a great surprise.
‘We all enjoyed the whole experience and that was the icing on the cake.’
As well as the cast of Dave Wheeler, Miffy Lane, Sophie Wallen and Berian Jones, Carina Moherndl was stage manager for the performance with Damian and Katie Wallen as backstage crew.
The National Drama Festival took place in the 600-seater Albany Theatre in Coventry and was a week-long event that provided the best of amateur theatre across Britain an opportunity to showcase their work in a friendly competition.
