Results from the Corn Exchange Drama Festival
Monday, June 17th, 2024
“A wonderful week of theatre”, “a splendid variety of plays”, “interesting to compare my views with those of the adjudicators”. Just some of the comments overhead at last week’s drama festival which was the final week of what has become a regular sequence of events in Oxfordshire – Kenton (Henley), Oxfordshire Drama Network (Abingdon) and Corn Exchange (Wallingford).
Here’s the results from GODA adjudicator Nancy Heath:
Peter Utley Memorial Award for best cameo – Keith Bradford from Didcot Phoenix Drama Group for Metamorphosis.
Rita Kemp Award for best supporting actor – Samantha Riley from HAODS for Woyzeck.
Harris and Jones Salver for best actor – Marilyn Johnstone from Sinodun Players for And Go To Innisfree.
Commended Award – for the director of And Go To Innisfree from the Sinodun PLayers.
Susan North Memorial Trophy for special moment – Sian Gibson from Banbury Cross Players for The Proposal
Punters’ Prize – Wrong Seat by Oxford Theatre Guild
SP Chair’s Award for runner up – Wrong Seat by Oxford Theatre Guild
Best overall production – And Go To Innisfree by Sinodun Players
Don’t forget to come again next year – May and June, look out for details.
Back to Black review – woozy Amy Winehouse biopic buoyed by extraordinary lead performance
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Peter Bradshaw Guardian, 4 stars. Sam Taylor-Johnson’s best film to date is more interested in romance and creativity than demons or blame.
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/apr/09/back-to-black-review-gentle-amy-winehouse-biopic-buoyed-by-extraordinary-lead-performance
Baltimore review – Imogen Poots excels as British aristocrat turned IRA volunteer Rose Dugdale
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Wendy Ide Guardian, 4 stars. Irish directors Joe Lawlor and Christine Molloy’s biopic of the late rebel heiress is anchored by an expressive lead turn.
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/mar/24/baltimore-review-imogen-poots-rose-dugdale-joe-lawlor-christine-molloy
Io Capitano review – Matteo Garrone’s wrenching migrant drama is unexpectedly beautiful
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Wendy Ide Guardian, 4 stars. Seydou Sarr is wonderful as a 16-year-old Senegalese migrant who maintains his empathy and selflessness through a hellish journey to Europe.
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/apr/06/io-capitano-review-matteo-garrones-wrenching-migrant-drama-is-unexpectedly-beautiful
The Zone of Interest review – Jonathan Glazer’s unforgettable Auschwitz drama is a brutal masterpiece
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Wendy Ide Guardian 5 stars. Only the constant pall of smoke, and a dread-inducing soundscape, tell of the horrors beyond the wall as the idyllic life of the commandant of the death camp and his family rolls by in Glazer’s Oscar-nominated film.
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2024/feb/04/the-zone-of-interest-jonathan-glazer-brutal-auschwitz-drama-sandra-huller-christian-friedel-martin-amis
Monster review – Hirokazu Kore-eda’s hydra of modern morals and manners
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https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/may/17/monster-review-hydra-of-modern-morals-and-manners
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Charles Bramesco Guardian, 5 stars. The writer-director splits from his brother and joins wife Tricia Cooke for a bawdy and brilliant road trip caper about two lesbian friends caught up in crime.
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/feb/21/drive-away-dolls-movie-review-ethan-coen
On the Waterfront Review – Marlon Brando’s wounded masculinity rains punches down
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Peter Bradshaw Guardian 5 stars. Rereleased for its 70th anniversary, Elia Kazan’s classic exploration of corruption and whether or not to squeal is made all the more viscerally powerful by his own Huac testimony
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/apr/03/on-the-waterfront-review-marlon-brandos-wounded-masculinity-rains-punches-down
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Origin review – a heartfelt look at a journalist challenging the concept of race | Film | The Guardian
