18Jul 16

Triumph at Cheshire Theatre Guild Awards

Kingsley Players have stormed to success in the annual Cheshire Theatre Guild awards, staged this month.

The group’s production of Oliver, performed in January, was named Best Production with musical content.

Tom Hayes and Shara Blanchard, who played Romeo and Juliet, in the Kingsley Players’ innovative Bite-sized Shakespeare production in October were jointly named Best Youngster in a Senior Production.

And in the Dramatic Achievement category, actor Matt Jones, who performed a mesmerising monologue as Graham in Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads and Bite-sized Shakespeare, directed and devised by Ed Green, were both short-listed.

Lynn Pegler, who directed the Oliver production, said: “We are thrilled to have been so successful in the awards competition against strong competition from theatre groups all over the county.

“The Best Production award is testament to the fantastic community effort that goes into every show. The Oliver production had a cast of more than 50 adults and children, and played five sell-out shows. Everything from costumes, set, lighting and sound to backstage crew and the wonderful performers – everyone gave 100 per cent.”

Kingsley Players will next be on stage in October (19-22) with a modern play ‘Some of My Best Friends are Women’ by Carole Tricker, directed by Colin Smith.