The Torquay Theatre Troupe emerged triumphant from the Anglesea One Act Play Festival last weekend, receiving an incredible eight gongs from a total of 13 awards handed out on August 28.
Torquay’s tight-knit group entered two plays in the 22nd annual festival, which attracts entries from theatre companies throughout regional Victoria and Melbourne.
Writer and Airey’s Inlet resident Sandy Fairthorne took out the award for Best Original Play, ‘The Knowing’, making this an incredible fourth consecutive year that she has won this particular prize.
Michael Lambkin received the Best Male Actor award for his performance as Albert in ‘The Knowing’, which explores the tensions within the relationship of a long-time married couple and also took out the runner-up prize for Best Production.
But it was the company’s other entry, the hard-hitting ‘God Willing’, that took out the festival’s top honour as Best Production.
This powerful drama was inspired by the terrorist attack on a Mumbai hotel and earned Torquay’s Lisa Berry the Best Female Actor award as the heavily pregnant hostage Nadia.
Her fellow cast member Rhiannon Hodgkinson, as the gun-toting militant young woman Suria, received the Adjudicator’s Award for her performance; and Fred Preston received the Best Supporting Male Actor for his off-stage voice only role.
Festival co-ordinator Nikki Watson said the event was a great success and the audience was both entertained and challenged by the 15 plays presented across the weeekend.
“It was such a fantastic atmosphere,” Mrs Watson said.
“And the diversity of plays – from light comedies to dark dramas, through to experimental pieces open to individual interpretation – we had it all.”
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Links
- For more information, visit www.angleseaperformers.org.au
