Next week is the much awaited 40th Annual Durham Drama Festival! With 10 student-written plays, four professional judges and an abundance of talent this promises to be a highlight of the Durham Calendar. With venues all over Durham and input from LAMDA, Chalet Girl producers and much more it is definitely something not to be missed! This week we caught up with the Head of the Festival, Izzie Price and Judges Liason, Ellie Guage on their experiences and thoughts.
Izzie
My role on the DDF exec is Festival Director – so basically overseeing the entire thing and making sure everything happens, and that everyone is doing their jobs! I started work on the festival in May, so it’s been amazing to see it all come together and to see so many people being so excited and enthusiastic about it. There have been a couple of scary moments, such as judges dropping out etc. (not a fun email to get when in the middle of a summative!) but mostly it has been so much fun and incredibly rewarding, and I’m so excited to see all the plays.
EVERYONE should come and see DDF – we have a really exciting and varied programme, so there’s something in there for everyone, and the actors, directors, producers and most of all writers have worked so hard on the plays. You will be seriously missing out if you don’t go to at least one! Don’t miss the biggest theatrical event of the DST year – book your tickets now!
Ellie
I am a finalist from John’s studying Education & Theology, and am this years’ Judges’ Liaison. In this role, I am responsible for making sure our esteemed judges are at the right place at the right time and are sufficiently fed and watered. This year’s DDF exec has been one of the smoothest running student run exec’s I have been on and it is a joy to work under the wonderful Izzie Price who has done a fantastic job. The judges: Charlie Covell, Jethro Compton, Hector Macpherson Brown and Tinuke Craig should be enough persuade you all to get involved with what DDF has to offer.
(Alongside shuffling the judges around, Ellie has also written a play which she is now directing for the festival, and is performing in another. Some would say she was utterly crazy, and those people would be right.)
Other Exec Members
Leo Mylonadis – Treasurer
Clara Duncan – Production Liason.
Penny Babakhani – Publicity Officer
Diana Grant-Davie – Sponsorship
Lydia Feerick and Jenny Walser – Social Secs
Serena Gosling and Fleur Manning – Publicity Assistants
The launch night for DDF will be THIS SUNDAY at WIFF WAFF. Want to know more? Come back next week for a feature on all things DDF!
To book tickets click here.