Drama Association of Wales
DAW PUBLICATIONS AND ACTIVITIES
To date, the Association has published well over seventy plays in both English and Welsh. Scripts are identified through a Script Reading Service and Playwriting Competition. The titles are made available for purchase and productions encouraged among amateur drama companies.
NEW RELEASES: DAW Playwriting Competition Winner ‘Rosie’s Shoes’ by Audrey Ringrose. Stan is lonely and irascible, still grieving after the death of his beloved wife, Rosie, and haunted by guilty memories of his Polish childhood. He strikes up a friendship with Samantha, a young single mother. As a child at primary school, Samantha loved Rosie, who was a classroom assistant there. Samantha has her own problems and her relationship with Stan is often tempestuous. It is hard for her to understand his passionate Polish temperament, and he is too proud to compromise. However, their love of Rosie unites them and Samantha is able to bring Stan’s life to a tranquil close. Cast: M1 F1. £3.20. Performance Fee: £30.00
‘The Audition’ by Richard Macaulay. Adam Sparrow attends an audition for Garrick’s Drury Lane company at the beginning of a new season. He meets two of the backstage staff, Mrs Trundle and Tom Grout, then Hannah Moody, also hoping for an audition, who immediately catches at his heart, and seemingly returns his feelings. Dr Johnson arrives. Finding Garrick is indisposed after too riotous an evening, he indulges himself by conducting his own audition, a scene from Romeo and Juliet. But this brings ructions, first from Peg Woffington, one of the Lane’s established actresses and Garrick’s mistress, then from Garrick himself. Hannah, deserting Adam, succeeds in joining the company, but Adam loses both his new love and his chance of employment. Johnson sympathises but can do nothing. Only the sonnet that Adam brought with him as his audition piece can echo his feelings in the end. The running time is estimated at 40 minutes. The set is an empty stage with a footlight row and stacked scenery flats in the background. Cast: M4 F3. £3.20. Performance Fee: £30.00
DAWN MAGAZINE
Published four times a year – News, Views, Advice, Dates, Competitions and each edition includes an eight page pull-out Library Supplement giving reviews of all the additions to the Library.
FESTIVALS
DAW organises the Welsh National Drama Festival from March to June, culminating in the Wales One-Act Final. Regional Festivals currently participating include, Anglesey, Colwyn Bay, Clwyd, Montgomeryshire, Pembrokeshire, Gwent and Glamorgan.
YOUTH THEATRE
Working closely with the National Youth Theatre of Wales, DAW helps promote work with young people. DAW assists in founding and sustaining youth theatre companies and runs courses and workshops to help improve young people’s skill levels and enjoyment.
PERFORMING ARTS
DAW is an active member of the Wales Association for the Performing Arts, which promotes professional interests in Wales.
PRO-AM
DAW uniquely, operates at the interface between the amateur and the professional and encourages co-operation between them. This produces benefits to both partners and improves the health of drama in Wales and the UK as a whole.
Much of the work of the organisation is concerned with raising the profile of Community Drama and lobbying of regional, national and UK organisations to ensure that community theatre is kept on the agenda. The Association is a strong supporter of the work of the Voluntary Arts Network and values the interface with other national umbrella bodies at UK level. Through its membership of the Central Council for Amateur Theatre, DAW makes representations to the UK national Arts Councils, Theatres Advisory Council and HM Government.
INTERNATIONAL
Through its membership of International Theatre Exchange, the UK branch of the International Amateur Theatre Association, DAW is active in promoting amateur theatre in Wales on an international basis. Exchanges are facilitated between Wales based groups and their counterparts overseas. This network is increasingly being seen as a means of promoting the work of Wales based playwrights.
ENJOYMENT
The function of the Drama Association of Wales is to increase opportunities for people in the community to be creatively involved in drama that is fun and of a high standard. To access all these benefits within the UK and overseas is both inexpensive and invaluable.
PERSONNEL
Gary Thomas – Administrator, Teresa Hennessy – Member Services Officer and Leon Searle – Member Services Assistant are based at the office and library in Cardiff.
ORGANISATION
Group members (i.e. drama societies, theatre companies, youth theatres, WIs, YFCs etc) are organised by area for self-help and co-operation.
AREA ORGANISATION IN WALES
Currently there are five area organisations: Clwyd, Glamorgan, Gwent, Montgomeryshire and Pembrokeshire.
ORGANISATIONS IN OTHER AREAS
Since the DAW rescue of the former BTA library, over 400 members from outside Wales have joined. Networking services have provided for these members who are eligible to enjoy the full range of DAW activities. The library operates on a mail order basis ensuring access to everyone.
Page 1 – Introduction
Page 2 – Training
Page 3 – New Writing
Page 4 – DAW Publications and Activites
Drama Association of Wales
The Old Library, Singleton Road, Splott, Cardiff CF24 2ET, Wales UK
(T) +44 (0)29 2045 2200
(F) +44 (0)29 2045 2277
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