Stratford One Act Festival 2024

Written and directed by Roger Gowland

Two retired men meet on a park bench and chat.  Their conversation is essentially small talk. Whenever they attempt anything of greater depth, humour is used as a means of self-defense. It illustrates the inability of even old  friends, especially men, to reveal their innermost thoughts and anxieties.

Cast – Roger Gowland and Dave Molloy

Written and directed by Charles Essex

What are the two hardest things for a doctor to do?  To do nothing and say nothing, or say “I don’t know”.  Mrs Avison just wants her diarrhoea to be cured.  She falls down a rabbit hole as doctors do more tests which seem to reveal more problems.  Or do they?

Written and directed by Charles Essex

Baby George is rushed to hospital following a 999 call.  Inevitably questions are asked about what happened and how the baby became so unwell.  Inexorably the matter ends up in court because of child protection concerns and the parents fight to prove their innocence and for the return of George supported by a barrister who tries to counter the case put forward by the authorities.

Written and directed by Ben Keyser

When a husband steps on a bee that his wife has been trying to save, it seems that their marriage really has hit rock bottom.  But when he inadvertently gets back into her good books by saving a pigeon that has stunned itself by flying into the window, he finally believes he has found a way to restore their former passion for each other.

Written by Andy Jaggard and directed by Tony Lawrence and Moira Shepherd

Captain William Jaggard and his son Gerald run the Shakespeare bookshop in 1960s Stratford. In later life, Gerald decides to tell the true story of selling first folios, frauds, forgers, and great ‘finds.  At heart, this is a family drama of how Gerald survived his father’s damaging legacy.

Cast – Ensemble

Written by Baz Stilinski and directed by Alison Ballinger

A family makes a trip to visit their grandma to celebrate what would have been her son’s (husband and father to the family) 50th birthday. The visit reveals trials and tribulations of growing up needing a father figure and also the introduction of boyfriends. With reminiscing and not knowing what the future will hold, they all realise that the future will hold different places for them now that he is gone.

Cast – Lisa Morris, Katie Protheroe, Baz Stilinski and Dylan.

Adapted by Kate Guest and directed by Tim and Kate Guest

This is a one-man version of the classic tale by Robert Louis Stevenson. In his search to separate good and evil in man, Dr Jekyll unleashes a horror he never imagined. Now, two personalities fight to dominate one body. Who will win?

Cast – Tim Guest, Phil Sensicle