Arts Richmond’s biannual New Plays Festival showcased new, short-form theatre at the Orange Tree Theatre.
Four pieces of theatre competed for the title, a trophy prize and £100 towards a playwriting course.
Rebecca Mayhew was awarded the top prize for her play, “The Boot Room”.
Mayhew said: “It feels amazing to have won.
“It’s a massive honour, it’s a surprise because the other three plays were amazing and the quality was brilliant.”
‘The Boot Room’ features an encounter between two men in their 70s in a National Trust property as they reminisce about an experience in the boot room of the property during their school days.
Actors Nigel Andrews and Jim Trimmer perfectly encapsulated the relationship between the two characters, bringing Mayhew’s delicate writing to life.
All four plays performed were well-written, well acted and well-produced pieces of theatre.
The first play of the day was Jacqui Hazell’s ‘That’s all folks’, a comedic piece that features a mother and son, who is not paying attention to where she is in life, then an unexpected guest shows up and changes everything.
‘The Boot Room’ was performed second, followed by ‘Sky Horses’ by Trish Bertram.
Bertam’s play details an encounter between two people on a roof, with an overarching theme of trying to live despite the monotony of working life.
Dominic Parford’s ‘Common Ground’ finished off the afternoon discussing the strained relationship between a father and son.
The running themes throughout all four plays of looking back at life and making the most of things helped to tie each play together and make a more cohesive afternoon of local theatre.
All four writers expressed gratitude to Arts Richmond and the Orange Tree Theatre for putting on the event, citing it as essential for burgeoning theatre writers.
Parford said: “As a writer, it’s important to be valued in what you do in some way and we can’t always have that acknowledgement, to know that we are doing a good job, that we are being effective in our writing.
“Things like this are essential in letting writers know that they are better than they think they are and that they do have the ability to carry it forward.”
Bertram added: “All credit to the Orange Tree and Arts Richmond for giving new writers a chance.
“When you’re a new writer you need someone to have a bit of faith in you and give you a chance and they’ve done that today.”
A full list of Arts Richmond events is available on their website.
Photos attributed to Linda Hansell – permission to use
