South Yorkshire Times – Saturday 1 March 1952
Denaby Win “Times” Cup in Youth Drama Festival
At last year’s youth drama festival in Mexborough, the first of its kind, seven plays were entered. This year, despite an original and provisional entry of over a dozen plays, the final entry was only two.
The festival was held in Mexborough Technical College on Saturday, and winners were Denaby Tom Hill Youth Centre, with The Price of Coal, by Harold Brighouse.
They go on to compete in the area competition of the West Riding Festival at Goldthorpe on March 28th or 29th. The play was produced by Miss M. Sharp, and the cast were June Hodgkins (Mary Bradshaw), Alfred Simpson (Jack Tyldesley), Iris Broom (Ellen Tyldesley), and Sheila Day (Polly Livesey).
The other entry in the divisional round came from the Conisbrough Co-operative Youth Club with Wilfred Massey’s The Master Key. Their cast was Kenneth Lewis, Marjorie Gleadall, Joan Darley, George Moore, Pauline Bedford and Janet Sherlock, and the producer was Mr. W. Price.
Mr. T. E. Tyler, County Youth Drama Adviser, who adjudicated, said although it was a pity about the number of entries, the organisers were not to despair. There were many reasons why a youth group could not enter a festival, and youth groups were notorious for their fluctuations. Next year, he said, the entries would probably be as good as last.
“The Price of Coal,” said Mr. Tyler, had won by only a narrow margin. Both plays had been extremely well done, but there was, in the Brighouse one, more to work on. The players were able to get more meaty characterisations than those in the other light comedy. That had been the thing which had counted in the win.
The production had been careful in both plays, and the presentation excellent. It was noticeable that, although the same curtains had been used for both plays, the settings had been vastly different.
Mr. Tyler liked the atmosphere of The Price of Coal, but said it would have been improved by a little less speed. Some “real feeling” had been shown in the acting at times, though at others it was not so good. The teamwork was good, and Mr. Tyler commended the performances of Iris Broom and June Hodgkins.
“The Master Key” had been well done, also, but it was a light comedy which demanded more technique than feeling, and as such was perhaps the most difficult thing for a youth club to tackle. The cast, however, caught the spirit well.
A third play was performed during the evening, by the Tom Hill junior team, but because the players were under age this was not eligible for competition. It was entered chiefly to give the youngsters experience and see how they compared with the other teams.