CONTRASTING REFLECTIONS IN THE PRESS!
Douglas McVay in The County Times
"THE ANNUAL festival of new plays at the Questors has never been the high-spot of this theatre's year: for every worthwhile work, one has usually had to sit through a couple of lesser efforts. If anything, the level has recently begun to drop.
"I've nothing at all against "new plays," so long as they are entertaining and genuinely original new plays. On the evidence of the past couple of festivals, the Questors would be wiser to stick to the newer writers of proven worth.
B.A.Young in The Financial Tmes
"The Questors, the fascinating theatre in Ealing that hosts one of the best amateur companies I know and a playhouse many professional companies must envy, is a valuable test-bed for playwrights. They get a chance to see their plays done without having to persuade a commercial management that they will make money. The productions aren't quite up to professional standards, but they're mounted with care and with love. The writer can see whether he has achieved what he thinks he has; and the Questors audiences, eclectic and loyal, sit patiently through some occasionally sticky evenings in their hope of striking gold."
Theatrical personalities leading the after show discussions included:
Martin Esslin, Robert Rietty, Michael MacOwan, John Russell Taylor, John Chapman, John Allen, John Mortimer, Keith Johnstone, Owen Holder, Michael Warre, James Forsyth, Kitty Black
Fringe Events at this Festival
FESTIVAL JAZZ
An evening of spontaneous music-making by experienced Mainstream Jazz Players. It is emphasised that this will be rather an informal occasion, and it is hoped to create something of the authentic Jazz Club atmosphere. arranged by JOHN ROLFE.
FESTIVAL PAINTINGS
An exhibition of paintings by VIVIENNE FOSTER. Born in the West Riding of Yorkshire in 1936, she studied painting with Archibald Ziegler and Ruskin Spear, R.A. at St. Martin's School of Art, and in 1961 began exhibiting in the main composite exhibitions. She died in 2014 after a long illnes.
FESTIVAL POETRY
"Give Me your Hands"
An entertainment of poetry and folk songs devised by DANNIE ABSE
with NIGEL STOCK, NICOLETTE BERNARD and ISLA CAMERON
Including poems by BETJEMAN, BRECHT, CAFAVY, FROST, LARKIN, LORCA, MAYAKOVSKY, POUND, PREVERT, RILKE, SEFERIS and YEVTUSHENKO.
