Drama on Norfolk Island

News release theatre ¨C 1 July 27, 2004

Drama on Norfolk Island

The lush green hills of a nearby South Pacific island will be alive with allegories and soliloquies when the Norfolk Island Theatre Festival gets under way in mid-September.

The week-long festival is open to all groups of amateur actors who must perform a one act play or an excerpt from a full length play. The play can be drama, musical or comedy.

Best production at the festival wins the Trans-Tasman Trophy and a prize of A$1,000 (¡ÖNZ$1,111). At the 2003 festival the trophy was won by the Pahiatua Repertory Society.

A special prize in 2004 is the Youth Trophy which will be awarded to the best performance by a group of players aged under 21.

Norfolk Island Theatre Festival organiser Monica Anderson says the event is always great fun.

¡°It has been running since 1996 and attracts all types and there is great variety. But it also has its studious side with a number of theatre workshops for participants.

¡°The standard is very high and the festival always attracts some unusual and entertaining plays. We normally have a full house of about 10 or 11 entries.¡±

The adjudicator is well known New Zealand stage director and theatre critic Ewen Coleman ANZDA (Association of New Zealand Drama Adjudicators). Performances are open to the public.

The festival gets underway on September 12 and there is an entry fee of A$100.

Anyone interested in attending the festival can find out more from Monica Anderson by email at theatre@norfolk.nf or fax +6723-23106.

Holiday packages from New Zealand to Norfolk Island start at NZ$778* for seven nights including airfare, accommodation, car hire and return airport transfers. Travel information is available at www.travelcentre.nf or by calling toll free 0800 00 88 10.

About Norfolk Island: Discovered by Captain Cook in 1774, Norfolk Island was first settled as a British penal colony in 1788 through to 1856. On June 8, 1856, the island was re-inhabited by a community from Pitcairn Island, descendants of the Bounty mutineers and their Tahitian companions. Known today as Norfolk Islanders, they form a majority of the 1,800 resident population. Norfolk Island is renowned for its spectacular coastal scenery, colourful history, sporting and cultural activities, convict heritage and tax-free shopping.

ENDS

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