National Student Drama Festival

The National Student Drama Festival (or NSDF) was founded in 1956 by the Sunday Times arts columnist - the festival's first artistic director - Kenneth Pearson, the Sunday Times theatre critic Harold Hobson, and NUS president Frank Copplestone. The Sunday Times Editor, H.V. Hodgson and Dr Glynne Wickham, the Winchester- and Oxford-educated great-grandson of Gladstone and head of the only Drama department in the United Kingdom in 1956 at the University of Bristol, were also early supporters.

The festival currently takes place on a yearly basis in Scarborough, Yorkshire, England near the end of March. Among the theatres used to showcase the productions is the Stephen Joseph Theatre, along with a number of other venues at the Spa Complex, Scarborough College, Scarborough Sports and Tennis Centre and the University of Hull Scarborough Campus.

Key Figures

Festival Directors

• 1971 to 2000 - Clive Wolfe
• 2001 to 2003 - Nick Stimson
• 2004 to 2006 - Andrew Loretto
• 2007 to present - Holly Kendrick

Noises Off Editors

• 1980 to 1990 - Stephen Jeffreys (latterly in tandem with Nick Phillips)
• 1991 to 2002 - Ian Shuttleworth
• 2003 to 2004 - Andrew Haydon and Rachel Smyth
• 2005 to 2009 - Andrew Haydon
• 2010 Phil Mann and Claire Trévien
• 2011 Andrew Haydon, Phil Mann and Claire Trévien

Notable Participants

• Khalid Abdalla
• Nikki Amuka-Bird
• Michael Attenborough
• Van Badham
• Simon Russell Beale
• Lorna Bennett
• Michael Billington
• David Farr
• Mark Gatiss
• Robert Hewison
• Harold Hobson
• Stephen Jeffreys
• Martin Jenkins
• Alex Jennings
• Daniel Kitson
• Roger Michell
• John Nettles
• Cyril Nri
• Steve Pemberton
• Ronald Pickup
• Tim Pigott-Smith
• Harold Pinter
• Lucy Prebble
• Mark Ravenhill
• Jan Sayer
• Prunella Scales
• Tim Supple
• Meera Syal
• Polly Teale
• Richard Thomas
• Glen Walford
• Timothy West
• Clive Wolfe
• Alan Yentob

Prize Winners NSDF10

• Directors' Guild Award: Ashley Scott-Layton University of Leeds (Phaedre's Love)
• Buzz Goodbody Student Director's Award: Sarah Davies, University of Hull (Tell Tale)
• Sunday Times Playwriting Award: Sarah Davies, University of Hull (Tell Tale)
• Cameron Mackintosh Music Award: Warwick University (By The Bog Of Cats)
• Spotlight Award for most promising actor: Rupert Lazarus, University of Leeds (Phaedre's Love)
• Spotlight Award for most promising actress: Rachel Helen Shaw, University of Leeds (Phaedre's Love)
• FestGoers' Award: Warwick University (By The Bog Of Cats)

References

• 'Raw Talent : Fifty Years of the National Student Drama Festival' (ISBN 1-84002-553-0).
• 'NSDF Programme 2010' (printed and distributed by the Festival)
• 'NSDF Programme 2011'

External links

• National Student Drama Festival