Mid-Somerset Drama Festival 2026

Crisp Cowley Cup winners (from left to right) Elspeth Geddis, Finn Zanelli, Millie Godfrey

Next Stage Youth (NSY) had very successful results in the Mid-Somerset Drama Festival on March 10th. Our 11-18 year old theatre group competed in two classes with our younger members in the Year 9 and under Group Acting and our older members entered for 19 and Under Group Acting.

The younger group came second in their class, achieving honors for their engaging extract from The Witches. The adjudicator applauded them for their group work, their use of space and excellent mime. Eilidh Henwood received particular praise for her depiction of The Grand High Witch and Theo Sharma was outstanding as beastly Bruno!

Our three older groups performed scenes from Noughts and Crosses and The Children’s Hour. The first group was commended for a powerful scene from Mallory Blackman’s story of teenagers who fall in love against all the odds of class and race. Strong performances were delivered by the NSY actors Juliet Stanbridge and George Chivers portraying Sephy and Callum and they in turn were well supported by the other coherent and focused group members.

The second group, who also did an extract from Noughts and Crosses, came second with honours for a gripping scene between Sephy (Dilys Hughes) and her mother Jasmine (Willow Adams) and father Kamal (Alex Tarasevych. The three actors were congratulated for effective use of dialogue and their movement around the stage.

Finally, the last group were awarded first place and the Crisp Cowley Cup for their excellent three-hander scene from The Children’s Hour. Finn Zanelli played Dr Cardin with Elspeth Geddis as the grandmother figure and Mllie Godfrey as the scheming and manipulative schoolgirl, Mary. Their mature depiction of a tense exchange from this thought-provoking play gripped the adjudicator and the audience alike.

Next Stage Youth’s Artistic Director, Ann Ellison BEM says:

 ‘I am so proud of what our youngsters achieved in this year’s Mid-Somerset Drama Festival. All of them have worked hard since Christmas during their weekly Sunday get-togethers to ensure that their work was of sufficiently high calibre to achieve the marks and comments they so deserved. All of them did a final Showcase of their work to parents and friends at their weekly session on Sunday March 15th at Burdall’s Yard where they meet regularly throughout the term time.’

The NSY Summer term will start on Sunday 26th April. If you are interested in getting involved with this well-established and prestigious theatre group, why not get in touch by emailing nextstagebath@aol.com or calling 01225 428600