126:. One of the main planks of the Drama League was its Education platform. This evolved into a strong commitment to new writing and eventually the establishment of competitive Festivals. It provided a central organisation for amateur societies throughout England (despite the name "British"), it conducted drama schools and ran a drama library. By June 1923 there were 360 affiliated societies which included amateur and professional bodies. In 1926 professionals were expressing concern that the rapid growth of amateur drama was likely to cause problems with too many people trying to enter an already overcrowded profession. A Council Meeting was held to discuss this and in 1927 it was noted that the league's monthly journal 'Drama' was selling 3000 copies. This interest had started a British 'Festival of Community Drama' which was used to find an entry for the American New York Little Theatre Tournament. Other aspects of the league's work included the making of a substantial contribution to the Stratford-on-Avon Memorial Theatre, visits to Europe to help establish Festivals and the organisation of summer schools.
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festival as it was known. The next year the number was up to one hundred and fifty. In 1930 the number was 400, in 1932 600, and by 1936 seven hundred and forty seven groups had entered. Very quickly a system of rounds had therefore been developed to cope with the numbers of entries. There was a first round at a regional level from which adjudicators would send their selections forward to a second round. Another set of adjudicators would then send a selection forward to a final round held annually in London. This final round, started in 1927, included
Scottish entries, thus there was no English Final as such.
122:, that "Drama was par excellence the art of the people, and the Theatre everyone's business". There was a wide range of individuals on the first committee. The Drama League was in essence an association composed of individual co-operators in amateur drama and affiliated amateur dramatic groups. It was very active in the pursuit of the creation of a
217:
England is divided into 4 Areas for the purposes of this
Festival. Each Area is also divided into a number of Divisions according to the size and / or history of the individual Areas. Each division has a number of festivals and, dependent on the festival, either the winner or the winner and runner-up
479:
is organised annually in Spring by the
Shropshire Drama League. It seeks to showcase the best in amateur theatre from around the county and is an initial round of the "All England Theatre Festival" . The competition is organised into both adult and youth sections and each competing team presents a
161:
the regions started to organise their own
Festivals and the first England only Final was held in 1947. Until 1957 the organisation of subsequent annual Finals continued to be run by the British Drama League and eventually became the remit of the All England Theatre Festival. After 1957 the role of
134:
It has been argued that 1926 is the most important date in the history of the revival of the one-act play. The reason being that it was in 1926 that the
British Drama League held its first experimental festival of one-act plays. In its first year seven societies took part in the competition, or
162:
the
British Drama League gradually faded away to be replaced by a mixture of support groups. The British Drama League became the British Theatre Association, with effect from 1 November 1972 and for financial reasons was dissolved in 1990. Its collections of play scripts (presented by
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in performance throughout
England. It provides an opportunity for Amateurs to compete against like-minded groups and to benefit from the adjudication they receive to improve the quality of their performance. The AETF also maintains contact with other leading bodies involved in
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and the
British Finals Standing Committee. The festival is also involved with the Geoffrey Whitworth Trophy Competition, in conjunction with the other 'Hosts' of the British Festival, to judge original unpublished scripts that are first produced within the relevant festivals.
142:, had set up their own annual knockout festival which experienced similar success and by 1937 was attracting around three hundred and fifty entries. The Scottish festival had its own Scottish final, which went on to the London final to compete with English teams.
218:
will proceed to the
Divisional Quarter Final. The winners of the Divisional Quarter Finals go forward to the Area Semi-final. The winners of the four Area Semi-finals go forward to the English Final. The member festivals in 2008 were as follows:
149:. The war brought a significant reduction in the league's membership but activities continued as best they could throughout. The emphasis changed somewhat to encourage Youth clubs and military units for educational purposes.
484:
judges the teams and announces winners. The winning team is then eligible to represent
Shropshire in succeeding rounds of the knockout competition which culminates in the British Final in June.
178:
The All-England Theatre Festival organises an eliminating series of Festivals which leads ultimately to the English Finals. The winner of the English Final goes on to compete in the
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The history of the All-England Theatre Festival dates back to 1919, when the British Drama League was formed. The public inauguration of the league took place at the
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In 1938 the final of the National Festival was held outside London for the first time following the invitation of the
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throughout the United Kingdom by means of its membership of the Central Council for Amateur Theatre, The
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The One-Act Play Today: A Discussion of the Technique, Scope and History of the Contemporary Short Drama
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The One-Act Play Today: A Discussion of the Technique, Scope and History of the Contemporary Short Drama
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in London with the remaining part of the collection held by the Drama Association of Wales.
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210:). This "British Final Festival of One Act Plays" is the culmination of the
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Northern Area – Semi Final – contested by winners of quarter-finals below
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Western Area – Semi-final – contested by winners of quarter-finals below
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Eastern Area – Semi-final – contested by winners of quarter-finals below
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Central Area – Semi-final – contested by winners of quarter-finals below
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186:(Drama Association of Wales's Wales Final Festival of One Act Plays),
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In 1927, the Scottish counterpart of the British Drama League, the
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on 22 June and was said by the first director of the league, Mr.
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English Final – contested by winners of semi-finals below
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Birmingham's Festival of Acting and Musical Entertainment
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Manx Amateur Drama Federation, One Act Play Festival
83:("AETF") organises the only countrywide eliminating
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59:
51:
43:
35:
480:one-act play. A professional adjudicator from the
431:Southern Division (Western Area) – Quarter Final
446:Western Division (Western Area) – Quarter Final
401:Central Division (Western Area) – Quarter Final
313:Western Division (Central Area) – Quarter Final
288:Central Division (Central Area) – Quarter Final
356:South Division (Eastern Area) – Quarter Final
341:North Division (Eastern Area) – Quarter Final
556:"History of the All-England Theatre Festival"
386:West Division (Eastern Area) – Quarter Final
371:East Division (Eastern Area) – Quarter Final
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182:against the winners of similar Festivals in
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527:
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39:Location of participating festivals varies
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614:, p45 (Cambridge University Press, 1996)
502:"About the All-England Theatre Festival"
272:Hull & East Riding District Festival
257:Nidderdale & District Drama Festival
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253:North Central Division – Quarter Final
180:British Final Festival of One Act Plays
302:Stoke-on-Trent Annual One Act Festival
212:National Festival of Community Theatre
204:Association of Ulster Drama Festivals
7:
612:Cambridge Paperback Guide to Theatre
425:Harold Joliffe One Act Play Festival
268:North East Division – Quarter Final
228:North West Division – Quarter Final
192:Scottish Community Drama Association
147:Scottish Community Drama Association
140:Scottish Community Drama Association
166:) are held in the most part by the
380:Waltham Forest Festival of Theatre
14:
30:All-England Theatre Festival Logo
415:Cheltenham One Act Play Festival
360:Southern Counties Drama Festival
292:Leicester & Rutland Festival
24:
588:, p228, (Ayer Publishing, 1970)
545:, p229, (Ayer Publishing, 1970)
658:1947 establishments in England
610:Sarah Stanton, Martin Banham,
420:Somerset County Drama Festival
327:The Worcester Theatre Festival
1:
477:The Shropshire Drama Festival
472:The Shropshire Drama Festival
331:The Shropshire Drama Festival
653:Theatre festivals in England
242:Merseyside Preliminary Round
81:All-England Theatre Festival
19:All-England Theatre Festival
638:Guild of Drama Adjudicators
582:The One-Act Play in England
535:The One-Act Play in England
482:Guild of Drama Adjudicators
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601:(Society of Authors, 1978)
584:in William Kozlenko, Ed.,
307:Warwickshire Play Festival
297:Tamworth Hastilow Festival
94:Drama Festivals Consortium
440:The Totton Drama Festival
390:Maidenhead Drama Festival
85:contest for one-act plays
23:
317:Hereford County Festival
450:The Teignmouth Festival
214:in the United Kingdom.
153:The English only finals
72:http://www.aetf.org.uk/
597:Victor Bonham-Carter,
410:Bristol Drama Festival
345:Bedford Drama Festival
599:Authors by Profession
277:Saltburn '53 Festival
237:West Pennine District
208:Ulster One-Act Finals
106:British Drama League
435:Dorset Drama League
405:Avon Drama Festival
130:The early festivals
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365:Elmbridge Festival
350:Cambridge Festival
120:Geoffrey Whitworth
455:Cornwall Festival
375:Southend Festival
262:Richmond Festival
90:Amateur Dramatics
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628:Official Website
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558:. Archived from
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539:William Kozlenko
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504:. Archived from
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460:Exmouth Festival
232:Cumbria District
200:Northern Ireland
159:Second World War
124:National Theatre
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52:Type of play(s)
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55:One Act Plays
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510:. Retrieved
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63:Final – June
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647:Categories
488:References
157:After the
174:Structure
116:Haymarket
566:5 August
512:5 August
188:Scotland
36:Location
633:website
541:, Ed.,
101:History
68:Website
44:Founded
198:) and
184:Wales
568:2008
514:2008
79:The
47:1947
537:in
206:'s
194:'s
649::
522:^
114:,
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202:(
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