Stamford director and local cast progress to All England Theatre Festival semi-finals

A local cast and director are one performance away from reaching a national theatre final.

Stamford-based director Matthew Clift and a three-strong cast headed to Stone, in Staffordshire, on Saturday to perform in the quarter-finals of the All England Theatre Festival.

Having won the regional heat with Matthew’s authorised adaptation of Howard Brenton’s Warmind, the production was named runner-up at the Crown Wharf Theatre last weekend to book its place in the semi-finals.

They will take place on Saturday, May 24 at the Little Theatre, in Leicester - the same venue which hosted their successful regional heat.

The production is now just one away from being performed at the English final of one-act plays which will feature the best companies from across the country.

Last month, the cast of Ben Stroud, from Market Deeping, Ellie Dickinson, from Oakham, and Peterborough-based actress Nikki Amory earned three nominations and an award at the Birmingham and District Theatre Guild One Act Play Festival.