This year’s Hereford County Drama Festival will be twice the size of last year’s event, with eight exciting productions rather than four.

The event is held at Market Theatre, Ledbury, and will take place over two days instead of the original one day over March 15 and 16 2024.

The annual extravaganza will host plays staged by Bromyard’s Conquest Theatre, WHADS (Wellington Heath Amateur Dramatic Society), John Masefield High School, Malvern Theatres Youth Theatre, Intermission Theatre Group, and Worcestershire’s Tribe Theatre. In addition there will be two productions from LADS – the Ledbury Amateur Dramatic Society.

Festival chairman, David Newton, said: “All the participants are amateurs but work to exacting professional standards.

“I’m delighted to see that the number of entries has doubled and I’m looking forward to what will be yet another fantastic festival.”

Drama groups entering the festival do so by putting on a one-act play.

Alternatively, they can perform an extract from a full-length play which will be intelligible to the audience as a stand-alone work without further written or spoken synopsis. All entries must involve at least two speaking characters and run for a minimum of 20 minutes and a maximum of 55 minutes.

Some other form of theatrical performance may also be acceptable.

The event is governed by the All-England Theatre Festival’s rules. Each performance is assessed by an independent adjudicator and successful productions may be entered into subsequent AETF rounds.

The AETF English final will be held at the Norden Farm Centre for the Arts in Maidenhead on 8 June. The British final will be held at the Perth Theatre in Scotland on 12/13 July.

The Hereford County Drama Festival will be held across three action-packed sessions at the Market Theatre in Ledbury. The first session will begin at 7.00pm on Friday 15 March and the second and third sessions will be held at 2.00pm and 7.00pm respectively on Saturday 16 March.

Ticket prices are the same as they were last year, at £10 for each session. Tickets are available from the Market Theatre’s box office - visit www.themarkettheatre.com, and click on Live Shows.

For further HCDF details please contact press officer Steve Banner on 01989 750241 or email [email protected]

Information can also be found on the festival website - www.herefordcdf.com - on the Hereford County Drama Festival Facebook page and on X/Twitter @DramaHereford.