PART 6
Headlining
In 1996, Wick Players entered SCDA's Three-Act Play Festival with "Don't Dress for Dinner", a comedy adaption of a two-act play by French playwright, Marc Camoletti. Directed by Donald Farmer, the club performed this play in our local Assembly Rooms at which the adjudicator of the festival was present at. A total of 96 out of 100 marks were awarded for the performance. This was the highest mark ever given by an adjudicator at the time and was a huge achievement for Wick Players.
1998 seen the climax of Wick Players' success when it came to SCDA's Festival of One-Act Plays. Under the direction of Chairman at the time, Donald Farmer, the club entered "Lone Star" by James McLure featuring three talented actors; Andrew Craigie, Kevin Farmer and Benny Douglas. The team reached the British Final and won, being the recepients of the well-coveted Howard de Walden Trophy. This was a huge achievement, not only for a team from Scotland but it certainly helped to put Caithness on the map, showcasing an excellent piece of theatre and proving that some of the best drama in the UK can be found in Caithness. Upon the team's return to Wick following the festival, a presenttaion was held in Wick Town Hall. Two paitings, one depiciting the cast in action and one of the play's set was commissioned to mark what was a very momentous occasssion for the local community. These paintings now hang in the David Mowat Room in Wick Assembly Rooms.
In 2001, success was found again when Wick won through to the British Final with Luigi Januzzi's "A Bench at the Edge" and again won for the nation. Overall, the club have appeared at three British Finals, lastly in 2007 with "The Pushcart Peddlers" by Murray Schisgal. Over the years, we have appeared at many Scottish Finals and each time we take something different home; new ideas and ways in which we can improve performance for the future.
In the early 2000's, enquiries were made into the former Barrogill Hall, which for many years had served as a place of worship and had been lying empty but after it had been inspected by member Ian Mackenzie, who was a skilled crafts-man, it wad found that the premises would require a lot of work which would have been extremely costly; but in 2004, the former Grover Clyne's store in Moray Street came on the market and the idea of making this the home of Wick Players was suggested to the club. With this idea in mind, Donald Farmer, Jack Steele and Allan Bruce went to view the building, the idea was put forward to the committee and the rest is history. With the backing of a kind and generous community, Wick Players became the proud owners of 14/14a Moray Street and the premises over the years has been transformed into what is now known as Moray Street Drama Centre.
In 2018 Wick Junior Players under the joint direction of Kelly Davidson and Raymond Cooper performed "Hoodie" by Lindsay Price in both the Open and Youth Sections of the festival. It was here that headlines were made as the junior players had made it through to the National Youth Final, a first for Wick Players. With x11 of a cast plus a production team, the club headed to Plockton by bus to participate in a weekend of community drama which was enjoyed by all. Again in 2024, we seen success with our new generation of junior players winning the Highland Divisional Youth Final, achieveing a place to represent the Highlands at the National Youth Final.
