We have had a very busy past week, performing for Brixfest, with a show about the 1866 Great Gale of Brixham, starting the pickup filming for Mordred, and fundraising as always! So sorry about the radio silence.

A look behind the scenes at filming pickups for Mordred

Today, four of our team appeared in a 1950s musical film, Daddys Letter, being made by LVM Productions at the Edge in Brixham - a great day, with lots of other lovely people, recreating a 1950s dancehall at The Edge

(press release) #EpicAwards2017

Brixham theatre & film team, of local people, win national arts award.

The South Devon Players Theatre & Film Company are excited to announce that on the evening of March 19th, 2017 at an awards ceremony at the Sage conference centre in Newcastle, they were presented with the Epic Award for England. Laura Jay, one of the founders, and Michael Mirsadeghi, who is the head of editing, and one of the cameramn of the Players current 6th Century Arthurian feature film Mordred, travelled to Newcastle to collect the award on behalf of the team, but as Laura feels it important to point out, this has been earned by efforts and collaborations of the entire team, not by any one person.

There is growing recognition in the media and in public policy of the importance of everyday participation in creativity. The Epic Awards  shines a spotlight on the incredible achievements of these groups each year.
Winning groups are those that demonstrate the four Epic qualities – Engagement, Partnership, Innovation and Creativity.

Matt Hancock MP, Minister of State for Digital and Culture in the UK stated ""The fantastic work of the South Devon Players shows what can be achieved by the ingenuity and determination of arts groups."

This is wonderful recognition for a group which was founded by local Brixham performers, 11 years ago, on the proceeds of a carboot sale, and has grown into a vibrant theatre & film team, who perform newly researched historical shows around Devon, and whose film work is gaining recognition and awards abroad.
In addition the Players work hard to promote the skills of local creatives, with workshops and training, networking events, and involvement with other local organisations.

The award will stand next to the Torbay “Creativity In The Community” trophy won in 2010.

The group are currently in rehearsals for their summer stage show, a steampunk theatre production telling the story of the mysterious Victorian killer known as “Jack The Ripper” and also busy fund-raising for the final few days of filming their 6th Century Arthurian feature film, Mordred, the trailer for which is already selected for screening at international film festivals, in Hollywood, New York, Barcelona, as well as at Torbays very own English Riviera film festival. The crowdfund – as well as more information about the film, is at https://igg.me/at/Mordred2017b/x/12578926 all assistance in promoting the crowdfund and the project is much appreciated.

(for press use -
full resolution images: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B6rYYXmTbCQ9c2F6bU5pNVNkczA )


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email sdevonplayers@gmail.com
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A look behind the scenes at our "just for fun" project "Dark & Light", a one-day-shoot Harry Potter fanfilm. Photos by Nicole Rosen, (and one is a still off footage by Emily Anne Ephraums) and featuring the lovely team: Megan Tarrant James Scott Jem Snow Kerrie Louise Maria Emily Anne Ephraums Hayley Tink Rushton Sam Burns, Rich Sandford Laura Jay/ Eluiana Jay. While fanfilms are obviously not a core part of what we do, they are great fun as small projects to practice skills, and create showreel material.

Last night, at the same time as bring broadcast on BBC television news, we were also launching our crowdfund. This fund will mean that we can complete the film with the final scenes, and also get it edited to the same beautiful standard as the trailer.

If you are in any way able to support the crowdfund, even if it is just with £1, or by sharing the links please help us, we have come so far, it would be a real pity to fall at the last hurdle.

So, yesterday, some of out team had the great pleasure of filming a news reel for local BBC television news, about the recent successes of the Mordred trailer, leading to the Epic Awards nomination and being a semi finalist in the Los Angeles cinefest.

Much though we avoid the use of the word "amateur", as many of our team are working professional actors, and the rest all aspiring professionals, we are still very happy with the news article.

Epic Awards - national arts award finalists

(Don't forget, please vote for us at http://www.voluntaryarts.org/epic-awards-peoples-choice-voting It only takes a moment)

We are over the moon to be able to announce that due to our work locally, and our film project Mordred, we have been shortlisted for a national arts award. Epic Awards is held annually to celebrate grassroots local arts, and this would be absolutely amazing to get further - although it is a huge compliment to be even shortlisted.


Semifinalists in Los Angeles Cinefest

Just as we were trying to get over that today, an email came in, to tell us that we are also semifinalists in the Los Angeles CineFest. Mordred, our first ever feature film, a dark, tragic drama set in 6th Century Devon and Cornwall, following the legends of King Arthur's illegitimate son Mordred is in the late stages of production, with a handful more scenes to film when the weather gets better, and has a trailer already released (you can view it here on Youtube   This trailer has been released to film festivals around the world, and has already made it into two US filmfestivals: Indieboost, and Los Angeles Cinefest, as well as the Barcelona film festival in Spain.

As those who follow our work will know, we are all about pushing our actors to achieve excellence in their performances, towards all creating professional performances, and breaking out of the stereotype that all local theatre and film projects must be "amdram" and that regional people may be "unskilled" - so we provide as much training as we can, and also let our team know about other training opportunities that come up, allowing our lovely people to expand skills so that there are a wide range of skills and abilites that they have both for projects with us, for later if registered with our casting agency, and for going out and finding performance work on other productions regionally or nationally. 

Yesterday those of our team who were able, attended a day course "Riding for Film and Television" at the fantastic Polmartin Riding Stables, in Cornwall (highly recommended if you wish to learn or practice your riding, run by people who do a lot of horse work for films).
Laura, Sharon, and Megan attended, and more of our team hope to attend similar courses in future. These are suitable for beginner and experienced riders, so absolutely brilliant.

Our casting agency is now re-launched, and ready to hit the ground running.

We have found that over the years we often get approached for external castings, for all manner of projects, from student films to large international productions, and the idea to create our casting agency formed from that, in line with our group ethos, of making opportunities for local actors who otherwise might not have so many chances to get noticed, and build a career (after all, our group was formed because of just that lack of opportunity, so we decided to put on our own work).

We have decided to take a strict line with the agency; not anybody can join, only those performers with us who have performed with us recently, and reliably, with not only excellent acting skills, but also excellent professional behaviour "behind the scenes" as well (timekeeping, teamwork, reliability, etc). Once someone has proven themselves on our in-house productions, then they are eligible to join the agency if they so wish.

Unlike many agencies, we dont charge a fee. If an actor gets paid work through the agency, and they are happy to do so, we simply ask that they consider a completely optional donation back into our running costs.

Today, we begin to advertise. Some of our team are still sorting out their information for the page, and several more people look to be invited to join at the close of our winter Cabaret show (see the box office page if you want to come and see that!)

So, if you are seeking to cast for theatre, film, modeling or voice overs, please get in touch with us!

The page for the agency is here LINK

We are delighted to announce that our film Mordred is now listed on the British Film Council website
http://film.britishcouncil.org/mordred