The one-act play Goodbye Charles by Gabriel Benjamin Davis has been selected by Banbury Cross Players for 2025 summer season. It was performed at competitive festivals at Lighthorne, Abingdon and Wallingford in June and will be at our season preview in the autumn.
Banbury Cross Players One Act Play Festival Entry 2025.
The Cast was as follows:
Jill – Deborah Galea
Barb – Hilary Beaton
Violet/ Cynthia – Zoey Warnock
Charles – Rob Hoare
Andre/Kennedy/David – Ian Nutt
Jill is a woman forlorn, not only does her husband want a divorce, but Charles has gone missing too. She recounts her epic (and farcical) story to try and find him to her best friend, Barb – including suspicion, mystery, and outlandish cheese clubs in this quick-paced comedy.
Goodbye Charles was performed at Lighthorne, Abingdon, Wallingford and Banbury (as a part of our 2025-2026 season preview). In addition as winners at Lighthorne it was also performed at the NDFA national final at Bromsgrove.
Lighthorne Festival of One-Act Plays
BCP performed Goodbye Charles at Lighthorne Village Hall 7:15pm Friday 6 June 2025. See lighthornefestival.org.uk .
With a score of 86 out of 100 given by Tristan Marshall of the Guild of Drama Adjudicators, BCP received a cash prize of £1,000 – the biggest in UK amateur theatre.
Under Festival rules, the payout must be split 50/50 between the winning group and a registered charity. BCP chose two local charities – Homeless Oxfordshire and Asylum Welcome.
BCP also receive a “theirs-to-keep” glass trophy engraved with details of their production. The award also opened up the option to perform at the National Drama Festival in Bromsgrove.
The story was also pulished by Banbury Guardian – see https://www.banburyguardian.co.uk/community/banbury-cross-players-win-drama-festival-5178599
Oxfordshire Drama Network One-Act Drama Festival
BCP performed Goodbye Charles at Unicorn Theatre, Abingdon Friday 20 June 2025. See oxfordshiredramanetwork.org
BCP performed Goodbye Charles at the Corn Exchange, Wallingford on Thursday 26 June 2025. See cornexchange.org.uk
BCP was awarded these trophies at Wallingford for 2025. They are (L to R) The Susan North Memorial Trophy (for a special moment), Best Overall Production and The Punter’s Prize (decided by the votes of audience members who have seen ALL the productions)
The Special moment was for Ian’s Cheesemonger scene.
Bromsgrove
Following our success in gaining 1st place at the Lighthorne Festival, Goodbye Charles was also be performed at the NDFA National Drama Festival at Artrix, Slideslow Drive, Bromsgrove B60 1GN. 31 July 2025. See ndfa.co.uk for more information.
Goodbye Charles was performed in our 2025-2026 Season Preview.
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