Well, the date was not auspicious enough it seems. We came third. So we do not go to Inverness.

We did however get a mention as missing out by a whisker on the Best Production Trophy. (He (adjudicator man) mentioned me by name at this point and I almost bridled with pleasure.) And we also got a mention in the best moment in theatre category for the ending of the play which delighted me as I didn't think we stood any kind of chance in this category given the weirdy nature of the play. So we did respectably.

It was a long haul. Nine plays over three days. The thing that was most shocking was just how shoddy the standard was. You have to wonder how poor the plays that didn't qualify were if this was the nature of those that did.

The winning play was excellently done. Tryst Theatre - who always do well - did Mamet's Duck Variations very nicely. The play that came second was a surprise entry, midway through Saturday evening. Can't even remember the group's name which is terrible given that it was only 2 nights ago but they did a flimsy little play (so bitter!) called A Night Under Canvas, a story of two girls who got accidentally locked into an art gallery and (predictably) ended up pouring out their hopes and fears to each other. But they went at it with great energy, very convincing Welsh accents, a nice set and the overall effect was moderately charming.

And then we were third.

We beat off stiff competition from Kelso's local group who did Camouflage, the tale of two couples on a day out to Monkey Mania, a monkey zoo type thing. One couple is uptight (and English) and the other is fat, vulgar, foolish but lovable. And guess that, the uptight woman is convinced by the fat lovable vulgar woman to stand up to her uptight man and rebel against always being treated like a secretary. Which she did not very convincingly in her irritatingly shrill voice.

Then we had Adam and Eve on a Ferry by Tennessee Williams and by a reasonably good group. This should have been good but DH Lawrence in his dying days, fantasising about a character for his next story, was a terrible actor so it was filled with missed opportunities though played out on a beautiful set.

Any Thane Goes was a retelling of Macbeth by three characters modelled on the Marx Brothers. It was terrible. A Little Box of Oblivion was a stupid story of someone who left a box on a bench in the park, the others thought it might be a bomb, cue general panic. But oh - ho ho ho - it's a tortoise. Philip and Rowena was a turgid tale of Philip and Rowena who found love in their dying days and lived out (briefly) a fantasy courtship in Venice. Then Rowena died. Philip was a terrible actor so you had little idea about whether he cared she was dead at the final curtain. And The Ritual was a weirdy play trying to make profound social comment on the herd mentality of man but had none of the panache needed to carry off such a statement without being didactic.

All in all, a series of treats. I suddenly see why the late great Eric Bennet would have his lot perform their show and then sit in the pub for the rest of the festival. It is no advert for amateur drama.

Anyway, I am now - of course - both bereft and slightly bitter. My competitive spirit would love to have gone through. My practical spirit is slightly glad that we haven't - Andy is away the week of Inverness, Siobhan was threatening to pull out so would I have recast or learnt the part myself?, Mr Grimes would have been fighting me for Alex and Matt and so on and so forth - so all in all, it's for the best. Though of course I'm already wondering wondering what I could enter next year.

I shall miss both the play and the rehearsals. Lovely cast. I think we had fun though the director can never be entirely sure. And I loved the script. I keep murmuring lines to myself.

So farewell 4:48. I'm off to practice my fainting...