For the dates of the Festival see our Current Events page.

To find out how to be in the Festival you can order a prospectus, contact us.

In 1949 Skegness Playgoers started a One Act Play Festival at the Pier Theatre. Fourteen drama groups entered (with only four male performers, and two of those from Skegness). There were four awards, Best Group, Producer, Actor and Actress.

In 1960 the Festival was extended to include full length plays and from 1966 to 2005 was for full length plays only.

1998 was the Golden 50th Festival and we started the Youth One-Act Festival.

2006 saw 5 nights of full length plays and one night of three one act plays. We will be guided by future entries to apportion the Festival nights.

There are now fourteen trophies for the Festival, covering the whole spectrum of theatre, ranging from individual and group work to awards for backstage work and innovation. Many have been donated by the competing teams themselves.

The Festival has been held in many different venues but home is now the Embassy Theatre in Skegness and the Skegness Festival is a member of the National Drama Festivals Association (NDFA). Since 1974 eight of the winning teams have competed in the NDFA All-Winners Festival. In 1979 Skegness Playgoers were runners-up in this prestigious Festival with UPROAR IN THE HOUSE. In 1982 Skegness Playgoers hosted the All-Winners Festival in the Arcadia Theatre.

The Full length play trophies are:

In 2005 we put forward the idea of including One-Act Plays in the festival but did not get any entries. We will try again in 2006.

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