Student Talent Shines at Festival
This year’s Hat Fair saw more eager student performers take to the stage in Winchester city centre, once more for the chance to win the coveted Top Hat competition.
A Platform for New Talent
The contest, which forms part of the festival’s programme each year, gives University of Winchester students and recent graduates the chance to present newly devised and original work to win mentoring and opportunities to perform in the future.
In July, 2nd-year BA Acting students performed to a large and enthusiastic audience in Abbey Gardens. This year’s competing acts were Midnight Hags and dare to diverge.
Bold, Original Performances
dare to diverge were first to perform with Bunch of Clowns. In red, blue and green headbands, checked trousers and face paint, the three ‘clowns’ kept the audience transfixed with their jolly and energetic dance and circus routines while exploring the subject of gender.
While Midnight Hags performed Agnes of God. Inspired by American playwright John Pielmeier’s work and dressed in striking white smocks and face paint, their movement piece centred around good and evil, the impact of the patriarchy and women’s health.
Judging and Mentoring
The performances were received warmly and supported by the crowd, and were judged by Kate Mellors – a vocalist, composer, multi-instrumentalist, who also runs Herd – a local female choir based in the woods; Ness Evans – an agent for actors and writers; and Richard Hurford – a director, playwright, new writing consultant, and more.
They said dare to diverge’s traditional street performance had ‘a fresh, quirky and engaging contemporary spin’; while Midnight Hags’ interpretation of the text in an outdoor space was ‘a fascinating experiment with striking and innovative results’.
They commented: ‘Both entrants demonstrated accomplished performance skills combined with a desire to tackle challenging material. Ultimately, we felt that dare to diverge’s work had the greater potential as an outdoor piece and was at the right stage of development to benefit most from the Top Hat mentoring.’
dare to diverge will now receive mentoring from Play to the Crowd's Engagement Producer, Hannah Jones – who will also explore future opportunities for them to perform.
She said: ‘Top Hat 2025 was a brilliant celebration of bold, high quality work – from dare to diverge’s daring exploration of toxic masculinity to the physical storytelling of Agnes of God, each piece pushed boundaries and showcased skill and creativity.’
Returning Winners: Truth Be Told Theatre Company
Hat Fair also saw the return of last year’s Top Hat winners, Truth Be Told Theatre Company, with a new version of their show, Shrewish Women.
Inspired by Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, it honoured the women who came before them, who challenged social norms and expectations.
As part of it’s development, in the run-up to Hat Fair the company worked with women supported by local homeless charity, Trinity Winchester, on masks and protest banners so that they could perform with the act on the day.
Hannah said: ‘It was a joy to welcome back our 2024 winners, whose new work demonstrated both artistic growth and deep community engagement through workshops with Trinity Women’s Café.’
Hannah added: ‘The standard across the board was really impressive and it was inspiring to see the level of care and commitment that went into the work.
‘I’m excited to see where our 2024 winners go next and I look forward to mentoring dare to diverge as they develop their piece over the coming years. Watch this space!’
Photos by Stuart Allen
