Ten plays will be battling it out to win one of Swindon’s answers to the Oscars in the Harold Jolliffe One Act Play Festival.

The 62nd One Act Play Festival takes place from February 12 to 14 at the Swindon Arts Centre, Devizes Road in Old Town.

The overall winner of the Swindon festival goes through to the next round of the All England Theatre Festival, and if they win that they could be in the English and British finals.

This year sees two new companies join the ranks of the festival: Whole Hog with the comedy Directions, written by Swindon’s own Chris Scott and Danuki, who will be performing Ever The Better Ego which is a comedy drama written by Dan-Alex.

The festival director is Ashley Heath, himself a member of the Old Town Theatre Company.

He said: “I’m really happy that the Harold Jollife 2009 is another year where we have attracted 10 plays over three days. We had interest from more performing companies than we could fit in.”

This is at a time when other festival in the UK are dwindling and some closing all together.

“Swindon seems to be bucking that trend, even in the face of a recession,” said Ashley.

The actors will tread the boards in front of an adjudicator and the audience and get professional feedback on their performances.

The audience are also encouraged to put pen to paper and judge the plays as they go along using the same criteria as the adjudicators, including categories of acting, set and technical issues.

Tickets are £7.50 from 01793 614837.