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www.abingdon.org.uk 13 Abingdon Drama A team of students from the Abingdon Film Unit (AFU) has made a short film at Sobell House to raise awareness of the hospice’s work whilst developing their skills as young filmmakers. The film crew of Charlie Landells, Freddie Marshall and Scott Thomson started work in October 2016 under the watchful eye of London- based artist, professional filmmaker and AFU tutor Duncan Pickstock. Sixth former Charlie Landells said, “Working on the Sobell House shoot has been one of the most eye-opening and rewarding shoots I’ve been involved in, and I sincerely hope it helps to raise money for what is a very worthwhile and necessary cause.” The film can be seen at www.sobellhouse.org/film Much Ado About Nothing This refreshingly modern take on Shakespeare’s comedy, featured everything from contemporary dance and live music to motorised grannies. Roles, relationships and rationales for unreasonable actions were never more clearly defined and excellent acting from the stellar cast of 21 students and a masterful stage-management team, made for an outstanding production. Playing to sell out audiences over three nights Director Jo Watt’s strikingly relevant interpretation of the text garnered huge applause and raucous laughter from even self-professed Shakespeare- phobes, some declaring that they had fully understood one of the Bard’s plays for the very first time. High praise indeed. Limbo by Louis Edward Fade Away by David Bicarregui Filming at Sobell House Congratulations to David Bicarregui and Louis Edward from the AFU who both had their films accepted for the “Screentest” National Student Film Festival in London in March. Both films had already earned their directors a Michael Grigsby Young Filmmaker Award. At Screentest, ‘Fade Away’ was not only nominated for ‘Best Experimental Film’ but also won the ‘Best Young Filmmaker Award’. Passing the “Screentest”