A playwright from Croxley has recently won a major acting award at an Essex theatre festival for his performance as an abuse victim in a self-penned monologue.
Chris McDermott won the Best Performance prize at the Short and Sweet play festival series event in Britain, hot off the heels off winning Best Script at the festival series’ event in Dubai earlier this year.
He also claimed the runners-up prize for Best Script at this festival as well.
In the monologue, titled Connections, he played the role of someone who had been a victim of both mental and physical abuse throughout his life, with a theme of how past experiences can affect our future selves.
Chris began by portraying the character as a child, then as an adult now deeply scarred by what had happened and then as an isolated old man, alone due to his behaviour towards friends and family.
Speaking about his win, Chris said: “I feel truly blessed to have received the award for Best Performance, as well as the Runners-Up award for Best Script.
“I have written many plays, but this one is probably the darkest, examining the impact, in later life, of abuse an individual suffers as a child. Following my performances more than one member of the audiences told me afterwards that they had been moved to tears.”
Chris says he hopes the play and other works like will contribute to opening up dialogue about mental health problems for people.
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