Welcome to the Hertford Theatre Week Website.

Hertford Theatre Week is a six night drama festival with a different production every night in the heart of Hertford. Teams travel from all over the country to compete for trophies and the chance to compete in the NDFA All Winners Final. 2008 sees the 47^th Hertford Theatre Week and brings the number of productions to 282.

The Festival was instigated when a small committee from Hertford Dramatic & Operatc Society, investigating the possibilities of further stimulating amateur drama, invited neigbouring Societies and Drama Groups to perform one of their own productions under festival conditions. With rules agreed and sufficient support promised to ensure a full week's programme of six different plays, 1962 saw the first Hertford Theatre Week.

Sponsorship of the first ten years was provided by the directors of the Hertfordshire Mercury and County Press, the publishers of our local newspaper and supporters of local drama. Since 1972 Hertford Dramatic & Operatic Society have not only been the hosts and organisers but also the main sponsors.

In recent years the Festival has been completely self financing and, unlike many full-length play festials which draw sponsorship from their local authority or commercial organisations, our only revenue comes from the Box Office sales.

The Festival is run by a team of unpaid volunteers, many of who give up some of their annual holiday to work on the competition and whose only reward is their love of theatre and the satisfaction of being involved in what is now recognised as one of the leading full-length drama competitions in the country.