The Famous for 15 Minutes playwriting competition has become my favourite yearly event at The Bermuda Musical and Dramatic Society?s Daylesford Theatre.

Now in its third year, the competition allows six aspiring playwrights to see their 15-minute plays performed. The winner receives the coveted Golden Inkwell. Of course, just being selected as a finalist (this year out of 21 entries) is an impressive and significant accomplishment.

Six new short plays were premiered at the Daylesford Theatre on Wednesday night to a capacity crowd, with the undoubtedly nervous and proud playwrights in attendance. It was an intense and varied evening with welcome moments of humour.

The event had a very strong beginning with veteran local theatre personality Jean Hannant?s fine, directed by Richard Fell. The single character, Loretta, a proud, homeless woman, was played powerfully by the fabulous Ruth Thomas.

With a broad, beautiful Bermudian accent she and Richard Fell created a very real and familiar character. Whilst feeding the pigeons in the park, with everyday Bermudian expressions and humorous anecdotes Loretta told us of losing her husband at sea, her short period of employment and how she came to live in a shelter.

Despite the appropriately simplistic dialogue Jean has captured the music and quirks of Bermudian expression with precision and grace.

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Second was , a play based on an old woman, Hilda, now in an old folk?s home, and her decision and regret at not giving her virginity to her fianc?, a soldier who died in war. Hilda was portrayed by Denise Astwood, who successfully conveying a woman still lamenting the love of her life.

Rowan Hallet played Maureen, the potty-mouthed and verbally abusive nurse and Richard Harris was the soldier who we saw in flashbacks. Both performances had a slightly soap opera sheen. ?Orange? was written by Kelvin Hastings-Smith and directed by Angie Gentleman. All mannered language and star-crossed, I found the play slightly contrived, especially concerning the dramatic transformation of Maureen who was originally monstrous.

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, written by last year?s winner Deborah Pharoah followed. Directed by Nancy Thompson, the play deals with a woman named Ellen and her arrival at a place where she can forgive her deceased, alcoholic father for the dysfunctional family that his drinking created.

Ellen was portrayed as an adult, by Debbie Mello and as a teen, very convincingly, by Madison Mello. Philip Corigliano, played the verbally abusive dad with heart-wrenching subtlety.

?We Used to Laugh? explores the cyclical nature of dysfunction and the seemingly insignificant events in our childhood that can scar us and without examination poison our lives. Although poignant I found the heavy symbolism of ?the bottle? a bit much. The situation, though, had a ring of discomfortingly lingering and unfortunate truth.

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Henry Godfrey?s hilarious testosterone-fest, entitled came after intermission. Well directed by Shirley Cook with a set consisting simply of a metal barrier that kept all of the male energy effectively harnessed, the play was set during a match on an English minor league football ground.

Mark Pettingill was outstanding as Joe and Shawn Angiers, Nick Curror and Jonah Jones all put in fine performances.

Darkly funny and devilishly entertaining with well-drawn characters the play shows the alcohol and adrenaline induced deterioration of a guys? outing from a day at the game to unwitting revelations of infidelity sandwiched between the usual name calling and macho gossip. I loved this well-crafted comedy and the men made it work.

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Andra Simons? deeply disturbing and poetic directed by Brian Webb, followed. The single character, Sandra, was played, with presence by resonant-voiced actress/singer Khalilah Smith.

?Star Songs? invites the audience, in the form of Sandra?s perfect sister, to witness a very personal and introspective confrontation between the two. With heightened language, and extended metaphor Sandra allows us to experience her unraveling which is the result of a miscarriage suffered six years prior and familial emotional ostracism.

Her hyper-lucid lapse of sanity was almost frightening to watch ? the knowing smile, the odd resolve. A heavy unconventional piece, loaded with lovely Bermudiana, I felt that the unnecessary lighting changes made it a bit too precious at points. The words and a capable actress were all that were needed.

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, written by Carol Birch and directed by Marie Hans Kromer was the final play of the evening. With a cast of three women and a completely black set, suggesting an abandoned warehouse in a Muslim region where women are subjugated, this play benefited from its stylised direction.

By using levels and subtle differences in the arrangement of identical black costumes Marie devised a performance that was always beautiful to watch and had an almost palpable urgency.

The writing and portrayal of the characters made them so real and at the same time archetypal.

In the play Minnah, played by the always strong Annette Hallet has summoned her two younger sisters to tell them of a plan she has devised to save the baby who will be born to the youngest Yara, portrayed by Kerry Murphy, who has been raped by soldiers.

The restrained middle sister Dhama, was played by Jeane Butterfield. The three actresses contrasted vividly in their respective portrayals, body types and physical attitudes, adding significantly to the textures of the performance.

It will be interesting to see which play wins. Directing and interpretation by actors can sometimes alter what appears on the page context-wise and even cover up inherent weaknesses.

?Parallel Lives?, which may be a bit obvious, I thought, benefited greatly from direction, staging and cast whereas I suspect that excessive lighting may have detracted a bit from the message of ?Star Songs?.

Slightly more realistic character portrayals in ?Orange? would possibly have better served the writing while Richard Fell and Ruth Thomas? treatment of ?Special Person? magnified the simple beauty of the play.

I personally preferred, on stage, the plays that were in the moment, without flashbacks or existential plane but I have to wonder if my perception would be different if I read them and that is how they are judged.

All six are well-written and that is why they were selected as finalists. In the end it may all come down to personal taste. Good luck to all six finalists.