VDL Awards Entries 2026

Witness for the Prosecution centres around Leonard Vole, a young man who stands accused of murdering a rich widow. The stakes are high with shocking witness testimony, impassioned outbursts from the dock and a young man’s fight to escape the hangman’s noose.

Generally regarded as one of Christie’s most accomplished plays, this suspenseful thriller keeps audiences guessing until the very end.

Performed at the Old Melbourne Magistrates Court by members of the Melbourne legal profession and greater Melbourne creative community as part if Victoria Law Foundation’s “Law Week” 2026.

This is an encore season with some new and returning cast members after performing the original sellout season as part of “Law Week” in 2023.

“One of the best plays of the decade”

Warrandyte Theatre Company are delighted to stage The Father, an extraordinary play that captivated Paris, London and New York when it was first performed.

The Father offers a fascinating look inside the mind of Andrew, a retired dancer living with his adult daughter Anne and her husband. Or is he a retired engineer receiving a visit from Anne who has moved away with her boyfriend? Why do strangers keep turning up in his room? And where has he left his watch?”

A touching, funny and worrying story; The Guardian gave the London production a rare, five-star review, calling it “the best play of the year” in 2015. The Times described The Father as “one of the best plays of the decade”.

The 2020 film, starring Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman, closely follows the play. It won Academy Awards – for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Actor, for Anthony Hopkins.

The Kingdom of Denmark is unsettled.
The King is dead and Queen Gertrude has married Claudius, her late husband’s brother, elevating him to the throne. Prince Hamlet is thrown into turmoil – grief, suspicion and range simmer beneath the surface. But when the ghost of Hamlet’s father appears before the young Prince and reveals his murderer, Hamlet swears vengeance.
Set against the backdrop of the 21st century, William Shakespeare’s timeless masterpiece remains a powerful revenge tragedy which examines doubt, corruption and justice.

Utterly raw, emotional and powerful, Birdsong is a beautiful and haunting story about one man’s journey through an all-consuming, illicit love affair and into the horror of the First World War. Set alternately between the Battle of the Somme and the French village of Amiens, the play ebbs and flows between the tender love story, the heart-warming camaraderie of the soldiers and the harsh realities of war: once seen, never forgotten.

This impactful and insightful stage adaptation of Sebastian Faulks’ critically-acclaimed novel is a tribute to love, courage and the endurance of the human spirit