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All hands to the
pump
HANDS-ON PRODUCTION SERVICES. of Glasgow, reports that its strangest
prop request of 2011 came from The Glasgow Academy.
For its production of Memory of Water, it requested a retro
breast pump. After a bit of research and creative input, something was
rustled up to save the day – along with a special trick mirror that was
also needed.
Fright nights at Hall Green
HALL GREEN LITTLE THEATRE
is going ghostly.
The occasion is The Exorcism,
the Don Taylor drama that aims at riveting you to your seat as it
introduces audiences to strange goings-on in a haunted cottage.
The play was originally broadcast
in 1972 as one of six plays in the BBC supernatural series Dead of
Night.
It runs from January 27-February
4 and the bar is open from 7-11pm. Tickets start at £6
plus £1 membership, with free parking. HGLT
promises a scary night out – but the prices can’t be blamed for that.
Telling you just the once
Members of the audience are being invited to turn up
in 1940s costumes when they attend performances of 'Allo Allo' by
Walsall's Fellowship Players at the Grange Playhouse, Broadway North,
Walsall.
The show runs from February 2 to February 11 and
deals with the episode in which cafe owner Rene and his wife, Edith,
attempt to hang onto a priceless portrait stolen by the Nazis and kept
in a large sausage in the cafe cellar.
The German Colonel in the play will cast a
beady eye over the audience and award a prize for the best costume.
I vill say zis only once. Tickets are £9 and can be
booked on 01922-630495.
Hurray – it’s Dinner time!
PARDON my excitement,
but The Nonentities are planning to present
Don’t Dress for Dinner,
which ranks high on my list of favourite farces.
I have seen it only once – a Sutton Arts Theatre
production – but I have no hesitation in pronouncing this Marc Camoletti
romp an uninhibited joy.
It’s about Bernard and Robert, two friends enmeshed
in a plot involving a Parisian mistress and a temporarily missing wife.
It is due at The Rose Theatre, Kidderminster, from
April 16-21, and for me it will be the highlight of a season that also
includes Denise Deegan’s Daisy Pulls It Off (June 18-23) –
which also has a special place in my memory ever since a Birmingham
production many years ago issued me with a ticket on which it was called
Daisy Pulls It.
The season also includes Les Liaisons Dangereuses,
by Christopher Hampton (February 20-25), Proof, by David
Auburn (March 26-31) and My Boy Jack, a First World War drama by
David Haig which is usually given a slot round about Armistice Day
by any group that chooses to present it.
The season starts with In Two Minds, the
Richard Harris thriller, on January 23.
There is also a Nonentities Youth Theatre production
of Macbeth – Something Wicked This Way Comes.
Kidderminster Operatic and Dramatic Society will be
making its annual visit from March 8-17 with Calamity Jane and
the KODS youth group has Return to the Forbidden Planet from May
24-26.
The Once Removed Theatre Company brings Peter
Gordon’s Murdered to Death from March 20-24 and Kidderminster
College Performing Arts Students have Our Lads, a new play by
local writer Joshua Read about the conflict in Iraq, on May 31 and June
1.
John Slim
Production problems for two
groups
NEWCASTLE PLAYERS
have had to abandon their proposed production of Ira Levin’s
Deathtrap –
having applied for their performing licence, only to learn that it is
not available for amateur performances anywhere in the UK for the next
12 months.
The Players assume that the play, which goes back to
1978, is to be professionally toured, shown on television or released as
a film.
The good news is that the Staffordshire group’s
spring production will now be Alan Bennett’s Habeas Corpus, the
irreverent farce that was first seen at London’s Lyric Theatre in May,
1973, starring Alec Guinness and Margaret Courtenay.
It follows the sexual proclivities of Dr and Mrs
Arthur Wicksteed – he being in pursuit of a patient, the nubile Felicity
Rumpers, while his wife is lusting after Sir Percy Shorter, who turns
out to be Felicity’s father as a result of whatever happened under the
table during a wartime liaison with Lady Rumpers.
Also involved are the hypochondriac Denis Wicksteed,
the flat-chested Connie Wicksteed and the splendid char, Mrs Swabb.
Meanwhile,
In its place will be Gary
Oldman’s gritty Nil by Mouth, based on what he experienced while
growing up on a council estate in South East London
SAT seeking a stand-in stand-in
WANTED: a stand-in for the stand-in of the
late Sid James.
Sutton Arts Theatre is preparing for its March
production of Cleo, Camping, Emmanuelle and Dick, Terry Johnson’s
story of the making of the Carry On film series – and Len
Schofield, playing Sid James, has had to drop out for medical reasons.
Behind the scenes, the task of carrying on was not
nearly so much fun as the movies made it appear. There was the affair
between Barbara Windsor and Sid James, there were arguments, leaking
caravans and unsatisfactory pay cheques. There was Sid James himself,
who was a manic depressive.
But now, Len Schofield, due to become Sid James for
the SAT production from March 22-31, can no longer take part, so
director Claire Armstrong-Mills is urgently seeking a substitute in
order to get the production off the ground – because it’s a story worth
telling.
She said: “Sid was a real womaniser, drinker and
gambler, and he and Kenneth Williams didn’t get on at all. Kenneth hated
being in the films and Barbara Windsor was with the Krays. It shows how
they were probably not the sort of people you think they were.”
Potential Sids should contact Claire Armstrong-Mills at tjmills@btinternet.com
Smellies for the Players?
LAPWORTH PLAYERS have gone to war – against
the moths that are attacking the fur coats in the company’s wardrobe.
War was preceded by research – which indicated that
the coats should either be put in a freezer or treated with dry ice.
Both solutions were ruled out on practical considerations.
So they were transported in black bin liners to a
stable n the garden of a member, then hung up on clothes lines while the
area was fumigated.
Then came a good brushing down, followed by
vacuuming the inside of the metal trunks that had contained them and
spraying insecticide.
The group’s newsletter reports that the coats were
then to be replaced in the trunks, interleaved with “a commercially
available alternative to mothballs.” And as the Players have also
discovered where to obtain the chemical that comprises mothballs, this
was going to be added as well.
And there’s a happy ending: “So next time we have a
play with a character of an old lady, the characteristic mothball smell
will add authenticity – and who knows, we may be the first amdram
company to introduce ‘smellies’!”
Extraordinary goings-on
radio
GEOFF PRICE, Secretary of Newcastle Players takes up
John Slim’s thoughts on mispronunciation in reporting that he recently
heard a newsreader on BBC Radio Stoke mispronounce extraordinary.
He writes: “The item was about an ‘extraordinary
meeting’ and she pronounced it ik stráwrd’ nǝr,i which
made it sound like a very unusual meeting, when she really meant ékstrǝ
áwrd’nǝri’, i.e. a meeting for a special purpose. Of course, it might
have been a very unusual meeting, even if it was for a special purpose.”
Hold the front page!
The Calendar Girls are
coming home
THE Yorkshire Dales amateur theatre group where John Baker, whose leukemia death inspired the Calendar Girls story, was treasurer have secured the rights to perform a world première, the very first amateur production of the stage show when it is released next year.
Grassington Players, with the support of the
original Calendar Girls - two were members and one still is - as well as
the playwright have been granted special permission by producers
David Pugh Ltd. to stage their break-through performance on Friday,
August 31, 2012, with subsequent shows on Saturday, September 1,
and from September 6-8.
Although almost a year away, plans for the production are already in the making, with open reading and casting dates set for February 6, 9 and 13.
Director Ed Williams said: “It’s fantastic that the
play is going to be performed here in Wharfedale where the story began.
The eyes of the world will be on this production, so a committed team is
required comprising the best talent. There is a lot of work to be done
in order to do justice to the play and the remarkable women it
celebrates.”
Grassington Players have a long history entertaining audiences in the Dales community since they were founded in 1923 and have close links with the real Calendar Girls.
John, whose battle with leukaemia inspired his wife Angela and her friends to produce the original calendar, was House Manager as well as treasurer of Grassington Players for many years.
Angela formerly performed with the company, along
with fellow Calendar Girl Lynda Logan. Among the active members today is
the original Miss January, Beryl Bamforth, a stalwart actress and
director of Grassington Players since 1970.
Stage Manager Mary Wilkinson has stressed that the
show will be a tribute to the amazing strength of spirit shown by the
original girls, and the cast will be anxious to give a faithful and
sympathetic interpretation to their friends’ bitter-sweet story.
The first performance night will be particularly
special, with the play’s author, Tim Firth invited, along with some of
the film and professional stage show performers, and – most important –
the real Calendar Girls.
All profits will be going to Leukaemia Research in
the spirit of their remarkable endeavours. To date, their calendars and
associated charity appearances have raised more than £3 million for the
cause.
Stage 2 sets its own agenda
TO ANYONE who has ever watched a Stage 2
production, it is obvious that this is a company that is not only top of
the charts among youth theatres, but that it holds its own, and
customarily wins hands down, when it is compared with adult groups.
I have been privileged to see this ever-changing
group of youngsters – without, I think, missing any of their ventures –
since its foundation in 1988 by the remarkable Liz Light.
Adhering firmly to the principle that any child is
welcome, with the welcome extending from primary school children to
those in their high teens, she has unfailingly ensured that whatever
they tackle is tackled without a suspicion of a hiccup.
And what they tackle, moreover, does not tend to be
the sort of fare that is normally associated with youth productions.
Anything they tackle is tackled for a reason that is more than simply
staging a show for parents to come and watch.
So Stage 2’s history includes an exploration of the
Theatre of the Absurd, by way of Ionescu’s Rhinoceros, and of
satire via Once a Catholic, peer pressure (The Crucible),
mental health (Equus) and bullying (Lord of the Flies).
Everything is there for a purpose. Stage 2 is not
primarily about giving proud parents a good night out. Plenty to think
about, certainly, but the general idea is not to have them rolling in
the aisles.
Lord of the Flies was particularly apt,
because Stage 2’s website makes a point of its having “zero tolerance of
any kind of bullying.”
NO SURPRISE
It is not the sort of CV that is customarily
attached to youth groups – and it is no surprise whatsoever that the New
Year is not about to find this one lowering its sights.
January will bring two productions, both in the
studio of the Crescent Theatre, Birmingham. The first is Shockheaded
Peter (January 11-14), based on 19th-Century stories by
Heinrich Hoffman,a German doctor who wanted a better class of children’s
book for his three-year-old son.
The production – in line with all Stage 2
productions – will involve a huge cast, this time presenting characters
who include pyromaniac Harriet, cruel Frederick, fidgety Phil,
thumb-sucking Conrad, fartin’ Martin, disobedient David and
head-in-the-air Johnny.
The second is Picasso’s Women, consisting of
eight monologues, four of which will be presented each night during the
run from January 17-21. It is about the way in which the women in the
artist’s life were used and often abused as well as being immortalised
on canvas and in his sculpture.
There is a final touch: it is flagged as not being
suitable for children aged 14 and under. And as if to show that Stage 2
- age range, seven-21 - is not afraid of such warnings, this is the
second time that it has staged Picasso’s Women - the first having been
in 2000.
In keeping with that most of the cast this time
around are 18. All are over 16 - apart from one small boy.
Liz Light says: “We spoke to his family in advance about the content.”
HAVING launched its season with The 39 Steps –
the most fashionable show on the amateur circuit at the moment –
Dudley Little Theatre’s remaining three offerings at Netherton Arts
Centre are Wind in The Willows by Kenneth Grahame, especially
adapted for DLT by Andrew Rock (December 7-10); The Glass Menagerie,
by Tennessee Williams (March 7-10); and Hi De Hi!, by Jimmy
Perry and David Croft, adapted for stage by Paul Carpenter and Ian Gower
(May 9-12).
Ruddigore –
the witch report
What are intriguingly called “some changes to the
plot” are promised, and there is also a change of venue – from
The group is looking for men to play ghosts, sailors
and bucks, and it needs to supplement its female ranks of bridesmaids,
dancers and village folk at the Forest Arts Centre,
Contact details are on Facebook.
It’s
badge time at NODA
THE National Operatic & Dramatic Association (NODA) does like people to know who everybody is.
It is giving its members
the chance to buy any of more than two dozen new badges at £8.76 each
(reduced from £9.75) – and they are on offer at £7.20 each for a group
which buys seven or more.
There are badges for a society president,
vice-president and past president; the chairman and vice-chairman; the
secretary and assistant secretary; the treasurer and assistant
treasurer.
The stage director, choreographer, producer, props
manager, house manager and accompanist can in future be instantly
identified, along with the social manager, the librarian, the lighting
person and any member of the social committee.
There’s a badge for the business manager, the publicity person, wardrobe and every member of the committee.
Who’s doing the lighting? Where will I find a
steward? Is there an official? Look for the lapel and the label.
It was Gilbert & Sullivan who reminded us that when everybody’s somebody, no one’s anybody – but NODA has not quite reached that stage yet.
There is not a badge for chief executive.
Eat
your heart out, Tony Gibbs.
A look back at Billesley
Every amateur theatre group, large or small, is
important. It matters to its local community and it is a reminder to
others that worthwhile performances do not begin and end on a huge stage
in a major playhouse. SHEILA PARKES traces the story of the Billesley
Players, of Kings Heath – almost 40 years old and not a prima donna in
sight.
ALMOST 40 years ago,
in March 1972, the Billesley Players came into being. The first
production, in 1973, was a one-act play
The Practical Approach,
performed on a tiny stage at the Billesley Community Centre in Yardley
Wood.
Since those early days, they have presented over 70
plays and in 1979 began performing at the Old Rep Theatre in Station
Street in Birmingham, after their first venture into the F.A.M.E.
Festival, which resulted in a Certificate of Merit. There have been many
other successes at the Festival, including 2 Overall Winners, Best
Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Actress.
Drama and comedy have been equally successful, but
there have been other notable ventures. In 2000, they performed the
Victorian melodrama East Lynne, which caused some consternation
in the cast when the audience joined in for the first time with their
hisses and boos. Collaboration with Coleshill Town Band in 2007 resulted
in a splendid – and profitable – production of Brassed Off, which
ran for 3 nights to packed houses.
Latterly, financial constraints have led to a move
to the Dovehouse Theatre in Olton for the winter production, although
the Old Rep will never be abandoned.
Nor are their efforts confined to the stage. A
chance remark led to the presentation of readings of one-act plays to
the residents of local sheltered housing schemes, which were very well
received, even if some of the elderly residents did find they went on
past their bedtime! Thanks to the charitable fund-raising activities of
one member of the Group, a murder mystery was performed at Highbury Hall
for the Lord Mayor’s Charity in 2010, to be followed by more of the
same.
Like many small amateur
groups, the Billesley Players rely heavily on the devoted support of
family and friends for their audience and sometimes struggle to find the
right spread of ages and gender. However, their greatest strength is
teamwork. There are no prima donnas – they all roll up their sleeves and
get on with it, whether it be wielding a screwdriver or paintbrush,
manning – personing? – the prompt corner or strutting their stuff on
stage. And don’t they love it!
Hall
Green finding the bottom line
Patrons given a chance to sit pretty again!
WHEN it is a matter of enjoying a good
night at the theatre, the seating is the bottom line. Unfortunately,
Hall Green Little Theatre says it’s loved its seats to bits – literally.
What’s happened is that its audiences have spent
years loving them from the hearts of their bottoms – and now there are
200 seats not looking nearly as good as they once did.
That’s why the group does not want its 60th
birthday to go by without doing something about them, and why it is
inviting its supporters to give some solid support to its effort to
refurbish the seating in its main auditorium.
The cost of refurbishing the arms of any seat will
be £25. To restore its arms and its back is £50. And to do arms, back
and the actual sitting section is £100 – which makes the auditorium a
£20,000 job.
Audience members who are willing to help with the
funding are being invited to put names and contact details in a box on
the cloakroom counter in the foyer – or simply put in cash or cheques to
speed up the process.
Planning
ahead – for 100 years ago
ANYONE hearing that a
brand new musical theatre group is busy arranging a production for
April, 2012, is likely to be impressed by such efficiency – and even
more so, when it becomes clear that its launch show will be one of the
most expensive it could choose.
But there’s more. The show is
Titanic –
and it won’t be just any old Titanic.
This will be a
Titanic
with its last night on April 14, 2012 – 100 years to the night since
that maiden voyage ended in a collision with an iceberg.
And there’s still more. The
far-sighted group is one that until now only its intimates have heard
of. It’s OOPS. It sounds as if it should have an exclamation mark, but
it’s OOPS – short for the One-Off Performance Society, formed
specifically for a five-night run in just under two years’ time and
destined thereafter to sink most appropriately into the history of
musical theatre. Art imitating life, and all that.
It was
in 2008 that Worcester Operatic & Dramatic Society (WODS) won the
National Operatic & Dramatic Association’s award for the best musical in
its
So along came OOPS. Steve and
Jacque Cook, who were in the award-winning production – he as stage
manager and she in the role of Alice Beane, the passenger who wanted to
move from second-class to first-class. Word of mouth was sufficient to
attraact interest from a wide area of Worcestershire and into
Gloucestershire. Steve manages a scenery hire firm in
It was Jacque’s daughter,
Hayley Hayes, who is 27 and married to another Steve, who came up with
the name – which Jacque says took her all of 20 seconds. Then more than
40 people turned up at a meeting in
And Jacque’s son, graphics
designer Ben Barnes, has designed the poster.
Rightsholder MusicScope has
had enquiries from all over
There is no
suggestion of a split from WODS. That
would be too much of an Oops!
for loyal WODS members who
are simply anxious not to miss saluting Titanic’s fateful centenary.
Those involved include Gill
Saunders, who will be “call boy” for the production. Her grandfather was
the cousin of Henry Spinner, from Worcester, one of the 1,517 who lost
their lives in the disaster. He was a glove-cutter at the Fownes factory
in City Walls Road, Worcester and had paid just over £8 for his ticket.
He was planning to find a job at the glove-making centre of
Also
involved is John Clay, who will be reprising the role of Captain Smith
and who was seen onstage at Birmingham Hippopdrome in early June when
he repeated the role of Holy Joe which he has made his own since
And the reason for no
exclamation mark with OOPS? Because that would make it sound as if
everybody involved had suddenly realised it was all a mistake – and
because the last thing in anybody’s mind is to appear to be trivialising
the disaster that inspired Peter Stone and Maury Yeston’s
poignant musical.
The show runs for 2½ hours – which is about the time
it took Titanic to sink. Steve Cook said, “At the end of the run, if we
have made any money, the profits will go to a water-based charity
and we shall say we’ve had a lovely time – thank you very much, and move
on to the next one.”