For theatre... online, non-professional, amateur

Here We Go Again

Well, play rehearsals have started up again, even though we have to go out on a cold and wintry night, which isn’t very enticing.  My husbands’s production of The Homecoming is going full steam ahead.  I volunteered to do the costumes, but I have now been upgraded to Assistant Director as Waiting for God in which I have the lead has been rescheduled until July.  Closing the theatre due to RAAC concrete being found until they had repaired it has a lot to answer for.  I now have to try to keep all the lines in my head until we resume rehearsals in April.  I decided costuming a Pinter play set in the sixties would be easy, but so far the only girl in the production has run through ten dresses and none of them suit. 

Last year we went to the West End to see several productions.  However, there was nothing but problems with trains.  We were caught up in the Palestinian protest and found ourselves squashed in carriages amongst protestors with banners.  Then there were rail strikes so we had to get to London via circuitous routes and then when the trains were working, the underground was at a standstill.  We decided that we wouldn’t go to anything until the weather became warmer and we would go on a working day and not a Saturday.  The first production we have tickets for is The Motive and the Cue, and blow me down a week after we go it is being transmitted at the local Odeon.  We could have saved the money; still a theatre atmosphere is better than the one in the cinema, because there you don’t get any big heads in the way.

On that happy note I am Morocco bound for some sunshine.

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Concrete? Nothing is written in stone.

Well, all the plays planned for our local studio theatre this year remain cancelled.  The building is still closed owing to RAAC concrete problems, and rumours abound regarding what is happening.  Everyone has a different version of events. Will it open temporarily and then close again for a complete overhaul?  Who knows?  Most of the plays have been rescheduled.  The company I am involved with has bitten the bullet and rescheduled Waiting for God for 2024.  As I started learning the lines in July 23 and it is now scheduled for July 24, it will be a long time to keep them going.  In the meantime, the various groups are looking at other venues.  They need to perform not only that play, but also Pinter’s The Homecoming and Ayckbourn’s Absent Friends.  However, the companies only want to perform in a theatre, not a church or dance hall.  However, Trafalgar who lease the theatre, or the Council might decide not to waste time and effort repairing it and close it permanently.  If that happens, everyone will definitely have to rethink things.

To keep everyone’s interest going, a couple of groups are looking at performing one act plays, preferably without royalties.  One comedy that I wrote is under consideration.  A few of us recorded an extract from it on BBC Sounds.  It was recorded over Zoom.  As usual, I had trouble logging in, there were the cast all chatting away, and I was missing.  Finally, I received a frantic phone call asking where I was.  Of course, it was then an in-joke that I was useless with technology.

One company is also devising a variety show with set pieces with a Christmas feel, as by the time it goes on, Christmas will be arriving. God, that’s a shock!

Apparently, a TV company has got wind of the theatre drama (no pun intended) with RAAC concrete, and are sending a crew to film Waiting for God in rehearsal.  They then want to interview the cast for their views on the whole sorry saga.  I am not sure I want to be seen struggling to remember lines on TV. As they rescheduled the play, I haven’t looked at them for several weeks.  Anyway, I suppose it is supposed to be a rehearsal so I am allowed to forget my lines. Trouble is one cast member decided nothing was happening and went off on a cruise.  Happy days!

    Dulwich Players present Romeo and Juliet

    Dulwich Players present Romeo and Juliet

    Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

    Directed by Yohann Philip

    ‘Two households, both alike in dignity, in fair Verona, where we lay our scene, from ancient grudge break to new mutiny, where civil blood makes civil hands unclean…’

    London is the setting for our contemporary and immersive adaptation of Shakespeare’s most famous tragedy, as two rival takeaway businesses battle for culinary supremacy across the city. While the batter sizzles and hot-headed brawls break out, the young lovers defy their families to follow their passion … with bitter consequences.

    There is plenty of fun and humour on the menu too. Music, dance and immersive theatre, delivered with relish by our brilliant cast, bring out the lighter side of Shakespeare’s drama and make the audience integral to the action.

    So, join us and be immersed in the high-stakes, high-calorie world of the Montagues and Capulets – it’s a feast you won’t want to miss!

    Performance dates:

    Wednesday 19th to Friday 21st October at 8.00 p.m.

    Saturday 22nd October at 2.00 p.m. and 7.30 p.m.

    Venue:

    Edward Alleyn Theatre, Dulwich College, London SE21 7LD

    Tickets are £12 / £8 (18 years and under) plus a booking fee.

    Available from https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/dulwichplayers

    • : A feast you won’t want to miss!
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    Things Are Looking Up

    Things Are Looking Up

     

    Post lockdown the am dram world is really steaming ahead and what is more, the audiences are picking up.  However, all the usual dramas continue.  A local amateur production of Bartholomew Fair by Ben Johnson was fraught with difficulties.  Two lead actors ended up hobbling around during performance with big NHS boots on their broken feet.  Additionally, the director had to read in for a lead role as the actress was in hospital.  Nothing changes!

    Meanwhile, I am busy trying to pull together a cast for Lion in Winter and as usual half the rehearsal period has enormous absenteeism.  Juggling a schedule and having people reading in main parts, is going to be a nightmare.  Just like the play Last Tango in Little Grimley, I hope to have a full cast on  performance night.  One of the difficulties is,  several members of the cast have disappeared off to the Edinburgh festival.

    I have managed to get to see some professional performances at last.  We went to see a friend in Jack Absolute Flies Again at the National Theatre, but as he is an understudy, he was only on in the background.   Then two days later, as luck would have it for him, and not us, he was performing as the lead Jack Absolute.  We missed his star performance.  However, I was blown away by the fantastic set and the special effects of the Battle of Britain.  We had to duck low flying aircraft.

    I also went to a touring production of Waitress the Musical, starring Emmerdale actress Chelsea Halfpenny.  I must admit I liked it much better than the West End version I saw before lockdown. Somehow, the songs resonated more and it certainly had the audience going as they clapped and cheered at every opportunity, with a standing ovation at the end.  However, the theme of a pregnant woman having an affair with her gynaecologist is a bit odd though.

    I also have my tickets for the National Theatre’s, Much Ado about Nothing, and coming up in October is The Upstart Crow, postponed during lockdown.  I can’t wait.

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    It Took 50 Years

    It Took 50 Years

    LnjMonroe Drama present the first in a series of films about the History of women’s football. The first documented women’s football matches took place in Scotland but were short lived. Then in 1894 Miss Nettie Honeyball founded the British Ladies Football Club.

    • : The history of women’s football - how it all began

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