Social Whorl

Gales may be blowing outside, but Bridgnorth Players generated their own mini storm last evening. Throughout the evening members bowled up to my front door bringing a warm front with them. Food and drink poured onto the kitchen table. Afterwards we were regaled with tales and poems, odes and ditties, jokes and variations on a theme of our Noel Coward production. The Kellys were cheered in their absence for "Relative Valet" and should Sally's brow look clouded anytime just remind her of the Dudley Zoo gorilla. As for serious stuff, we had the bard, or someone claiming to be our Will, to thank for "A Visit to Stratford" and what happened next in Hamlet when Denmarks' ambassador returned after a 3 year absence. All good stuff.

All good wishes for Christmas, folks and see you at The Shakespeare on January 4th. I am reliably informed we'll be reading "Fur Coat No Knickers". Don't ask.

Playing to packed houses

Well done all Bridgnorth Players.

Relative Values by Noel Coward kicked off at the weekend with Bridgnorth Community Hall packed the first night and nearly as full the second. There were a few first night splutterings, but it went well and the audiences were appreciative.

On the Saturday we had the pleasure of entertaining the NODA rep, Jean Beard, accompanied by her husband. She has an eagle eye for detail and is always supportive in her comments.

The set was convincing as the former library, now used as a sitting room in Marshwood House. Well done Sally and the set painters.

Thanks too to Sally for sorting the seating platforms and thanks to BROADS for the loan. It is a mammoth task hefting the blocks to and from Broseley, but worth it to ensure that the audience has a good view.

Director Geoffrey Speechly sent a well deserved message of congratulations to cast and crew. The sound effects were convincing, thanks Richard, and I did spot the authentic telephone ring. A group of four came from Montford Parish Hall to look at our lighting gear and were impressed.

The bar did brisk business – thanks Graeme.

Thanks to all who erected the kit and who loaded it and unloaded it back at base and especial thanks to Denise, without whom none of this would have been possible.

Finally, well done Liz H who pulled it all together.

Two down, four to go. Alice as prompt will be at Alveley and Highley in the role of security blanket, but expects to be able to suck sweets all evening!

November Production: "Relative Values"

We are pleased to present Noel Coward's "Relative Values", a sly and witty play about class values. It is directed by Geoffrey Speechly, assisted by Sally de Sancha with Liz Herdson organising the production.

Tickets are £7-50 (concessions £6). Doors open 7pm for 7.30pm start. Adjacent parking and easy access, bar available at all venues.

Performance dates:

11th and 12th November at Bridgnorth Community Hall, Severn Street, Bridgnorth WV15 6BB

18th and 19th November at Alveley Village Hall, Daddlebrook Road, Alveley WV15 6JT

25th and 26th November at Severn Centre, Bridgnorth Road, Highley WV16 6JG

Box offices:

Bridgnorth - Trevor Phillips Opticians, Waterloo Terrace Tel 01746 766227

Alveley - Post Office, Tel 01746 780238

Highley - Severn Centre, Bridgnorth Road Tel 01746 860000

or on-line through the National Operatic and Dramatic Association's Box Office at http://www.nodaboxoffice.co.uk/

Late summer catch up

October
I write in advance of tomorrow's meeting, when Liz F and team present their programme for our contribution to the RSC Open Stages project: "Plots and Machinations". Intriguing. To be developed over the coming months and performed late spring, with a chance, if selected, of taking it to Stratford. Whoopee!

September
We read "The Admirable Chrichton", written in 1902 by J M Barrie. Act I in the home of Lord Loam sets the scene and defines the heirarchy between the classes and within the classes. When the family is shipwrecked it is the butler, Chrichton, who takes control and organises a civilized life for them. A new heirarchy is established and rescue throws them into turmoil.

August
Geoffrey brought "The Dresser", a play by Ronald Harwood, about the dresser to an aging and rather disagreeable actor. An interesting read, though I found it a bit grim.
By way of contrast, we read an Arthur Haynes radio skit, by John Speight. The poor chap who goes to book a weekend break at the travel agent gets more than he bargained for.

Summer socials and Winter warmer

July's "bring and share" meeting
A pleasant occasion with plentiful food and a bit of Shakespeare thrown in for good measure. Shame it wasn't fine enough for us to spill out into the garden.

Supper and laughs
A couple of days later members were eating and being entertained again, this time with a rehearsed play reading of Alan Ayckbourn's "Round and Round the Garden". A supper of dips and cruditees, beef stew or veggie casserole and a selection of puddings and cheeses with byo drink made for a really good evening at the village hall. I'll see if I can upload a photo that captures the mood.

November production take 2
"Rebecca" was snatched from under under noses at the last moment when performing rights were withdrawn, but we quickly rallied and have had a first read-through of Noel Coward's "Relative Values". Set in the early 1950's, the social structure of minor aristocracy and servants, all knowing their place in society, was beginning to disintegrate. The Countess of Marshwood prepares to welcome her son and heir's American actress fiancee, but a surprise revelation blows the weekend out of the water. I like the play, not only because it is very witty, but because all the characters are well drawn and have something worthwhile to say. The Countess is the lynch pin - charming, understanding and subtly manipulative. I think we are going to have fun with this one.
We are booked at Bridgnorth Community Centre for 11th and 12th November, Alveley Village Hall on 18th, 19th and Highley Severn Centre 25th and 26th November.

Theatre visits
Half way through the Ian Dickens season at The Grand, Wolverhampton. Several members have seen "Busybody" and "Death by Fatal Murder", both comedy takes on murder mystery thrillers. If you like "Only Fools and Horses" you'd like these. Tomorrow is "Who Killed "Agatha" Christie?". No idea what it is about. The last in the series is "The Woman in White" based on the ghosty tale by Wilkie Collins. I'm looking forward to both. It is great having a super, traditional theatre like The Grand on our doorstep.

Summer plans

Shakespeare unraveled
We shall be brainstorming the bard on Wed 15th June as part of our "Open Stages" project. All members are invited to take part and pitch in with their ideas. Venue: The Shakespeare (what could be more appropriate?)

Rehearsed play reading
Liz H presents a rehearsed play reading of Ayckbourn's "Round and Round the Garden" with supper for members on Sat 9th July.

November production
Geoffrey is tying up the last few loose ends on the cast and crew for "Rebecca", our November production.

Social summer
We abandon our regular meeting place (The Shakespeare pub, Bridgnorth) for our July 6th meeting, which is a social "bring and share" at the home of the secretary.

Theatre visits
A couple of suggestions from members: "Midsummer Night's Dream" at Stratford July to November and "Twelfth Night" at Ludlow 25th June to 10th July. I'll investigate.

For more information on any of the above contact deleiper@hotmail.com

NODA Award

We welcomed Jean Beard, NODA rep for 25 societies, to our May meeting. She said she was "blown away" by our June production of "When we are Married". The production was marked against a checklist and we scored 89 out of 100, narrowly beating 2 close contenders. It was the first time in the 10 years that the award has been made that a newly formed society has won "Best Drama". Needless to say we were all delighted, especially director, Maureen Callon, and Graeme Christie, producer.

RSC Open Stages

Bridgnorth Players' bid to be part of the Royal Shakespeare Company's "RSC Open Stages" project for amateur theatre has been accepted and the group have a training slot at Stratford in early 2012 to learn more about the nationwide project and theatre skills.

Liz Fisher, who submitted the application to the RSC, said, “Our biggest challenge is that most of us have never done Shakespeare since school, so find it daunting to have confidence in putting it across to audiences who will also be unfamiliar with it. That is where we really would love to learn from the RSC anything and everything that amateurs can learn from professionals. If we can pull this together and take it to our local communities, we will have done our bit towards bringing Shakespeare into the 21st century.”

April showers

April shower
The Crown is not in my good books. They peed on us from a great height, not only double booking us, but not having the courtesy to phone to let us know, nor, once we'd bought our drinks and settled in, to apologise, nor even offer another space in the pub. "The poker group takes priority" was all the manger could say. Fortunately, the Shakespeare fitted us in and everyone decided it was a much nicer venue.

NODA Award
We'll be meeting at the Shakespeare next month too and the area NODA rep, Jean Beard, will be a guest. She will be presenting us with the winner's award for Best Drama Production for District 07 for our production of "When We Are Married". Liz, as chairman and Maureen as director were booked to go to the awards ceremony, but a massive blockage on the motorway scuppered their plans. Having Jean coming to our May meeting is a bonus and a consolation.

Lighting purchased
Starlight delivered our lighting kit on Thursday. Stands, lanterns and flight boxes. All we need now are the dimmers, control desk and cables and we'll be flying. Well done everyone for raising the funds. It takes us to the next level.

Funds for Bridgnorth - a new accessible theatre?
I see that the Town Council are considering a visitor centre on Severn Park as there is a dire need for loos and a cafe. They suggest an exhibition space too, but I wonder if they could think big and have a performance space - nice and accessible? The Market Towns Initiative (MTI) has funds for Bridgnorth, which the TC hopes will be available for their project. There is a special meeting in the Castle Hall this Wednesday 20th to explain the MTI to the Bridgnorth populace so perhaps I'll pop along and throw this suggestion into the pot. Anyone else feel like adding their ha'porth?

Theatre review
Richard has been a theatre trooper this week and raved about the Belfry's "Neville's Island" in the pub last eve. The best play he's seen in years and years. "Hotel Paradiso" by the Nonentities at The Rose got an honourable mention too. West End - eat your heart out.

March meeting

The room above The Crown is a lovely space - a high-ceilinged timber frame hall. The down side is that over half the bulbs in the huge chandaliers were out and readers had to stand under the wall sconces to see their lines. Business gobbled up the first part of the meeting, but we all had our ha'porth worth.

Play readings
After the chit-chat we got on with a pair of one-acts chosen by Maureen: "Bed Time Story" and, I forget the other's title but let's say it was called "Hullo Out There". Both about men duped by good-for-nothing women with disastrous/tragic, consequences. Both men trappped too, one by his sense of Catholic guilt, the other in a prison cell. Powerfully read.

NODA nomination
Jean Beard, NODA regional representative, has nominated "When We Are Married", our June 2010 play, as best 2010 production - Drama in District 7. The winner will be announced and awards given on Sunday April 3rd at Sutton Coldfield Town Hall at the conclusion of the Regional Conference.

Safety officer
Mark R offered his services as Safety Officer. NODA are running an H&S workshop as part of the Regional Conference (see above) at 2.15pm


84 Charing Cross Road potponed
We reluctantly agreed to put the June production on hold. A real disappointment, especially for Maureen and those already auditioned and cast. This summer is proving busy for our members and no-one felt able to commit to the remaining parts, nor the Production Team, and without this the play could not go ahead.
84 Charing Cross Road, set just after WWII, is a cracking play about relationships that develop between a writer in New York and the staff in an old fashioned second hand book shop in London. It is essentially a two-hander, with secondary characters adding action and background, but not much dialogue. To do it well it needs a good set, a challenge for the Stage Management team, especially for a traveling company.

Men wanted for Rebecca
Geoffrey plans to do "Rebecca", based on the novel by Daphne du Maurier, in November. If you're a man, he'll be after you; if you're a young woman, he'll be after you too - as a potential Rebecca, you understand!

Rehearsed play reading
On track for Saturday 19th March. Want to come or offering to help with a pudding? - contact Dorothy.

Theatre visits
Lots on in April, both locally and further afield. E-mail will go out to members to gauage interest. Richard will sort tickets.

2011 kicks off

Feb meeting
It is difficult to get the feel of a play from a synopsis and reading one act, but Maureen and Geoffrey did a good job of introducing us to these two plays. Both received support, and the pros and cons of staging either discussed. As it turned out, the need for 7 men and a young woman as Mrs de Winter in "Rebecca" meant that "84" would be easier to cast for June, giving us more time to sound out potential actors for "Rebecca" later in the year.
We've held 2 open auditions and hope to firm up roles and a production team at March's meeting to ensure the production can go ahead.

We met in the snug at The George and were well looked after by Sue Tristram, with bowls of chips arriving part way through the evening. It's a cosy and welcoming venue, and great for the occasional informal meeting, but perhaps not ideal for play readings with our voices carrying into the bar and vice versa.

Any member can propose a play. To make this easier Dorothy has created a simple proposals template with guidance notes to help anyone who would like to direct or produce a play of their choice.

Jan meeting
Mark Rigg opened his home to us and we welcomed two new members, Lynne and Kathie.

The secretary reported that "Theatrical Winterval" had made a profit and we are invited to perform one of the dramas, "Dinner For One", at the Twinning weekend in the summer. Bridgnorth Players will be represented at the Mayor's Concert on 26th March and we plan to be involved with the Arts and Music Festival on Bank Holiday weekend. Taking the lead on all these is the ever-youthful Geoffrey Speechly.

Sheridan's "The Rivals" followed. "Odd's life, Mr Fag".

February's meeting would be a sampling of "84 Charing Cross Road" and "Rebecca", put forward by members as options for the June production.