Amateur Stage Magazine January 2013

amateurstage PASSIONATE ABOUT AMATEUR THEATRE

JANUARY 2013

£2.95

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NEWS | TRAINING | COMMENT | NATIONAL DIARY | INTERVIEWS

“Everybody cut loose!”

DARLINGTON STAGE FOOTLOOSE

IN THIS ISSUE > R&H Return to London > Interview - Jason Robert Brown > Les Miserables - Stage To Screen > Playscript Reviews

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contents | amateurstage Editor: Douglas Mayo

>contents

editor@asmagazine.co.uk Associate Editor: Matthew Bannerman

January 2013

editorial@asmagazine.co.uk Contributors Jane Dickerson, David Muncaster, Julian Cound, Phil Matthews, Mary Newey, Alison Duncombe Design Concept Julian Cound

Published monthly by 3Fold Media Limited

>editorial 2013 looks set to be a year of challenges and changes.

ISSN 00026867

From a personal point of view I

3rd Floor, Regent Street,

would like to take this opportunity

London W1B 3HH

to announce that I will be stepping

www.amateurstagemagazine.co.uk

down as Editor of Amateur Stage

Subscribe now Print version - UK Rates:

over the coming months.

The past four years of shepherding

1 Year £32, 2 Years £55

the magazine in new directions has

Subscribe online or send a cheque

been enjoyable and challenging. The

payable to 3Fold Media to the

time has come though for me to

address shown above.

focus on other things and the search

Online / Tablet Subscriptions

has begun for my replacement.

Available as individual publications

I will be continuing to work on an ad

or as a subscription through the App

hoc basis with the magazine whilst

Store or www.pocketmags.com

developing other projects.

In this issue we focus predominantly

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on musicals. It’s difficult for the focus not to be based on musicals when you have the major news that The Rodgers & Hammerstein

All rights reserved throughout the world. No part of this magazine may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the written consent of Amateur Stage. The views and opinions expressed by the contributors to this magazine may not necessarily represent the views of Amateur Stage. ©2011 3Fold Media

Organisation have re-established a presence in London. This means that groups will be able to communicate directly with the rightsholders themselves and get first hand information and advice from their knowledgeable staff. We took some time to talk to to talented R&H staff.

We were also lucky to be given an opportunity to chat to Broadway composer Jason Robert Brown about his show 13.

This is our first issue without NODA news included. The experiement over

20 04 Overture News from across the country.

07 Jane’s musings Jane from Amdram. co.uk has her say.

08 Woodseats return Sheffield based Woodseats is back with a vengance.

10 ACTion This new group hits the terrible twos.

13 Welcome Back R&H return to London!

the past two years highlighted the pros and cons of the arranegement and it’s now time to move forward know what you’d like to see in the magazine in its place.

Cover Image: Darlington OS - Footloose

Doug

20 Musical Produced Darlington OS presents Footloose

32 Les Miserables stage to screen

23 Festival News

How do you take the world’s longest running muscal and put it on screen?

24 Jason Robert Brown

38 Playscript reviews

Jason spoke to us about the genesis of his musical 13 after he directed it in London last year.

David Muncaster reviews the latest script releases.

28 Little Theatre Guild news.

with new ideas. We’re keen to

Enjoy!

32

45 Production Diary

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amateurstage | overture

>overture

National News | Events | Products | Competitions

Comment > ALL THE WOLD’S A STAGE AND ALL THE PLAYERS MERELY MEN! A new study questions gender balance in UK subsidised theatre it was reported today. Have the authors gone too far and does the study have any long term ramifications for amateur theatre groups?

The study which was carried out by Elizabeth Freestone of Pentabus Theatre and The Guardian Newspaper came to the following conclusions:* Only a third of writers, actors and artistic directors are women falling to a quarter whn applied o the field of directing. * They suggested that by staging Shakespeare, the ten subsidised theatres studied encourgaed an anti female bias as just 16% of the playwright’s roles are for women. * Neither Sir Nicholas Hytner at the National Theatre nor Gregory Doran of the RSC has ever directed a play by a woman.

But perhaps the most ludicrous argument came from director Phyllida Lloyd of Mamma Mia fame who suggested that the EU should legislate for 50/50 gender equality in casting, insisting on equal casting regardless of role specifications.

We have to admit we are sitting here scratching our heads wondering just what looney funded this lot of rubbish.

We’d love to hear your thoughts. Do we need EU legislation to improve the lot of women in theatre? Surely amateur theatre groups are leading the way with the hundreds of productions of Calendar Girls being staged this year showing some of the amazing female talent treading the boards in amateur theatres across the UK.

News > SCDA LIBRARY CLOSURE THREAT

It was the breeding ground for A-list stars like Robert Pattinson and Liam Neeson and accounts for thousands of performances across the country each year.

The UK’s amateur dramatics scene is the apprenticeship for wannabe actors, the place where careers, as well as mistakes, are made. In Scotland, aspiring thesps have treaded the boards for almost a century thanks to the Scottish Community Drama Association (SCDA).

Set up in 1926, the organisation has helped bring theatre to some of the country’s most rural areas, encouraging creativity, playwriting and participation in festivals amongst its member clubs.

But Scottish amateur theatre is facing crisis with one of its key resources under threat. More than 20,000 scripts acquired through the decades could be left to ruin if a library used by clubs around the country is forced to shut.

The store, based in South Bridge Resource Centre, has been given notice to quit by building owner City of Edinburgh Council. The store houses everything from one-act and full length plays for single sex and mixed-sex casts, to pantomimes and classic plays which have gone out of print and new scripts donated by publishers.

As well as helping clubs avoid expense by being able to consider multiple plays before purchase, the library contains countless unpublished works, pieces of archival interest and brand new plays.

“This is one of the biggest deals you could imagine,” said Susan Wales, SCDA Edinburgh District Secretary.

“This is the library more or less for the whole of Scotland, it’s from here we send mail orders to the rest of the country and it’s a massive archive for theatre research.

“We can’t afford to go buying multiple copies of scripts just to read so this resource is absolutely amazing. People can come along, peruse the shelves and take out as many copies of scripts they like.

“It gives clubs the chance to be able to make informed decisions when choosing a production - we tend to be their first port of call.”

Starting life in an office on Castle Street in the 1920s, SCDA’s library started with a handful of scripts and later moved to the former South Bridge Primary School, now South Bridge Resource Centre, more than 20 years ago.

But earlier this year, the council announced that the room was to be appropriated for adult education services. SCDA, who say they have been asked to clear out by Easter, are now desperately seeking a space for their extensive catalogue, though fear that, due to soaring city centre rent costs and lack of space, they may have to get rid of most of it.

“I can’t imagine there being anywhere, we need about 800 sq ft,” added Susan.

“If push came to shove what we would do is throw out the out of print and really old Victorian ones that haven’t been looked at for a long time and new scripts would be kept. That would be a massive undertaking.”

Committee members are currently in the process of meeting with the council and other organisations in an attempt to source alternative accommodation.

Susan is encouraging affiliated clubs to offer ideas and storage space, as well as man power, for shifting the lot.

There’s also the issue of the library’s longest-running volunteer, Douglas Currie, 81, who has been manning the room every Tuesday, when it opens to the public, since 1995.

“I would be very sad having spent so long building this up,” he said. “I keep hoping they’ll find somewhere, I think it’s a national treasure because it’s not just Edinburgh using it.”

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after hire and the team pride themselves of costumes to their ever growing stock. Their on going that extra mile in providing the company motto is: ’Ask us…we’ll act on it!’ accessories to complete the ‘look’.

Co-Directors Deborah Rees and Maureen New customers are always welcomed – go and Rhys have a wealth of experience between have a coffee, chat and a look around at the them – Maureen has worked for 25 years in costumes and see how they can help you with the costume industry, designing and supplying amateurstage | advertising Bryan Philip Davies Costumes your next production. There is no job too small, costumes for television and theatre in London basically the same. ‘But we saw that same play last year!’

On a personal family note, it is out love of ‘something new’ that is the one constant guaranteed to put our bums on seats.

Recently, we looked at the advertised forthcoming plays for no less than FROM THE EDITOR ten theatres, with the finding that seven were showing plays performed in Over the past few months we have been receiving feedback from the last 18 months. When we questioned a number of am dram groups, subscribers raising concerns about the inclusion of NODA News into pointing out that their previous performance lists showed so many repeats

the magazine. I felt it time to address these concerns and hope that this and asked ‘why?’, the answers were varied but all boiled down to a num what is happening with the response will go a long way to explaining ber of constants. forward direction of the magazine.

‘A good play – our audiences know the play and the author’ – ‘The actors

know it (ie. it cuts down on rehearsal times) – ‘We are on familiar ground’ Answers to some of theWe’ve most Pcommonly asked questions:ATIENCE with Uniforms, – ‘Last year when it was staged, we had a good attendance’ (ie hopefully CALAMITY JANE, that will be repeated).

1. Why have you included NODAto news magazine?

7 BRIDES, name binut the a few.

But what about the poor audiences champing at the bit for that something Ultimately we would like to make Amateur Stage a magazine for everyone IOLANTHE and DOLLY, MATCHGIRLS different? Those who like ourselves would appreciate the new. Those we Supplying high-quality wigs to the theatre industry for over 40 years involved in amateur theatre. As the as biggest well amateur organisation in the spoke with in the majority of cases thought very much on the same lines; UK it seems a natural progression to bring NODA into the magazine And a MY FAIR LADY or two! something that would excite and invite them to come back for more. Not alongside the news weA already like The Little beautiful publish WIDOW, from Mack organisations & MABEL go away mentally comparing the current performance with a previous one.

Theatre Guild. In the longer term weplus hope to include content that includes As a family we would and do travel further in search of the latter and have schools, youth groups and possibly even dance.

Hopefully whilst not ANNIE’s with & without a Gun! been pleasantly surprised and entertained. However, there is a related fact being of direct interestAdd to everyone, might beainformation in these Thoroughly there Modern MILLIE nd that is disturbing. We know at least one (award winning) playwright who new sections that could be of interest to our readers.

We’ve got every “GIRL” under the simply cannot get his work performed by groups in the same locality; this Sun!! because they (the groups) ‘play safe’ and plump for more established, 2. NODA content is now taking over the magazine. named authors and plays they have previously presented. Whilst the (well, almost!) For these and most It took ushave a whileatofull workset out of the four best way to encompass NODA activities We Audrey 2 plants playwright would love to support his local am dram and give them every major Musicals, G and S, Operettas in the magazine.

Regular subscribers will be aware that last year we available to hire, ranging from hand support and more – his words, he is faced with going further afield and, Period Plays, Pantomimes etc. held to the adopted a quarterly region by region approach which didn’t work. We Mehim, & My Girl, Patience, Hello bully for is doing rather wellTitanic, with his Copacabana, one-acts. It would beDolly, interesting largest that has the capability forthoughts cast members Contact us our at: own took on board all of your comments and and modified 42nd Street, Guys & Dolls, Anie, Hi-de-Hi, My Fair Lady, to hear readers thoughts and comments. www.stagecostume.co.uk to disappear through.

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3. Amateur Stage is now a magazine for musicals.

For anyone who has undertaken a statistical analysis of the magazine over the past months you’ll find that nothing is further from the truth. Obviously the amateur market is not driven just by plays nor just by musicals and as a result we are endeavouring to balance out coverage. Obviously in costume some featuremay12.indd 5 months some areas will get heightened coverage (see our Costume feature this month) but we aim to provide a wide coverage of what’s going on in the amateur theatre community as a whole.

4. Why is the magazine changing?

As with everything in the modern world, Amateur Stage needed an update. Yes some new things will work and some won’t but to keep relevant we need to try new things and to develop features you tell us are helpful. Keep your feedback coming. We do want to know what you think however, we do need to look at areas that we are neglecting, and areas we don’t cover at all. We’ve been encouraged by the growth of the audience for our website and the number of people registering for their own online profiles. Amateur Stage is monthly but our email mailing lists and website allow us the ability to get in touch more regularly when exciting news or items of interest come to our attention. Hopefully every group will have multiple members on our email list so we can alert you to opportunities like the funding available to amateur groups featured in the magazine this month but announced online a few weeks ago.

t

Tele or informa

www.amateurstagemagazine.co.uk | 17 30 | www.am

As you stand behind the curtain, shaking with nerves, remember: no matter what happens on stage,

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Dear Editor,

My family are keen theatre-goers, however, in recent years have become disillusioned by the fact that so many amateur theatre groups appear to be capable of experimenting, of trying – ‘something new’, yet decry falling attendances. Perhaps this is the answer.

We are tired of groups producing the same plays over and over again, so much so that we now go to a decreasing number of local presentations.

One notable example was a recent production that had an audience of just 20, with four of those coming from just one family. When some who would have been expected to go were questioned, the answers were

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JANE’S MUSINGS Write to Jane through this magazine or via email – jane@amdram.co.uk. She would be delighted to hear from you, and who knows she might even muse about your comments.

How many people watched the Sky Arts series Nation’s Best Am Dram?

Did you love it or hate it? Having watched the whole series, I still can’t make up my mind. I knew about the plans long before most people.

I had been approached by Sky and asked to run an advert for the show. But this was not a new idea. Over the years I have been running amdram.co.uk, various television companies and individuals have contemplated such a competition in various different formats, Sky were brave enough to actually see the idea through to the end.

A couple of comments at the beginning of the show started my alarm bells ringing. They stated that there were about 3,500 amateur theatre groups in the country. However, the Voluntary Arts Survey of 2008 concludes that there are approximately 5,380 in England alone, and I suspect that this figure is on the conservative side. Where did Sky get their figures I wonder. I know that no one knows for sure how many groups there are, but these figures differ greatly. I have nearly 3,000 groups registered on my site, although some have probably closed and some are duplicates, but I know there are still probably thousands out there that I still have to encourage to join the site. The other comment I found worrying was the number of groups applying. I can’t remember the exact wording, but Kathy Burke (the series’ narrator) said something like ‘out of the dozens applying’. The more I thought about this the more I concluded that only about twenty-four groups must have applied.

From this sample, eight groups went forward to the competition proper.

Is this a fair representative of all the groups out there for the winning group to be named the nation’s best amateur theatre group? Or is it really a case of having to be in it to win it and if you didn’t apply you can’t complain?

Why didn’t more groups apply? Is the word Am Dram out of date and did it put groups off? I know I’ve had this worry for years with my website’s name, but it started nearly 16 years ago and the name is my brand, to change it would be nearly impossible and too expensive.

When Doug took over this magazine, he thought long and hard before changing from Amateur Stage to AS. But as you are aware, he changed it back again. Is it Am Dram that people don’t like, or just the word amateur? In America, theatre such as ours is called Community Theatre (or should I write Theater), is this a better word to use?

Returning to The Nation’s Best Am Dram how many of the selected eight groups represented an amateur theatre group that you know? Are there groups out there that have one person who decides on a play, casts without auditions, directs it, produces it and calls it on the night?

Whilst that particular group did well, I’m not sure their format is truly representative of most amateur theatre groups. My understanding is that most groups have a committee, auditions and non-actors doing all the essential work backstage. Does the former approach solve problems or creates more?

In my opinion, 2012 has been a good year for amateur theatre.

Calendar Girls has been incredibly popular and despite my previous worries, appears to be encouraging people back to the theatre, both on and off the stage. Personally I am getting very tired of it, but that’s just the business I’m in. The Open Stages project has also boosted amateur theatre and combined with the Nation’s Best Am Dram I predict an increase in people becoming interested in our hobby. At least the television programme wasn’t the massive disaster it so easily could have been.

Jane Dickerson www.amdram.co.uk

amdram.co.uk Not making a crisis out of a drama since 1997

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You can list your group and attract new members?

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Why not visit THE free online place for the amateur theatre community?

Visit www.amdram.co.uk or for more information contact jane@amdram.co.uk

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amateurstage | feature

>feature

woodseats theatre co.

Based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, Woodseats Musical Theatre Company have been performing since that 1940’s, but like many groups encountered financial difficulties in 2005. In 2009, the society was taken over by a new committee and is starting to flourish again.

THE BEGINNING The seeds of the present Society were sown in the early 1940s when Mabel Norton was asked by the Education Committee to form a music class at Woodseats in Sheffield and put on a production of The Gondoliers at Holmhirst Road Methodist church School Room, with an all female cast.

They carried on rehearsing and performing, presenting The Mikado in 1946 at the Teachers Training College.

In 1946 the society was known as The Woodseats Evening School Operatic Society.

Then in 1962 it was decided to make the society completely self supporting and was renamed The Woodseats Operatic Society.

In 1949 due to increases in audiences it was decided to present the shows at the Montgomery Hall and this is where The Woodseats Operatic Society stayed until one dreadful night in May 1971.

WOODSEATS RISES FROM THE ASHES A production of “A Country Girl” was well into rehearsal, the Society spirits where high and the Dress Rehearsal on May 3rd indicated a successful week was to follow:

However in the early hours of May 4th Rex White (Chairman and producer at the time) was advised that the Montgomery hall had been gutted by Fire.

The damage was disastrous; the stage area, roof, auditorium of the hall were all badly damaged; the scenery was completely destroyed, 95% of the hired costumes and many personal costumes were also destroyed as were the band parts, members scores and libretti.

A meeting was held on May 5th with members of the City Council and the Society was offered

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Sheffield City Hall on 27th & 28th May. Offers of help from other Societies was overwhelming and after rehearsals with the members of these various societies the show was performed.

This was a trying and vital time for Woodseats Operatic Society but as usual the membership of this amazing Society came through it and became stronger, and were proud to be the first Society to grace the stage in the new Montgomery Hall with a production of The Gypsy Baron in 1972.

YOUTH GROUP FORMED Woodseats MTC has always been a forward thinking Society and in 1989 the “Splinters Theatre Group” was formed with the aim to be a group “run by young people for young people”. Many people worked hard to launch this new group, and the success it has achieved and enjoyed is testament to the members of Splinters Theatre Company and also Woodseats MTC.

theatre. The press reviews were glowing and the whole thing was a brilliant success. It was during their time at the Lyceum Theatre that it was decided to change the name of the society to Woodseats Musical Theatre Company, which is its current name to this day.

ANOTHER SET BACK! In 2005 a production of Guys and Dolls was booked at the Lyceum theatre. However this coincided with the G8 Summit which was to affect the society greatly.

One night’s performance had to be cancelled due to the Lyceum theatre being closed and people stayed away from the city centre for fear of riots. This resulted in a massive loss in income and left the Society almost destitute.

when a new Committee was formed and with a lot of hard work, dedication and masses of enthusiasm Woodseats MTC was reborn. In 2010 a review called “Woodseats Meets the West End” was performed. It was a phenomenal success with full houses every night, a profit was made and they were back onto the road of recovery!

Since then they have performed at the Woodseats Festival twice, performed a fantastic review in 2011 called “Woodseats Goes to the Movies”, and a Christmas Concert, all making profits to boost funds.

2012 saw the first full scale musical in seven years with a production of The Boy Friend, which to everyone’s delight was a huge success.

Everyone is very optimistic about the future. A lot of fantastic people are working tirelessly to bring Woodseats back to where it belongs. The only way for the Woodseats Musical Theatre Company now is up and that is where we intend to go!

Visit us at https://sites.google.com/site/ woodseatsmusicaltc/

A NEW BEGINNING The Society did not perform again until 2009

The group was and still is open to anyone between the ages of 14 – 30 years who are interested in musical shows, either on or off the stage.

Splinters Theatre Group has now got its own Committee and makes all its own decisions but both societies are still linked in many ways mainly with many members belonging to both societies which was the vision of the original founders.

ANOTHER THEATRE MOVE Another milestone for Woodseats Operatic Society was in 1994 when it was decided to take a massive leap and move from the Montgomery Hall to the Lyceum Theatre.

This was the culmination of many hours of diligent work and preparation for many people, particularly Paul Wright (Chairman) and Neil Kenyon (Business Manager). With the support of many people, they worked hard to bring South Pacific to this prestigious professional

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ACTion Community Theatre Co

ACTion Community Theatre is a relative newcomer to the amateur theatre scene. Founded just over 2 years ago in 2010, ACTion is a friendly and vibrant group, which now boasts over 70 members aged between 11 and 70 years; the company was established following the loss of two long-established and popular amdram groups, in the North Kesteven district in Lincolnshire.

New Year 2010: bitter, icy weather and for the second year in a row, theatre patrons were disappointed to learn that there would be no pantomime at their local venue, the Terry O’Toole Theatre in Lincolnshire. Historically, the small town of North Hykeham had boasted a proud tradition of not one, but two community pantomime productions every year for over half a century, presented by the town’s own NHDS and a local RAF Theatre group, plus a lively programme of plays, all of which had been very well supported by local people. One

of the groups had only recently celebrated its 50th anniversary when, sadly, both were hit by the departure of many of their youngsters for college and university and the posting of key members abroad. The loss of the two amdram companies’ productions was keenly felt by local theatre goers and the theatre office was inundated with enquiries about the possibility of setting-up a new community theatre group.

Luckily, the Terry O’Toole Theatre boasted a very pro-community Arts Director and Theatre Development Officer, both of whom were keen

to support a new, in-residence community group and offered to help!

So, January 2010: no pantomime BUT a very lively public meeting attended by over 80 people! The theatre’s development officer was seconded to assist members with setting-up the new company; an interim committee was formed, grants applied for and an ambitious programme of productions, workshops and masterclasses put in place. In its first two years, ACTion has been lucky to secure grants

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feature | amateurstage

from the district and county councils, the Cooperative Society, the local RAF Communities Fund and was delighted to receive a most generous donation of £3,000 to support the annual community panto from the former North Hykeham Dramatic Society.

ACTion has so far staged David Mamet’s challenging contemporary drama Oleanna, two hugely successful community pantomimes Treasure Island the Panto! and Wild West the Panto! scripted by Peta Duncombe; two family theatre plays: The Railway Children, in

a new adaptation by Mike Kenny and Robert Staunton’s stage version of Smith, adapted from the children’s classic by Leon Garfield. Future plans include Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, the pantomime, Dick Turpin the Panto! and two dramas in 2013. The company has also run skills-based workshops on technical theatre, lighting, voice and directing plus a series of acting masterclasses.

supporting ACTion’s productions with practical, hands-on help and advice and, whilst many of ACTion’s members are new to amateur theatre, heartwarmingly several members of the town’s former group have joined ACTion, their wealth of expertise proving invaluable. Over 60% of ACTion members are under 30 years of age and the future is looking bright for this new company!

The relationship between ACTion and the Terry O’Toole Theatre continues to be a very positive one, with the theatre’s professional team

http://actioncommunitytheatre.com

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amateurstage | advertising

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17/02/2013 20:17

r&h Special feature | amateurstage

Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein II

>special feature

welcome back

It’s not very often that Amateur Stage includes such a large feature in the magazine, but we felt that the return of the Rodgers & Hammerstein office to London warranted special mention. Not many people know that as producers Rodgers and Hammerstein maintained an office in London for many years. The Rodgers & Hammerstein catalogue has been handled by Josef Weinberger in recent times, but the re-opening of the London office will give groups an opportunity to speak directly to the rightsholders for the first time in many years.

Amateur Stage spoke to Ted Chapin, Head of R&H, Bert Fink and Vivian Goodwin in London, Bruce Pomahac - Head of Music and Dana Saltzman Siegel - Head of Marketing and Digital Media to get a feel for how the modern day R&H Organisation runs and how this will benefit amateur groups across the UK. www.amateurstagemagazine.co.uk | 13

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amateurstage | r&h special feature

Photo: Phil Matthews

>interview

ted chapin

TED CHAPIN is President and Executive Director of the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organisation. For the past 30 years he has helped develop R&H into an international brand not only servicing the shows of Rodgers and Hammerstein themselves, but some of the greatest Broadway composers of our time.

“

When Rodgers and Hammerstein started writing together, they had already been collaborating with other people for twenty years.

Somewhere, the idea of holding and controlling their rights came up and that policy continued until the death of Richard Rodgers.

I knew I wanted to be in theatre. I was lucky enough to work with my idols like Hal Prince and I realised I didn’t need to be a director. Mary Rodgers had been looking for someone to run the R&H office, she knew my parents and was aware of things I had been producing with the Musical Theatre Lab. She thought I was the right person – little did I know that 30 years later I’d still be here and enjoying every single moment.

This job ended up being one where the more you know about the theatre, the better you can do the job. It involves music publishing, professional and amateur licensing, concert rights, films, TV remakes and other activities arising from any number of copyrights.

Neither the families of Rodgers and Hammerstein or myself had ever really done this before so our learning curves ran parallel.

My challenge was bringing all of the disparate elements of the R&H business into one offices.

Once we did that for ourselves, we realised that we could do it for other people like the Irving Berlin Estate.

When Irving Berlin died, his office was renowned for not letting a lot happen. It was an underexploited catalogue. We asked to work with them so we could get his work out there and we met (and still do) with his daughters regularly to discuss business.

Rodgers & Hammerstein were smart businessmen with a 50/50 partnership. When they sat down to write Oklahoma!, Rodgers was on a roll but Hammerstein wasn’t faring so well.

Nobody knew that Oklahoma! would change musical theatre the way that it did. Once it hit, they continued to until Hammerstein died.

They were consummate theatre men. They took what they learned from their previous collaborations and it just clicked. The two men took ideas that were put to them and ran with them. The subjects they tackled were many and varied, but ironically the only two ideas they came up with themselves (Me & Juliet and

Allegro) were their two least successful shows.

The opening of our London office is exciting and allows groups to come direct to the source to talk about their next show. Whether it’s a classic Rodgers and Hammerstein show or one of the many other shows from our catalogue, we are excited about talking to you.

There are so many exciting challenges ahead for R&H. Over the past few years we agreed to the licensing of Sing-A-Long-A Sound Of Music (I thought it was a great thing as you really didn’t get a chance to see The Sound Of Music in cinemas anymore). Now that we’ve seen anniversary concerts of shows like Les Miserables and The Phantom Of The Opera we’re looking at how to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the film version of The Sound Of Music.

The bottom line is that we always try to say “Yes”, but we’re learning too all the time.

Amateur theatre is such a large part of our business and we want to help groups be as successful as possible when staging our shows.

“

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r&h special feature | amateurstage

>interview

vivien goodwin & bert fink

The re-opening of the Rodgers & Hammerstein office in London necessitated the formation of what must be the greatest Trans-Atlantic double act ever seen on these shores. We’re pleased to be introducing you to VIVIEN GOODWIN who comes to R&H from Samuel French, and to the truly scrumptious BERT FINK who has joined from the New York offices of R&H.

AS: Bert, tell us a little bit about your background.

Bert: I’ve been singing show tunes since as long as I can remember. The earliest performance I can recall was a film in the early ‘60s about a practically perfect English lady who came to the home of a broken family, and healed it through singing and dancing.

The second film I can recall starred the same English lady, who came to visit another broken family, and healed them through singing and dancing too (this time while climbing lots of mountains). I thought that this was all pretty magical and wanted to know (a) when this lady was coming to my house to teach us how to sing and dance? and (b) how I could learn more about this wonderful world where people sing and dance while telling a story? I was hooked!

AS: You’ve worked outside of R&H, tell us about that.

Bert: Shortly after graduating college, where I majored in Drama Studies and wrote an arrogant Senior Thesis on Rodgers & Hammerstein that, if it ever came to light, could cost me my job, I landed a position at the most exciting Broadway PR firm in the ‘80s, led by a dynamo, now sadly deceased, named Fred Nathan. In a few short years, I worked on the original Broadway companies of Cats, Les Miserables and Phantom Of The Opera, as well as the original Broadway company of Sunday In The Park With George, an unforgettable concert of Follies at the New York Philharmonic - and a few big Broadway musical flops as well, including Bob Fosse’s short-lived Big Deal, and the Marvin Hamlisch/Howard Ashman even shorter-lived Smile. A favourite client during those years was The Big Apple Circus - human divas have nothing on the assorted elephants, horses and trained sea-lions I worked with under the Big Top! During my PR years, my office took on representation of Rodgers & Hammerstein. In the early ‘80s, R&H was a somewhat off-theradar office, known more for being reactive than proactive. That all changed when Ted Chapin took over the reins, starting in 1981. Ted knew that if he sat back, R&H would disappear; instead, he built up the office into a production and licensing powerhouse that recalled R&H in its original, formidable incarnation under the leadership of Messrs. Rodgers and Hammerstein themselves.

AS: How did you come to be working with R&H? Bert: Ted was my client, I admired him, and wanted to work with him. Shortly after I began doing PR for a Broadway compendium called Jerome Robbins’ Broadway, I informed Ted that, after Robbins opened, I would be leaving my current job. “Where will you go?” he asked, a bit surprised. “I want to come work for you,” I cheekily replied. Fortunately, Ted likes people with cheek, so he took me on. That was 1989, and it has been a glorious and remarkably rapid period since.

Over these past two plus decades, I have been proud to see R&H make its mark on Broadway and in London’s West End with a string of stellar revivals, as well as with great movie remakes, concert events, recordings (both new, and lovingly restored originals) and wonderful reissued editions of our classic movie musicals, first on video, then laser disc, then DVD, and now Blu-ray. As R&H has grown as an agency, we have also expanded our licensing catalogue, and now have several hundred writers under our watch, and well over 100 musicals that we proudly represent throughout the world.

In 2009, R&H was acquired by the Imagem Music Group, which also owns the esteemed classical music publishing company Boosey & Hawkes. It seemed inevitable that these two ampersanded giants - R&H and B&H - could benefit from working alongside each other in the licensing world. Shortly after R&H became part of Imagem, the New York office of B&H joined the R&H office on West 28 Street in Manhattan.

And now, R&H Theatricals Europe has been warmly welcomed into the London offices of B&H in Aldwych.

AS: And Vivien? Whilst many of our readers will know you many won’t know about your background.

Vivien: I was born in New York, grew up in Southern California and came to London, via Hull (as you do!). My parents both hail from England and I am thus blessed with dual nationality. My mother was an actress before she started a family and theatre has been in my life from the start. I gained a Bachelor www.amateurstagemagazine.co.uk | 15

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amateurstage | r&hspecial feature of Fine Arts, High Hons degree at University of California - Santa Barbara, did one small professional tour in California as Childie in Killing of Sister George, and then moved to Hull, enjoying a very vibrant cultural scene in the mid 80’s and becoming a Hull City fan for ever more. I moved down to the South East, worked in a factory, a pub and then in reception and secretarial roles in a surveying firm, whilst performing in amateur theatre productions during any spare time. I then landed the best role ever as secretary to the Performing Rights Director at Samuel French Ltd, John Bedding, one of the most knowledgeable theatre men in the world. John was promoted to Managing Director and I became his assistant, then Administrative Director and on John’s retirement in December 1999, Managing Director. I learned so much from John over those years and I will forever be indebted to him. I was MD at Samuel French from January 2000 to September 2012, working alongside two incredibly talented Directors, Amanda Smith (Editorial) and Paul Taylor (Performing Rights).

AS: What are the challenges for R & H London as you see them?

Bert: Our chief challenge - and it is a good one - is that we are entering a UK and EU market that has been exceedingly well served for many years by our esteemed competitors, including Josef Weinberger Ltd., Samuel French Ltd., and MusicScope. Weinberger, of course, was R&H’s European sub-agent for many years, and we are very grateful to them for the extraordinary work they did on our behalf. Some may try to cast the various licensing houses as West Side Story’s gangs of Jets & Sharks, but we prefer to cite Oklahoma! - The Farmer and the Cowman Should be Friends!

As we join the other Houses in the marketplace, that only benefits the consumer. Our particular challenge is to get out in the market place ourselves, and pick up the mantle from Weinberger, striving to connect the right Societies to the right titles in our catalogue and providing the best service we can.

Of course, while we are new to the European licensing world, it is worth remarking that R&H had a presence here in the UK in the late ‘40s and ‘50s. Rodgers and Hammerstein themselves set up Williamson Music Ltd., based for a time in St. George Street, W.1., which was both a music publisher and a West End producing company. In addition to presenting the UK premieres of such R&H stalwarts as South Pacific, the King & I and The Sound of Music, Williamson also presented the UK premieres of Guys and Dolls, Damn Yankees, Can-Can and other Broadway hits. So we see this less as an arrival, and more as a return!

and forthcoming, Carrie. In addition, we have the G2K “Getting to Know” series, which are uniquely adapted versions specifically for young performers of The King & I, Oklahoma!, State Fair, and Once Upon A Mattress.

AS: With the opening of the London office what are the benefits UK groups will experience?

Bert: Competition is good for the market-place, and it will only benefit the UK groups in that they will now have several different licensing houses vying for their attention and eager to get the groups to do one of their shows! In addition, we are excited to launch several initiatives with R&H Theatricals Europe, including our new Artwork Packages for select titles, now available, and, coming soon, marketing guides, and authorised promotional video content. We are also preparing several new titles for European release this spring as well.

Vivien: For the first time UK and European groups will be talking directly to representatives of R&H. Whilst a catalogue of 100 plus titles appears small compared to the catalogues of other licensing houses in London, it does enable us to have the time to know each title in detail and share this knowledge with the groups who apply to perform.

AS: If a group is interested in licensing an R&H show what’s the best way to start the process off?

Vivien: Heading up our Amateur Rights Department is our colleague, Andy Chan, and he can be reached either by telephone on 020 7054 7244, via email on andy.chan@rnh.com or via the website, www.rnh.com. Get in touch, ask questions, explore the website which lists in-depth information regarding the shows. As with the other licensing houses, we provide a perusal service.

25 years, it was a big decision to leave. The team of people who worked with me over those years were fantastic. Many are still there and continue to ensure that Samuel French Ltd is a key player in the theatre industry. However, the chance to get back to working on the ground, talking directly to producing companies, developing even further the markets in Europe, and discovering in much more depth the wonderful world of musical theatre, all appealed to me. The catalogue is prestigious and even I was surprised at the range of titles it contains.

There really is something for everyone and I look forward to getting the catalogue out there and helping to bring the R&H titles to the fore in the UK and Europe.

AS: Bert, how excited you are to be in London for the year and what you are looking forward to over the course of the next year?

Bert: At the risk of sounding utterly romantic and completely naff - is that the word? - living here in London for this year is a dream come true for me. I love this city, and I love Britain.

I am a diehard New Yorker, with a dream job and dream flat in Manhattan, and the only thing that could have pulled me away from all that is this opportunity: to live and work here, and help launch R&H Theatricals Europe. I am so impressed by the quality and commitment of the Amateur Societies across Britain, and am thrilled to have the chance to visit and see local productions of our shows. I am also in awe - OK, envious, of this country’s commitment to theatre, and to musical theatre, where the art form is celebrated across the spectrum.

London this spring will host productions of Dear World, Chess, and Darling Of The Day - None of these are shows we license, and ALL of them are shows I want to see!

AS: Vivien, how do you feel about the move from Samuel French to R & H? Vivien: Having been at Samuel French for nearly

Connie Fisher in the London Palladium production of The Sound Of Music

Vivien: The entire licensing scene has changed with the arrival of R&H Theatricals Europe. The challenges include ensuring that customers know we are here and that they can trust us. Our competitors have longstanding associations with UK and European groups and we need to be able to provide the level of service these customers have come to expect. We also need to get all our titles in the public consciousness; we are more than the big Rodgers & Hammerstein classics. R&H TE has just over 100 titles and these range from small scale chamber musicals and revues to modern titles such as Footloose, In The Heights,

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r&h special feature | amateurstage

>interview

bruce pomahac

BRUCE POMAHAC is a man who loves his job. Amateur Stage spent some time chatting to the Director of Music for the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organisation and learnt a lot in our short time with him.

Bruce Pomahac, (Director of Music) began his career as a Broadway arranger and conductor.

He is now a permanent fixture at Rodgers & Hammerstein’s New York office where, he and Wayne Blood, R&H’s Manager of Musical Preparation, are constantly re-examining, restoring and maintaining the scores and scripts of the many musical shows they represent. On a daily basis Bruce and Wayne are in touch with conductors, arrangers, orchestrators, choreographers, etc. around the globe, keeping abreast of the latest challenges their customers are facing and providing information and helpful solutions.

“Basically that means I ride shotgun for anything that needs to happen concerning the music” Bruce says. “We represent the classic shows of Rodgers and Hammerstein, Rodgers and Hart, Hammerstein and Kern, as well as all the new shows that we have.

“One of the biggest parts of the job is getting all of the old manuscripts into computer files allowing us to create new editions of the shows which are much more user friendly that the old manuscript versions were. In making those computerised versions we now have the ability to go in and correct little bits of the shows which have been wrong for many years.

“One of the things about producing musical theatre no matter where in the world, is that most people assume when they get the scripts and score for a great Broadway show, is that what they are getting is what was performed on Broadway. Many times, that isn’t the case, because back in the day, before computers, there were only manuscript parts and to produce these was expensive. They took a lot of time to create, so there wasn’t a lot of material.

Parts might serve the out of town try-out, then be modified for Broadway, then be put together for a national tour and each that set of parts would endure all the inherent key changes, cuts or alterations that might be made along the way over the years.

“These are changes that weren’t necessarily made by the composer but were necessitated as the show moved around the country. What we discovered is that when the shows were eventually re-copied, a lot of material was left out and the parts were not perhaps as authentic or original as they could have been. In many cases there was also no conductors score only a piano/vocal part that conductors used. We also now try to include a complete conductor’s score together with the parts so that the music

team working on the show can look at it and make decisions about how they want to do things especially if they don’t have a large orchestra.

Bruce is a font of knowledge when it comes to Broadway orchestrations and is reverential when it comes to many of the great orchestrators whose work he restores and cares for.

“One of the things we always like to talk to our customers about is that many of the orchestrations that were created in that era were created for thirty musicians and in the case of Carousel a forty piece orchestra. But the great orchestrators of that period including Don Walker and Robert Russell Bennett, realised that these orchestrations would be played later on by smaller ensembles and so no matter how big the Broadway orchestra was they kept in their minds an orchestration model that they used to call “15 and drums”. What that meant is that basically, any group with 5 woodwinds, 5 strings, and 5 brass and then whatever the percussion was you would cover every base. If you had to cut further than that it might get a bit thinner but at the base there would be a solid sound to carry the show.”

Bruce is conscious of the fact that economically the size of the orchestra is often an issue to amateur groups. “We realise that many don’t have access to huge orchestras and they think they need to re-write the orchestration but that is not necessarily true. You can in fact bring down many of the larger orchestrations to almost any size, because the men who wrote them, were so killed and gifted in their understanding of how orchestras worked that these orchestrations are almost indestructible.

If you only have eight players you don’t need a re-write, you can just select eight books for the players you’ve got and go with that.

“We’re in touch with customers on a daily basis talking about what they really need, acoustic concerns etc. Having seen so many shows we have a really good feel for how these shows work and we can help with advice on what they need to do.”

people involved if they are still available to get something that is true to the original.”

“Restoring and maintaining these shows will be an on-going process. We will never be done. For instance, in The Sound Of Music, Julie Andrews sings incorrect lyrics in the movie because there were incorrect lyrics in the printed/published vocal score of The Sound of Music all the way back to 1960. Where she sings: ‘To laugh like a brook as it trips and falls over stones on its way’, well Oscar Hammerstein never wrote ‘On its way’, if you think about it, it makes no sense. What he wrote was ‘over stones IN its way’. The very first copyist made the original error and it wasn’t identified til we spoke to the original rehearsal pianist, Peter Howard, and he remembered that Oscar stopped Mary Martin and corrected her, a note he made in his piano score which we subsequently found here in the archive, but it never made it to the music printer.

Hammerstein’s lyric for You’ll Never Walk Alone had people holding their ‘chin up high’ on stage but was changed to holding their ‘head up high’ for the movie. No one knows why.

“We love being in touch with our customers and helping them to find solutions to problems.

We’re often able to suggest ways to negotiate problems based on the many productions that we’ve seen. There will always be room for new ideas and interpretations of classic shows but at its core you need to keep the promise you make with your audience when you say tonight we are doing Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The King & I. There’s an expectation, they may have seen the movie or the show before, they know something about it.”

Like many of the employees at R&H we spoke to, Bruce is passionate about his work and is keen to pass on his knowledge to R&H customers world-wide who want to take up the challenge of staging classic Rodgers & Hammerstein shows.

So just how big a job is the restoration and curating of these classic scores? Bruce explains: “There are bars and bars of music in the original score of Carousel that were just scribbled into scores in pencil because there was no time to write it up properly. We have all of the original parts in the archive, so we sit down and go through all of the original parts, the production notes, recordings and talk to the www.amateurstagemagazine.co.uk | 17

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amateurstage | r&h special feature

>interview

dana saltzman siegel

Whilst the classic Rodgers & Hammerstein shows date back many decades, the organisation is conscious that marketing their catalogue needs to be carried out utilising modern technology and with modern audiences in mind. DANA SALTZMAN SIEGEL is charged with engaging modern audiences with the R&H catalogue.

Dana joined R&H in December 2009. Prior to R&H Dana worked at Sony Music Masterworks where she worked with artists ranging from Stephen Sondheim to Duncan Sheik, Yo-Yo Ma to Elvis as well as numerous Broadway Cast Recordings. At R&H Dana oversees all online activity, manages www.rnh.com and is responsible for all online PR, online marketing and social media.

What does your job entail?

I manage everything that happens on computers for R&H, which basically involves looking after their website, customer communications including newsletters, social media and email marketing.

We re-did our website about a year and a half ago, we took the essence of what was on the old site and re-structured it in a way that makes it more user-friendly and easier to engage with.

Ultimately, we are creating content that is fan driven, but content that can be re-purposed for any of the numerous groups who are staging one of our shows. Our goal is to help groups by doing at least part of the marketing job for them, that we are providing them with all of the rich assets that we have on hand to help them market the show and most importantly sell tickets.

R & H recently launched a new artwork service. Can you tell us a bit about that?

We had two problems to solve, the first being that there was no consistent branding for any of the classic R&H shows, in that era it wasn’t something that was focused on. If you look at the poster, the Playbill (theatre programme) and the theatre marquis they all used different branding, different colours and different artwork so there was no consistency.

The second issue arose out of the movies. Many of the fans are more familiar with the movie images created for the R&H classics, so when you think of Sound Of Music you think of the alps, snow and flowers not of the Germanic red typeface surrounded by little instruments which is what was originally used on Broadway. So we needed to solve this problem whilst at the

same time helping groups that don’t have a full time marketing and design staff. We needed to ask how they could create beautiful visuals for their production without having to pay a fortune for it.

and so to me it’s really important that through social media we approach them as fans. We rarely hard sell through our social media pages, it’s all about engaging, communicating and sharing our love for these shows.

So, we hired Frank “Fraver” Verlizzo who was responsible for the original Broadway artwork for Sweeney Todd and Sunday In the Park with George and more recently for The Lion King, to create new artwork for these shows.

The obvious challenge with shows particularly the classic R&H shows, is to generate engaging content. How do you keep refreshing and creating new content for a show that has been out there for 40 years or longer? That is perhaps the most interesting challenge with productions happening all over the world every single day. Every time a group stages Oklahoma! For instance, whilst there are people who have seen it before, there will be those that are experiencing it for the first time, to them it’s brand new. The worst thing we could do is treat these shows as if they are old, they are not they’re evergreen.

Once Frank created the posters, we then formatted them into flyers, banner ads, Facebook graphics and all sorts of other materials that could be used by groups. So if you don’t really know Photoshop or have someone who can edit the files, we’ve taken care of it already.

Looking forward, what are some of the challenges marketing wise?

Facebook, Twitter and social networking in general, is a huge part of marketing your shows to your audiences. We started our Facebook page for The Sound of Music a few years ago and today we have 1.8 million fans following us. These are shows that have been around for decades and we can tell you that the fans are just as passionate now as they have ever been.

The Facebook page is a way we can tell fans about productions that are happening all over the world, as well as letting them know about new productions, movie releases and just share fun facts, trivia, and photos that they may never have seen or not seen for a long time.

I grew up watching these shows. At 30 years old I am the generation of theatre goer we need to attract to start seeing shows regularly. It’s about showing this generation to emotion and power of theatre.

The emotional engagement is tremendous. With social media, theatre groups can see what we are posting then chose to share it with their own audiences to help market their shows.

We have tons of fans who are passionate about our shows and on the other hand people who have never seen an R&H show and are seeing them and learning about them from a fresh perspective. People coming to our social media pages run the gamut from people who are fans to groups who are producing, but the one consistent thing is that they love the shows, they have an emotional connection to the show,

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r&h special feature | amateurstage What would you say to groups and people who are scared of Facebook?

It’s really easy to be scared of social media when you think of it in terms of two way communication and you have this idea that someone else has a platform to be equally as powerful with what you are sharing. You needn’t be afraid of it, this is a thrilling prospect, in that your fans can become your sales force. If you can connect and harness the power of those fans correctly, then they will start doing your marketing for you. You need to provide them with the right tools and the right trivia, photos and keep engaging them you can build your marketing team out of fans. All you need to do is to comment and say something like “I grew up watching Oklahoma! – it’s my favourite movie musical of all time” and all of a sudden you have a group of friends who all know that Oklahoma! is playing somewhere near them. It’s not only young people who are on Facebook either, people aged 45+ is the fastest growing sector on Facebook today, in fact that applies to social media in general. It’s a generation that is already pre-disposed to attending the theatre. When I look at our Facebook page for The Sound of Music it’s pretty evenly split between all of the demographics across the board.

What are some of the more unusual places that the Facebook groups reach?

With The Sound of Music it’s truly global. It’s just tremendous. I think it’s because people grow up with grandparents and parents showing it to them that it becomes part of the family. So, engagement on social media is about extending that reach further, and taking all the people who might sit and watch it every Christmas and expanding the way that they interact with the show.

If you are looking to promote your production or costume & set rentals through R&H platforms or would like to brainstorm on marketing ideas for your production Dana is happy to help. Just reach out!

Above right: The Sound of Music on Facebook 1.8 million followers and counting.

Below: Samples of the artwork now available through R&H for select shows.

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amateurstage | musical produced

>musical produced

footloose

Footloose is fast becoming one of the most popular shows licensed through Rodgers and Hammerstein. Julian Cound from Darlington Operatic Society discusses their recent production.

INTRODUCTION Following a hugely emotional production of Titanic, DarlingtonOS had a selection of shows to choose from – Acorn Antiques, Copacabana, West Side Story, La Cage Aux Folles, Little Women and Footloose were all on the table. Taking all aspects of production into consideration it was decided to present Footloose in Autumn 2012.

THE MUSICAL Footloose really needs no introduction. With the classic 1980s film staring Kevin Bacon and such classic musical numbers as Holding Out For A Hero, Let’s hear It For The Boy, Almost Paradise and the title track, Footloose is part of musical theatre folklore. It enjoyed huge success on Broadway, in the West End and enjoyed huge success on tour throughout the UK. CASTING There is often a mis-conception that Footloose is a show for younger performers, but there is much more to the piece than high-energy

dances. The story relies on strength in depth with every character an integral part of the show – both young and old. As much as you need a strong Ren and Ariel, you also need an equally strong Vi and Revd. Moore.

The show did attract a strong set of new members who slotted into the Society quickly to create a close-knit cast full of energy and enthusiasm. In all, we had a strong cast of 42.

REHEARSALS Footloose was directed and choreographed by our ‘resident’ director, Joanne Hand. This meant that all dance routines were rehearsed to perfection – challenging the experienced, trained dancers within the cast while not alienating the ‘movers’. The skill Joanne brings to all of her productions is to make the entire cast look like experienced dancers, and she did not disappoint with Footloose.

The beauty of Footloose, like many shows, is that a dynamic, buzzing musical number can be

followed by a really dramatic dialogue scene, the emotional rollercoaster ride of musical theatre was a joy to behold in rehearsals.

There is a choice when setting Footloose….

Do you set it in present day or go for the 1980s feel? It is evident that it works both ways with the 2011 re-make of the movie. It was decided to set the show in present day which would also help with costumes.

COSTUMES The costume department of DarlingtonOS decided to self-costume the show. With the Director setting the show in present day this job was made far easier as the cast could put together pieces of their own wardrobe mixed together with some specially purchased / made pieces. Working in this way meant a huge saving on the normal wardrobe budget.

SET Once again we hired a set from Scenic Projects.

This set closely follows the UK Touring set with

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musical produced | amateurstage

simple reversible trucks which works smoothly and looked great. A few additional cloths were used to cover scenes during some of the longer scene changes and three working ‘motorbikes’ were built for Chuck and his gang.

MARKETING The marketing for Footloose started at the first rehearsal when local celebrity Darrien Wright dropped in to offer his support for the show.

Darrien won the 2006 BBC show ‘Strictly Dance Fever’ – his prize being a place in the cast of the West End production of Footloose. His love for the show was evident and he did a great job in selling the show to pupils at his local dance school.

Footloose was the first production for DarlingtonOS where tickets were available to purchase on-line through TicketSource. A lot of marketing was done on social media, encouraging people to visit the TicketSource site. We estimated that 10% of sales would come from direct internet sales, in the end 38% of tickets were purchased directly online.

We also secured sponsorship from local commercial radio station Star Radio. This meant that Footloose was talked about on air regularly for ten weeks leading up to the show, as well as our professionally produced 35 second advert airing 7 or 8 times a day to our target audience of 25 to 45 year olds in the Darlington and surrounding area.

Newspaper coverage was guaranteed with local newspaper editor Peter Baron now instigated as our first Honorary Patron.

We arranged for Amateur Stage magazine to visit our dress rehearsal to create one of their professional 8 minute videos (with express permission from all relevant rightsholders) which went live on the third day of our run. Posting this on Youtube, Facebook and our website allowed people to ‘try before they buy’. Within just a few days this video had been viewed by over 1000 people. I would encourage all societies to contact Amateur Stage to see what they can do for your production.

CONCLUSION Footloose was first and foremost a great artistic success, with standing ovations at almost every one of the ten performances and positive messages flooding in to our website and Facebook page (all used as on-going marketing to encourage more ticket sales during the run).

A great show together with the addition of online ticket sales culminated in a huge financial success for DarlingtonOS too.

Footloose is licensed in the Uk by R&H.

Darrien Wright cuts loose at rehearsals.

Photo courtesy of The Northern Echo

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amateurstage | advertising

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festival news | amateurstage

>festival news Drama Festival news and results from across the UK

Cornwall Winners - Photo courtesy of Carolyn Oakley - Images Photography (carolyn@imagescornwall.com)

CORNWALL ANNUAL DRAMA AWARDS Another successful day was held last Saturday when the Cornwall Drama Association held its annual day at Newquay. The workshop was taken by Writer and Director Ben Crocker who took as his theme ‘skills needed by all actors, but especially those used in pantomime and comedy, such as rhythm, speed and precision’. At the end of the session all participants agreed they had learned much to help them.

The evening saw the annual award ceremony when 41 certificates were presented. The winner of the best play was Newquay Dramatic Society’s Happy Christmas Shirley, of the best Musical was Kidz R Us, St Ives, for Seussical and the best pantomime was St Blazey Amateur Operatic Society’s Dick Whittington. The award for technical excellence was this year presented to Penpont Players for pushing the bounds of technology in Cornwall, and a workshop is being arranged for those interested in learning “how it is done”.

DRAMA FESTIVAL NEWS Send us your festival news and results for publication.

Send text and pictures to editor@asmagazine.co.uk

The annual dinner was attended by 200 members.

for publication in the

The Drama Festival for 2012-13 began on 1st September, and companies interested in entering can find details of this, and all the winners from last year, on our website www.cornwalldrama.co.uk

magazine and online.

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amateurstage | overture

Photo: Maia Rosenfeld 2 | www.amateurstagemagazine.co.uk

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interview | amateurstage

>interview

jason robert brown

In late 2012, musical theatre composer Jason Robert Brown worked with the National Youth Music Theatre in London where he directed his musical 13. Douglas Mayo caught up with Jason to talk about the experience of working with kids, the genesis of the show and how he works as a composer. containing thirteen songs, perhaps it was overthought, but I like thinking that way. It was a way to get started at any rate.

AS: How was it working with the NYMT on 13?

JRB: It was the highlight of my year and the best thing that I could have done. The kids were wonderful in the first place, but the chance to do 13 with that group and to be given a chance to do it in a West End theatre was a dream.

My initial motivator was what do for these kids?

The show kept building from there.

AS: The show ended up on Broadway. Did you have that in mind when you were writing the show?

JRB: I really didn’t, that wasn’t the original intention. I sort of thought it might be a touring show - something you could do that was a lot of fun, but it turns out that I am what I am and that as I progressed and the writing got more and more intimate and more honest, it became less appropriate as a vehicle for a very large space and more appropriate as a vehicle for the kind of theatres that I usually write for.

AS: How was it working on a show you composed and taking up the helm as director?

JRB: 13 was very much my story to begin with.

I wrote a substantial chunk of the book, so it wasn’t perhaps as weird as composer/director might make it sound. It felt very natural and like an extension of the work that I am doing. Like anything though, it’s just hard, I can’t imagine directing the first production of a show because I like to concentrate on being the writer of the show and not having to talk to the lighting designer. I feel though that once the show has found its shape, it feels very natural to be the person realising the vision of it. Directing kids is always interesting, but I’ve been working with kids my whole life so I’ve worked out how to get what I need out of them.

AS: Does working with kids pose different problems for you as a composer/director?

JRB: Working with kids is entirely different.

The hardest thing is that they are so easily distracted. I mean kids are stupid, and I say that with all the love in the world, but there’s a reason we don’t let them drive. Kids do stupid things all the time, part of the learning process is that the fun is about doing something and having the discipline to do it well.

Fun is not just about doing any stupid thing that they want to do, but the right thing at the right time and when that happens you can watch the sparks fly, it’s so exciting.

Instilling discipline is tough, especially because when I was 16 I didn’t have a whole lot of it.

What is important for me to pass on, is that the good part of this work comes from knowing how to do it. Theatre work, I think, is different to other types of performance in that it requires discipline that is very complicated and beautiful when it all comes together.

There’s time to explore and time to navigate to see what happens and then there’s a time to buckle down. I found that as a director my job

came down to knowing when to screw around and when to nail it. I enjoyed it, but I don’t need to do it more than every couple of years (he laughs).

AS: Talk to us about the process involved in writing 13. I believe that the original idea was your own.

JRB: Ideas come at me from all over the place and this one had a particularly complicated and multi-faceted genesis. A lot of my work goes in front of an audience that is made up of teenagers. Well before I wrote 13, I had an audience of kids who were into musical theatre and before the zeitgeist had cottoned onto the fact that there were all these teenagers who wanted to do musicals, I had realised it because they were all doing mine, even when they were utterly inappropriate for them. I thought, if they really want to do my stuff, why don’t I give them something that feels genuine to them, rather than something that feels like it should be sung as it was originally intended by older divorcees.

I thought, what is a teenage story? Something in me liked the mathematical neatness of doing a show about 13 years olds that had thirteen kids in it. The original idea had the show

AS: How does your process work?

JRB: In this case, Dan Elish and I sat down and came up with a rough outline for the show. We hadn’t really gotten to the end of it, but decided to sit down and write a couple of scenes to see where that led us. I remember reading some quote by the playwright August Wilson about his writing process, where he said he never knew how the story was going to turn out when he started writing, so I thought I’ll try that. I can tell you I’ll never try that again!! (laughs) After we worked out who the characters were and we knew what they were doing we started writing. I was in Denmark teaching when I had a burst of the opening number, musically I knew what it was and I had some lyrics for it all of a sudden. I remember being on a break in Denmark and writing it all down and that was when I started working. Dan and I did a first pass and it took about six months to write the first four or five scenes, because really we were writing with no urgency whatsoever. There was no need to rush. I was living in Italy and going backwoods and forwards to New York and he was all over the place.

Not much of that early work is still in the show.

What it means to be a friend was part of that, the opening number in some form was part of it and the last part was Being a geek. Once we had all of that, almost by accident Michael Ritchie at the Centre Theatre Group suggested we should do a workshop at the Mark Taper Forum. We buckled down and finished a draft

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amateurstage | interview of it, some of which was finished whilst in rehearsal, which again is not something that I recommend (laughs) and we started pushing ahead to see what we would come up with.

What I knew from the outset is that the show needed to have a teenage band. I thought that was vitally important to the show, I can’t explain why, but it feels to me that so much of the sound and the aesthetic show is about having all of the sounds come from kids. The raucous sloppy energy of it was something that I liked.

It’s certainly got a lot of smart-arsed elements to it but it’s a very earnest show at its core. It speaks its own language and that’s generated some criticism from people who come to see the show expecting it to be Spring Awakening or The Last Five Years. 13 is very much its own goofy thing. It’s the sort of show that I would have wanted to be in when I was that age and it’s also the kind of show that I wanted to write at this age.

AS: Were there hurdles in getting the production onto the stage particularly in your own process?

JRB: There were a lot. It was a very challenging show in a lot of respects. The plot was very hard because, as a storyteller my initial instinct is always to deal with small transformative moments, I don’t write about big things. As a result I’m probably not really a plot guy, but more of a character guy. I knew who the characters were, but when I was trying to push them forward and figure out what they were supposed to do, I was very conscious of having them feel false and was always scared of that happening.

The Broadway producer suggested bringing in another writer to help me and Dan with it, and I said ‘please’ as I was burned out on it already.

So Robert Horn came in and even working with Robert it was hard. His instinct was that this bit would be funny and this would be fantastic, and I kept saying but it’s not true and I needed it to be true. We have to be funny and suspenseful and fantastic but I don’t want to feel false. I think we succeeded about 90% of the time with that.

With every production I feel that we are getting closer to it. With the West End production I felt it was the most honest of any of the versions we had done.

AS: You’ve noted that you took the show to a holiday camp after it’s Broadway run for a few further tweaks. Do you keep going back to your shows to make corrections or refinements?

JRB: I would always really prefer to lock my shows down and never touch them again. That feels to me like what a writer is supposed to do, but theatre is not always that kind to me.

With Parade, I was perfectly happy to close the show down when we were done with the tour in 2000, but when the opportunity came up to do the show at the Donmar Warehouse in London, we knew that we couldn’t do the tour production and that we needed to make a few changes to make it work in a smaller space. Once we did that we re-opened the entire thing and started examining it differently.

It made the show so much better just having the distance from it. To be able to come back 7 years later and say ‘I was never sure why we did this?’, ‘I was never nuts about this moment’, but once we’d worked on it in London, then in Los Angeles, I was happy to close it and say good we’re done. With The Last Five Years, it’s

a very hermetically sealed piece of theatre, you can’t really go in and monkey with it because it affects everything. So I’ve been very happy to keep the door closed on that. With 13, what happened is that by the time Robert came in we were quite a way down the line in terms of the production. Robert and I had a wonderful collaboration with Dan but we got to opening night and I think we all felt that we opened it but none of us really felt like we had really finished it. The verdict in general on Broadway was that we hadn’t, so Robert & I felt no compunction in going back in to finish it and so we did another draft and took it to Frenchwoods summer camp and did a few changes based on that and that’s the version that went out in the world. But then Robert & I wrote a screenplay for it and in doing that solved some other problems and we thought maybe we should add those in. With the publication of the script we found a few more tweaks and finally with my involvement in the West End being the person who rehearsed it every day with these kids there were a bunch of things were I thought “That’s what I was looking

for”. Having done all of that now it’s my earnest hope that I am done with it.

I feel like it gets confusing too. There have been almost 1000 productions of 13, and all those companies have done some version of it and I don’t want to invalidate earlier versions by saying “Well we decided we could do better”.

No I can honestly say, yes we’re done, we promise, go and do the show and have fun”.

AS: What advice would you give amateurs who are looking to stage one of your shows?

JRB: I think you have to take the music very seriously. It’s written at a very high level, it’s complicated so if you take on my work and don’t have serious musicians who are committed to taking on the work and executing it properly I don’t think the shows have anywhere near the same impact.

Suddenly all the theatre goes out of the show because a lot of the theatricality is built into the score. That the over-arching point about

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interview | amateurstage my work which might sound contradictory to my other point which is that my work is not particularly solemn. I think I have a reputation as being a heavy writer, I tend to think that the heaviness needs to be in the writing and not in the performing. I think 13 is a comedy and it needs a cast of comedians. The funnier that cast it, the more that show lifts off the page. If you try and cast it with only singers, you may end up with a lot of very slow scenes. It was written for gifted teenagers, the more they get to be kids and be as goofy and ridiculous as kids are then the better the production.

AS: As a composer are there any types of show you won’t touch?

JRB: There’s a lot of stuff that’s not my thing.

It’s less about subject matter or musical asthetic than it is about characters. I think that some people can sing and some can’t. With some characters I know how to make them sing and bring them to life. I’ve tried making characters come to life that I didn’t think I could and I’m usually right – it doesn’t sound like much! My issue is that if the characters don’t sing to me, I really don’t see the point in trying to make it into a musical. When I feel like the characters do sing, I have an almost immediate visceral reaction to the matrial, I can hear the music almost immediately. When I’m watching a movie or reading a book, I can feel when the music is coming and I get excited about that. I certainly reject a lot more ideas that I take on.

Jason Robert Brown recording the London cast album

AS: What’s your next project?

JRB: I’m directing a production of The Last Five Years Off-Broadway in April.

AS: So would you consider directing someone else’s work?

JRB: I think the only thing I would be interested in doing is directing really new work. Maybe plays but definitely musicals. I feel that I have the ability to guide a new musical, I’m not sure that I have anything to say to Dolly or Sweeney, but I think I could be helpful to new writers. I don’t burn to do it though.

AS: What are the new shows on the horizon for you at the moment?

JRB: I’m working on musical versions of The Bridges Of Madisson County and Honeymoon in Vegas this fall and I hope that one or both of them may hit Broadway sometime soon.

13 the musical featuring the 2012 National Youth Musical Theatre production is now available for download at www.nymt.org.uk or on Ghostlight Records. 13 is licensed in the UK by Josef Weinberger.

Production photos: Sandy and Rob Youngson

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>ltg news Amateur Stage is pleased to bring our readers news from the Little Theatre Guild.

Calendar Girls – The Experience Not every LTG member theatre has decided to join the Calendar Girls bandwagon – with high ticket sales expected at all venues, however, some may regret it!

The popularity of the title has encouraged societies to plan extra events. Bolton Little Theatre and Priory Theatre, Kenilworth both presented midnight matinees preceeded by champagne receptions on the 1st September, each hoping to claim the Amateur Premiere title.

Halifax Thespians followed at the more normal hour on the 1st.

At Progress Theatre, Reading on 15th September, there was a Gala Matinee to celebrate the theatre’s 65th birthday, followed by a “W.I. style Afternoon Tea”.

Other LTG member theatres which announced productions were Leicester Little Theatre, Erith Playhouse, Cotswold Playhouse, The Miller Centre, Swan Theatre Yeovil, Tower Theatre Islington, Barn Theatre Welwyn, Southport Little Theatre, Rugby Theatre – and that was just September! In the following months came Moulton Theatre, Archway Theatre, Teddington Little Theatre, Brighton Little Theatre, Bromley Little Theatre , Studio Theatre Salisbury, Station Theatre Hayling Island, Lewes Little Theatre, Todmorden Hippodrome, Questors Theatre Ealing, and Workington Playgoers.

This must be far from the complete list for 2012, as it only includes those members who have taken the trouble to include me on their mailing lists! Not since the BT Biennial plays can so many theatres have been presenting the same play at almost the same time all over the country.

And of course many planned productions are coming up in 2013 as well. Chairman Kevin Spence wrote: It is heartening to note how many productions of that phenomenon known as CALENDAR GIRLS have provided a marvellous launchpad for the 2012/3 seasons for a number of theatres. The play seems to be achieving exactly what we had all hoped: income, bums on seats, and in the case of more than one theatre, a considerable boost to charitable fundraising. This alone speaks volumes for the humanity and generosity of both LTG member theatres, but of course, our audiences!

However, the key question that exercises

my mind is: where do we all go to find another CALENDAR GIRLS? Do we have to settle for this being a one-off stroke of good theatrical fortune that we have been able to capitalise on a play with such universal appeal, or are there lessons to be learned about play selection, and, even, productions of new work.

There are, after all, one or two features of Mr. Firth’s highly profitable play which stand out.

Firstly, it is based on a true story, which was adapted into a high profile film with star actresses - yes, actresses! Wonderful parts for ladies of a certain age - a very attractive proposition, therefore! Secondly, the story mixes humour and pathos in just the right amounts - I have always found in my own theatre career, that plays which achieve this always seem to do well! Thirdly, there is just that frisson of naughtiness to titillate without offending. So, we all know what we are looking for - if any of you know a show that fits theses criteria - please pass it on to the rest of us!

Although I have approached this in a relatively lighthearted manner, there are some underlying serious considerations in all this. I know many of you, like me, want to promote new writing - but at the same time, retain those precious audience figures at a time when money is tight and audiences put ever greater demands on us therefore to have ‘a quality experience’ when they come to our theatres. But perhaps there is a missing element in this debate - what about developing a new audience? I know many of you have very loyal audiences which pack your theatres for show after show, so that the subject of audience development does not figure highly on your list of priorities. However, I am also well aware of theatre companies particularly, amateur operatic societies - who have continued to rely on a core audience, only to watch it slowly dwindle and fade away.

Owning and Running your own Theatre The Guild continues to grow as more and more companies running their own theatres come to realise that it is a national body that services their common concerns and interests.

Recent recruits include The Edward Alderton Theatre, Bexleyheath and Titchfield Festival Theatre, Hants. Typical of the services offered to the members is advice on many topics.

Tom Williams recently advised on the progress of the review of Charities. It is clear that great weight is being placed on the requirement for Charities to be of public benefit, and for Charities to stress and report on the impact of their activities. Theatre trustees and boards should have this in the back of their minds, particularly when making grant applications, where all the right boxes have to be ticked!

The Guild is also promoting Theatre Safety in conjunction with the Theatre Safety Committee, on which Tom represents the amateur sector.

Do you ever have an accident in your theatre or an incident that could have been an accident?

Accidents happen for three basic reasons: * The correct procedures have been followed and something has gone wrong; * The correct procedures were either not known because training had not been given or; * Proper training had been given and the correct procedures were ignored because the person involved knew better The Theatre Safety Committee needs to know about all three types of incident, and particularly the first because knowledge could lead to a change in advice in certain circumstances.

Fortunately incidents in theatre are few, but it is not possible that, as the official statistics show, there are none in LTG Theatres.

I therefore appeal to you all to ensure that reports are made to ABTT, who collate the information, when incidents occur. A simple form can be downloaded by going to http:// www.abtt.org.uk/technical-resources/codesforms-and-updates.htm and downloading the Incident Enquiry Form.

You are required to keep an accident book in your theatre and Boards should look at the book regularly. Your safety and that of your volunteers and audiences is important. Don’t let it be compromised!

Meanwhile quite a few theatres have been using the summer months and more to improve their premises.

At the Harborough Theatre summer work included the conversion of the Harlequin Room into a properly equipped additional dressing room with toilet and washroom, and the installation of a new smoke alarm system throughout the whole theatre. This comes on top of recent work on air-conditioning, curtains and carpets, and new fire-exit doors. Altogether nearly £40,000 from carefully husbanded resources will have been spent by the end of the year.

At Abbey Theatre, St Albans as work on the adjoining new leisure centre drew to a conclusion, with landscaping and paving work being done in August, the pressure was on the theatre to brighten up its own image – first plans were to refurbish the foyer completely, redecorating, modernising the furniture and replacing the old unsubtle lighting, in time for the start of the new season.

To celebrate the Golden Jubilee Season, The Norbury Theatre, Droitwich tackled the renovation of the front-of-house, providing a new coffee bar to replace the old kitchen, and redecorating the foyer, and improving the lighting. The work was largely done by a team of volunteers, who set to work after a lengthy consultation process on the colour scheme!

The finished result is still stunning “although it may not be as bold and different as originally intended!” Attention was also given to the auditorium, toilets and the front entrance.

At Bromley Little Theatre negotiations are

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ltg news | amateurstage taking place to extend the lease on the theatre.

There is common agreement that the building is in urgent need of expensive maintenance, and it is hoped that a new, longer lease will be granted to justify both commitment to the building and expenditure on development that is needed.

Meanwhile at The Miller Centre, Caterham a team of “unsung heroes were hard at work redecorating the upper dressing room, replacing the washbasins and fitting new curtains. The downstairs dressing room was also refurbished, with all the worktops replaced, the lights fixed, and the room redecorated. So if it all looks shiny bright and clean next season, remember that for some the holidays mean hard work!”

For the summer months at Oast Theatre, Tonbridge the place was a building site with limited access to many areas. Hard hats and high visibility jackets were need by those wanting access to the workshop, and the safe way into the wardrobe was via the fire escape.

Performances on the temporary thrust stage will continue until the end of the year.

In a year of natural disasters, the summer saw such extensive rainfall that several theatres in the Pennines were caught by flooding or the imminent threat of it!

“Saturday 23 June 2012” – Todmorden News reported with a photo – “some of the members of Todmorden Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society who were helping to protect items from flood water and protect the historic Hippodrome Theatre as best they could.

This is the third time the Edwardian theatre has been flooded in 12 years and this week they have been presenting the bittersweet playTwo. Friday’s performance had to be abandoned just

before the end of the first act at around 8.15pm.

At this point the society’s own pumps were keeping the water clear of the boiler and the volunteers were trying to raise as much as they could above any water levels. Steve Clarkson and David Winslow, TAODS stalwarts, said the audience had been invited back for Saturday’s performance, if circumstances allowed it to go on.

Justine Sutcliffe continues: We did re-open on the Saturday night for our last performance of Two. Many people took advantage of the offer of reissued seats for those who had to be evacuated. The main reason we managed to reopen was that approximately 20 of our hardened members spent Friday night waging war against the water. It finally stopped rising at about 1am! Since this is the 3rd time we have been flooded since 2000, we were well equipped - the pumps were running and we moved our entire wardrobe store to a higher point in the building. This meant that we have lost very little of our contents. However, we have lost all our dressing rooms as they are below street level - we are hoping that we will be back in full operation by Calendar Girls in October.

Meanwhile we have still hosted 2 school talent contests and a dance school show.

The children and teachers have been really understanding and we all pulled together under the motto - “The Show must Go ON!” At Hebden Bridge Little Theatre, although the theatre itself sits on the banks of the canal, it was lucky to escape the flood water that devastated parts of the town. The Friday night performance of California Suite was curtailed to ensure that the audience and staff could get home safely. The Saturday performance had to be cancelled because the power was down due to flood damage in the town. On Monday, though, the play ran to an appreciative audience.

If the Stones Could Talk!

Many of our theatres have been created out of old buildings suitable (or otherwise) for adaptation into theatres. This gives many of them a unique charm, but often a very rundown appearance! In the LTG Year Book for 2005/06 I wrote an article about our diverse theatrical architectural heritage, and hopefully members have made sure that this heritage has been lodged with the Theatres Trust data bank.

Every so often additional pieces of information surface which complement the sometimes sparse pieces which are included in the Year Book. Like the following piece from the Newsletter for Market Harborough Drama Society. “The Harborough Theatre was originally built as a bicycle storage shed for the local factory workers in the early 1930s. In 1935 an upper storey was added for the Market Harborough Women’s Unionist Association, so that the building became the Conservative Hall.

Much of the stone however dates back to the 15th century, the site originally having been first a Priest’s House, and then an Inn called The Green Dragon. The remains of a mediaeval wall were still there when the bicycle shed was built!

But is the date-stone 1471 genuine? Or did a mischievous builder in 1935 think he would give future generations a puzzle?”

A recent piece in the Newsletter for Leicester Little Theatre provided the history for their Graveyard. “The theatre was originally a Baptist Chapel which was sold to the Rechabites in 1929, and in the 800 square feet of land behind the building was the graveyard. Enclosed by the walls of the chapel and surrounding factories, it contained over 20 gravestones, many of which can still be seen today, standing like sentinels against the walls.

Whenever excavations have taken place for building work, the utmost care has been taken to preserve the site, particularly when foundations were laid for the new Foyer closing the access to the graveyard from the road. With the most recent headstone dated 1856, there can’t be many people around today who have any interest in the site.

The next assault on the area was the erection of the wardrobe department which was built on stilts. The walkway linking front of house to backstage was later covered in. With the original gravestones now stacked against the walls, the area has been paved, and although with the name of ‘graveyard’ it might not be the best place to linger, the recent addition of table and chairs has resulted in it being quite a pleasant place to sit out on a sunny day (when we get one!).”

RSC Open Stages Project With the Autumn came the final run down of the most exciting RSC Open Stages Project, with

which member theatres of the Guild participated with great enthusiasm.

The National Showcase weekends in Stratford in July were a great experience for the winning participants, particularly for Studio Theatre, Salisbury, whose award winning production of Hamlet was seen in the Swan Theatre on 21st July. The first performance of Hamlet in the Swan!

Rugby Theatre were also participating in July with an excerpt from their bilingual production of Romeo and Juliet, the Montagues being played by Polish speakers, which was paired with a new piece Brush up your Shakespeare presented by Luxulyan ADS, in the Courtyard Theatre on 22nd July.

Tower Theatre, Islington took their production of Baba Shakespeare to the Swan Theatre on 21st July – see the LTG Newsletter August issue for a production photo!

Priory Theatre, Kenilworth were invited to bring an excerpt from their production of A Winter’s Tale for presentation on the open-air Dell Stage in August. The later scenes were chosen, and retitled Perdita and Florizel.

A general overview was provided by Laura Barnett in a piece in The Guardian on 18th July. “Part of the World Shakespeare Festival, the RSC Open Stages project is a two-year long celebration of the best of British amateur theatre: a chance for non-professional actors to perform and polish their skills – and a reminder of how extensive the UK’s network of amateur dramatics actually is.

The connection between amateur and professional theatre is something that the RSC’s Ian Wainwright is trying to recover. “Until the 1950s and 60s almost every town had a rep theatre and amateur productions alternated with professional shows. There is a lot of snobbery about amateur theatre now: an assumption that it is less good.” Isn’t that true? “They’re often just as committed. And sometimes a lot better organized. With a professional production you start with the play, and then find the people.

With an amateur show, you’ve got the people first, then you fit the play around them.” (Some people might not agree with this last sentence!)

However, Ian Wainwright has contributed an article to the new LTG Year Book, reflecting on the experience. Hopefully the whole project is just the start of a brave new world!

The Nation’s Best Am-Dram As I write, SkyArts are screening nationwide their 6 part series, produced by Oxford Film & Television. This has in general been well received by the press, and hopefully by the public as well. I gather that Sky was very pleased with the series. It certainly has presented Am Dram in a really positive light for once, which was the basic incentive from the outset whatever twists and turns of commercialism had to be dealt with as the plans for the series progressed.

Representing the Guild, I was involved in consultations from the start, having meetings with Nick Kent, Charlie Nicholson and Ed Booth as the plans progressed, and then participating in the early stages of filming. What does shine through in the episodes that I have seen is the enthusiasm and commitment of the amateurs which has compelled the respect of the filmmakers and programmers - something which I stressed from the very beginning. With 6 hour-long instalments of the competition, and 5 hours of extra in-depth exploration, is anyone complaining that the amateur sector has been shortchanged or belittled? I hope not. www.amateurstagemagazine.co.uk | 29

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amateurstage | ltg news Time for some little plugs!

December saw the publication of the LTG Year Book for 2012/13. This contains reports from each member theatre, together with lists of productions mounted, and percentage capacities, as well as other interesting reports and articles. Copies can be obtained from me and/or the Guild Secretary Caroline Chapman for just £10.00 (incl p&p). Easy to find us on the website!!

The Guild will shortly be providing full details of the two residential Shakespeare Workshops at the Globe Theatre, on Bankside. First up will be the Youth Theatre Workshop over the weekend of 2/4 August 2013. The qualifying age for this workshop will be 16 + on the 2nd August 2013.

The Senior Workshop weekend will be over 16/18 August 2013. Both workshops will be limited to 40 participants – in good health I should stress as they are usually physically quite challenging!

News from IATA/ITE Anne Gilmour reports: The next world festival takes place in Monaco in 2013. The entry from GB is allocated to a group from England, but (in August) no group had submitted an application to participate, with one month to go to the deadline.

Financial restrictions are hitting every country involved in international theatre. Festivals are being cancelled or reduced in size. The positive news is the increased focus on Youth Theatre, and the emergence of imaginative, visionary and experimental theatre. But the finances of IATA are not as robust as they were, with members failing to pay their fees and public funding drying up over the whole world. The paid (part-time) secretariat is being reduced, and I will be taking over in October. The world festival announced for 2015 in Argentina may have to be moved to a country more accessible to the majority of participants.

The biggest future task of the Council will be to consider a total restructuring of IATA, and how it can be made to work in the modern world of immediate communication.

Regional Theatres in Danger?

In mid-November the heads of 23 of Britain’s Regional Theatres gathered to argue their claims as financial pressure on their funding increases. English theatre was, they said, a delicate ecosystem of creative life, nurturing the talents on which events such as the Olympic ceremonies depended. But it is threatened by cuts to public spending, especially from underpressure local authority budgets. Speaking of the value of theatre in the regions, Danny Boyle said: What they provide is something else to believe in…Something in our cities and towns that isn’t Wetherspoons and Walkabout pubs and Mario Balotelli and John Terry.

Boyle believed that the attention to the Arts shown by culture secretary Maria Miller was outrageous. “Not one of the artistic directors present (including Nick Hytner of the National) has even been approached by this woman.

This is outrageous. This is the cultural life of our country. She is the Minister of Culture – I mean, come on! It’s a disgrace; it is these artistic directors that are spending the tax-payers’ money. And she’s not met them. She should be talking to them.”

The Government’s cultural policy of encouraging philanthropic donations to the arts was called a ‘smokescreen’ and ‘wishful thinking’, particularly in poorer areas outside London. “These are not communities where there is spare cash floating around. Where are the super-rich of Bolton, for example?” For Doyle, it all began at the Octagon Theatre in Bolton. “My first experience of walking into a theatre – you just didn’t go into a theatre in the background I came from - was when I went to be an usher at the Bolton Octagon. Theatres create communities, and these communities come together and make these big works of art like the opening ceremony. This is only possible

with modest sustained investment in regional theatres.”

The news from Newcastle was not encouraging – the council had warned Northern Stage that is was considering, albeit reluctantly, to scrap completely its arts budget in the next three years. “If they take that decision, or even a decision less serious than that, it will devastate the cultural landscape. Newcastle will not be the home that people are as proud of as they are today”, said Erica Whyman.

The minister Ms Miller still believes that arts giving could be doubled, and looks forward to meeting more arts leaders for discussions.

Her department nevertheless quickly put out a statement that the comments made by the regional directors were ‘close to pure fiction’, and that their accusations that the government ‘neither likes nor supports the arts were disingenuous in the extreme’. And at a Conservative party funding dinner she is reported as saying that ‘cultural organizations have had enough funding’, and denied that there was a ‘clear and present danger to regional theatre’. She said: ‘Despite almost £3bn of public funding in the last five years, there remains a clear tension between the arts world and government’. No subsequent explanation of her grand figure of £3bn has been offered, but it is thought that it must include lottery funding! But real cuts are clearly on the way!

We wait anxiously to see what impact she can make in her new job. It doesn’t look like an auspicious start! No sooner had she had a meeting with Hytner than the Leveson Enquiry Report was published, and Ms Miller’s department was plunged into the job of drafting legislation to give statutory underpinning to a new Press Watchdog, despite the PM’s opposition! On top of this came the problem of female bishops in the CofE and the issue of equality. There won’t be much time available to consider the plight of regional theatre as councils like Newcastle and now Somerset go ahead with their cuts!

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amateurstage | musical produced

>stage to screen

les miserables

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stage to screen | amateurstage

It’s taken twenty-eight years for the musical Les Miserables to make it to the silver screen. Much has been made of how the film has been made and early indicators are that this epic musical has not only wowed the critics but may well end up the highest grossing film musical of all time. Getting the musical onto the screen and finding the right cast was no easy feat as we discovered.

The story of the musical Les Misérables began in 1978, when French composers Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg started work on a musical adaptation of Victor Hugo’s opus.

It was inspired during Boublil’s visit to London when, while watching producer Cameron Mackintosh’s 1997 revival of Oliver!—though Mackintosh had no idea of this at the time— Boublil realized the character of the Artful Dodger reminded him of Gavroche, the young street urchin allied with the revolutionary students in Hugo’s story. The seed of “Les Misérables” as a stage musical was sown, and Boublil and Schönberg’s concept album was released in 1980 and sold 260,000 copies. In September of that year, French director Robert Hossein staged their work in a show seen by more than 500,000 people at the Palais des Sports in Paris.

It was some two years later that a Hungarian director named Peter Farago took the concept album to Mackintosh to see if he might consider staging Les Misérables as an English-language musical. Mackintosh at once realized this was something very special and tracked down Boublil and Schönberg. Though Mackintosh didn’t speak fluent French, he was entranced.

The producer explains: “The music was so phenomenal in its storytelling. I got through only four tracks on the album, and I was so excited I knew I wanted to produce the show.”

Mackintosh wanted Boublil and Schönberg to remain a key part of the process, and he put together a brilliant creative team with Trevor Nunn and John Caird as directors and with James Fenton as lyricist. Fenton was later replaced by Herbert Kretzmer, but he is still credited for giving the show some of its shape and form.

The rest is theater history.

Les Misérables originally opened in London at the Barbican Theatre on October 8, 1985, transferred to the Palace Theatre on December 4, 1985, and after 19 years moved to its current home at the Queen’s Theatre on April 3, 2004.

When Les Misérables celebrated its 21st London birthday on October 8, 2006, it became the world’s longest-running musical, surpassing the record previously held by Cats on London’s West End. In January 2010, the West End production broke another record by celebrating its historic 10,000th performance. Seen by more than 60 million people worldwide in 42 countries and in 21 languages, Les Misérables has grown to become undisputedly one of the world’s most popular musicals ever, with new productions continually opening around the globe.

Explaining the phenomenon, Mackintosh reflects: “‘Les Misérables’ is one of the greatest social novels ever written. Hugo created characters and wrote of situations both timeless and universal. When you add to that the power of Claude-Michel Schönberg’s score, the brilliance of Alain Boublil’s original French lyrics, and the fantastic, timeless style of Herbert Kretzmer’s writing, the success of the show can be easily understood.”

Over the years, Mackintosh had been approached by multiple filmmakers to translate the show into a film. In fact, the movie rights

had once been sold 25 years ago, after the show opened to huge acclaim on Broadway, but the option lapsed and the rights reverted to Mackintosh. The producer would wait, ultimately choosing to work with the U.K.’s most prolific and esteemed production company, Working Title Films. For their part, producers Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner had been interested in producing a musical for some time, but it was a social encounter between Fellner and Nicholas Allott, the managing director of Cameron Mackintosh Ltd., that triggered their interest in Les Misérables. Soon after, Bevan and Fellner met with Mackintosh, and conversations about a film adaptation of Les Misérables began in earnest.

“It was a daunting task,” provides Fellner, “to turn arguably the theater’s greatest musical into a musical for the big screen. But with it came a privilege that we were inheriting greatly loved material and the opportunity to work alongside the people who had created the show.”

Bevan, Fellner and Mackintosh all agreed that it was crucial to keep the core group who had achieved such success with the stage musical at the heart of the project. From the beginning, Boublil, Schönberg, Mackintosh and Kretzmer remained very much involved in the process.

Until a director was chosen, the producers didn’t know how much of the original team would be part of the process. It was decided, however, that a screenwriter should be brought in to adapt their work for the screen. Soon after the filmmakers’ initial meeting, William Nicholson was charged with the task of penning the screenplay. Debra Hayward, former head of film at Working Title Films, who reunited with the company to produce Les Misérables alongside Bevan, Fellner and Mackintosh, explains the rationale: “We instinctively knew Bill was the right person. We had worked with him a number

of times, so we knew his work intimately. As well as being a great dramatist, he has a great understanding of music.”

Nicholson, a two-time Academy Award® nominee for his work on Gladiator and Shadowlands, had previously partnered with Working Title Films on the epic period piece Elizabeth: The Golden Age. Says Nicholson: “I came along with screen expertise to take the stage musical and nudge it into a cinematic one. It’s been a fascinating job because I had seen the show many times and absolutely loved it. The theater experience is so powerful and driven by the music, whereas film is more naturalistic, forcing the question of realism and credibility. It was my job to strengthen the plotlines.”

Mackintosh had a clear mandate from the start: He didn’t want to put the show on film; he wanted it to have a life of its own. Expounds Fellner: “Our job was to validate its existence and lead an audience to want to see it, but to retain the core of what this show is—absolutely at the heart of every single frame of the film.

We hoped we could maintain what Cameron describes as the ‘DNA of what the show is’ and why it appeals to so many people throughout the world.”

Fittingly, the stars were aligned during the search for a director. Except in this case, the director, Tom Hooper, sought out the project even before the astonishing global success of his Academy Award®-winning The King’s Speech was generally released. When Hooper heard that Nicholson, with whom he was working on another project, was also crafting an adaptation of Les Misérables, he felt ready to tackle it. The director says: “A light bulb went off in my head. I thought it a really interesting idea.” Hooper had not seen the show but knew the music well and was intrigued by the period in which it was set. He wasted no time in going to see the musical. “I saw it on a very hot day in August. There were those three or four moments where the nerves in my spine were set on fire, and it was extraordinarily emotional.

I was struck by how unbelievably addictive the melodies were. Having seen it once, I could not get them out of my head. Claude-Michel had tapped into something very deep with the melodies, their patterns, the structures and the motifs.”

Around that time, Hooper met with Hayward, who was still Working Title Films’ head of production. “It was one of those great serendipitous moments that Tom came to see us just at the time Nicholson had delivered the script,” she says. “He read it, loved it and knew he wanted to do it.”

Agrees Fellner: “Tom Hooper was our first choice. He was the only director to whom we ever gave the screenplay, and from the moment he signed on, it has been a thrilling ride. He is passionate, obsessive in the detail, incredibly hard-working and deeply committed.”

Hooper reflects that he was drawn to the material on many levels: “One of the things that was so exciting about doing The King’s Speech was the emotion it provoked in audiences around the world. It made me very much want www.amateurstagemagazine.co.uk | 33

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amateurstage | stage to screen to make my next film with a subject that would provoke even stronger emotions.” Moved to tears while reading Nicholson’s script on a flight from London to Los Angeles, Hooper knew that he had found his next film. “With the combination of how the musical made me feel and the effect the screenplay had on me, I thought there was an amazing opportunity to work in a very emotional way. I was drawn to the combination of this extraordinary story and the transcendence and pull of the music.”

In spite of the powerful material they were inheriting, the filmmakers needed to go back to the story’s original source to fill in some of the gaps that appear seamless on the stage but would not be invisible on the screen.

Says Hayward: “The book has been a great inspiration for Tom. It was a deceptively difficult adaptation, and whenever we encountered problems, we went back to the book and the answers were there. Bringing in some of the great story elements to fill the gaps without affecting the overall architecture and integrity of the score has been one of the most enjoyable challenges as we embarked upon the adaptation.”

Hooper concurs: “It’s a colossal and masterful work, and it was a great joy to have an excuse to read it and go back to it in adapting the material. The musical has been interpreted in a unique way for film. It’s something Cameron, Claude-Michel and Alain all empowered me to do from the beginning. They didn’t just want a filmed musical; they wanted me to reinterpret it to make it work for film. That’s one of the things that has been so exciting. Claude-Michel’s music is so brilliant and Alain and Herbie’s lyrics so strong that they have allowed for that interpretation. There is tremendous elasticity in the work, and like all great literature, the language allows you to play with the meaning and the pace.”

The first draft of the screenplay that Nicholson wrote was divided into dialogue interspersed with songs. Shares Hooper: “All the new story material that Bill had come up with and the story material I wanted to add from the book, Bill wrote in the form of spoken dialogue. Yet, the musical itself is through-sung. After a great deal of thought and reflection, I decided that I wanted to honor the musical’s through-sung form. I wanted to create an alternate reality on film where people communicate through song. So at that point, we welcomed the musical’s original creative team—Claude Michel Schönberg, Alain Boublil and Herbie Kretzmer— into the process of creating the screenplay as we asked them to write entirely new lyrics and create a new musical structure and a new song “Suddenly” inspired by the spoken dialogue Bill had written. It was a hugely exciting moment where we re-created the original conditions of the musical’s creation in order to interpret it newly on film.”

There was another major attraction for Hooper when he considered a filmic adaptation of a fully through-sung musical. He explains: “I wanted to take a risk and do something very different in a different genre. From the beginning, what excited me was the idea of doing it live. I don’t think I would have done it if it turned out not to be possible to direct the film live, because no matter how good the synchronization is of actors singing to playback, an audience can tell that there’s something unreal about it. It doesn’t feel connected to what is going on the screen.”

With Hooper’s passionate assurance that the actors would sing live, Mackintosh had no doubts that they’d discovered the right director

for the job. He comments: “The only way you can make this music work is by capturing it in the moment. That was one of the first things Tom said when he gave me the reasons why he wanted to do this. Plus, he loved the Les Misérables of it. With most of the other directors I’ve talked to over the years, they’d say, ‘I know how to do this song or that song; what I don’t know how to do is have Les Misérables sing.’

But that is what Victor Hugo’s novel is about; it’s about all of us, not just the story of Jean Valjean and Javert. I knew the moment Tom had grasped that, that this actually was the person who was going to find his own way of making the story and actually putting us all to work.”

The Perfect Storm of Actors: Casting the Musical Epic The filmmakers set out to find what Hooper often refers to as “the perfect storm of actors.”

Elaborates Fellner: “We needed three things from our cast: star power, gifted actors and accomplished singers, and we were blessed to hit a moment in time where that group of actors exists. The cast that we see in the film is pretty much everyone we originally went after.”

Central to the story is the relationship between Jean Valjean and Inspector Javert, which is more complex than the typical hero versus villain scenario. Released on parole after serving a 19-year sentence for a petty crime, Valjean is branded an outcast and shunned wherever he goes. Two decades of hard labor have turned him into a man who hates the world, and most significantly, hates himself. An act of mercy from a bishop, whom he meets when he is first released from prison, sets him on the path to redemption. Still, Valjean will spend his life running from Javert, a dedicated and righteous police inspector who relentlessly pursues him. “It’s a particularly muscular story,” reflects Hayward. “The clash between these two men through time is the engine that drives the whole film.” Accurately casting these two central characters was vital to the success of the endeavor.

Both Mackintosh and Hooper required the entire cast to audition, the director sat with Hugh Jackman approximately nine months before the film was to start principal photography. Of the meeting, Hooper exclaims:

“It was the most thrilling audition I’ve ever done. Hugh’s command of acting through the medium of song is completely extraordinary. He can access an emotional life in himself through song almost more profoundly than through conventional dialogue. He is so fluent and so comfortable when he sings that one completely believes it’s his first choice of communication.

He was the holy grail for me, a genius at both acting and singing.”

An incredibly charismatic performer of stage and screen, the Tony Award- and Emmy Award-winning Jackman had wanted to do a movie musical for some time. The Australian actor shares Hooper’s memory of his audition: “It lasted three hours. It was Tom’s first working session with the material, and it turned into a workshop. It was undoubtedly the most exhilarating audition of my life, but I eventually had to tell Tom I needed to go home and put my kids to bed.”

Already a fan of the show, Jackman had seen Les Misérables three times and had in fact sung “Stars” during one of his first auditions just out of drama school. “Valjean is one of the greatest literary characters of all time,” he notes.

“You follow him for a 20-year span, having been released on parole as an ex-convict, to becoming mayor of a town, to becoming an outcast again. Throughout that time, you see all the ups and downs, the pain and the ecstasy that life brings. He is incredibly human, remarkably stoic and powerful and, ultimately, completely inspiring. His life is truly epic.”

Drawn as well to the universal themes of redemption that Hugo’s story evokes, Jackman says: “Valjean is the recipient of one of the most beautiful and touching moments of grace from the bishop and, in the shame of that moment, he decides to mend his ways and dedicate his life and his soul to God and to being of service to the community. He is constantly striving to be a better person, to live up to what he thinks God wants from him.”

Known as an action star, Jackman has endured grueling training regimens to play James Howlett, better known to legions of fans as Logan/Wolverine. Still, discussing the physicality of the part of Valjean, he says: “I’ve never had a role require more of me or take as much of a physical and emotional commitment.

Valjean required everything I’ve done. All the things I’ve done leading up to this, whether it be

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stage to screen | amateurstage on the stage or in film, I feel came together in this role. It’s the role of a lifetime.”

Jackman embraced the physical challenges and the changes required of the character as he goes from convict to outcast to mayor over several years. It was decided to shoot the scenes of the convict Valjean at the start of principal photography to allow Jackman to not only lose weight, but also to grow his own beard. “It was important to tell the story that he had been in prison for 19 years,” notes Jackman. “I was surviving on very limited food, but Valjean was also known for his strength, so I was spending three hours in the gym. It was a tough beginning.” So committed was Jackman to the part, for 36 hours before he shot the opening sequences of the film, the performer also decided to go without water. This gave him the hollowness and gauntness befitting a convict of the era.

As the film’s lead, Jackman would go through war with Hooper and his fellow cast and crew, and the actor admits he can’t think of another director with whom he would do so: “Tom’s a perfect match for the material. He’s a slave to detail and history, as was Hugo. He’s incredibly smart, has a complete grasp of the material and total confidence with the musical form. I think he’s a great filmmaker, and he decided to take on the Mount Everest of filmmaking. He’s our fearless leader.”

Once they had their Valjean, the filmmakers were determined to find a performer powerful enough to act opposite Jackman in the role of Javert. Academy Award®-winning actor Russell Crowe immediately came to mind. He recalls: “I didn’t know Russell was such a commanding singer, or that he had started his career in musical theater. He had this burning passion to do a musical. We could not believe our luck that one of the biggest movie stars on the planet and one of the world’s great actors was a passionate musical man with a background in music.”

Unlike the majority of his co-stars, Crowe did not see the show until after the filmmakers had approached him, but he understood its longevity right away. “There were so many powerful songs and themes with universal appeal,” he says.

Very quickly, Crowe became excited about the challenge. “It was something I wanted to do. I wanted to spend that time with music in my life, surrounded by it, which so much of my life has been.”

Crowe, like Jackman, had no problem auditioning for Hooper and the producers, and the call was set two months after his initial

meeting with the director. Explains Fellner: “The actors understood auditioning was for their sake as much as ours. We wanted to make sure that they were comfortable singing and acting, and confident they could deliver over a 12-week shoot.”

The actor admits he took an unusual approach to the follow-up. Recalls Crowe: “I had this idea on the day of the audition that I should walk there, something I would have done when I was starting out, when the audition was basically the difference between eating and not eating or being able to pay the rent or not. It was 28 blocks from where I was staying and pouring rain. I had the opportunity to jump in a cab, but I knew if I did the audition wouldn’t go right.”

To the astonishment of the producers, Crowe arrived at the audition soaked to the skin. “I don’t think I’d been more excited about playing a character since John Nash in A Beautiful Mind.”

Key to Crowe’s portrayal of the legendary antagonist was fleshing out Javert’s motivation for why he doggedly tracks Valjean over the decades, and why he makes the ultimate sacrifice for law and order. Reflects Hayward: “It needed an actor of immense skills to plumb the depths of the character, as Russell has done, to understand why ultimately this man would take his own life.”

Crowe offers some insight into the crucial

dilemma Hayward mentions: “Javert is a man with a very specific morality and a specific understanding of the way the world works: what is good and what is evil. When he is proved wrong, when a man he believes to be bad turns out to be good, Javert is broken.”

As was true of his Valjean, Hooper’s Javert was fully committed to bringing the character to life. “Russell’s preparation for this role has been extraordinary, and he has been such an amazing person to work with,” compliments Hooper. “He has such fine intellect and such an extraordinary amount to bring to storytelling, which I have so enjoyed and benefitted from.”

Echoing Jackman, Crowe recognizes the Herculean challenge Hooper gave himself: “Tom’s put every ounce of his being into this. He worked seven days a week and still managed to keep himself balanced. He’s a tough guy; when he wants something, he wants it and he’s going to have it, but that’s the kind of director you want to work with.”

Singing Live: The Music of Les Misérables The creators of one of theater’s greatest scores of all times were a welcome presence on set throughout production, appreciating the latest incarnation of their life’s master work. For the cast, having Schönberg and Boublil present raised the bar for their self-expectations.

Hathaway speaks for the group: “You absolutely want to please them and impress them and bring their vision to life, and they have been really supportive of the process and very understanding that certain adaptations have had to be made.”

The transition from stage to screen was always going to be a challenging one, but Hooper’s vision that every actor sing live raised the bar even further. Relays Fellner: “Tom wanted to bring the audience as close as possible, and quite simply, an audience connects best with a live performance. But it was a risk, not only from a technical point of view, but because of the demands it put on the actors having to sing all day.”

Musical director Stephen Brooker, one of Britain’s leading musical theater conductors and figures, heads Mackintosh’s worldwide music team—conducting and supervising the music on many of his shows. Brooker shares his

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thoughts on the decision to have the cast sing live: “It was without a doubt the right choice.

It gave the actors the real chance to be very emotionally connected to the text.”

Hooper expands upon the conundrum: “The problem when you’re singing to playback is that it denies the actor of being in the moment because they have to stick to the millisecond of a plan laid down months before. Whereas, when they sing live, an actor has the freedom to create the illusion that the character is acting in the moment, which has a profound effect on the power and the realism of the performance.

There’s so much emotion in Les Misérables, and I wanted the actors to have options which might be created by the performance—options which they would be unlikely to have in a recording studio months before.” Another bonus? This meant that the actors’ performances were not restricted and dictated by the tempo of an earlier recording.

Though production sound mixer Simon Hayes was charged with the enormous task of capturing the live sound, he was hugely supportive of Hooper’s vision. He commends: “I knew instinctively that when Tom first started talking to me about this project, his vision to record the sound live was right. There are probably only 15 to 20 lines of dialogue in the whole film. I don’t think the audience would have accepted actors lip-synching for an entire film.”

The performers were supported by vocal coaches with whom they would warm up daily before going on set. Once on location, actors were given earpieces, which allowed a live on-set pianist to play into their ears. The instrumentalist watched the live performance on a monitor so that the actors could dictate, by their movements, where the melody and the tempo should come. The voices were also recorded without the piano accompaniment, which allowed an orchestra to score correctly in the postproduction phase of the film.

Hayes describes that it was never easygoing: “On the first day of the shoot, we had Hugh up a mountain. We were pretty high up, the

air was getting thin, and it had taken us an hour and a half to carry all the equipment up.

What was immediately evident to me in the live recording was that, as Hugh is striding across the mountain, you can hear that he’s out of breath. He’s a fit man; he trains very hard but you can hear that he’s struggling with a lack of oxygen, and it comes across in his voice.

He sings it beautifully, but he’s clearly walking across a mountain range. It’s an extraordinary performance. At once, I understood Tom’s vision and knew how well it was going to work. There was something in the way that you connect on a human basis with that piece of singing that you wouldn’t do if he was lip-synching to a prerecord.”

Likewise, the actors appreciated their director’s unorthodox decision, one that could have been proved insane by absolutely anyone’s vocals being off for the day. Surmises Jackman: “It was a bold but correct choice and daunting for the actors, but it gave us a freedom we would not have had in our performance. It meant I could just get on with the acting and not be locked into a performance I’d done on a soundstage three months before. It made it feel real and immediate.”

Agrees Crowe: “The benefit that recording it live brings is that you are not restricted emotionally. By being able to explore in the moment, we made some interesting and fascinating discoveries about the characters and the relationships between them. I think it has been key to why this experience has been so fulfilling.”

Hathaway, who performs a gut-wrenching, bravura performance of the iconic song “I Dreamed a Dream,” adds, “Not only did you have to open yourself to something you’ve never done before, but you’re with a bunch of other actors who’ve never done this before, a crew that has never shot a movie like this, and a director who’s never done anything like this. Although we were all at different levels of experience within our careers, we were all at square one when it came to this.

“It was wonderful to have that same level

of vulnerability but also to feel supported and support each other,” Hathaway continues. “I learned the song backwards and forwards and then applied the reality of the scene.

The reality is that Fantine is devastated, and she’s just become a prostitute. The song is in a different place than it is in the show. In the show, it comes just after she’s been fired from the factory, so there’s still that little bit of hope.

But in the movie, she’s literally at the bottom of a hole… looking up and realizing she’s never going to climb out of this. There seemed to me to be something almost selfish about trying to go for the pretty version of it. I decided to apply the truth to the melody. It was scary to bring this rawness to the song, which has been sung by some of the greatest singers who have ever lived. But I had the support of Tom, Cameron, Claude-Michel and Alain, so we just went for it.”

For her part, Seyfried describes the intense experience this way: “There’s no way to prepare for live singing in film. When I did Mamma Mia!, we spent two days in the recording studio. We listened to our voices, as much as we could without going insane, to memorize timing and breath…and so we could lip-sync. On Les Misérables, the experience was like living the life of a singer.”

Although Barks has the additive experience of appearing in the show on stage, she also found singing live on film quite daunting. She reflects: “When I performed ‘On My Own,’ I sang that song from start to finish, take after take after take, probably 15 times. That was a new experience for me. In the theater, I did it once a night, eight shows a week. But during the shoot, we were doing it every day, all day, and it’s a different kind of discipline. You really had to look after yourself staminawise, and everyone was in the same boat.”

Find out more at www.lesmiserablesfilm.com

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Musicals from the Stagescripts catalogue

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Playing Away (5m, 8f) 2 Acts

The Essence of Love (3m, 2f) 2 Acts

a comedy by Janet Shaw

a comedy by Philip Ayckbourn A mother and her daughter together with a father and his son find themselves on adjacent hotel terraces in Marrakech.

There’s anything but love in the air for the four British holiday makers and when the gift of a magical elixir gets into the water, unlikely passions take root.

This promises to be no ordinary spell in the sun! Overbearing Diana; her idealist daughter, Gemma; the aloof young artist, Tom and his skirt-chasing father, Martin, are in for a holiday they won’t forget. ‘The Essence of Love’ looks at the longings of the heart and what remains when passion has run its course.

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It's darts time again at the Frog and Duck. The girls' team have made the final again and the lads, well, the lads are struggling. The excitement of the competition is overshadowed when a routine medical examination jeopardises the rock-solid marriage of landlord Alan and his wife Kath. Kath is pregnant, but Alan has had a vasectomy. Could it be that someone at the pub other than the darts team has been playing away? Add an interfering mother-in-law for Alan, an unintelligible Irish man and a pair of the town's worst dieters and you have the recipe for a night of hilarity fused together with just the right amount of pathos.

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by Jonathan Holloway M5 or 3 F1 Ghostly occurences take place on the night train from Wales to London in this stunningly crafted, highly atmospheric play. £5.25

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samuelfrench-london.co.uk 38 | www.amateurstagemagazine.co.uk

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playscripts | amateurstage

>playscripts David Muncaster reviews the latest playscript offerings

PLAY OF THE MONTH THE LADYKILLERS

Graham Lineham from the screenplay by William Rose Samuel French ISBN NO: 9780573112256 CAST: 6M 3F TYPE: Full Length Some of the pleasures of my childhood were experienced on wet Sunday afternoons watching Ealing comedies on the television: Whiskey Galore, The Lavender Hill Mob, Passport to Pimlico and, of course, The Ladykillers with the wonderful Katie Johnson as dotty old Mrs Wilberforce and Alec Guinness as Professor Marcus.

When I read that there had been a stage adaptation of this classic I was in two minds. The comedy is certainly timeless but could the writer capture the magic of the silver screen. Graham Lineham certainly has pedigree. As the creator of TV programmes such as Father Ted and Black Books he has proven that he knows how to make people laugh, but how would he fare taking something that is already very funny and trying to make it work on a stage?

BETTER THAN THE REAL THING John Ward Unpublished ISBN NO: None CAST: 5M 5F plus others TYPE: Full Length

One piece of advice often given out to any aspiring playwright is, before even putting finger to keyboard, to see lots of plays. It is natural, then, that the types of play the writer sees will influence the types of plays he writes. My guess is that John Ward has seen a lot of Whitehall type farces.

Enthusiasts for this genre will be pleased, when the curtain rises, to find themselves in the comfortable setting of a village rectory. Here, members of rival flower arranging societies are competing to have a display in the parish church. Add to this mix the rector’s wife enjoying a dangerous liaison with the gardener and a large bottle of spring water that is in reality, gin, and everything is nicely set up in the first dozen or so pages.

We begin at Mrs Wilberforce’s slightly subsided Kings Cross home. It is 1956 and Mrs W is concerned that her grocer might be a Nazi. He has a funny accent (It turns out that he is from Burnley) and during the war she wrote some rather stiff letters to Mr Hitler. Perhaps she is being targeted. Why else would he be asking her where she lives? The patient Constable Macdonald sips his tea and points out that it is probably because Mrs W has just put a card in the grocer’s window advertising rooms to let. Oh yes. Silly Mrs W. Before we know it, the doorbell rings and there stands Professor Marcus. “The room is perfect”, he tells Mrs W. He doesn’t mind the noise of the trains rattling by or the fact that nothing is quite straight. He doesn’t even mind General Gordon, Mrs W’s almost bald parrot, thankfully unseen by the audience. Everything will be fine so long as Mrs W doesn’t object to him asking a few friends round. He is a member of a small musical group and they need somewhere to rehearse.

If you are not familiar with the story I should explain that this musical group is in fact the most unlikely and incompetent gang of criminals you are ever likely to come across and that they are planning a robbery of a security van as it delivers to nearby Kings Cross Station.

Remarkably, they manage to pull it off, even involving Mrs W in transporting the loot back to the house.

With the competing societies unwilling to work together, one even going so far as to accuse the other of using artificial flowers, the rector decides to refer the matter to a higher authority: the archdeacon no less. Except that the archdeacon is currently in Japan making it possible for the rector to get his friend, Robert to impersonate him.

Robert declares that neither society will do the display and produces a female priest that he claims to have met in Japan. This is Fiona who has painted her face white and is wearing a kimono and black wig. How anyone would imagine that this is how a Japanese Christian priest would dress is beyond me but it seems to convince the ladies from the flower arranging societies.

Here the author attempts to derive humour from Fiona making infantile noises that she imagines sound like the Japanese language and, for me, the play reaches a low point from which it never really recovers. I’m sure that the author would argue that the joke is on Fiona and that he isn’t making fun of Japanese language and culture but it is a joke that has worn thin. For the

But this is where it all starts to go wrong. In an incident of clumsiness one of the gang’s cases falls open and Mrs W sees the money.

In another incident of clumsiness one of the gang’s mouths falls open and Mrs W hears that the money is from the robbery. What are they to do? At that moment some of Mrs W’s friends appear expecting to be entertained by the Professor’s musical group and the gang decide they have to keep up appearances.

The interval will as a merciful relief from the miserable cacophony of scratching which the band call music.

Act two and the gang are faced with the problem of what to do with Mrs W. Bump her off seems to be the obvious answer and bumping off commences almost immediately.

But Mrs W is not a victim.

This adaptation is a glorious success. I’m sure that anyone with fond memories of the film will enjoy it just as much as anyone to whom it is all new. It would be a challenge: the script calls for a revolving set and, whilst I don’t believe that this is strictly necessary, I do think the various settings need to look authentic for the play to work. The comedy is delightful, and although most of it follows the screenplay there is also a fair amount of invention from Graham Lineham. Done well, this is a show that would live long in the memories of anyone lucky enough to see it.

record, the second act sees the real archdeacon turn up, the rector’s gin smuggling racket exposed and the flower arranging societies finally agreeing to work together.

The play is not entirely without merit. The pace keeps the action moving along swiftly and there are large numbers of theatre goers who enjoy a traditional farce. However, if this writer wants to see his work more widely appreciated, I’d recommend that he take a more modern outlook.

BISCUITS

Graham J Evans Drama Association of Wales ISBN NO: 9781908575048 CAST: 5M 2F TYPE: One Act It is 1361 and King Edward the Third has decreed that “Good and lawful men be appointed in every county to guard the peace”.

Henry of Grosmont is one of those men and he has instructed William, his Clerk of Works, to build a new courthouse. This causes William a www.amateurstagemagazine.co.uk | 39

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amateurstage | playscripts problem: right where the front door should be lives Mad Nerys who is a witch and not to be trifled with.

Gerald, lecherous monk and legal adviser to Henry of Groswold, agrees to help William, no doubt influenced by William’s buxom daughter, Gwen.

Meanwhile, Nigel, by virtue of being handed a magical sword by a Lady of the Lake, claims to be the re-incarnation of Llewelyn Ap Gruffold, ruler of all Wales. However, it is a disputed claim because there were no witnesses to this event and he is unable to produce the sword in question. Nevertheless he plans to storm Henry of Grosmont’s castle and reclaim it for the Welsh. Eventually! For now, thinking it better to start small, he will have to make do with storming the courthouse. The trouble is, the courthouse hasn’t been built and Nigel ends up storming Mad Nerys’ hovel.

Now homeless, Mad Nerys is brought to William’s house along with Beelzebub, her squirrel (she is allergic to cats) and we learn that Nigel, now on the run from Henry of Groswold, is William’s son. William’s house becomes a refuge for all and sundry whilst Nigel ends up building the courthouse that he had intended to destroy until, with all the characters assembled at William’s house, Gwen’s biscuits play a pivotal role in a final twist to the story.

Biscuits is a very well written one act play. The pace is perfect and the use of modern language adds humour to an already witty script.

BOYS

Ella Hickson Nick Hern Books ISBN NO: 9781848422629 CAST: 4M 2F TYPE: Full Length Never judge a book by its cover is an idiom that I have taken to heart in my time reviewing scripts for Amateur Stage Magazine. So often I have picked up a script that doesn’t look at all appealing from the blurb on the back only to find that the play within the covers moves and excites me. Such was the case with Precious Little Talent, a play by Ella Hickson, that I reviewed in these pages a while back, so when the award winning author’s new play popped through my letterbox I was filled with anticipation.

Like Precious Little Talent, Boys is about young people setting out on life’s journey.

We are in the kitchen of a five man student flat in Edinburgh.

There has been a party. Cam is asleep under the kitchen table still wearing the party hat that he had on last night. Benny enters. Despite the fact that, for reasons best known to himself, he positions himself on top of the fridge, we soon learn that Benny is the sensible one. He is followed into the kitchen by Timp; a party animal who proceeds to make a cup of tea for the severely hung-over Cam.

There is an air of expectancy as the boys reflect on the coming to the end of their student days, the end of the lease on the flat and, more pressing than that, the fact that in five hours time Cam is due to play lead violin in a televised concert. But first, Cam and Timp want to fill Benny in on what he missed during last night’s party.

There was a girl: sixteen, maybe seventeen who got drunk and demanded sex. Mack, a fourth student tenant apparently obliged but, amongst all the male bravado, Benny wants to know if the girl was OK. Was there anyone there to look after her? Meanwhile, Cam has gone to the toilet and returns asking why there is a naked girl in the bath. The others are perplexed. It would be silly to have a bath with your clothes on, wouldn’t it?

Later, a nervous and unwilling Cam is persuaded by Benny to go to his concert whilst the others contemplate how to get rid of all their rubbish. First, though, it is time for another party: one in which a girl named Laura covers her body with sushi on which, with chopsticks in her hair, ginger and wasabi in her palm and soy sauce in her belly button, she invites the boys to dine.

There are white vans outside which they imagine are council vans to collect the rubbish but, when a triumphant Cam returns, he tells them that there are police vans all the way down Princess Street. They must be expecting a demo or something. Then there is an explosion. With the riots of 2011 raging outside, the tension rises in the flat.

Throughout the play there is a constant theme: an empty chair that once belonged to Benny’s brother who killed himself; his death perhaps a metaphor for their lives which the boys believe to be pointless. Provoked by Mack, there are arguments and a fight. Allegiances are formed and broken but as things begin to reach boiling point the students find they are all much too stoned to do anything anyway.

Did this script live up to expectations? The play is way too long but, having said that, I’d expect the majority of audience members would consider (watching) it a couple of hours well spent. With lots of adult humour to shock and amuse, the character’s lives and aspirations are sufficiently interesting to hold our attention for the duration of the play. However, I don’t imagine we are going to want to keep in touch with the boys. I’m not really interested in how their lives turn out: the story has no lasting impact and will be forgotten soon after leaving the theatre.

Whilst I found Boys a bit of a disappointment I am sure that there is plenty more to come from Ella Hickson and I look forward to reading more of her work in the future.

LOSING IT

Derek Webb New Theatre Publications ISBN NO: 9781840948462 CAST: 1M 1F TYPE: One Act Jack paces the room talking to himself about a woman whom he has loved and lost. “You’re there, wherever I look.” he says. Unfortunately

for Jack, she isn’t. He is on stage performing a play and the actress who is supposed to be playing the part of his lost love has not turned up.

He goes off to the wings and we hear the director suggest that Jack plays both parts.

Impossible, but he carries on regardless. Great fun is had as Jack struggles on, addressing the space where the actress should be, asking a question then putting up a hand and saying, “No. Don’t answer that.” (If only she could!), or asking, “What have you got to say for yourself?”

The answer to this is, obviously, nothing.

Ad-libbing furiously Jack starts mixing his metaphors to glorious comic effect but it all becomes too much for a member of the audience. Describing Jack’s attempts to do the play on his own as pathetic, she is about to leave but Jack persuades her to get up onto the stage and play the part of the missing actress herself.

There is fun as the woman struggles with the script, losing her place and misreading words, but she eventually gets into her stride. Things go reasonably smoothly for a short while but then the script of the play they are performing becomes imbecilic. Jack attempts to defend it, using a few phrases that this script reviewer intends to store away for future use, and it emerges that he is, in fact, the author.

Refusing to participate in Jack’s play any longer, the woman from the audience comes up with a plan to rescue the evening. She goes off to change leaving Jack to do a couple of minutes of stand-up comedy before returning as Lady Bracknell. Jack is drawn unwillingly into performing a scene from The Importance of Being Earnest but rebels just as Lady Bracknell is about to say her most famous line. However, the woman now has the upper hand and is commanding the stage. It is all too much for Jack but, just as he is about to give up, his missing actress turns up and we are back at the beginning.

This is a very fine comedy with some wonderful moments. Derek Webb consistently produces first class scripts perfect for the amateur stage and I would urge readers to consider this or one of his other excellent plays.

SNOW WHITE & THE SEVEN DWARFS Simon Rayner Davis Spotlight Publications ISBN NO: 978190737386 CAST: 3M 3F plus 10 others TYPE: Pantomime

Many years ago I had a friend who got a job as an Assistant Stage Manager at Nottingham Playhouse. One of his first duties was to get on the front of house P.A. system to advise the audience that the performance was about to commence. He nervously cleared his throat, switched on the microphone and with his best public-speaking voice began “Jadies and Lentlemen”. This panto from Simon Rayner Davis begins in similar fashion with the prologue giving us the background to the story before we get going in traditional fashion with a chorus of villagers singing the first song.

Before we know it, the independently minded mirror is being too honest for its own good and the queen is in a rage because she is no longer

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playscripts | amateurstage the fairest of them all. That title now belongs to her step-daughter, Snow White, whom she has taken to the woods where her faithful but incompetent servants, Scratch and Sniff, have been instructed to kill her. Snow White escapes with the help of several bears. This gives the audience the opportunity to shout “behind you” whilst Sniff and Scratch get confused about “bare behinds”!

Although, for the songs, the author has elected to provide new lyrics to popular songs such as Is This The Way To Amarillo and I’m A Believer, adults in the audience will be happy to join in with the dwarfs in a rousing Heigh Ho to get act two under way. The queen has to take matters into her own hands and feeds Snow White a poison apple but this is panto so Snow White will get her prince and the queen will get her comeuppance.

There is a reason why pantomimes follow a formula and that is simply that it works.

Everyone but the youngest members of the audience knows the story and they will know most of the jokes: that is half the fun. Simon Rayner Davis has sensibly kept things simple and produced a script that has the perfect balance of originality and tradition.

THE HOUSE KEEPER

Morna Regan Nick Hern Books ISBN NO: 9781848422728 CAST: 1M 2F TYPE: Full Length I’m puzzling over why “house keeper” is two words in the title.

Does this suggest that it is meant to mean something different from “housekeeper”? As the play begins we find Mary toiling with an old fashioned carpet sweeper but having little effect on a musty old Persian rug that dominates the floor space. It would appear that Mary is, indeed, the housekeeper in this run down Manhattan mansion except that it is the middle of the night and when Beth, the owner of the house, enters the room she is brandishing a hammer, ready to deal with an intruder.

We assume that there must be some sort of misunderstanding but we learn that Mary really is an intruder. She has broken into the house and is cleaning the rug in order to lay down some bed rolls for herself and her children, who are currently asleep in the car. Mary has lost her own home. She has seen Beth around for many years and resents her; resents the fact that she has this big house and plenty of money without ever having to lift a finger whilst Mary has worked all her life but she has lost her job in the recession, the bank has taken away her house and, now, social services are after her children.

“This is lunacy”, says Beth. She might be referring to her own circumstances. Mary assumes her to be a widow but then Hal, Beth’s husband, enters. For the last fifteen years he has been suffering from a disease that affects

his motor functions and Beth has been his nurse. Refusing help from outside agencies Hal has insisted that Beth performs her “wifely duties” which consist of providing him with constant care in spite of the tirade of abuse that he constantly throws at her.

Then Beth has an idea. If Mary wants her house she can have it: and everything in it, including Hal. So this is the explanation of the two words of the title. One of the women will keep the house, whilst the other one loses it. As Mary battles with her conscience Beth and Hal, as they have for the last decade and a half, battle with each other.

There is a vein of dark humour running through this play that elevates it from being quite a mundane thriller but I feel that the author has, on occasion, gone out of her way to shock which is all rather unnecessary. I would have preferred it if she had spent her energy developing the characters in which case I might have actually cared what happened to them. As it is I am left unmoved.

TRIPTYCH

Edwin Preece Drama Association of Wales ISBN NO: 9781908575081 CAST: 2M 1F TYPE: One Act This play features subjects of three paintings: Girl Sipping Tea, Boy in Trunks and Boy Juggling Oranges. Talking directly to the audience they each describe how they were discovered by a famous artist, Benedict St Jude, and became famous themselves – but only by the names of the painting rather than their own names.

The girl became Benedict’s lover but he seemed to grow tired of her and introduced her to Boy in Trunks with whom she began a relationship. Then Benedict mixed things up a bit by introducing them both to Boy Juggling Oranges. His reasons are obscure at first but we eventually learn that his plan was to bring his three most famous subjects together in a triptych – a painting in three interlinked parts – the link being a representation of the relationship that developed between the three.

This is an unusual one act play that would make an interesting piece for three young actors to perform.

ALI BABA

Stephen Curtis Spotlight Publications ISBN NO: 9781907303393 CAST: 8M 9F TYPE: Pantomime Rhum Baba is an unhappy woman. Ali has been out all night even though it is their wedding anniversary and she doesn’t have two shekels to rub together: not enough to buy but a few fish heads. However, when Ali appears with jewels and gold bars that, er, fell off the back of a camel it seems that their troubles are over.

Rhum Baba heads to the market to treat herself to a slave and gets herself a bargain in the diligent but unable to speak, Jellipanta. But it seems that her new slave cannot bear to be parted from her best friend, Morgiana, and the

soft centred Rhum Baba agrees to buy them both. Ali is mortified. He knows that the loot is stolen and when the robbers get to hear that he has come into money they are bound to put two and two together.

Abdul Al Haqq is indeed angry. So angry, in fact, that some directors may feel his dialogue is unsuitable for a family audience. This, together with Rhum Baba’s talk of having a “boob job” are two examples of where this script, which appears to have been written to appeal to very young people, contains elements more suited to a pantomime targeted at an older audience.

That said, there are some good moments. I particularly enjoyed some of the song lyrics, but I fear that this is not enough to make this version of Ali Baba stand out from the competition.

ALL BALLS AND ASHES Mark Robberts Playstage ISBN NO: 9781907147272 CAST: 6M 5F TYPE: Full Length

A few months ago a local theatre did some promotion saying that anyone who liked Last of the Summer Wine would enjoy their current production. Up until then I had been undecided about going to see it but that was enough for me to make up my mind: I steered clear. I mention this because it is impossible to completely ignore personal penchants when reviewing scripts and All Balls and Ashes has clearly been written with lovers of the long running TV series in mind, to the extent that the three main characters could very easily be Foggy, Compo and Clegg. Indeed, the notes in the script tell us that the play was originally written as an intended pilot to replace LOTSW until the BBC relented and commissioned another series.

We are in the village of Greenbridge on the border of Yorkshire and Lancashire. The Great Umpire in the Sky has called “over” on Seth ‘Hot Balls’ Hegginbotham: he has bowled his last. Unfortunately, this was whilst practising his bowling in the bedroom and, forgetting to let go of the ball, he finished his run up at the bottom of the stairs. Now his best friends; Frank, George and Eli, are planning to carry out his last wish: to have his ashes scattered on the village cricket green.

The problem is that Seth’s widow, Freda, will have none of it. She has the ashes in an urn that she takes to bed with her every night and has no intention of allowing them to be scattered anywhere. If the trio are going to carry out their friend’s wish they are going to have to find a way to purloin Seth’s ashes without Freda finding out.

Eli is the unfortunate purloiner and, though he successfully swaps the ashes for the scrapings from the dog grate, he drops his tin hat and scares Freda out of her wits in the process.

Nevertheless, the three of them proceed to the cricket field and scatter the ashes in a bizarre ceremony before retiring to the pub to celebrate their success. It is here that they learn that, due to recent boundary changes, they have scattered their friend in Lancashire!

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amateurstage | playscripts they are able to rectify their error but by this time Freda has decided that the vision in a tin hat was a sign that she should let Seth have his way and she scatters the substitute ashes. Then, as the trio look on, a steady flow of women come to pay their respects to Seth making them realise that his nickname had nothing to do with his bowling ability.

There are elements in this script that I enjoyed.

Dolly and Vera, who always finish..... …...each other’s sentences, made me smile and there is also plenty of physical comedy. I can imagine a lot of fun as the vicar’s carpet sweeper is accompanied by our trio doing the shake ‘n’ vac dance. I suppose to sum up I have to say that if you like Last of the Summer Wine you will like All Balls and Ashes.

EGUSI SOUP

Janice Okuh Nick Hern Books ISBN NO: 987184842711 CAST: 2M 3F TYPE: Full Length

I AM SHAKESPEARE

Mark Rylance Nick Hern Books ISBN NO: 9781848422698 CAST: 6M 1F TYPE: Full Length The authorship of Shakespeare’s plays is something that has puzzled scholars for years.

How could the son of an illiterate tradesman have written the greatest dramatic works the world has ever seen? Fortunately, I’m no scholar and it isn’t a question that has troubled me much. Shakespeare’s father was the richest man in Stratford- upon- Avon and could certainly have afforded to give his son a good education. Furthermore, I do not believe it is necessary to be a member of the aristocracy in order to write about them. Haven’t many of the world’s greatest artists come from humble beginnings?

Nevertheless it is a debate that has sold a lot of books and now celebrated Shakespearian actor, Mark Rylance, has used it as the subject of his first play.

Mrs Anyia is sitting on a suitcase in an attempt to get it closed. Her daughter, Grace, is telling her that she will have to take something out – leave something behind. “What can we leave?” asks Mrs Anyia, “The flowers?

Allow your father to lie in a bare grave?”

You see, the Anyia’s are packing for a trip to Nigeria to attend a memorial service for John, Mrs Anyia’s husband, who died a year ago.

The play is set in Frank’s Garage. Frank is a schoolteacher and obsessive researcher of the authorship question. From his garage he presents a weekly webcast Who’s There?; a live internet chat show that “dares to ask the question who really wrote the works of William Shakespeare?” Just as the show is about to begin, Barry, Frank’s neighbour calls in. Barry is, or rather was, a pop star who had one hit twenty years ago and now makes up jingles and investigates crop circles (sounds like Reg Presley of The Troggs to me). The show survives the disturbance caused by Barry’s search for guttering but when he sneaks out and telephones the show, pretending to be Derek Jacobi, (with a Scottish accent) it all starts to be a bit too much for Frank.

The items that Mrs Anyia deem essential for her trip, which include a car steering wheel and an electricity generator, provide much comedy in the opening moments of what promises to be a warm, family play. Soon the other daughter, Anne, arrives from New York where she is “the big barristah” bringing with her gifts indicative of her relative wealth, but without the one thing her mother was hoping for she might bring with her – a husband.

But things are about to get worse. The next visitor is someone who could claim to be a bit of an authority on the works of William Shakespeare: William Shakespeare himself.

Somehow, through the magic of the internet, the bard has appeared in Frank’s garage and presents a very compelling argument. Frank is convinced. Of course Shakespeare wrote the plays himself. Now that Frank can see this, no one will convince him otherwise. This is until Francis Bacon turns up.

As a family friend, Pastor Emmanuel from the Celestial Church of Christ, prays for Anne that she might find a good man in Nigeria whilst they are there, we see the differences in the life that Anne now leads compared to that of her family back in England.

This clash of cultures is the theme that runs through the play. Pastor Emmanuel declares that a woman without a man is like Egusi Soup without the egusi and, as egusi is a type of seed, this could be a declaration of, not only his opinion of women, but also his intentions towards Mrs Anyia.

In many ways this play is quite a traditional comedy. We get the warmth promised in the early scenes tempered with the conflict the clash of cultures but, whilst I found Egusi Soup reasonably satisfying, I could have done with more spice.

Bacon adopts a curious stance: rather than try to convince Frank that it was he that wrote the plays, he argues that Shakespeare did not. However the next guest, Edward De Vere, is much more forthright in his claims; so forthright, in fact, that someone calls the police. Whilst the police sergeant draws parallels between the authorship question and the identity of Jack the Ripper the arrival of yet another guest presents yet another argument.

Mary Sidney claims that the bard was

not one person – that the plays were actually written by a pool of writers but, and this is the point, does it matter? Surely it is the plays that are important, not the identity of who wrote them.

As if to emphasise this point the play concludes with the police sergeant returning in order to arrest Shakespeare and demands to know which one is he. Having just seen a clip from the film I Spartacus the cast and if they are game, the audience, are all inspired to declare “I am Shakespeare!”

There is a lot about this script that annoys me.

It is littered with author’s notes which even Mark Rylance admits he cannot understand. He also admits that it is too long and suggests lines that might be cut. Why present a play for publication that you believe to be imperfect? If it weren’t’t for who the author was any publisher would have rejected it; which would be a tragedy as this is a very funny play indeed: a delight from start to finish which should have an audience roaring with laughter and joyfully participating in the conclusion. A remarkable first play that deserves to earn Mark Rylance a reputation as a writer to match the one he has an actor.

MUSTAFA

Naylah Ahmed Nick Hern Books ISBN NO: 9871848422643 CAST: 4M TYPE: Full Length Mustafa is in prison for a crime that he did commit. As the play begins Dan, a prison officer, is searching his cell. He is looking for Kit Kats, crisps, anything. It’s not right; the man never eats – he must have a stash somewhere in his cell – but Dan finds nothing except for a chalk circle drawn on the ground. Dan thinks of witchcraft.

Len, a more senior prison officer tells him to “Give over!”

Meanwhile, Mustafa is in the ‘goldfish bowl’, a room with a large window where prisoners can meet their legal representatives. Mustafa’s legal representative is his own brother, Shabir, who is saying they are going to launch an appeal. He thinks that he can get the sentence reduced; that Mustafa’s previous solicitor wasn’t up to the job. But mostly Shabir is angry with Mustafa for not telling him that he was back from Pakistan.

He wants to love his brother but is finding it difficult.

These opening scenes do a good job of planting a seed of interest. On first impressions it is difficult to imagine that the troubled Mustafa can be guilty of manslaughter but there is obviously more to him than meets the eye. We are already anticipating conflict with Dan, but first of all it is Len who has to sort out what happened the previous day in the dining hall. Another prisoner ended up with his food tray in his face. Mustafa admits that it happened but it wasn’t him: it just happened. Len is kind. He says that he wants

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playscripts | amateurstage to help, so it is a shock when he slaps Mustafa across the face.

the right length for a festival rather than for the story, but it is an interesting tale all the same.

As we delve deeper we learn why Mustafa is such a troubled soul. He believes that he is possessed by a Djinn – a supernatural spirit – that took over as he tried to exorcise the young boy that he is now in prison for killing. Now the Djinn is causing havoc. Other prisoners sustain mysterious injuries in the shower or have their trays crash into their faces in the dining room.

Even prison officers execute violent actions that they cannot explain. Then, as we reach the climax, the spirit materialises first as Dan and then as Shabir. Somehow Mustafa has to find the strength to make the ultimate sacrifice.

THE COMPLAINT

With such a story line this play is bound to be compared to Hammer Horror films but Mustafa stands well in such a comparison. The characters are complex, the sub-plots intriguing and the cultural elements make it all the more interesting.

PRIMROSE WAY

Ron Nicol Samuel French ISBN NO: 978057313298 CAST: 3F TYPE: One Act “What’re you staring at?” demands Primrose.

This ageing bag lady who was once a professional actress surveys us from the folding chair that is her home on the street. “Seen better audiences in my day.” she tells us.

This is an impressive start: one that grabs the attention with anticipation of what is to come. Next we meet Mother, then Primrose as a young girl and the three of them take us through Primrose’s life. Mother was a professional actress and the young Primrose decides to follow in her footsteps after being told off for swearing.

Mother explains that she herself is allowed to swear because she is an actress and that is enough to convince Primrose that being an actress is to be the life for her.

What follows is mainly disappointment: unsuccessful auditions, grubby encounters on casting couches and lots of nearly-but-notquites.

The actress who plays Mother will have the most fun as she impersonates a variety of characters who appear in her daughter’s life.

Primrose started at the bottom, her mother’s success not giving her the rung up the ladder she might have expected, and sadly stayed there pretty much throughout her career; the high spot being a part in a TV soap – except that the scene was cut and all that remained of her small screen début was a brief glimpse of her ear.

Primrose Way is a touching drama with moments of gentle comedy running through it. I feel it is a little long, as though it is written to be

Nick Whitby Nick Hern Books ISBN NO: 9871848422759 CAST: 2M 2F TYPE: Full Length Afra has raised a complaint and has been asked to come in to discuss it. The way her complaint is handled gives rise to another complaint which is investigated by the very person about whom Afra is complaining. This gives rise to yet another complaint. And so it goes on.

This is a Kafkaesque nightmare in reverse, as it is the protagonist, Afra, who throws the administration into chaos when they get tied up by their own red tape. However, things don’t work out too well for Afra in the end when she is forced into compliance once the processing of her complaint involves torture and the use of a polygraph.

The author’s comments in this script recommend that the ‘openly comic’ elements of the play should not be overplayed. No advice is given on how to play the hidden comedy. However, the baffling absurdity of Nick Whitby’s latest work has a certain charm and, so long as one doesn’t weigh oneself down too much by trying to work out what lies behind the surrealism, the experience is diverting enough.

university and is living in a bedsit in Cambridge, getting by on the wages from working in a bar.

Joseph demands an explanation and we begin a journey into their past.

I have written before about the importance of making an audience care about the characters, otherwise they will not care what happens to them. In The Witness,Vivienne Franzmann subtly places Joseph and Alex into our hearts within the first couple of scenes, the warmth of their affection for each other soon to be chilled by the revelations of the past.

Joseph and Alex were not the only ones alive that time in Rwanda. There was also Simon.

He was edited out of the photograph and blocked out of Joseph’s memory until five years ago when he got in touch to say that he believed he was Alex’s brother. Why the delay before Joseph accepted his request to visit them?

Why does he resent this boy so much? Joseph accuses Simon of being an impostor and of having sex with Alex. He offers him a huge sum of money to go away. Why is Joseph so frightened of Simon? The answer is in the title of the play. Simon saw what happened on that day of the photograph; how Joseph got his award winning photograph at the price of integrity. It is about to cost him a whole lot more.

The Witness is a remarkable play: one that gets under your skin and has you thinking about it for days afterwards; the dramatic equivalent of a page turner. Great stuff!

THE WI WITNESS

Vivienne Franzmann Nick Hern Books ISBN NO: 9871848422506 CAST: 2M 1F TYPE: Full Length “You are allowed to talk in the quiet coach.

Middle aged women can shout about Martin Amis all the way to Kings Cross.” This is the opinion of Alex and her excuse for why she is so tired and unappreciative of her father’s jollity.

Years ago Joseph was taking photographs in Rwanda for a newspaper and it was one of Alex, crawling amongst the corpses of her murdered family, that won him an award.

He adopted her, brought her back to his Hampstead home and became her father. Now she is back from her first year at university and worrying about the increase in her father’s girth due to a massive increase in his consumption of cheese products. Despite Alex’s tiredness it is an affectionate homecoming: it seems (like) they have missed each other.

SUBMIT YOUR PLAY FOR REVIEW Amateur Stage would like to invite playwrights to submit their latest plays for review.

Submit a full copy of the play to :The Editor Amateur Stage 3rd Floor 207 Regent Street London W1B 3HH Please be aware that scripts will not be returned and publication of a review is at the discretion of the editor.

The opinions of David Muncaster reflected in the published reviews may not reflect those of the publishers of Amateur Stage.

This is the type of play that builds slowly. With each scene we learn a little more about Alex and Joseph whilst also becoming curious as to what is to come. Alex gets a summer job at Sainsbury’s. Joseph is being pestered to put on an exhibition of his work. Then comes the first bombshell. Alex has dropped out of www.amateurstagemagazine.co.uk | 43

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>show diary UK Production listings

84 CHARING CROSS ROAD 08 - 16 March 2013 Stoke Repertory Players Stoke-On-Trent Repertory Theatre Stoke-On-Trent, Staffordshire 01782 209784 www.stokerep.info

BE MY BABY 20 - 23 March 2013 Stockport Garrick Theatre Group Stockport Garrick Theatre Stockport, Cheshire 0161 480 5866 www.stockportgarrick.co.uk

25 - 27 April 2013 Portishead Players Somerset Hall Portishead, North Somerset 01275 848364 www.portishead-players.org.uk

CAROUSEL 10 - 13 April 2013 Dartford Amateur Operatic & Dramatic Society Orchard Theatre Dartford, Kent 01322 527165 www.orchardtheatre.co.uk

ABANDONMENT 13 - 16 February 2013 East Kilbride Rep Theatre The East Kilbride Village Theatre East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire - 01355 261 000 www.ek-rep.org.uk

ANNIE 23 - 27 April 2013 St Ives Music and Drama Society (SIMADS) Burgess Hall St Ives, Cambs 07516 484823 www.simads.co.uk

ACORN ANTIQUES 18 - 23 March 2013 The Tinhatters Concordia Theatre Hinckley, Leicestershire 01455 610010 www.tinhatters.co.uk

ANYTHING GOES 05 - 09 March 2013 Finchley & Friern Barnet Operatic Society The Intimate Theatre Palmers Green, London 020 8482 6923 www.ffbos.com

BLITHE SPIRIT 04 - 09 February 2013 The Talisman Theatre Talisman Theatre Kenilworth, Warwickshire 01926 856548 www.talismantheatre.co.uk

CARRY ON, JEEVES 14 - 16 March 2013 Common Ground Theatre Company Lincoln Drill Hall Lincoln, Lincs 01522 873894 www.lincolndrillhall.com

19 - 23 February 2013 Croft House Theatre Company The Lyceum Theatre Sheffield, South Yorkshire 0114 249 6000 www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk

05 - 09 March 2013 Scunthorpe Amateur Operatic Society Plowright Theatre Scunthorpe, North Lincs 08448542776 www.scunthorpetheatres.co.uk

26 - 30 March 2013 Kettering & District Theatrical Society The Masque Theatre Kettering, Northants 01536 737737 www.masquekettering.co.uk/

22 - 27 April 2013 BOS Musical Theatre Group Blackfriars Theatre & Arts Centre Boston, Lincs 01205 363801 www.blackfriarsartscentre.co.uk

BREAKFAST WITH JONNY WILKINSON 28 February - 02 March 2013 Kings Langley Players Kings Langley Community Centre Kings Langley, Hertfordshire 07906 695959 www.klp.org.uk

CATS 22 - 27 April 2013 MAODS Next Generation Youth Group George Lawton Hall Mossley, Lancashire 01616333062 www.maods.org

ALICE IN WONDERLAND AND THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS 22 February - 02 March 2013 Garden Suburb Theatre Henrietta Barnett School London, London 020 7723 6609 www.gardensuburbtheatre.org.uk

AYRSHIRE DISTRICT ROUND OF SCOTTISH COMMUNITY DRAMA ASSOCIATION’S ONE ACT PLAY FESTIVAL 2013 21 February 2013 Ayrshire District of SCDA The Palace Theatre Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire 01563 554900

ALL SHOOK UP 27 February - 02 March 2013 Epsom Players Epsom Playhouse Epsom, Surrey 01372 742555 www.epsomplayhouse.co.uk AND EVERMORE SHALL BE SO 24 - 27 April 2013 Stage Door Theatre Company The Windmill Entertainment Centre Littlehampton, West Sussex 01903722224 www.stage-door.org.uk

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BENEFACTORS 14 - 16 March 2013 Loughton Amateur Dramatic Society Lopping Hall Loughton, Essex 07552 736 110 www.lads.org.uk

CALENDAR GIRLS 05 - 09 March 2013 New Theatre Players Concordia Theatre Hinckley, Leicestershire 01455 613345 www.concordiatheatre.co.uk CALENDAR GIRLS 25 - 27 April 2013 HADS Harefield Amateur Dramatic Soc St Marys Church Hall Harefield, Middlesex 01895 820672 www.hads.stinge.com

BAD GIRLS 30 April - 04 May 2013 Adlington Music and Arts Community Centre Adlington, Chorley, Lancashire 07507 012 080 www.adlingtonmusicandarts.com

CALIFORNIA SUITE 27 February - 02 March 2013 Belmont Theatre The Pump House Theatre, Watford Watford, Hertfordshire 0845 521 3453 www.belmonttheatre.co.uk

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11 - 16 March 2013 Erewash Musical Society Duchess Theatre Long Eaton, Nottinghamshire 01332 875350 www.erewashmusicalsociety.co.uk

CAUGHT IN THE NET 21 - 23 February 2013 The Mitre Players The Mitre Theatre Croydon, Surrey 07914 763422 www.mitreplayers.org.uk CHESS 05 - 09 March 2013 Hinchley Manor Operatic Society (HMOS) The Adrian Mann Theatre Ewell, Surrey 020 8390 2637 www.hmos.org.uk 10 - 13 April 2013 The Sevenoaks Players Stag Theatre Sevenoaks, Kent 01732 450175 www.sevenoaks-players.co.uk 13 - 16 March 2013 Shrewsbury Amateur Operatic Society Theatre Severn Shrewsbury, Shropshire 01743 381381 www.theatresevern.co.uk

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Keighley Playhouse - Calendar Girls

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amateurstage | show diary

To get your production listed, visit the Amateur Stage website and complete the simple online form. Please give as much notice as you can so we can ensure inclusion in these listings.

CINDERELLA 21 - 23 February 2013 Protos Theatre and Arts Group Intimate Theatre Palmers Green, London 0208 374 2249

EQUUS 06 - 09 March 2013 Abingdon Drama Club Unicorn Theatre Abingdon, Oxon www.abingdon-drama-club.com

CURIOUS SAVAGE , THE 16 - 23 March 2013 Wilmslow Green Room Society Wilmslow Green Room Society Wilmslow, Cheshire 01625 540933 www.wgrsoc.co.uk

EVENING OF ONE ACT PLAYS, AN 21 - 23 February 2013 Poole and Parkstone Productions Bournemouth Little Theatre Club Bournemouth, Dorset 01202 679390 www.pandp.org.uk

DANCING AT LUGHNASA 10 - 13 April 2013 Guildburys Theatre Comapny The Electric Theatre Guildford, Surrey 01483-444789 www.guildburys.com

EVER-SO HEROIC ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN SQUARE JAW, THE 15 - 16 February 2013 Harlow Theatre Company The Victoria Hall Theatre Harlow, Essex 0844 8700 887 www.harlowtheatrecompany.org.uk

DIE FLEDERMAUS 06 - 09 March 2013 Knaphill & St Johns Operatic Group Rhoda McGaw Theatre Woking, Surrey 01483 473657 www.kasjog..org.uk DISCO INFERNO 14 - 16 March 2013 West Cliff Theatre Youth Group West Cliff Theatre Clacton-on-Sea, Essex 01255 474000 westclifftheatre.org DRESSER, THE 18 - 20 April 2013 Weymouth Drama Club The Warehouse Theatre Weymouth, Dorset 01305 750050 www.weymouthdramaclub.co.uk ENTERTAINING ANGELS 07 - 16 February 2013 The Miller Centre Theatre Company Miller Centre Theatre, Caterham Caterham, Surrey 01883 349850 www.millercentretheatre.org.uk

FAME - THE MUSICAL 05 - 09 March 2013 The Lyric Club The Kings Theatre Glasgow, Central Scotland 0844 871 7648 www.atgtickets.com/venues/kingstheatre/ FAWLTY TOWERS 15 - 20 April 2013 The Talisman Theatre Talisman Theatre Kenilworth, Warwickshire 01926 856548 www.talismantheatre.co.uk/fawlty.html FIDDLER ON THE ROOF 12 - 16 March 2013 Kilmarnock Amateur Operatic Society Palace Theatre Kilmarnock, Ayrshire 01563 554900 www.kaos-operatic.co.uk FIVE GUESTS, THREE MURDERS AND ONE POISONING 14 - 16 March 2013 The Talisman Theatre Talisman Theatre Kenilworth, Warwickshire 01926 856548 www.talismantheatre.co.uk/youthprod. html

FUR COAT AND NO KNICKERS 06 - 09 February 2013 The Garrick ACE Centre Nelson, Lancashire 01282 661080 www.thegarrick.org GHOSTS 24 - 27 April 2013 Adel Players Adel Memorial Hall Adel, West Yorkshire 0113 275 5585 www.adel-players.org.uk GODSPELL 03 - 06 April 2013 CADOS theatre group Mornington Hall N Chingford, London 0208 524 4380 www.ticketsource.co.uk/cadoschingford

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19 - 23 February 2013 Godalming Operatic Society Borough Hall, Godalming Godalming, Surrey 01252 703376 www.godalmingoperatic.org 28 February - 02 March 2013 Godalming Operatic Society The Leatherhead Theatre Leatherhead, Surrey 01252 703376 www.godalmingoperatic.org

03 - 13 April 2013 Sedos Bridewell Theatre London, London Online: sedos.co.uk www.sedos.co.uk

GONE WITH THE BREEZE 21 - 22 March 2013 Glow Theatre Group Barn Theatre Oxted, Surrey 01883 720167 www.barntheatreoxted.co.uk

GOING POSTAL 20 - 02 March 2013 Studio Theatre Studio Theatre Salisbury, Wiltshire 01722344956 www.studiotheatre.org.uk

GORMENGHAST 26 February - 02 March 2013 Sedos Bridewell Theatre London, London Online: sedos.co.uk www.sedos.co.uk

GOLDILOCKS 14 - 16 February 2013 The Launton Village Players Cooper School Bicester, Oxforshire www.facebook.com/ TheLauntonVillagePlayers GOLDILOCKS AND THE THREE BEARS 21 - 23 February 2013 Lees Street CC AMDS Lees Street Church Hall Theatre Manchester, Lancashire 0161 231 0004 www.amdram.weebly.com

COSTUMES

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GONDOLIERS, THE 19 - 23 February 2013 Barrow Savoyards The Forum Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria 01229 820000 www.theforumbarrow.co.uk or www. barrowsavoyards.co.uk

COSTUME HIRE, SHOWS KING & I, PHANTOM, LES MIZ, OLIVER, FIDDLER, Pic KISS ME KATE, FOLLIES, PINAFORE, ANNIE, ALL PANTO SUBJECTS, ORIENTAL COSTUMES www.bpdcostumes.co.uk P: 01273 481004

HEATSTROKE 18 - 20 April 2013 Amateur Players of Sherborne Digby Hall Sherborne, Dorset 01935 814626 www.aps-sherborne.co.uk HELLO DOLLY 03 - 06 April 2013 Weston-super-mare Operatic Society Playhouse Theatre Weston Super Mare, Avon 01934 645544 www.westonoperatic.org.uk HERBAL BED, THE 26 April - 04 May 2013 Stoke Repertory Players Stoke-On-Trent Repertory Theatre Stoke-On-Trent, Staffordshire 01782 209784 www.stokerep.info

ADVERTISE YOUR SHOW

HERE FOR JUST ÂŁ25 Call (020) 33718849

Darlington Operatic Society - Footloose

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HEROES (THE WIND IN THE POPLAR TREES) 20 - 23 March 2013 The Garrick ACE Centre NELSON, Lancashire 01282 661080 www.thegarrick.org

JERUSALEM 24 - 27 April 2013 Harlow Theatre Company The Victoria Hall Theatre Harlow, Essex 0844 8700 887 www.harlowtheatrecompany.org.uk/ box-office

HMS PINAFORE 16 - 20 April 2013 Bristol Gilbert & Sullivan Operatic Society Redgrave Theatre Bristol, Bristol 0117 315 7602 www.bristolgsos.co.uk

JOKING APART 21 - 23 March 2013 Riverside Players The Memorial Hall Old Windsor, Berkshire 07717 671765 www.riversideplayers.com

HONK 08 - 13 April 2013 LAMP Childrens Theatre Linlithgow Academy Linlithgow, West Lothian 07949 475932 www.linthgow-musicals.co.uk

LES MISERABLES (SE) 18 - 23 February 2013 MyUK Musical Youth Manchester Hub Z-Arts Centre Hulme, Manchester, Greater Manchester 0161 232 6089 www.z-arts.org

HOT MIKADO 17 - 20 April 2013 Mid Cheshire Musical Theatre Company Grange Theatre Hartford Northwich, Cheshire 01606853573 www.mcmtc.co.uk

LILIES ON THE LAND 09 January - 09 February 2013 Studio Theatre Studio Theatre Salisbury, Wiltshire 01722344956 www.studiotheatre.org.uk

22 - 27 April 2013 Huddersfield Light Opera Company Lawrence Batley Theatre Huddersfield, West Yorkshire 01484 430528 www.thelbt.org/Hot-Mikado

LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, A 05 - 09 March 2013 Phoenix Theatre Aberdeen Arts Centre Theatre Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire 01224 641122 www.phoenixaberdeen.co.uk/upcomingshows.html

I LOVE YOU, YOU’RE PERFECT, NOW CHANGE 19 - 23 February 2013 Southport Spotlights Musical Theatre Soc Greenbank Theatre Southport, Merseyside 07976 977058 www.southportspotlights.co.uk/current_ show.php

LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS 18 - 23 February 2013 Hinckley Community Guild AOS Concordia Theatre Hinckley, Leicestershire 01455 847676 www.concordiatheatre.co.uk

IDEAL HUSBAND, AN 20 - 23 February 2013 Hayes Players Hayes Village Hall Hayes, Kent 07905 210718 www.hayesplayers.org.uk

LOCK UP YOUR DAUGHTERS 11 - 23 March 2013 Priory Theatre Company Priory Theatre Kenilworth, Warwickshire 01926863334 www.priorytheatre.co.uk

IN PRAISE OF LOVE 04 - 09 March 2013 The Talisman Theatre Talisman Theatre Kenilworth, Warwickshire 01926 856548 www.talismantheatre.co.uk/praise.html

LONDON ASSURANCE 10 - 13 April 2013 New Forest Players Ballard School New Milton, Hants 0845 166 8775 www.newforestplayers.com

JEKYLL & HYDE 27 - 30 March 2013 Southampton Musical Society Theatre Royal Winchester Winchester, Hampshire 01962 840440 www.theatre-royal-winchester.co.uk/

LOOT 12 - 16 March 2013 Lindisfarne Palace Theatre Westcliff, Essex 01702 351135 www.southendtheatres.org.uk/Online/

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MAKING WAVES 11 - 16 March 2013 Keighley Playhouse Keighley Playhouse Keighley, West Yorkshire 08451 267 859 www.keighleyplayhouse.co.uk

NICHOLAS NICKLEBY 21 - 23 March 2013 Shoreham Players Shoreham Village Hall Shoreham, Kent 07933166622 www.shorehamvillageplayers.co.uk

MEN OF THE WORLD 28 February - 02 March 2013 Weymouth Drama Club The Warehouse Theatre Weymouth, Dorset 01305 750050 www.weymouthdramaclub.co.uk

OF MICE AND MEN 21 - 23 March 2013 EODS Productions Birley Centre Eastbourne, East Sussex 07840473818 www.eastbourneshows.co.uk

MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR, THE 14 - 23 February 2013 The Miller Centre Theatre Company Miller Centre Theatre, Caterham Caterham, Surrey 01883 349850 www.millercentretheatre.org.uk

OLD TYME MUSIC HALL & SUPPER 22 - 23 March 2013 The Pantiles Players Salomons Southborough Tunbridge Wells, Kent 01892 534341 www.thepantilesplayers.co.uk

MIKADO, THE 14 - 16 February 2013 Havering Music Makers Kenneth More Theatre Ilford, Essex 020 8553 4466 www.haveringmusicmakers.co.uk

ON YOUR HONOUR 30 January - 09 February 2013 Priory Theatre Company Priory Theatre Kenilworth, Warwickshire 01926 863334 www.priorytheatre.co.uk

MISER, THE 13 - 20 April 2013 Stockport Garrick Theatre Group Stockport Garrick Theatre Stockport, Cheshire 0161 480 5866 www.stockportgarrick.co.uk

OPERA THROUGH FOUR CENTURIES 20 - 20 April 2013 Guildford Opera Company Holy Trinity Church Guildford, Surrey 01483444334 www.visitguildford.com

MY MOTHER SAID I NEVER SHOULD 21 - 23 February 2013 Lion & Unicorn Players The Studio@TPS Petersfield, Hampshire 01730 261199 www.ticketsource.co.uk/ lionandunicornplayers/

OUR FAVOURITES 11 - 13 April 2013 Stagemasque Theatre Company The Masque Theatre Barton Seagrave, Northants 01536 737 737 www.stagemasque.com

MY WIFE & THE KING 11 - 13 April 2013 ImpAct Theatre The Layard Theatre Wimborne, Dorset 01202847525 19 - 19 April 2013 ImpAct Theatre The Exchange Theatre Sturminste Newton, Dorset 01258475137 26 - 26 April 2013 ImpAct Theatre The Mowlem Theatre Swanage, Dorset 01929 422239

PACK OF LIES 05 - 09 February 2013 STAFFORD PLAYERS Stafford Gatehouse Theatre Stafford, Staffs 01785254653 www.staffordgatehousetheatre.co.uk PATIENCE 24 - 27 April 2013 Gosforth Musical Society Jubilee Theatre Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne & Wear 01912846615 26 February - 02 March 2013 Blackburn Gilbert & Sullivan Society Thwaites Empire Theatre Blackburn, Lancashire 01254 685500 www.thwaitesempiretheatre.co.uk

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Kingswood Players - Mr Macaroni and the exploding pizza pie.

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PETER PAN 30 January - 02 March 2013 Richings Players Iver Village Hall Iver, Buckinghamshire 01753 654550 www.richingsplayers.co.uk PETER PAN - A MUSICAL ADVENTURE 19 - 23 March 2013 Carlton Operatic Society Nottingham Playhouse Nottingham, Nottinghamshire 0115 9525721 www.carltonoperatic.com/2013.php PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY, THE 29 April - 04 May 2013 Keighley Playhouse Keighley Playhouse Keighley, West Yorkshire 08451 267 859 www.keighleyplayhouse.co.uk PLAZA SUITE 13 - 16 March 2013 Hartley Players Hartley Village Hall Longfield, Kent 01474 873721 www.hartleyplayers.com PRICE, THE 18 - 20 April 2013 Lighted Fools Theatre Company The Mill Studio, Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford Guildford, Surrey 01483 44 00 00 www.yvonne-arnaud.co.uk

ROAD 20 - 23 February 2013 Southside Players Chestnut Grove Theatre @ Chestnut Grove school Balham, London 07914 657 524 www.southsideplayers.org.uk

SLEEPING BEAUTY 20 - 23 February 2013 Market Drayton Amateur Operatic & Dramatic Society The Festival Drayton Centre Market Drayton, Shropshire 01630 654444 www.festivaldraytoncentre.com

SOUTHERN COUNTIES DRAMA FESTIVAL 25 February - 02 March 2013 SCDF Barn Theatre Oxted, Surrey 01959 561811 www.barntheatreoxted.co.uk

ROLEPLAY 20 - 23 March 2013 Knutsford Little Theatre Knustford, Cheshire 01565 633000 www.knutsfordlittletheatre.com

SLICE OF SATURDAY NIGHT, A 23 - 27 April 2013 Preston Musical Comedy Society Preston Playhouse Theatre Preston, Lancashire 07745745952 www.prestonmusicalcomedy.co.uk

SPRING DOUBLE BILL - ‘SMALLS TALK’ & ‘THE DUMB WAITER’ 12 - 13 April 2013 New Wickham Court Players Coney Hall Assembly Halls West Wickham, Kent 020 8462 3492 www.newwickhamcourtplayers.co.uk

RUDDIGORE 06 - 09 March 2013 Wakefield Gilbert and Sullivan Society Theatre Royal Wakefield Wakefield, West Yorkshire 01924 211311 www.wakefieldgilbertandsullivan.org.uk SALUTE TO STAGE AND SCREEN 3 12 - 13 April 2013 Mayhem Musical Theatre Company Arthur Cotterell Theatre Kingston Upon Thames, Surrey 01753840495 www.ticketsource.co.uk/mmtc SAWSTON ONE-ACT DRAMA FESTIVAL 21 - 23 March 2013 Sawston Drama Festival Organisation The Marven Centre Sawston, Cambridgeshire 01223880023 www.bawds.org/sawstfest.htm

PRODUCERS, THE 17 - 20 April 2013 A Chocolate Theatre Society (ACTS) Commonweal Theatre Swindon, Wiltshire 07962 222 190 www.chocolatetheatre.co.uk

SCDA ONE-ACT FESTIVAL - 81ST YEAR 14 - 16 February 2013 Scottish Community Drama SCDA Edinburgh - St Serfs Hall Edinburgh, Midlothian 0131 225 5952 www.scdaedinburgh.org.uk

RENT 27 February - 02 March 2013 Gravesend & District Theatre Guild Guild Theatre Gravesend, Kent 07981 792101 www.gravesendtheatreguild.org

SCOTTISH PLAY, THE 24 - 27 April 2013 Hayes Players Hayes Village Hall Hayes, Kent 07905 210718 www.hayesplayers.org.uk

RETURN TO THE FORBIDDEN PLANET 19 - 23 March 2013 KATS - Kingsbridge Amateur Theatrical Society Malborough Space Station Kingsbridge, Devon www.kats-kingsbridge.co.uk

SECONDARY CAUSE OF DEATH 25 - 27 April 2013 Hook Players Elizabeth Hall Hook, Hampshire 07709214679 www.hookplayers.co.uk

20 - 23 February 2013 Rackheath Players Rackheath Village Hall Rackheath, Norfolk 07552 086982 www.rackheathplayers.co.uk

SEE HOW THEY RUN 21 - 23 March 2013 Theydon Bois Drama Society Theydon Bois Village Hall Theydon Bois, Essex 01992812250 www.theydondrama.org

SUBMIT YOUR PRODUCTION PHOTOS FOR PUBLICATION Send high resolution photographs and credits to editor@asmagazine.co.uk

SNOW WHITE 14 - 16 February 2013 Portishead Players Somerset Hall Portishead, North Somerset 01275 848364 www.portishead-players.org.uk

STEPPING OUT 14 - 16 March 2013 Stewarton Drama Group Stewarton Area Centre Stewarton, East Ayrshire www.sdg.cfsites.org

SORCERER, THE 05 - 09 March 2013 New Rosemere AOS Albert Halls Bolton, Lancashire 01204 334400 www.newrosemere.com

STRICTLY MURDER 19 - 23 February 2013 Radcliffe-on-Trent Drama Group Grange Hall Radcliffe-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire 0115 933 2906 www.radcliffe-on-trentdramagroup.co.uk

SOUND OF MUSIC 08 - 13 April 2013 Lewes Operatic Society Lewes Town Hall Lewes, East Sussex 01273 480127 www.lewesoperatic.co.uk

SUMMER HOLIDAY 10 - 13 April 2013 Southend Operatic and Dramatic Society Cliffs Pavilion Southend-on-Sea, Essex 01702 351135 www.thecliffspavilion.co.uk

15 - 20 April 2013 Teesside Musical Theatre Company Middlesbrough Theatre Linthorpe, Middlesbrough 01642 898580 www.teessidemusicaltheatreco.350.com

SWEENEY TODD 05 - 09 February 2013 Durham Musical Theatre Company Gala Theatre Durham City, Durham 0191 3324041 www.dmtc.co.uk

04 - 09 March 2013 Knowle Operatic Society Solihull Arts Complex Solihull, West Midlands 0121 704 6962 www.solihullartscomplex.co.uk 16 - 20 April 2013 Oxted Operatic Society Barn Theatre Oxted, Surrey 07530 528094 www.barntheatreoxted.co.uk 24 - 04 May 2013 DarlingtonOS Darlington Civic Theatre Darlington, Durham 01325 244 659 www.darlingtonos.org.uk

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16 - 20 April 2013 Bedford Marianettes and ShowCo Bedford The Place Bedford, Bedfordshire 07508 857217 www.theplacebedford.org.uk/ TITFIELD THUNDERBOLT, THE 24 - 27 April 2013 Codsall Dramatic Society Codsall Village Hall Codsall, West Midlands 07792784908 www.codsalldramaticsociety.co.uk WHITE HORSE INN 21 - 24 March 2013 Present Company Buxton Opera House Buxton, Derbyshire 0845 127 2190 www.buxtonoperahouse.org.uk

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48 | www.amateurstagemagazine.co.uk

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show diary | amateurstage WHITE HORSE INN 27 - 30 March 2013 Present Company Derby Theatre Derby, Derbyshire 01332 593939 www.derbytheatre.co.uk

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WIFE AFTER DEATH 18 - 23 March 2013 Droylsden Little Theatre Droylsden, Manchester 0161 370 7713 www.droylsdenlittletheatre.co.uk

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18 - 27 April 2013 The Miller Centre Theatre Company Miller Centre Theatre, Caterham Caterham, Surrey 01883 349850 www.millercentretheatre.org.uk 20 - 23 March 2013 Albrighton Players Albrighton Albrighton, Shropshire 01902 212538 www.albrightonplayers.org.uk

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WIZARD OF OZ, THE 20 - 23 February 2013 Gillingham Dramatic Society Productions The Brook Theatre Chatham, Kent 01634 338338 www.gillinghamdramatic.co.uk/index.htm

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ZANNA, DON’T! 21 - 23 February 2013 Mayhem Musical Theatre Company Performing Arts Centre Kingston Upon Thames, Surrey 02083479585 www.ticketsource.co.uk/mmtc

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For further information on inclusion in these issues please contact editor@asmagazine.co.uk www.amateurstagemagazine.co.uk | 49

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E f f e c t iv e Imme d ia t e ly

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