A Cast and Right Up Our Street Production Written by Richard Cameron Directed by Esther Richardson
Right Up Our Street
An Anthem for Cast
It is common, when people talk of the arts in Doncaster, to hear about a place where the arts have no value; no place in people’s lives. Hearing of this Doncaster you might wonder why a venue like Cast is being built at all, particularly at a time when investment is scarce and funds are precious.
Doncaster folk duo Rita Payne – Rhiannon Scutt and Pete Sowerby – have penned an original anthem for the opening of Cast: It’s Our Time. First performed as part of the opening ceremony on Friday 6 September 2013.
For those of us who’ve lived or worked here for decades, this is not a place we recognise. The Doncaster we know is full of artists, musicians, writers and performers; full of people who think creatively and value imagination; full of choirs, bands, theatre companies and galleries. Time after time, we have seen that when local people have the chance to engage with great art they respond with enthusiasm, imagination and pleasure.
Friday 6 September 2013 marks a significant moment in Doncaster. It is not simply the evening that Cast opens its doors; it is the moment when hopes and dreams are achieved, it is the moment when a new era begins. Long before the first ground was broken, a number of people from across the town worked tirelessly to achieve their vision of a significant new performance venue in Doncaster. That hope took decades of effort, but is here now.
For many who’ve stepped through the doors for the very first time the reaction is overwhelmingly emotional. Screams of delight, utterances of disbelief, smiles that are infectious tell us all that something special is happening, and it’s happening now.
For years Doncaster has given birth to artists working across all mediums; musicians, scriptwriters, actors, film-makers, photographers, dancers, poets and comedians. A number have gone on to work internationally and become household names. For many the ambition to have a state-of-the-art creative space in their hometown able to present their work and to offer a space to nurture the talent of new generations was a real aspiration. An aspiration that sometimes felt unachievable, but is here now.
Cast is only possible through the work of the many, not the few. It is more than mere bricks and mortar. It is a people’s theatre, a home for everyone, a cultural living room for the town – a Cast for thousands where everyone has a role to play.
As the foundations were laid for our new building and Waterdale transformed, a whole new group of people became connected to this place. People who stopped, looked and imagined what exciting moments were just round the corner. People who heard about the place in the media, built the walls and installed the cables, those that took to facebook and twitter. People who we met at performances, events and gatherings across the town and the country. All ready to see the sparks of this idea flourish and play their part in making something truly exciting happen. 2
CAST • The Glee Club
This is a unique moment in time. Together we are making history. From audiences to staff, from café-goers to those taking part in workshops, from international artists to local talent, everyone has a part to play in making Cast a real success. Tell your friends, your family, your neighbours and colleagues. Spread the word far and wide. We welcome you to join us as we launch this brand new venture.
The future needs you to play your part. Be a part of a Cast of Thousands. Be a part of Cast in Doncaster.
What we do recognise is that those opportunities are scarcer than they should be. A point that goes someway to explain why, when measuring engagement in the arts, Doncaster lies 347th out of 354 local authorities.
Joined together This is where Right Up Our Street comes in. Over the next three years a consortium including Cast, darts, Doncaster Culture and Leisure Trust, and Doncaster Voluntary Arts Network with key partners Doncaster Council, Doncaster Museum and Higher Rhythm have joined together to create a programme of imaginative, inspiring art coupled with focused community engagement. The aspiration is to increase the number of people watching, reading, listening to and taking part in the arts. With £2.5m of investment from Arts Council England and guided by the voices of artists and local people, the hope is that over the next three years more and more people will talk about Doncaster as a place where the arts are vital to our town. The Glee Club is the first major production supported through the Right Up Our Street project. We look forward to bringing you more great art that can be enjoyed by everyone.
Make a noise for all the world to hear, Shout it out in waves across the skies, Shake the earth and walk the town fields freer, Let them see the wonder in your eyes. Keep the past but seek to see what’s coming, Hold memories close, take pride in what we’ve done, We’ve walked the trail but now we’ve started running, You’ll see a new day has begun. Cos it’s our time let’s make it last, It’s our time the die is Cast, It’s our time let’s make it last, It’s our time you know the die is Cast. Keep the moats and streams and rivers flowing, Let the Lakeside bask in summer sun, The silver on the streets have started glowing, Board a train, the journey’s almost done. Red and white we’ll paint in stripes that matter, Until we die we’ll stand together here, Prejudices we will seek to shatter, We sing loud and bold and hard and clear Cos it’s our time let’s make it last, It’s our time the die is Cast, It’s our time let’s make it last, It’s our time you know the die is Cast.
rightupourstreet.org.uk
#aCastOf1000s CAST • The Glee Club
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Kully Thiarai
Esther Richardson
Kully Thiarai, Director of Cast, shares her excitement at what the opening means for Doncaster.
The Glee Club’s Director Esther Richardson tells us why she loved bringing the play back home.
What are you most proud of so far about Cast?
What makes The Glee Club a great play for this opening season of Cast?
Director, Cast
It’s already been great to see people just coming in and using the café-bar as a home from home, and to see young dancers rehearsing, companies making work and artists being around. There’s an excitement that people feel when they walk around and have a look, because it’s such an important statement for the town. Is there anything that might surprise people visiting Cast for the first time? We’ve created a real openness to how people can engage with the building. Also the fact that there’s such a diversity in the programme and, I hope, something for everyone. Why is it important to put on plays such as The Glee Club that have a connection to Doncaster? Any theatre has a responsibility to give its local community a voice that’s strong and powerful and represents who they are, that speaks of them but also creates hope and reveals some of the stories that perhaps aren’t always told. The Glee Club also celebrates one of our leading artists in the town. Through Cast we can showcase the talent here that’s not had a place to be showcased in this way before.
Through Cast we can showcase the talent here that’s not had a place to be showcased in this way before 4
CAST • The Glee Club
Director, The Glee Club
Continuing our celebrations throughout the entire opening season, we’ve gathered together some of Yorkshire’s best artists, companies, bands and stories.
It’s a brilliantly written play, with a big heart. It’s probably Doncaster’s best known play, and it has been produced so frequently outside of Doncaster but has never had a homegrown professional production. How will it resonate with local audiences? The story is set in Edlington, and it was very carefully and lovingly researched by Richard to reflect the period and the area accurately: I hope that this will charm and connect strongly with young and old people who know the villages around Doncaster. However it’s such a strong play with such familiar and universal themes that I think it will touch everyone whether they know Doncaster or not. Which was more of a challenge: getting the cast to master the musical numbers or getting them to bare all for the shower scenes? I can’t take any credit for getting the cast to master the harmonies – that is all the work of our brilliant musical director, Sam Kenyon... So I guess that means rehearsing the shower scenes, although the company were always very relaxed and good-humoured about this element, as you can see in the production.
Royal Flush
Friday 4 – Saturday 5 October, 7.45pm
Phoenix Dance Theatre: Particle Velocity Rita Payne
Saturday 21 September, 8pm
Kate Rusby
Sunday 22 September, 7.30pm
Gareth Gates
Wednesday 25 September, 7.30pm
It’s a brilliantly written play, with a big heart
Clare Teal and The Big Band: The Divas and Me! Saturday 28 September, 7.30pm
Tuesday 8 October, 7.30pm
Myra DuBois: Service with a Sneer Saturday 9 November, 8pm
Big Band Celebration
Sunday 17 November, 2pm and 7pm
Cast Comedy Club
I Í Doncaster
Dave Formula and the Finks
Instructions For A Better Life
Simon Armitage
Cinderella
Hope and Social
Shadow Game
Thursday 10 October, 7.30pm
Friday 11 October, 8pm
Sunday 20 October, 7.30pm
Tuesday 22 October, 7.30pm
Friday 22 November, 7.45pm
Wednesday 27 November, 7.45pm
Thursday 5 – Tuesday 31 December
Saturday 8 February, 7.30pm
CAST • The Glee Club
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‘Strike Babi’ and The Glee Club’s Artistic Associate, Rachel Horne, talks on how the pit village influenced her family and herself as a local artist.
Richard Cameron Writer, The Glee Club
Doncaster playwright and writer of The Glee Club, Richard Cameron, reveals what drove him to create his homegrown hit. How did you first come up with the idea for The Glee Club?
Regardless of my family’s financial struggle they blessed me with many things, our home was full of books, artwork and of course we had our proud social history
Regardless of my family’s financial struggle they blessed me with many things, our home was full of books, artwork and of course we had our proud social history. My dad and his friends always called me their ‘Strike Babi’ even if for a long time I never knew what that meant. Surprisingly, it has been the arts that has enabled me to understand that old world and why the miners’ fought so hard to keep their communities alive. That legacy can still be embraced through the brass band music, the poetry, the artworks and plays such as The Glee Club, which allow us to step us back into that world and pick-up those banners once again.
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CAST • The Glee Club
Why did you set the play in Edlington? I was born and brought up next door in Balby. My grandfather was a miner at Yorkshire Main. What research did you do when writing? The community, I already felt I knew and understood. I read a great deal about the work underground. In 1962, 365 miners died in UK collieries, one for every day of the year. What fascinated me was the contrast between the hard graft and the singing of songs in the clubs.
Like most of my generation I never knew pit village life. Nothing remained in the landscape, instead of the tall iconic winding gear dominating the horizon, my generation grew up in the shadow of that old world full of grey waste lands, derelict offices, redundant pit baths, empty pubs and clubs. Ironically, I remember we renamed the Dearne Valley the Death Valley unknowing of the spirit of what had actually died there. Although, what happened through-out the strike is well known the post-strike era is less talked about and for some is still painful. For my family, I remember weekends without electricity, filling the bath with pans of hot water, the year my mum made Christmas dinner on an almost broken cooker with only one stove that worked. I think she must have boiled everything.
Frank Vernon’s Pride and Poverty – Memories of a Mexborough Miner was the inspiration. I just thought that these men, their work, their community, needed honouring in some way. Their values, their pride – the very real danger of their work – needed to be appreciated somehow.
Do you feel that The Glee Club tells stories that are not often seen onstage? Yes. Community, or lack of it, is something worth exploring in theatre. It was the glue that held us together once upon a time. These men, what they stood for, their code of honour, their loyalty is important for us to try and understand. Why did you set the play in 1962?
Rachel Horne Artistic Associate
Rachel is a Doncaster based artist, she studied Fine Art at Middlesex University in London where she gained a First Class Honours Degree. Exploring her identity as a miner’s daughter, in 2006 she was awarded funding from the Arts Council England for her project Out of Darkness Light, and in 2008 she ran the memorial campaign ‘Pin the Pits’ with the aim of getting the sites of former coalmines re-marked on Ordnance Survey maps. She hoped to create a lasting memorial to her heritage by demonstrating how coal mining had shaped geographic features such as canal, road, rail networks and entire villages within the landscape. Even though the campaign received wide public support and national news coverage Ordnance Survey refused to mark the sites. Rachel’s work has been exhibited in both Yorkshire and London and has included collaborations with Tate Modern at the Tate Tanks in 2012.
The Glee Club’s ‘songs from the shows’ seemed to me to be about 20 years behind the times, so I thought it would be interesting to set the play just when music was on the cusp of a massive shift. Also, ‘62 was my own wake-up year, musicwise: I had a Ferguson transistor radio.
Do you have a favourite song from the play? ‘You Always Hurt The One You Love’ because its sentiment is absolutely of the moment in the play, for all six characters. How do you feel about seeing the play finally produced professionally in Doncaster? I feel thrilled to bits. It’s wonderful to feel that a play that I wrote to honour this community has come home to be produced and seen by the very people who really understand what it is about. And to be the very first Cast production! My parents would be very proud.
It’s wonderful to feel that a play that I wrote to honour this community has come home to be produced and seen by the very people who really understand what it is about
Glee Club rehearsal sketches by local artist Terry Chipp
CAST • The Glee Club
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Friday 6 – Saturday 21 September 2013 Act one Edlington, 1962, and the six members of the miners’ Glee Club are breaking for a pint in the middle of rehearsal. The banter flies fast between rough-cast Bant and his longstanding friend Jack, family man Scobie, widower Walt and young Colin, who dreams of pop stardom with his guitar. But pianist and club founder Phil has something worrying on his mind. After the rehearsal, Bant and Jack discuss their different romantic troubles. At work, Walt is ribbed by Bant about an unsuccessful date and reveals what happened to his children after his wife’s death. Meanwhile, Colin is having second thoughts about his girlfriend and the group ponder Phil’s increasingly strange behaviour. As the men prepare for their next concert, Colin is excited by the prospect of being spotted by a talent scout.
Cast
Act two The summer gala is fast approaching, but the Glee Club all have larger problems to deal with. Colin’s ambitions are dealt a blow by real life and Bant’s job is in peril after a safety incident. Phil suffers an ‘accident’ of his own down the pit and, when his secret becomes known, it tests loyalties and threatens to tear apart the close-knit group. Has the Glee Club sung its last notes?
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CAST • The Glee Club
Richard Standing playing Jack David Westbrook playing Phil Martin Callaghan playing Scobie Tony Bell playing Walt Russell Richardson playing Bant Brett Lee Roberts playing Colin Michael Cook ensemble Ryan Cerenko ensemble Will Drury ensemble Paris Guest ensemble Danielle Hicks ensemble Directed by Esther Richardson Written by Richard Cameron
Production team
Sara Perks Aideen Malone Adam McCready Sam Kenyon Lucy Jenkins Sooki McShane Jenny O’Connell Olivia Dudley Chris Clay Rachel Horne Brian Hanlon Karen Owen Eleanor Walk Splinter Scenery Ltd Ryan Harston
Costume and Set Designer Lighting Designer Sound Designer Musical Director Casting Director Casting Director Stage Manager Deputy Stage Manager Production Manager Artistic Associate Costume Supervisor Wardrobe Mistress Audio Describer Set Construction Assistant Director
CAST • The Glee Club
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The cast Richard Standing
Tony Bell
Richard is from Yorkshire and studied Drama at Hull University.
Originally from Nottingham Tony’s theatre credits include: 39 Steps (UK tour), A Christmas Carol (Middle Temple Hall), Oh The Humanity (Soho Theatre/ Northern Stage), The Winter’s Tale, Henry V, Richard III, The Comedy of Errors, Midsummer Night’s Dream (Propeller/ World Tour), The Grapes of Wrath (Chichester Festival Theatre), Treasure Island, A Man for all Seasons (Haymarket Theatre), The English Game (Headlong), The Conservatory (Old Red Lion), Don Quixote (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Twelfth Night, Taming of the Shrew (Old Vic, RSC, BAM New York), The Bee (Soho Theatre/ Tokyo), Breakfast with Jonny Wilkinson (Chocolate Factory), Midsummer Night’s Dream (Comedy Theatre/ BAM NY), Red Demon (Tokyo Nodamap), Ghostward (Almeida Theatre), Bouncers (Hull Truck).
playing Jack
Theatre credits: Rutherford and Son (UK tour and West End), Mamma Mia (International tour), Swallows and Amazons (Bristol Old Vic), Othello (UK tour and West End), On A Shout (Hull Truck), Canterbury Tales, The Wars of the Roses, The School for Scandal, Comedy of Errors, Sweet William, The Merchant of Venice, Henry V, A Woman Killed with Kindness, Macbeth (all for Northern Broadsides), Anthony and Cleopatra (directed by Vanessa Redgrave). TV credits include: Holby City, Silent Witness, Casualty, The Bill, In Denial of Murder, The Guardian, Doctors, A Wing and a Prayer, Dalziel and Pascoe, One for the Road, Harry. Richard was a series regular in Picking Up the Pieces, Families, The Grand and spent two years playing Danny Hargreaves in Coronation Street.
playing Walt
TV credits include: Prisoners’ Wives, Midsomer Murders, Holby City, Trail of Guilt, Trial and Retribution, The Bill, Peak Practice, Coronation Street, Doctors.
David Westbrook
Russell Richardson
David studied piano for a year at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama followed by a degree in English and Drama at Sheffield University. He was a member of Sheffield’s Compass Theatre Company for many years, performing in (amongst others) The Dumb Waiter, Waiting for Godot, A Christmas Carol, The Caretaker and The Wind in the Willows.
Based in Manchester Russell trained at the East 15 Acting School, London.
playing Phil
Other theatre credits include: Tears of a Clown, Macbeth (Harrogate Theatre), Dick Barton – Special Agent (Oldham Coliseum, Harrogate Theatre, Anvil Arts Basingstoke), Oh! What a Lovely War (Octagon Theatre, Bolton), Thin Air, Twelfth Night and Sherlock Holmes and the Final Problem (Cottongrass Theatre Company). TV credits include: DCI Banks, Prisoner’s Wives, Waterloo Road, Stepping Up, Coronation Street, Emmerdale, Heartbeat, Cold Feet, Extreme Rescue, Nature Boy.
playing Bant
Theatre credits: The English Project (Dep Arts/Lowery), The Wind in the Willows (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Deathtrap (Oldham Coliseum), The Confession (JB Shorts), Romeo and Juliet, Comedians, A Midsummer Nights Dream, Ghosts (Bolton Octagon), Much Ado About Nothing/Hercuks (Chester Performs), Cinderella (Victoria Theatre Halifax), Waiting for Godot (Garrick, Lichfield), Singin’ in The Rain (London Palladium), The Winter’s Tale (New Shakespeare Company), Bouncers (Birmingham), Aladdin, Cinderella, Babes in the Wood (Gracie Fields Theatre), Mr Cinders (Kings Head, London), Pied Piper (Shermon, Cardiff), Babes in Arms, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Regents Park Open Air), Canterbury Tales (Theatre by the Lake, Keswick). TV credits include: Coronation Street, Doctors, Two Pints of Larger and a Packet of Crisps, The Message, Drop the Dead Donkey, Holby City and Murder in Mind.
Martin Callaghan
Brett Lee Roberts
Martin was born and bred in Manchester and trained at The Abraham Moss Centre.
Brett trained at the Birmingham School of Acting and graduated with a first class honours degree. He was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Bursary Award, named as ‘One to Watch’ by The Stage and a finalist for the Stephen Sondheim young performer of the year award at the Playhouse Theatre, London.
playing Scobie
Theatre credits: Nicely-Nicely Johnson in Guys and Dolls (Sheffield Crucible), Beadle Bamford in Sweeney Todd (Derby Playhouse), Uncle Henry/Emerald City Guard in The Wizard of Oz (WYP and Birmingham Rep), Smee in Stiles and Drewe's Peter Pan (WYP), UK Tours of Chess, Aspects of Love and Joseph. Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof and Amos in Chicago (UK and international Tour). West End credits include: Herod in Jesus Christ Superstar (Lyceum Theatre), Personals, a musical by the creators of Friends (Apollo Theatre), Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz (London Palladium) most recently Martin played Terry/Mr Spencer in Merrily We Roll Along (Harold Pinter Theatre and Menier Chocolate Factory). TV credits include: Concrete Chariots, Prime Suspect and Carmina Burana (all for Granada TV).
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CAST • The Glee Club
playing Colin
Theatre credits: The Rise and Fall of Little Voice (Sheringham Little Theatre), Much Ado About Nothing (Sheringham Little Theatre), Dick Whittington (Pavilion Theatre, Gorleston), Should Love Hurt This Much? (Bolton Octagon), Drop Out (Oldham Coliseum), Cinderella (Hertford Theatre) The Boy in The Photograph (NWPlaywrights/Zion Arts Centre) and Re:Play Festival (Library Theatre Company/ The Lowry). Brett is also the founder of Target Theatre Company and was Director of their first production ‘The Deliverance of Sanctuary’ which premiered at the arts depot, London in October 2012. CAST • The Glee Club
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Production team Esther Richardson
Richard Cameron
Sara Perks
Sam Kenyon
Chris Clay
Esther is an Associate at Cast, and has previously held the positions of Artistic Associate at Soho Theatre in London and Derby LIVE. She also founded Theatre Writing Partnership which ran for 10 years in Nottingham. Her work as a Director includes theatre productions for Nottingham Playhouse, Derby LIVE, Royal and Derngate Northampton, Soho Theatre and Bolton Octagon. She has been passionate about working with writers since working as the Assistant Dramaturg at the Royal Shakespeare Company when she first started her career, and the mainstay of her work has been new plays.
Born in Doncaster, Richard mis-spent his childhood lighting fires and building dens along the Don Gorge. He failed his eleven plus and went to Balby Secondary Modern and Doncaster Tech for his A Levels. He studied Sociology at university becoming a teacher of English and Drama. He began to write plays for his students, entering them for the National Student Drama Festival.
Sara has designed over 140 productions, for a wide variety of theatres, venues and sites. She was Associate Artist at The Mercury, Colchester from 2008 – 2012, and has designed 24 shows there – including the premier of Fraser Grace’s King David, Man of Blood, Depot and an acclaimed production of Journey’s End. Other credits include Hello Dolly!, Gypsy, Hot Stuff! (Curve, Leicester) and The King and I (Curve and national tour), Laurie Sansom’s Young America season at the National Theatre comprising of Tennesse William’s Spring Storm in rep with Eugene O’Neill’s Beyond the Horizon.
Sam studied English Literature at Cambridge University before training at the Royal Academy of Music. As a performer he has worked extensively with John Doyle, on Merrily We Roll Along (Watermill), Amadeus (Wilton’s Music Hall), and he played Tobias in the original cast of Doyle's award-winning production of Sweeney Todd. Other performing credits include: Sunset Boulevard (Comedy Theatre, West End), directed by Craig Revel Horwood, As You Like It (Young Vic/Wyndham's), directed by David Lan, Les Justes and Ion (The Gate), and Macbeth and The Othello Music (BAC).
Chris is a freelance Production Manager and consultant with over 20 years experience working in theatre, opera and live events. He is also the Director of Quadrant Production Ltd.
Current projects include The Opinion Makers (for Daniel Buckroyd at The Mercury) and Wind In The Willows (Royal and Derngate). She has also designed with and for students at LAMDA, RADA, Arts Educational, Mountview, Creative Partnerships and Bristol Old Vic. She holds an Edinburgh Fringe First, The John Elvery Theatre Design Award and a Vision Design (Costume) Award from the BBC.
In recent years Sam has developed a portfolio as a composer, lyricist and arranger. In 2010 he was Co-Director and Musical Supervisor on Oh What a Lovely War! (Northern Stage). He was Musical Supervisor on Swallows and Amazons (Bristol Old Vic), and Close the Coalhouse Door (Northern Stage).
Ryan Harston
Ryan Cerenko
Director
Esther has made two short films, one of which, The Cake, was chosen as the UK film for the Women in Film and Television Showcase and was screened all over the world in 2012. She was also one of eight film directors to be selected for the prestigious iFeatures2 feature film development scheme for her first feature film project, The Summer Child.
Playwright
He left teaching in 1991 and has been a playwright ever since. Richard is a three times winner of the Sunday Times Playwriting Award, as well a winner of the Fringe First and Independent Theatre Award and the Inaugural Dennis Potter Television Play of The Year Award. Theatre credits include: Pond Life (Royal National Theatre/Bush Theatre), Not Fade Away, The Mortal Ash, All of You Mine, The Glee Club, Going Donkeys (Bush Theatre, London), Almost Grown (Royal National Theatre/BT Connections), In Bed with Billy Cotton (Belgrade Theatre, Coventry), Seven (West Yorkshire Playhouse) as well as numerous TV and radio credits.
#aCastOf1000s Not only is Cast a place where you can watch incredible shows and share creative ideas, but a place where the people of Doncaster can be inspired. Over the last few weeks a number of local artists have worked with our production team becoming an integral part of our opening production.
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CAST • The Glee Club
Costume and Set Designer
Trainee Director Bursary funded by the Mercers Company ‘Being given the opportunity to work within this brand new theatre setting has been an amazing catalyst for my creativity and hunger as a young artist. Seeing the activities and excitement buzzing around the venue is inspiring and working with professional actors, directors and artists is a once in a lifetime opportunity that I’m grasping with both hands. I can’t wait to see what future opportunities Cast has to offer myself and other artists out there. The support I’ve been given is amazing... Thank you Cast.’
Musical Director
Ensemble
Production Manager
Theatre credits include: A Day in the Death of Joe Egg (Rose Theatre and Liverpool Everyman Playhouse), over 70 productions at the Young Vic, where Chris was Technical Director for five years, including I Am The Wind, Sweet Nothings, Fragments, 4:48 Psychosis, Kafka’s Monkey, Kursk, Pictures From An Exhibition, A Christmas Carol, The Magic Flute, A Prayer for My Daughter, In the Red and Brown Water, Annie get Your Gun, The Good Soul of Szechuan, The Container, Been So Long, Hamlet, Vernon God Little, The Investigation, The Brothers Size, The Beauty Queen of Leenane, Bingo and Joe Turner’s Come and Gone.
Michael Cook Ensemble
‘As a local actor, it’s a real honour to be ‘Having worked in the office at Cast for part of the early stages of Cast. My work the last month, it’s such a privilege to with the marketing team in the months be furthering my involvement here by building up to the opening have given me being part of The Glee Club. Everyone a great insight into all the endeavour and involved has worked so hard to make energy that people have put in getting this something special, so it’s absolutely this theatre off the ground. Being part brilliant to see it all finally coming of the first production only adds to the together.’ experience.’
Will Drury Ensemble
‘To be a part of the first ever production at Cast is a dream come true for me. I have lived only a stone’s throw away from here all my life, I am very proud to have such an impressive establishment so close.’
Lucy Jenkins and Sooki McShane Casting Directors
Theatre credits include: War Horse (UK Tour/West End), Adult Supervision (Park Theatre), Solid Air (Theatre Royal Plymouth), Afraid of the Dark (Charing Cross Theatre), Tyne (Live Theatre), Serpent’s Tooth (Almeida/Talawa), Chalet Lines (Bush Theatre/Live Theatre), Cooking with Elvis/Wet House (Live Theatre), Moon on a Rainbow Shawl (Talawa Theatre Company). As resident casting directors for Mercury Theatre Colchester and Nottingham Playhouse recent credits include: The Butterfly Lion, The Good Person of Sichuan, The Kite Runner, The History Boys, The Hired Man and Richard III. Television credits include: Skins, Wild at Heart, The Bill, Samuel Johnson: The Dictionary Man, Family Affairs. Film credits include: Five-a-Side, Entity, The Somnambulists, Desi Boyz, H10.
Paris Guest Ensemble
‘I’ve been in many productions since I was six and it’s nice to back in Doncaster where I started. This is an opportunity I won’t forget, thank you.’
Danielle Hicks Ensemble
‘It’s great to have this opportunity in my hometown of Doncaster. I am excited to get some experience with a professional cast and crew. So far the experience has been fantastic!’
CAST • The Glee Club
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It’s 1962: the start of what would be known as the ‘Swinging Sixties’, but in Edlington the only thing swinging is the pit lift on its way down to the bottom of the shaft. For more than five decades, this South Yorkshire village has owed its existence to the Yorkshire Main Colliery, building a community as solid as the seams of coal lying underground. Even here, though, change is coming – making its way over the airwaves, onto shop shelves and behind the closed doors of people’s homes. Owned by the Staveley Coal and Iron Company, the Yorkshire Main colliery sunk its first shaft in 1909, initially in search of the bountiful Barnsley seam and later stretching out towards other seams for up to three miles underground. In 1939, miners brought up a record-breaking 1,138,512 tonness of coal. Things took off up on the surface, too: although a hamlet was recorded in Edlington as far back as William the Conqueror’s Domesday Book of 1086, more than 750 houses were built in the early years of the colliery for mine workers and their families, with more spacious estates of semis coming after the Second World War.
Major employer With the Yorkshire Main by far the major employer, life down the pit and above it was close-knit: your family and neighbours would help you without a moment’s pause, and as quickly condemn you if you stepped out of line. But people were starting to question the norms of community, gender and class. For those who had television in 1962, the current affairs comedy show ‘That Was The Week That Was’ poked fun at establishment figures in a new and irreverent, although middle-class, way. In other areas of culture, working-class 14
CAST • The Glee Club
…this South Yorkshire village has owed its existence to the Yorkshire Main Colliery; building a community as solid as the seams of coal lying underground and, crucially, Northern voices were taking the lead. Tune in to Radio Luxembourg on 5th October and you would have been among the first to hear The Beatles’ debut single ‘Love Me Do’. That opened the doors for a wave of similar groups who brought freshness, energy and authentic accents to pop, and other working-class stars – Twiggy, Cilla Black, Sandie Shaw – followed into the charts, magazines and onto TV. For most fans, such fame was only a daydream, but their success showed that a life beyond the pit was possible.
Social changes By 1962, the seeds had been sown for many of the more dramatic social changes that came later in the Sixties. Large families were no longer a woman’s destiny after the arrival of the pill the previous year. Films such as A Taste of Honey, featuring a pregnant teenager living with her gay male friend, and Victim, in which Dirk Bogarde starred as a barrister taking on anti-gay blackmailers, reflected a softening of previously harsh attitudes. Yet abortion remained illegal until 1967, meaning that those without enough money to win over a discreet private doctor would have to risk a dangerous backstreet operation. For some, the changes that 1962 heralded meant the death of societies built upon certainty. But opening up didn’t mean the end for this community built upon coal. As the miners’ strike 22 years later showed, villages like Edlington could still stick together when needed.
The poster and flyer designs for The Glee Club are based on posters and images that would have been around Edlington and other mining communities in that era.
Tune in to Radio Luxembourg on 5th October and you would have been among the first to hear The Beatles’ debut single ‘Love Me Do’ CAST • The Glee Club
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All Weather Adventure
Museum is a A visit to the National Coal Mining weather! the unique day out - whatever
Visit our pit ponies, go back in time and deep underground to discover the hidden world of mining through the centuries. There is so much to discover across the museum, above or below ground, indoors or out, whatever the weather. Go online for more de
Caphouse Colliery, New Road, Overton, Wakefield, WF4 4RH T: 01924 848806, E: info@ncm.org.uk Company Registration Number: 1702426
www.ncm.org.uk
tails
Board of Trustees Margaret Hunt (Chair) Joan Beck Richard Byrne Andy Carver Cllr Bob Johnson David Oldroyd Kevin Spence Maureen Sydney
Flying and rigging technician Dave Griffiths
Chef manager Matt Piggott
Sound and lighting technician Matthew Sheridan
Assistant catering managers David Aldred Josh Clamp Anthony Mclnerney
Director Kully Thiarai
Theatre manager Kevin Johnson
Business development manager Clare Clarkson Support services and office manager Kim Thomas
Charity Registration Number: 517325
Administrative assistant Julie Bennett Head of marketing and communications Graham Whitehead Marketing and communications officer Oliver Eastwood
The cafĂŠ - bar at Cast is an exciting new place to eat, drink and socialise. Serving delicious food from local suppliers as well as a wide selection of drinks including fairtrade coffees, speciality teas, wines, beers and spirits.
breakfast
lunch
tapas
Get the day off to a great start with our selection of hand-crafted dishes
Eat in or takeaway a variety of cold and hot food to satisfy all tastes and budgets
The best way to end the working day and start the evening
afternoon tea
Classic Tapas with a Yorkshire twist that compliments your favourite drink perfectly
Our breakfast range uses only the finest, locally sourced ingredients for a true taste of Yorkshire
Enjoy a selection of speciality teas, finger sandwiches, fine cakes and scones, and make it an occasion to remember
Cast, Waterdale, Doncaster, DN1 3BU Cafe - Bar at Cast is operated by Doncaster Conferences, Catering & Events; a wholly owned subsidiary of Doncaster Culture & Leisure Trust
Customer services and ticket office manager Shona McLean Ticket office assistants Ros Free Ella Hardy Jane Harris Laura Hibbert Rachel Ryan Amy Smith Lynne Walker Laura Webster Head of production and projects Stuart West Technical manager Lee Walker
Technical assistant Simon Hirst Casual technician Nathanial Penhallow
Duty managers Adam Hogarty Steph Rockley Stage door keeper Tommy Savage Presentation supervisor Sharon Cooley-Bacon Presentation assistants Stacey Baldry Ann Riley Ian Stoddart Front of house staff Jessica Brown Natalie Brown Robin Clark Bev Collins Gavin Corden Jean Firth Megan Holt Scott Kaihau Kathleen McDonald Samantha Randles Andrew Scott Hayley Shay Ada Smith Charlotte Tonkinson
Catering assistant Martin Terry Bar supervisor Linda Wilkinson Bar staff Shelia Pass Cast would like to thank the following people who have worked with us: Lindsie Broomhead, Ryan Cerenko, Laura Clark, Michael Cook, Porl Cooper, Lesa Dryburgh, Michael Hart, Simon Harper, Rachel Horne, Alan Lane, Graham Lister, Cooper Nixon, Luke Robson, Kelly Smith, Gary Sparkes, Carla Starky, Cllr Eric Tatton-Kelly None of this would be possible without the support of: Arts Council England, darts, Doncaster Culture and Leisure Trust, Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council, Doncaster Voluntary Arts Network, Slung Low, Higher Rhythm, New Stages, Right Up Our Street, The Mercers Company, The Garfield Weston Foundation
Stage manager Dave Law
castindoncaster.com CAST • The Glee Club
19
01302 303 959
castindoncaster.com @castindoncaster Cast, Waterdale, Doncaster, DN1 3BU
Right Up Our Street rightupourstreet.org.uk