NEWSLETTER
OCTOBER 2000
| The Compton Players'
NEWSLETTER OCTOBER 2000 |
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Autumn, and the autumn production is now under way. Not, as we anticipated, Brimstone and Treacle, but Dead Funny by Terry Johnson which is described by Mike Long, producing, as 'an adult comedy'. Mike reiterates that it is not suitable for children although entertaining and amusing for an audience of adults. It had proved impossible to cast Brimstone and Treacle in the way Mike wanted and hence the change of plan. Rehearsals are going well and the cast are enjoying themselves.
Paul Shave has broken into radio and gives an interesting and entertaining account of his experiences. Perhaps some of you will have heard some of his broadcasts already.
Also in this issue are thoughts about repertory theatre and its decline and the likely longterm effects of that decline on acting and theatre in this country. The thoughts are taken from Exit Through the Fireplace - The Great Days of Rep by Kate Dunn, published by John Murray, 1998. All the quotes in this edition, incidentally, are from the book as well. Reading it, I realised how lucky I was to grow up in a town, Ipswich, with a high-quality repertory company putting on a play every fortnight. A repertory company which has now, regrettably, ceased to exist. Such companies promoted a love and understanding of drama and theatre.
Perhaps it is now left to amateur companies such as our own to continue the work as best we can.
Talking of theatre, I much enjoyed Old World at the Watermill Theatre at Bagnor. If this newsletter should reach you before the end of September, when the play finishes, I urge you to see it if you can. It's Russian, a two hander, a love story of two late middle-aged people set in a sanatorium. Said like that it sounds like a parody of all that one most fears about a Russian play but it is a delight. Funny, touching, serious and full of hope.
Finally, an apology. The previous newsletter was full of topygriphical errore [all corrected, of course, in the electronic version!] which most people, I imagine, would find fairly irritating. The reason was quite simple: my word-processor had packed up and I was using instead an electric typewriter with which 1 was unfamiliar and on which it was peculiarly difficult to correct any mistakes. This month the word-processor is repaired and we're back in business.
The next edition will be after the autumn production and so will be the December/Christmas edition. Any contributions will be very welcome, particularly those with a seasonal flavour - stories, jokes, crosswords, reminiscences, what you will. Thank you.
| Contributions to R Bell, 4 Howard Avenue, Grove, WANTAGE, Oxon. OX12 7PS, Tel: 01235 763469, by 24th November. |
This will be Dead Funny by Terry Johnson, an 'adult comedy' directed by Mike Long.
The Dead Comedians Society gathers to mourn the tragic loss of Benny Hill, a meeting which rapidly degenerates into a morass of sexual tensions, infidelity and schisms within the society. Eleanor, the frustrated wife of Richard, longs for a baby, her husband, Richard, isn't particularly interested. Fellow society member Nick has his own reasons for suspecting that his wife, Lisa, is somewhat less than faithful, and Brian, a founder member of the society, has his own secrets. As the evening wears on and the drink starts to take hold, the frustration and the tension boil over with hilarious results.
As you will see from the above synopsis, coupled with some fairly explicit language in the play, it's not one for children to see. If any children (under 16) do come they will be charged the adult ticket price of £4.
The cast consists of Brenda, Caroline, Scott, Nick and David McKenzie. The backstage crew is still to be assembled and it's more than possible that nearer the time Mike will need to call on various of us to help out in the construction of the set and other tasks.
Performances will be on the 9th, 10th and 11th of November. Tickets should be available from early October. Norma Smith is again running the box-office: her address is: Mrs Norma Smith, Rookery Cottage, Wallingford Road, Compton, NEWBURY, RG20 6PS, Telephone: 01635 578821.
Tracey's baby is due in early November - we all wish her well.
Congratulations to Alec and Enid on becoming grandparents for the second time - Marion had a baby boy, Perran, on 26th August. Our best wishes to all.
If you live in the wild north (ie Oxfordshire), you won't have heard of (or heard) West Berkshire's new radio station, Kick FM. Even if you live in West Berkshire, you quite likely haven't heard of it. It started about three months ago, when I was just setting up the Newbury Theatre web site, so I sent them an email asking if they'd be interesting in interviewing me about the web site. They phoned back and asked if I'd like to do a weekly two-minute slot about local theatre.
Well, you've got to say yes, haven't you? So, with some trepidation, I turned up at the studio with my script the next week to do the first recording (oh no, not live - far too scary, and anyway I'm at work when it's broadcast). I suppose I had imagined something along the lines of the BBC - commissionaire to direct you to a car parking space, receptionist to take your details and issue you with a pass, along a few corridors to makeup, then to the hospitality suite for some G&Ts, - Not quite. On the top floor of Consort Air Conditioning, I found a total staff of one man and a boy. The man was Ian Downs, the evening DJ, and the boy was Russell, who is 16 and helps out in the evenings after his day job. Of course, everything is computerised, and Russell is the computer whiz.
Into studio 2, sit in front of microphone: 3, 2, 1... Three minutes later, round the other side of the desk, Russell prepares to work his magic. An unwanted 'er' crept in? A couple of mouse clicks and it's gone. A longer gap needed? Click, click. Done.
I've loosened up a bit over the weeks, and now instead of a monologue, Downsy and I do it as a dialogue: "What have you got for us this week, Paul?" "Well Ian, ...". I was on holiday last Friday and at last got to hear it for the first time, and it sounded - well, quite good actually.
I don't get paid for it - they were quick to point this out the first time I went in - but there are some perks. I got two press tickets for Carmen at the Watermill, and in return did a review of it for the radio.
Where do I go from here? Roving reporter in the Middle East? Take over the late night DJ slot before ousting the breakfast DJ in a surprise coup? I don't think so. I know my place. I'll leave it to the professionals.
If you are within range, Kick FM is on 105.6 and 107.4, and the theatre slot is at 3:20 on Friday afternoons.
Paul Shave
The web site, at www.newburytheatre.co.uk
[you're there already!], has had a facelift and is growing bigger.
The Compton Players part has got the June and July newsletters, and now
this one too, and it's my intention to keep all the newsletters there as they come out.
Any suggestions for additions or improvements are welcome.
Email me at
Paul Shave
Repertory theatres, theatres which had a resident company presenting plays on a regular basis every week or every fortnight, began in the early part of the 20th century. Until then most theatres relied on visiting stars, sometimes supported by locally recruited actors, and on travelling companies. By the 1930s most large and many medium-sized towns had a resident repertory company and their numbers increased further after World War Two and during the 1950s. Since then, for various reasons, including lack of funding, their numbers have declined. Many professional actors, and others, regard this as a serious problem both for the theatre and for society as a whole.
I don't have a lot of hope for the future of rep, to be honest, partly because we're wildly under-subsidized and I know everybody says it and everybody is tired of hearing it. We are underfunded to a degree that is an absolute joke. It is true that British theatre is the best in the world, it produces the best actors, a lot of the best writers, a lot of the best directors and designers, to say nothing of wonderful stage management. Drama school gives them a basis which is wonderful, but if you don't have the place to start those young muscles, where are we going to be in twenty-five years' time? We're going to have a lot of young people who can say five lines on television and do bugger all else. There really is a very strong danger. |
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- Stephanie Cole |
The real problem is to do with society; community has been killed in the last eighteen years. You look at young people and they don't know how to sit in an audience, they don't attend church in the same way we were obliged to, they haven't learnt to be with a group of people. What function does the theatre serve? What psychological nerve does it come out of? What is it there for? I think it's a kind of laboratory of the spirit and the soul, where as a group of people you get together and say, "I don't think it's a good idea to kill your father and sleep with your mother, do you? I wonder what would happen if someone did that?" And something that is profound within the psyche, as one knows that particular story was, is dramatized for you as a group to share and then you can share your sense of moral identity, which is what is so tangibly missing from society now, where the only thing that matters is money. There is a connection between social dysfunction and the death of live theatre. There is a link between being purged and civilized by the collective experience. |
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- Tim Pigott-Smith |
Both extracts above are taken from Exit Through the Fireplace by Kate Dunn, pub. John Murray, 1998. ISBN 0-7195-5475/6