The Compton Players' NEWSLETTER MARCH 2001

Contents

Editorial
Next Newsletter deadline
The Spring Production - It Could Be Any One of Us
News of Members
English Language Department
Charity Begins At Home
Report from the Chairman
Who's in charge? The Gentle Art of Producing
Dave's cartoon

At last we have definite news of a Spring production. Brenda and Paul have taken on the task of producing It Could Be Any One of Us, a comedy-thriller by Alan Ayckbourn. Brenda will be the chief producer, Paul will be assisting. After some vicissitudes rehearsals are now under way and we are looking forward to the final performances at the end of April. Further information can be found below.

As was said in the previous edition, part of the problem was finding someone prepared to take on the role of producer, or director, whichever word you care to use. I've discovered since last time that, in the theatre, producer and director are the same thing: it's simply that producer is the older usage, director the newer. Perhaps you knew that - I have to confess that I didn't. The problem of finding producers/directors is likely to remain, however, for some time to come and in order to get a debate going about this, and to perhaps encourage any would-be directors to come forward, this edition sees the start of an occasional series about directing. Any contributions to future issues of the newsletter on the subject would be welcome.

The other part of the problem was simply finding enough people for the cast and backstage crew, let alone finding a director. This is a continuing problem which is shared by many other amateur drama societies at the present time. For this edition of the newsletter our Chairman has supplied a report outlining the Committee's thoughts on these matters and seeking suggestions for the future. Among the suggestions are increasing the number of social occasions, tidying-up the position of patrons, friends and subscribers and arranging for subscriptions to be paid by standing order.

A further suggestion is for the work of the committee to be more widely diffused amongst its members. At present almost everything seems to be done by the Secretary which can place an undue burden on him/her. The Chairman can be kept fairly busy as well. This seems to be a growing trend with committees in most fields of human endeavour. For whatever reasons most committees these days seem to have more to do than used to be the case and have had eventually to reorganise themselves accordingly. The days have passed when the Secretary had little more to do in the course of the year than type the minutes and write one or two letters. Robin says that any thoughts on any of the above will be welcome.

Paul has kindly produced a list of other productions in the area from off the web [for the printed version]. I met Paul, wearing his reviewer's hat, at a performance of Rose Rage, the one at the top of the list, and can thoroughly recommend it. It's the three parts of Henry VI, cut down to two parts and covering the Wars of the Roses. Blood and gore, ambition and betrayal, performed with great skill and great energy. High drama with entrails. Although it's in two parts you can of course please yourself whether you see both parts or not; each of the two parts is reasonably complete in itself but the whole thing is a continuing narrative.

Apologies, incidentally, for the late arrival of the previous newsletter. Our normally ultra-efficient distribution service broke down and there was a hiatus of some ten days or so which is best ascribed as being due to the excitement and confusion surrounding Christmas.

Finally, we have a cartoon from Dave, thrown in a bottle from the bedroom window at Mayfield Villas into the teeming floodwaters below - not really, but it's beginning to look like that in his area of Compton and in one or two others as well. Let's hope that the return of Spring brings better weather and drier roads as well as a new production.

'Theatre director: a person engaged by the management to conceal the fact that the players cannot act.'

attributed to James Agate

The Spring Production - It Could Be Any One of Us

This play is a comedy-thriller by Alan Ayckbourn. Many of the ingredients are the traditional ingredients of the thriller: country house, wrangling about a will and a rather unusual family with some rather odd members. This is Ayckbourn. however, and the mix is leavened with sharp humour and ironic comment.

Brenda is making her debut as producer, assisted by Paul. David McKenzie is making what I believe is his debut as stage manager and in the cast are Enid, Mary Mike, Nick and Rob. A welcome newcomer to the cast is Suzi Prince who is taking on the role of recalcitrant teenager Amy. In fact, it has been very heartening to have had several newcomers taking part in the preliminary play readings and first rehearsals and their help and their comments have been much appreciated. We hope that we shall see more of you.

Rehearsals will be on Tuesdays and Thursdays apart from one or two weeks. It seems that the village hall is now available to us on Tuesdays so we are reverting back to the rehearsal nights which we used to have. Set builds will start on Sunday, 8th April and the performance nights will be Thursday, Friday, Saturday, the 26th to 28th April.

Nearer the time tickets will be available as usual from Norma Smith at Rookery Cottage, Wallingford Road, Compton, Nr. Newbury, Telephone (01635) 578821 or contact any member of the company. Ticket prices for this production remain unchanged at £4 for adults, £2 for children and senior citizens.

One problem has been finding a piano, which is an essential part of the set. We think that this problem has been overcome but help may be needed in getting the thing on to the stage. There will be other calls for help as time goes on: amongst other things we would like someone who would be prepared to take over the job of liaising with advertisers. David Smith has done the job for a long time and is still prepared to help but feels that it is time for someone else to accept the responsibility. We are also looking for someone to be in charge of the front-of-house arrangements. Kate is prepared to help but, like David, feels it's time for someone else to take charge. There will probably be other tasks to do as well. Any offers of help please contact Brenda or Paul on 01635 578693 or 01635 866800 respectively.

English Language Department

The Compton Players have made yet another valuable contribution to contemporary English literature and to the ever-increasing richness of the English language. A new word has been created to distinguish precisely between the same item being used in two different contexts.

Those who saw Klondike Kalamity may remember within the brilliantly designed programme the following credit: 'Compton Players would like to thank The Closet for the loan of some items of funiture'.

The keener sighted may well utter 'r' at the omission or indeed 'ah' as an expression of awe at the accuracy and versatility of the English language.

- courtesy of David Smith

Charity Begins at Home

Lady to companion outside a certain shop in the High Street, 'My daughter isn't very pleased with the present I bought her.' Second lady: 'Why on earth not? Or,' eyeing the shop window beside her, 'did she think it was second-hand?' 'Oh no,' came the reply, 'I bought it new from Oxfam!'

also from David Smith

Since first reading this I have been told that due to some strange commercial agreement it is now possible to buy new merchandise from OXFAM, and from other charity shops as well. - Ed.

Report from the Chairman

Following the AGM last year, we have been looking at ways of increasing membership and support. The number of active (i.e. subscribing) members has tended to be somewhat fluid, and we have sometimes had to count excessively on the loyalty and support of a core membership. Furthermore there have been a number of well-intentioned attempts to introduce a scheme for friends or patrons, which again seem to have been exercised rather flexibly.

It now appears to make good sense to seek to rationalise these very necessary and worthwhile activities, while at the same time seeking to encourage the involvement of a much greater number of residents of our catchment area, either in acting, stage management, front-of-house, or in merely social involvement.

Two steps seem to be needed. First, we should actively promote ourselves, so as to increase our support base, either as Members (including Junior Members), Friends, Patrons or Sponsors. These categories would necessarily be determined by the level of financial support given. Whilst it would clearly be impossible and inappropriate to imply any positive quid pro quo to reward that support, there can obviously be reciprocal courtesies made available to our supporters.

Second, it seems sensible that regular support, such as we are seeking, should be dealt with by bank Standing Orders. This relieves our Treasurer of the chore of chasing up payments, just as it relieves our supporters of having to take any further financial action. In other words, our Treasurer will know on an annual basis that our bank account will be credited with a known amount on a known day, which will enable us all to budget more effectively. A Standing Order can of course always be cancelled or amended, so that there need be no fear of our "hooking" our supporters.

To achieve these two objectives, we are producing a "new subscriber" application form, outlining the usual details as well as the level and type of involvement envisaged, and including the Standing Order form - which there would of course be no obligation to complete. I hope this does not sound too regimental, but I believe it will all greatly assist our objective of increasing the support we receive, at all levels, whilst reducing the administrative chore of managing it.

The other point your Committee is considering is an improvement in the assignment of responsibilities. There has been a tendency to dump all administrative tasks, whatever their nature, onto our Secretary. This is both unfair and ineffective, compared with passing such problems to the person who will be dealing with them.

With these anticipated improvements, I hope we will remember that we are not running a business, but that we exist, as our Constitution reassures us, "to provide entertainment for Compton Berkshire and the surrounding district". Nothing in these suggestions is intended to detract in any way from that. On the contrary, it is my hope that with a little tightening up of these support activities, we can not only cement our current position of providers of first-class entertainment, but that we can also widen our attraction to our supporters by opening up other areas of appeal and involvement. The London theatre trip last summer, and the barbecue at the Institute were both very well-received - and attracted new members. This must be a worthwhile trend which we should encourage.

If any of our readers would like to discuss any of these points with me, I would be delighted to hear from them. Your Committee will have a full Report on these developments for the AGM this summer.

Robin Mackness Tel: 01635 578319

Who's In Charge?

The Gentle Art of Producing

Or perhaps not so gentle. Laurence Olivier on one occasion was heard to proclaim: 'I expect my actors to do exactly what 1 tell them to do and do it quickly ... Arguing about motivation and so forth is a lot of rot.' That may sound a little extreme but Olivier was simply following a style of producing which had a long tradition. The German playwright Goethe drew up a list of rules for his actors to follow and before him, Garrick, in the 18th century, would blithely cut scenes if he felt like it, or add new ones if he felt the playwright hadn't come up to scratch. It's only fair to add that Olivier said hat he wanted his actors to do what he said and do it quickly so that he could see if he had made any mistakes and could correct them immediately.

In David Garrick's day there was no producer as such. The task of directing the production would be undertaken by either the leading actor in the company, by the manager of the theatre - Garrick often combined both roles - or by the author himself. A situation not unknown in the Compton Players.

There was an alternative, more democratic, tradition which consisted of the actors deciding as a group what they would do and how they would do it, using a lot of improvisation within an agreed framework. This was the working method of the Commedia dell'Arte of 16th century Italy. It's a style which has survived to this day and can be seen in the work of directors such as Mike Leigh and Peter Brooke.

Both styles of producing, the autocratic and the democratic, have their strengths and drawbacks and it's probably true that most directors, professional or amateur, are somewhere between the two. The very autocratic style of direction can sometimes stop any creativity in the actors and can lead to a director's own unbalanced and eccentric interpretation of a play. Conversely, the democratic style can lead to a situation where nothing is decided until it's too late.

It was in this type of highly democratic, highly consultative production that Gielgud once found himself involved. Used to a more traditional form of direction Sir John became increasingly uneasy as workshop followed improvisation and improvisation
followed workshop with little sign of the production taking any shape at all. The crunch came when in the final weeks of rehearsal there was another improvisatory session in which the cast members had to imagine the most frightening thing possible and react accordingly. Each of the several actors writhed, groaned and cringed accordingly; Gielgud, when his turn came, simply walked to the front of the stage and said mournfully, 'We open on Monday.

Be that as it may it is certainly true that such a style of producing can often bring forth magnificent performances. And sometimes to the creation of a completely new play.

A final word about producing and directing. Evidently, in the theatre the two usually mean the same - although not in the world of films. The term 'producer' was used from the early 20th century onwards, When producers as opposed to actor-managers and so on first appeared. In the late 1950s in the professional theatre the word 'director' became increasingly fashionable instead. And the fashion has continued.

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Comment on any of the above is welcome - especially from experienced producers. Even if it's only cries of 'Rubbish!' Closing date for contributions to the next issue is the 1st of May, or thereabouts.

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