NEWSLETTER
September 2004
| The Compton Players'
NEWSLETTER September 2004 |
|
Village Hall works
The Autumn production
Out and about
Editorial
Email
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These, I am afraid, have still not been completed! Despite having four
Sundays booked a month in advance, only a handful of Compton Players actually
turned up.
I would like to convey my thanks to those few who not only telephoned me to let
me know which Sundays they could do but actually turned up on at least one of
them. Also, thanks to those two or three who turned, albeit unannounced, to lend
a hand on one or other of the Sundays concerned.
The Committee are very disappointed that out of a membership of 27 only 7
people, plus myself, turned up to help on more than one occasion.
Not only do we need to finish the Village Hall but the trailer and the costume
cupboard also need a good sort-out. The dates for all this to be done are:
Sunday, 19th September, and Sunday, 26th September, starting at 10.00am sharp.
We will have three teams:
1. Village Hall
2. Trailer
3. Costume cupboard
Please ring me at home 01635 866498 or mobile 07884 436216 (ansafones on both lines!) to tell me:
a. Which Sunday you can make (if any)
b. Which team you would like to be on.
Even if you can only make a couple of hours on one Sunday that is all we are
asking! The more people who can help the quicker the work will be done. After
all, we are doing this to benefit the Membership.
Please call me by 14th September.
Tracey
'Thank you for the lovely scripts. I'm sorry I was so awful. I promise that next time I won't be but I will be.'
Postcard from Frankie Howard, a notoriously temperamental performer, to David Nobbs and fellow scriptwriter.
Although rehearsals were well under way for Veronica's Room by Ira
Levin we have for various reasons found it necessary to put this play on the
back burner. It is an excellent thriller, with challenging roles for a cast of
four, and we shall keep it in mind for a future production.
Fortunately a replacement has been found and we are now rehearsing Don't
Dress for Dinner, a comedy by Marc Camoletti adapted by Robin Hawdon. I am
directing and the members of the cast are Mary Warrington, Dave Hawkins, Paul
Shave, Tracey Pearce, Helen Saxton and Phil Prior. Alec is organising set
construction and we are particularly grateful to Nick Roberts for agreeing to
stage-manage (yet again!).
We first read this play in summer 2003 and again in spring 2004. A comedy farce,
it promises to be great fun at rehearsals and for our audiences.
Performance dates are 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th of November.
Enid
The writer David Nobbs, author of The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, in an earlier phase of his career found himself with the job of writing the script for a comedy series entitled Our Young Mr Wignall. Since it had a Lancashire setting and he had no experience or knowledge of the north of England he spent some time in pubs in and around Manchester listening to local people talking. In a pub in Manchester's Oxford Street he heard the following exchange:
'I saw 'im yesterday.'
'Who?'
''Im.'
'Oh! 'im. Where?'
'Down the bottom.'
'Aye, well, he would be.'
End of conversation.
He had only been attracted to that particular pub by a comment he heard about in a neighbouring pub which was, 'If you threw a petrol bomb in that place, somebody'd drink it before it had a chance to go off.'
Your roving reporter took advantage of the fine weather recently and went to
see Boxford Masques: The Seven Stars. The Masques date back nearly 100
years and were performed by and for the residents of Boxford. The tradition was
revived a few years ago, and this was the second of the 'modern' series,
although the play was written by Charlotte Peake in 1915. This was a modern
adaptation, performed in a beautiful wooded setting in the hills above the
village, with a cast including a large number of local children, some of them
very young. This might sound like a recipe for disaster, but the kids were
brilliant; totally involved and really acting all the time. There were good
performances from the grown ups too, and the production, directed by Ade Morris,
was very impressive. You can see reviews at
www.newburytheatre.co.uk/archive/200407a.htm.
CP turned out in force for Domino Players' production of Under Milk Wood
at Lains Barn, Wantage. They ran out of programmes, so I can't give any credits
apart from Rob as the Reverend Eli Jenkins, who not only got his tongue
effortlessly around the Welsh place names but also revealed a fine singing
talent with the evening hymn - not quite in the same class as his Hole in my
Bucket duet with me in the panto, but nevertheless promising. The production was
very enjoyable with some fine performances. The 'long, thin' staging along the
length of the barn allowed several different bits of set, although this made it
difficult for the audience to see all the action at times.
Paul
We've taken the unusual step of putting our Chairman's heartfelt plea on the
front page to make sure that everyone is aware of it. August, of course, is a
difficult month for this sort of thing as it is the holiday month. Furthermore,
for those who have children or grandchildren of school age it's often the only
time when families can get together, particularly if they're scattered across
the face of the country. Even so, it's hard to believe that two thirds of the
membership couldn't find one Sunday free between the middle of July and the
middle of August. I do know from conversations that one or two people were
unaware that anything was going on - the reason why details are on the front
page this time. Tracey believes also that some members don't get around to
reading their e-mails which is why this newsletter may well be going out to
everyone by post regardless of whether or not they've elected to receive it by
e-mail. So there.
Some may feel that the work in the village hall demanded a level of technical
expertise which they lacked but most of it isn't very technical and where it is
it's done by the more technical amongst us such as Mike, Nick and H, sometimes
supported by one or two of the more knowledgeable helpers. Most of the work
remaining to be done, however, whether it's in the village hall, the trailer or
the costume cupboard, it’s fairly humdrum, and just requires a reasonably
willing pair of arms. I believe the village hall is now chiefly a question of
painting the remodelled proscenium arch.
* * *
Another change in this edition of the newsletter is that I've returned as
editor . . . just when you thought a character had left the stage and you hadn't
seen him for the best part of two acts, up he rises through the trapdoor
shedding dead spiders, mortar dust and bat-droppings as he appears ... I won't
pursue the analogy but you get the general idea. Paul could no longer find time
to do both the newsletter and the Compton Players website which he had started
and so, in the absence of anyone else, here I am. I'd like to pay tribute to
Paul for both the flair and the diligence with which he did the job of editor.
In fact, I'm still not sure how much I'll be editing this in future and how much
Paul will be; some of this edition is written by him (No, NOT the previous
sentence) and he will be the one who puts it into its final form, working his
techno-magic on the computer.
This is a shorter newsletter than usual. This isn't a permanent change under new
management but simply reflects the fact that for various reasons I've had to do
a fair bit of to-ing and fro-ing just recently and also that various bits of
this edition have had to be rewritten or discarded as the situation has altered
around us.
The next newsletter will be in October, in time to give further details and
publicity about the autumn production. I'd be grateful for any contributions
therefore by Monday, 11 October, just over four weeks before the first night.
They should be sent to me, Rob Bell. 4 Howard Avenue, Grove, WANTAGE, OX12 7PS,
Tel: 01235 763469.
The mother of the poet Danny Abse, finding no copies of her son's book in a Cardiff bookshop, exclaimed, 'But don't you know who he is? He's the Welsh Dylan Thomas.'
Quite a few of you have opted to receive your Newsletter via email. On this
occasion however, you may well be receiving it in the post as well - there are
some important dates contained in this Newsletter and information that you need
to act upon. I will be expecting a telephone call from 27 Members of the Compton
Players over the next week!
Tracey
'There were times in my career, writing for comedians, when I felt that the only difference between me and an escaped lunatic was that I hadn't escaped.'
All of the quotations in this issue were gleaned from David Nobbs' autobiography, I didn't get where I am today, published by William Heinemann, 2003.