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One Act Play Festival
The venue is Harlequins and the date June 19th and 20th Very soon you will receive details, entry forms etc. As you know we have co-opted Meg Cooper on to our committee as One Act Festival Organiser. Meg came to our last meeting in Middlewich all the way from Greater Manchester and was amazed at the lack of road lighting!! (a good thing Meg didn’t have to venture to Ashton Hayes or Byley!). Meg has a number of ideas to give the One Act Festival a more “theatrical” feel – for example the aim is that no adult group will be asked to perform to a handful of people at 5pm on a Saturday afternoon – a real death slot. I will leave it to Meg to fill you in on several other refinements she has in mind. Welcome on board Meg.
Chairperson / Secretaries Lunch
This has now become a regular date on the Cheshire Theatre Guild calendar – this year April 4th – venue The Club Theatre, Altrincham, who always make us so welcome. Our guest speaker will br Robert Meadows.
As you may know Robert has written several plays – many for Moulton Drama Group ant the topic of Robert’s talk will be “Playing With Words”. Invitation enclosed with this newsletter.
First Aid Course
The second of these courses has held recently – thank you for hosting us Harlequins. This means that 29 people now carry the “Appointed Person Certificate” valid for 3 years.
Our trainer again was Phil Barnes and his last words were I hope you never have to use the knowledge you have gained today. But even the ability to open an airway could save a life”.
It is very unlikely Cheshire Theatre Guild will run another course but if you would like to organise your own I can let you have the details of Clayton Training – the leaders in first aid training – with clients such as B & Q, Sainsburys, Home Office etc. In 3 years when the certificates expire we can investigate the possibility of a “refresher course” to renew these.
Adjudications
The cut off date will be early June and by then Danny will have broken our record for plays adjudicated. Get those requests in quickly to avoid disappointment – some weeks are already getting busy.
Weigh Those Scripts
Sometimes a script is needed by the adjudicator – sent to me to pass on or direct to Danny if time is short.
Recently I received a card from the postman asking me to arrange collection of a packet not sufficiently stamped. Apart from a car journey to the sorting office there was a handling fee of £1 plus underpaid postage of 14p. I was told at the sorting office that whereas in the past the Post Office were not too fussy about collecting the money they are now much more aggressive – not surprising in view of Royal Mail’s precarious finances. You have been warned!
Note:- Postal Rates will be going up on April 1st. The new rates will be as below.
In the Dark
The rehearsals up to the first night had gone particularly well – even the technical rehearsal had gone relatively smoothly and the final dress rehearsal (we had three with costume as there were some quick changes) went very well – we all agreed that the play now needed an audience. I was directing “Pack of Lies” for The Club Theatre. I commented to the stage manager that things were going too well – something had to go wrong – and it did. The first night went with a bit of a bang leaving the cast and audience in the dark.
Earlier that afternoon the main feeder cable blew at the local sub station in Altrincham and left the theatre without any power. When people arrived at the theatre they found front of house staff welcoming them by torchlight. While we waited for news the staff provided hot drinks in the bar (you can’t beat old fashioned gas cookers). Unfortunately the fault was a major one and could not be fixed for over two days, there fore the first performance had to be cancelled. Subsequently the next two nights were run on generators. The cast and crew agreed to an extra performance on the following Sunday – fortunately they were all available – and the majority of the audience were happy to come along a week later – others switched to alternative nights.
On the final night the entire cast and crew were given a card by Club Theatre chairman Ian Bowden “Thank you for agreeing to do the extra night. As they say the first (night) shall be the last”.
One thing this did demonstrate was just how good the emergency lighting system proved to be.
Taking Liberties
Have you ever studied the “small print” in an acting edition of a script? I am talking about “the integrity of the authors work will be preserved” – “fully protected under copyright” and in some cases “no one shall make any changes in this play for the purpose of production”.
I recently saw a touring production of a “It Runs in the Family” and one member of the cast had been written out completely! A small part – yes and I suppose it did save on the wages bill for the touring company. I wondered how the author Ray Cooney felt and I assume he had given his consent to the omission – I suspect had one of us cut out a member of cast we may well have fallen foul of that “small print” and conditions of performance . I guess it is one rule for the amateurs and another for the professionals.
A look at the Past In 1972 a book was published “The 100 Best Full Length Plays for Amateurs” - in its day this was a very handy reference book with a full apge devoted to each play—but how many of these plays are still being performed? The classics yes … When we are Married, An Inspector Calls, The Importance of Being Earnest - but how many of you have even heard of After my Fashion (drama), Mr Pim Passes By (comedy), Madame Tic Tac (thriller). Some of the plays in the book do sometimes get revive - Ladies in Retirement, Wait Until Dark, Spring and Port Wine - but sadly many of the plays have not stood the test of time for modern audiences. It is also very noticeable that in 1972 there must have been many more males available than most groups can muster today – 8 males is not unusual. How things have changed.
John R Powell Chairman |
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