Following the letter sent out last month (the “technicolour” one – how did we manage without green/yellow and pink highlighting pens?)

You should now have received the leaflet “A Stage Further” and details of these workshops financed by most local authorities and in partnership with Cheshire Theatre Guild and NODA.

All have limited spaces and I said last month that I would like these filled by Cheshire Theatre Guild Members – don’t let me down! If you have NOT received the leaflet let me know without delay – these were sent out from Warrington and not by Cheshire Theatre Guild.

July 8^th and 9^th may seem a long way ahead – these are the dates for the “lighting the stage” and “sounding out the stage” workshops – both at the Lyceum Theatre Crewe. £10 for the day or £15 if you book the two at the same time.

GET IN EARLY _ Places are limited to only 15 for each day.

Our adjudicator Evette Harper is doing a superb job for us but sadly two groups have not been able to have adjudications – there were just not enough days in the week to fit them all in the same week. The week was the one commencing Monday March 7^th a very busy week for Evette so if your adjudication takes a little time to arrive bear with the adjudicator – each one of these takes up to 6 hours to write – so delays are inevitable at times. If you have any adjudication requests for the rest of the season get them in NOW please.

This will be the theme of the talk to be given by Cheshire Theatre Guild Treasurere Margaret Boschi on Sunday April 9^th at our Chairpersons / Secretaries lunch. This year we will meet at Chester Little Theatre. Chester are keen to host us and I am sure a full tour of the Chester facilities will be available.

Your invitation is with this newsletter – as usual, if your Chairperson or Secretary are unable to come along do send a representative of your group.

Chester Little Theatre is situated in Gloucester Street – not far from the Northgate arena, there is no need to drive into the city centre. A map can be supplied if required. For those of you who let “Mapquest” and similar web sites do the work the post code for your destination is CH1 3HR.

This group recently joined the Cheshire Theatre Guild and have already met other members when they came along to the “Directing for the Terrified” course. Tarporley is a large village situated between Nantwich and Chester.

Please go along and see “An Inspector Calls” on March 23^rd, 24^th and 25^th and introduce yourself! For liquid refreshment pre show or a meal try the Swan or The Rising Sun in Tarporley main street.

Now let Tarporley ADS tell you about themselves-

Tarporley Amateur Dramatic Society was founded in 1920 and has performed the full range of entertainment for the local community from drama to pantomime! It has had, as all societies have, its ups and downs particularly having a low time in the mid 60’s to late 70’s. However, since 1980 the Society has maintained 30 to 40 members.

Two productions a year are played in March and November running 3 nights Thursday to Saturday. The society is based at Tarporley Community Centre in the High Street where performances take place. The seating capacity is 120 per night with free and plentiful car parking along with good disabled access. A bar and hot drinks are available at each production which all start at 7.45 pm.

We use a High Street box office at Swaffields card shop as well as the Secretary’s home number for tickets. Seating can be booked in advance for over 8 persons.

Contact is the Secretary Beryl Kenney on 01829 732646.
We have a web site www.tarporleyads.co.uk

Sadly yet two more Cheshire Theatre Guild groups have been refused performing rights. In one case this left insufficient time to find a replacement play.

This is not the first time this has happened but I hope the last. ENSURE A PLAY IS AVAILABLE FOR AMATEUR PERFORMANCE BEFORE REHEARSALS START.

The Club Theatre
As an echo of the previous point, the Club Theatre youth group started rehearsals for Under Milk Wood last October, having first checked with Samuel French, the copyright holders, that the play was clear for production. In early January when the royalties were paid they were informed that the play had been placed on restriction. They have been granted permission to perform it because they did originally enquire last July. It appears until you pay the royalties your production could still be stopped.

Impact Theatre
I am delighted that this “homeless” group are presenting two evenings of “Talking Heads” on March 11^th and 18^th. I understand these will be charity events at Comberbach and Tilston (Malpas).

Sale Nomads
From March 7^th to 11^th you will be able to see former Cheshire Theatre Guild adjudicator Garth Jones on stage in “The Sunshine Boys” along with Cheshire Theatre Guild committee member Gerry Card. We all know that Gaert loves performing as his AGM presentations have demonstrated – good luck Garth (and Gerry of course!).

Chester Little Theatre
Some groups always fill the theatre with ease and Chester are one of the fortunate few. This is the 60^th anniversary year for the group, and perhaps some of you may like to think about one way of getting full houses that works for them. This is simply the facility to book tickets for the next production during the run of the current show – why not give it a try?

Nantwich Players
This is another group that consistently gets full houses. During the current production posters for the next production are on display in the theatre. For “Hobson’s Choice” there was a crowd of people waiting for the Information Centre to open on the first day of ticket sales. Ten days before the play opened there was not a single seat unsold and a “waiting list” for returns. As a result an extra matinee took place – also a sell out – a total of 8 full houses.

Macclesfield ADS
A glossy 10 page 8” by 4” brochure (sorry no centimetre conversion!) is the way MADS are using to get new members. With sections on “what do you fancy doing?” – colour photographs of previous productions – a section on lighting / sound and backstage work and an application form for membership. A most impressive effort by MADS.

With the season over –oh yes it is! – you might like to know the 10 most popular panto’s (Pofessional) this year.

This is Sir Ian McKellen put on his frock for the second time as Widow Twankey. We also had Simon Callow, Richard Wilson, Richard O’Brien, John Barrowman, Patsy Kensit and Susan Hampshire giving us the rhyming couplets. I read some less than complimentary remarks about certain of these ventures into panto land. Give me Les Dawson and Roy Barraclough - and others of that ilk – they certainly knew how to play panto – and in the case of Les and Roy there is nothing like the dames they played.

These continue at the Library Theatre Manchester – to book ring 0161 236 7110.

The next two are:

14^th March 1045 to 3.30 Mask Work with Louise Clarke

24^th April 10.45 to 3.30 Jodie Lamb will look at 20^th century American playwrights from an actor’s perspective. How are these classic pieces to be approached.

The AGM / Awards evening will be on Wednesday July 5^th at Frodsham Community Centre.

And Finally

1. The Number of lines in Hamlet 1,422
    The Number of words in Hamlet 11,610

2. It was a good week (21^st January 2006) for the Globe Theatre London which revealed that it had made a £1.5 million profit every year since it opened a decade ago and a small tourist attraction at best, the replica of Shakespears Elizabethan theatre has filled 85% of its 1500 places every year – without a penny of public subsidy.