World Premiere for The Club Theatre“The Devil at
Midnight” recently had its first performance at The Club Theatre. Written by
Brian Clemens (author and producer of many films and TV shows, the Avengers, The
Professionals, and lately Perry Mason and Highlander II) he is patron of The
Club Theatre and offered the World Premiere of this play to them. The play is
described as a thriller with a capital “T”, the play develops darker and
more disturbing overtones as it progresses and becomes a morally searching tale
of child abuse. The author was at the final performance on the Saturday night
and at the end of the evening agreed to be interviewed by Gil Lane-Young about
the play and his career. It emerged during the
conversation that Brian had based the play on a true-life incident that took
place in the Orkneys when children were snatched from their beds and the parents
wrongly accused of abusing them – perhaps you recall the case. For any group
looking for a thriller with a difference – and the author takes very definite
views – this could be worth considering. The play is now available from Samuel
French 2 male – 2 female plus 3 voices only. Congratulations to all
concerned at The Club Theatre for taking on the challenge of being the first to
present this new play. Tudors North-West Amateur Premiere“Quartet” also
marked the 50th anniversary of Tudor Players. It could not have been
a better choice as the author Ronald Harwood had also written “The Dresser”
– a play in which the Tudors co-founder Ronald Arscott had played “Sir”
with great success. It is a delightful play and I suspect one that will not be
greatly performed because it does put great demands on the cast of 4 – as the
director warned – “do it badly and the audience will leave after the (long)
first act. This in turn puts great
demands on the director to make sure the interest of the audience is held. Well,
I confess to being biased because I was lucky enough to be one of the
“Quartet”, and judging by audience reaction we did pull it off – and they
did stay till the end as we mimed to a recording of the quartet from Rigoletto
– (see what I mean about great demands from the cast!). And the director who
pulled this together? A former Cheshire Theatre Guild adjudicator with an
obsession for suitable play intro music – no prizes for guessing his name! Get Well SoonI am sure you will all
wish ‘Bob’ Atkins a full and speedy recovery. I understand that Bob went
into hospital for a normally quite straightforward eye operation that developed
complications. Sadly mid festival Bob has had to give up adjudication for the
time being and that particular festival has had to be cancelled. A card has been
sent to Bob with good wishes from the Cheshire Theatre Guild. Homes Wanted for House Trained FursI have been offered a
fox fur cape and a fox neck fur plus 3 other fur coats of various types. If any
group can make use of any or all of these please get in touch – so few plays
call for furs to be worn – the exception being “Not Now Darling!” popular
more years ago than I care to remember – I played Arnold Crouch – but rarely
staged now. I suppose real furs are no longer politically correct. Tel 01606
832299 (day) 01606 833645 (evening). Success for Nantwich PlayersIn the West Pennine
Full Length Festival Nantwich Players were awarded “Best Production in Limited
Facilities” for “Absurd Person Singular”. The Nantwich stage is small and
an irregular shape, the winning play has 3 acts and 3 different kitchens, great
ingenuity was required to achieve this successfully. This group has been forced
to add an extra night to play runs in response to demand. Always book early for
Nantwich Players. Footprints in the SandThis was reviewed in
October 2001 Amateur Stage (page 21) and is described as a One Act play –
particularly suitable for festival performance that can “travel easily”.
Available from Samuel French 1 male 3 female. I am sure that Gerry
will soon have the dates and a venue to announce for the Cheshire Theatre Guild
2002 One Act Play Festival. Now is the time to start looking for your entry! Another Noel Coward Story(There are so many but
this was a new one to me and hopefully to you). Noel took a holiday in
Russia. In a hotel in Leningrad he turned on a tap and found to his dismay,
tadpoles streaming instead of water. He sent for the hotel manager. “In
England”, he informed him, “when we want hot water we turn on the tap marked
Hot Water, when we want cold water we turn on the tap marked Cold Water. When we
want tadpoles we turn on the tap marked Tadpoles”. Reminder We are still awaiting affiliation fees / handbook information from some groups – an early return would be appreciated. For Sale
The
Club Theatre has for sale John
R Powell |
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