Nintendo-inspired theatre

by Site Admin on Monday, August 11, 2008
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National

Here’s one we’ve unfortunately missed: a play based on the life and times of Princess Zelda and her heroic often-time rescuer, Link, both characters from the long running Zelda series on multiple Nintendo gaming platforms.

The production by the Foolhardy players, entitled Liink & Zellda (do you think the misspelling will protect them from copyright infringement? - or is that why the play is now closing? I can’t think of any other possible reason why its run is over already) updates the fairy tale, finding the troublesome twosome no longer living in domestic bliss.

Liink and Zellda do what they always do to obtain the Tryforce. She gets into trouble and loses it. And he saves her and gets it back. But, after Liink and Zellda come to blows, they part ways to decide what’s best for them – can they survive alone?

Unfortunately, Liink and Zellda closes tonight in London.

(Via BoingBoing.)

Worcester Standard anticipates “a powerful and funny play”

by Site Admin on Saturday, August 9, 2008
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Newspapers, Publicity, STAC productions, Worcester Live

This week’s Worcester Standard, out yesterday, looks forward to STAC’s Worcester Festival production, The Memory of Water by Shelagh Stephenson.

The article is online: “Sister act at the Swan”.  The Standard calls the play “powerful and funny”.

You can read more about The Memory of Water here on the play’s dedicated page, or at the Worcester Festival website’s event page.

A Humble gallery

by Site Admin on Saturday, August 9, 2008
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Online, STAC productions

The STAC website is abandoning its fancy “Flash” galleries in favour of a new, embedded thumbnail format.

(This option was made available by an upgrade to the content management system behind the scenes, and may be useful for users with lower resolutions, without Flash, or with slower connections.)

Humble Boy is the first play whose dedicated page sports a gallery in the new, simplified format, and somewhat belatedly the performance photos are now up!

Catch up!

by Site Admin on Wednesday, August 6, 2008
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STAC productions

Sincere apologies from the STAC website team, of one, for failure to keep up to date since the run-up to Humble Boy.

Their dedicated pages are not up yet, but there are two plays quickly approaching and already in rehearsals.  The Memory of Water is our Worcester Festival production, Tuesday 19th to Saturday 23rd August.  And Wilde’s famous The Importance of Being Earnest is due Tuesday 7th to Saturday 11th October.

More details coming soon.

Message from Charlotte Jones

by Site Admin on Wednesday, June 25, 2008
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STAC productions

Humble Boy has started its run. And stac-worcester.com has received a message of support from the playwright herself:

To the cast and crew of “Humble Boy”

I am delighted to see you are mounting a production of “Humble Boy” in Worcester, my home town. The play has the Midlands at its core I think. My first experiences of the theatre were at the Swan- I think “Piaf” by Pam Gems was my first ever theatrical experience. So my love for theatre started at your theatre. I hope you have a successful run with the play. My Dad- [name removed]- is coming tonight and will report back to me I’m sure! Break a leg tonight…I’ll be thinking of you,

Best Wishes,

Charlotte Jones

Audition Notice: A Bride In The Hand

by Site Admin on Saturday, May 24, 2008
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Auditions, STAC productions

Open Auditions for A Bride In The Hand
by Angela Lanyon
to be directed by Angela Lanyon
with associate director Andrew Dunkley

Auditioning Sun 8th June — 6.30pm
at the Swan Theatre, Worcester

Showing Tue 18th — Sat 22nd November 2008
at the Swan Theatre, Worcester

Evening weekday rehearsals to be arranged, plus some Sunday afternoons

Cast: 5 female, 3 male

• Vickie (26, pretty, know her own mind, determined)
• Paul (late twenties, in love with Vickie and impatient to announce their engagement. Would be good looking if he bothered to shed his slobbish image)
• Eddie (fifties, suave, a ‘Leslie Philips’ type.  Charming, agreeable. Should be on the slim side and clean shaven so as to look convincing in drag)
• Kate (mid-fifties, the bride, Vickie’s mother. Madly in love with George and apprehensive about the wedding. Smart and (mostly) self-controlled, but going to pieces in the lead up to the ceremony
• Alison (Kate’s new age friend and next door neighbour. Paul’s mother. Rather fey and a firm believer in stars and auras. Feet firmly off the ground. Always knows best.
• George (late fifties, the bridegroom. Very pukka with a stiff upper lip. Ex Foreign Office and inclined to be pompous. Has gone over board for Kate and is increasingly confused by the sequence of events)
• Betty (late fifties, old friend of Kate’s. Has been hired to do the catering and is in a frenzy to ensure it goes to plan. Feet firmly on the ground.
• Melanie (mid-twenties, friend of Vickie’s and there to help. Tries to provide an anchor when everyone else goes over the top)

All the cast need to be athletic as there is a good deal of running about, jumping over sofas, etc.

Backstage crew will also be required.

Links:

• See Who are STAC? for company information and a map to the theatre
• Google map of Bygones Antique shop, Worcester from where scripts can be borrowed
• Please make contact via the STAC website if you have any other queries

Audition Notice: The Importance of Being Earnest

by Site Admin on Saturday, May 24, 2008
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Auditions, STAC productions

Open Auditions for The Importance of Being Earnest
by Oscar Wilde
to be directed by Tim Crow

Auditioning Wed 4th June 2008 — 2.30pm
and Sun 8th June — 3.30pm
at the Swan Theatre, Worcester

Showing Tue 7th — Sat 11th October 2008
at the Swan Theatre, Worcester

Rehearsals Tuesday and Thursday evenings, Sunday afternoons July–October with a break in August for 2 or 3 weeks

Cast: 5 male, 4 female

• John Worthing (25-30, likes to appear responsible, falls for Gwendolen)
• Algernon Montcrieff (20-35, bit of a society parasite, somewhat irresponsible, falls for Cecily)
• Lady Bracknell (50+, austere, pompous, snooty, very society conscious)
• Gwendolen Fairfax (flighty, romantic young lady)
• Cecily Cardew (flightier and more romantic young lady)
• Canon Chasuble (middle to older aged vicar-type, bit of an eye for Miss Prism)
• Miss Prism (middle-aged governess to Cecily, prim and proper)
• Merriman (butler to Algernon)
• Lane (manservant at John Worthing’s country manor)

Backstage crew will also be required.

Links:

• SparkNotes plot overview of The Importance of Being Earnest
• See Who are STAC? for company information and a map to the theatre
• Google map of Bygones Antique shop, Worcester from where scripts can be borrowed
• Please make contact via the STAC website if you have any other queries

A play by a former Worcester school girl

by Site Admin on Saturday, May 24, 2008
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STAC productions

STAC are performing Humble Boy by Charlotte Jones next month.  Jones went to school in Worcester before becoming an award-winning, nationally recognised playwright.  Humble Boy is regarded as a funny, original piece of theatre, and a “seriously wonderful play” according to the Sunday Times.

The cast includes various STAC regulars and is a perfect summer-season choice.

For more information see the Humble Boy dedicated page.

Photos from the Blue Room

by Site Admin on Saturday, May 3, 2008
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STAC productions

The dedicated page for The Blue Room has been updated with performance photo gallery.

The show closes tonight.

Birmingham Mail: actors “acquit themselves with distinction”

by Site Admin on Friday, May 2, 2008
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Newspapers, Reviews, STAC productions

A third review for The Blue Room comes from the Birmingham Mail. John Slim anticipated the play early last month in the Birmingham Post, calling it a “heroic” choice. His review in the Mail shows no sign of disappointment. “Emily Portsmouth - making her first appearance with the company - and Bob Churchill acquit themselves with distinction in each of their various roles.”

The full text of the article follows below.

(more…)

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