Casting Notice: Princess Tania and the Wicked Witch

by Site Admin on Tuesday, July 31, 2007
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Auditions, Children's Theatre, STAC productions

Casting for Princess Tania and the Wicked Witch
by Augustus Swann
to be directed by Andrew Dunkley

Showing 6th October 2007 — two morning performances
at the Swan Theatre, Worcester

To enquire or audition please contact STAC through the website and your email will be forwarded to the director.

Links:

• Worcester Live event page

One for the Websites

by Site Admin on Thursday, July 26, 2007
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Online, Publicity, STAC productions, Worcester Live

STAC’s upcoming Festival production, One for the Road, has — after a bit of a late start — made it onto the Worcester Live website. The Worcester Live website was overhauled recently, and very nice it looks too.

At the same time, One for the Road has appeared on the Worcester Festival site (which has a page per performance of each show, for some reason).

Worcester-under-Severn II

by Site Admin on Saturday, July 21, 2007
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Other local arts, Worcester Live

The floods last month were nothing really, were they?

This is the Swan today, a view from the raised balcony round the back, and from the bar across the race course:

The main bridge across the Severn is closed, as is Castle Street. But the theatre is still accessible and dry (though the car park is under water). And the show must go on! The Worcester College of Technology production of We Will Rock You is still scheduled (last we heard) to run this afternoon and this evening.

(More photos here.)

Theatre and film star, McKellen, attacks Singaporean anti-gay law

by Site Admin on Friday, July 20, 2007
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Celebrity, National, Newspapers

Currently on tour in Singapore with the RSC’s King Lear, the popular actor Ian McKellen, also widely respected for his forthright stance to upholding gay rights, has blasted the host country for its laws which outlaw gay sex — an “offence” of “gross indecency” which carries no less than a potential ten year prison sentence. The criticisms are said to have stung Singaporean authorities trying to improve the image of the country.

McKellen has become something of a poster boy for British theatre. He perhaps entered the true mainstream with a Best Actor Academy Award nomination for his role in the acclaimed Gods and Monsters, and has since starred as Gandalf in the global success Lord of the Rings trilogy, before triumphantly returning to the theatre.

The text of the Independent article follows below.

(more…)

Huge cash injection from Council to the Swan Theatre

by Site Admin on Friday, July 20, 2007
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Newspapers, Worcester Live

In the week that audiences are sweating through an otherwise very well-executed Worcester College production of Ben Elton’s Queen musical We Will Rock You, news broke yesterday of a massive donation from the council toward the long-term upkeep and improvement of the Swan Theatre building, the home of STAC.

The leader of the council hailed the £650,000 injection as “a significant announcement we are making, and residents can be assured the council is 100 per cent committed to the theatre.”

And Worcester Live director Chris Jaeger said “What we’ve got here is a massive vote of confidence from the city council. [...] It’s wonderful news and means Worcester will continue to have a major venue for performing arts, which is a vital element of the city’s cultural life.”

The donation is ten times the estimated target of the long-running air conditioning campaign, which is already half way through anyway. So there is a large excess, some of which will presumably be spent on upcoming roof work, but even that far from exhausts the sum, which will (by the sounds of things) be used to support the building itself for many years to come. (The cost of a demolition during darker times had been estimated at £400,000 — so even in purely economic terms the Council probably know what they’re doing!)

The text of the Worcester News article follows below.

(more…)

Audition Notice: Relatively Speaking

by Site Admin on Saturday, July 14, 2007
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Auditions, STAC productions

Auditions for Relatively Speaking
by Alan Ayckbourn
to be directed by Ann Moore

Auditioning 8th August 2007 — 7.30pm
at the Swan Theatre, Worcester

Showing 9th — 13th October 2007
at the Swan Theatre, Worcester

Cast:

Greg (20s or 30s)
Ginny (20s or 30s, in a couple with Greg)
Philip (old enough to be mistaken for Ginny’s father)
Sheila (in a couple with Philip)

Backstage crew may also be required

Links:

• AlanAyckbourn.net for a synopsis
• Dedicated page for more information and future updates
• See Who are STAC? for company information and a map to the theatre

Elf/pirate to “do some theatre”

by Site Admin on Wednesday, July 11, 2007
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Celebrity, International, National, Newspapers

Former Lord of the Rings elf and Pirates of the Caribbean pirate, British actor Orlando Bloom, will debut in In Celebration at the Duke of York’s Theatre tomorrow. It is Bloom’s first ever major theatrical role, he is widely criticized for being bland and unable to act, and he had never heard of playwright and author David Storey before… though perhaps more surprising is that Storey had never heard of Bloom (”No, I’m afraid I hadn’t heard of Orlando”).

Orlando Bloom is interviewed by cultural guru Mark Lawson in the Guardian today.

Deciding that he “really needed to do some theatre because I was feeling a bit thin”, [Bloom] was offered the part of Steven, the quietest of the three brothers in In Celebration, but initially said no. “I was, like, ‘You want me to play Steven? Why? He doesn’t say much, does he?’ I just didn’t get it.” He asked for the showier role, Andrew, but realised the character was too old, and was persuaded that Steven was a good entry into theatre. He believes now that the modesty of the role is an advantage. “I saw the potential for a great ensemble play. I was very conscious of not wanting a star vehicle. I wanted to crack this perception of, ‘Oh, it’s Orl …’” His own name trips him up, as if he’s wary of becoming one of those performers who refer to themselves with ease in the third person. “You know, that it’s ‘Orlando Bloom.’” He completes the name, but with exaggerated distance, as if it were a fictional character “doing some theatre”.

(more…)

STAC to perform Ayckbourn classic

by Site Admin on Tuesday, July 10, 2007
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STAC productions

The first time Relatively Speaking was directed by the playwright himself, Alan Ayckbourn, it was for an amateur group (at Leeds Art Theatre). This year also happens to be the 40th anniversary of the play’s first performance in the West End, in 1967. So it is especially appropriate that the Swan Theatre Amateur Company will be performing the two act play this coming October, to be directed by STAC regular Ann Moore.

Ayckbourn has been artistic director at Scarborough’s Stephen Joseph Theatre for 37 years and is stepping down next summer to focus on directing his revivals and his new plays. He is directing his own anniversary revival of Relatively Speaking this summer, so hopefully the STAC production will be an excellent alternative for anyone who can’t make it up to Scarborough!

Stay tuned to stac-worcester.com for audition notices.

New arts minister has “no magic wand”

by Site Admin on Friday, July 6, 2007
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National

Our new secretary of state for culture is reviewed in the Guardian today. They give a generally positive assessment of a “well-liked” artistically-minded man, who has made art and culture a priority over “sport, gambling, and broadcasting” (also in his remit), wants to drop “targets” and change the debate about “access”. However the Guardian notes that:

Nonetheless, what everyone really wants to hear from the 37-year-old is reassurance that the arts will not suffer cutbacks in the next spending round, as a result of what looks to be a tough comprehensive spending review this autumn. There is particular gloom after Tessa Jowell, the outgoing secretary of state, “raided” the arts and heritage lotteries to make good the Olympics budgetary shortfall.

But he gave no comfort. “I don’t have a magic wand. It’s going to be a tough spending round. The only magic that is there is the magic of the sectors themselves,” he said. The case for funding, he added, would be strongly made, tapping into Gordon Brown’s rhetoric about national identity.

The full article is here: “Overthrow the tyranny of targets: Minister’s message for the arts”.

Chris Isaac asks the big questions

by Site Admin on Wednesday, July 4, 2007
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Personal, STAC news

Chris Isaac, who played Bruce Delamitri in last week’s Popcorn, has written to the STAC blog in an attempt to raise some debate. Since it’s everyone’s company, his questions are reproduced below. Please feel free to leave comments on this entry in response.

Chris writes:

I would ask all theatre-goers, membership and those who are curious about the S.T.A.C.and what it does to write here.

What you would like to see performed?

What you want from theatre in the 21st century?

Do you think you would like to take part, acting, lighting, props making, scenery, stage-management etc, etc?

Do you think that theatre is too stuck up?

Is it relevant to your every day life?

Do you just want to be entertained or are you up for something more demanding?

Please tell us (STAC). We are your local theatre company and we are here for you, the community.

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