Audition Notice: Closer

by Site Admin on Wednesday, October 31, 2007
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Auditions, STAC productions

Open Auditions for Closer
by Patrick Marber
to be directed by Math Jones

Auditioning Fri 9th November 2007 — 7.30pm
at the Swan Theatre (SAMA room), Worcester
and
Sun 11th November 2007 — 5pm
at the Swan Theatre (Sama Room), Worcester

Showing Wed 12th — Sat 15th March 2008
at the Swan Theatre Studio, Worcester

Rehearsing twice weekly (at least) from 1st week of January 2008, with some preparatory workshops in December.

Cast (2 female, 2 male):

• Alice: “a girl from the town”; very early 20’s, boyish, vulnerable, surviving as an erotic dancer
• Dan: “a man from the suburbs”; mid 30’s, an obiturist and aspiring novelist; jaded, but still in need of some ideal of love
• Larry: “a man from the city”; 30-40 plus, a dermatologist; sheltered in some ways, but with a clinical understanding of (some of) life’s realities
• Anna: “a woman from the country”; late 20′ - early 30’s; divorced, a professional photographer, wounded and looking for shelter

Backstage crew will also be required.

Synopsis: A play of love, found, lost, thrown away. Twelve scenes chronicle the love affairs, rivalries, seductions and betrayals of four characters (two men, two women), in a spare, intense style, sometimes coarse, sometimes obscene, but calling for real sensitivity and vulnerability in the acting. Contains very strong language and sexual references.

Contact Math Jones on 07772 805777 for further information, or if you wish to audition but cannot make the above dates.

Links:

• Closer on Wikipedia (and the 2004 film)
• 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

Dig In For Murder: cast list and artwork

by Site Admin on Friday, October 19, 2007
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Production, STAC productions

What better way to celebrate Christmas than to eat a merry buffet in a community atmosphere, drinking with friends, and trying to solve an intriguing puzzle — about a grizzly murder.

STAC’s fifth annual Christmas Buffet and Murder Mystery week will this year be debuting Dig In For Murder by Angela Lanyon. The play will run from Tuesday 4th to Saturday 8th December in the Swan Studio. A sumptuous buffet and a glass of wine is included in the ticket price. (There is also a preview on Monday 3rd and a matinée on the Saturday at which a lower ticket price includes a mince pie and a drink.)

Poster artwork is now linked from the play’s dedicated page and links to future production news will appear there as normal.

The cast is made up of STAC regulars with a few new faces thrown in for good measure. Julia Blois, Curtis Fulcher, Sue Imms, Sally Metcalfe and Michelle Whitfield have all trodden the boards for Swan Theatre Amateur Company productions in the past. And Dig In For Murder also features two newcomers to the Swan: Colin Potter an experienced actor from the Norbury Theatre in Droitwich, and Stuart Maggs, who has done a performance study related course at the Worcester College of Technology.

The murder mystery playwright herself, Angela Lanyon, is directing once again, with Rachel Le Sauvage as Assistant Director and Coach. Howerd Brooksbank is on sound and lights and Liz Whitehouse will be ably coordinating props and doubtless much else besides!

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The review that made it in the end

by Site Admin on Friday, October 19, 2007
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Newspapers, Online, Reviews, STAC productions

I’ve just been informed by the Worcester News that the previously mentioned review of Relatively Speaking has made it to their website in the end. (Archive copy.)

Comment: The phantom crescent strikes The Phantom Crescent

by Bob Churchill on Tuesday, October 16, 2007
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International, National

The relative liberalism to which theatre is treated in the UK is not universal. A play satirising the “hypocritical” exercise of Sharia law in Nigeria was banned last week… by a Sharia court.

A hisbah Sharia enforcement squad, accused of human rights abuses, and a particular target of Shehu Sani’s The Phantom Crescent

It is sometimes easy to forget — in a middle-class theatre in Middle Britain — that as well as providing entertainment, the theatre is a traditional organon of dissent and advocacy.

There have been some (mainly religious) highly publicised objections to some dramatic content in the UK in recent years (such as the Christian Voice-orchestrated protests against Jerry Springer The Opera, which resulted in significant loss of sponsorship and some tour dates, and the violent Sikh protests against Behzti in Birmingham, which resulted in the theatre halting the run). However there is little government control (the Tricycle Theatre was able to stage Called To Account in April this year which pointedly asked whether Tony Blair should be indicted for the Iraq War, for example).

But criticism of the ruling elites and their enforcement squads in Nigeria has landed one playwright in court, his performances outlawed and his book banned.

Selected text from allAfrica.com, “Kaduna Sharia Court Bans Book” follows below.

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“Ann Moore’s production is a delight”, “impeccably cast”

by Site Admin on Monday, October 15, 2007
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Newspapers, Reviews, STAC productions

The Birmingham Mail review of Relatively Speaking is also either not online, or is buried away somewhere on the fantastically chaotic icBirmingham website.

However John Slim’s Saturday review of the show was excellent and his reference to the show flowing “without a hint of a hiccup” can only be a testament to the hidden but steady-handed and infallible stage management of Chris Harper and Steve Willis.

The text of the review is reproduced below.

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Relatively Speaking: A “cracking play” with “talented cast”

by Site Admin on Monday, October 15, 2007
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Newspapers, Reviews, STAC productions

No online version of the Worcester News’ review of Relatively Speaking has been forthcoming. However the paper did give a glowing report of the production on Friday. The reviewer praised a “talented cast”, including Bob Churchill’s “professional performance” (Greg), a “hugely enjoyable” Keith Thompson (Philip), a “delightful characterisation” from Sue Hawkins (Sheila) and an “impressive” Miriam Knight (Ginny).

The text of the article follows below.

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The New Skell

by Site Admin on Friday, October 12, 2007
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Newspapers, Other local arts, Personal, STAC news, Worcester Live

The Standard reports on a familiar face today.

Jared Thomas joined the Swan Theatre Amateur Company last year, first playing a love-sick Jack in Charley’s Aunt (alongside Keith Thompson and Bob Churchill who are both currently playing in Relatively Speaking) and then playing the lecherous best friend in Babysitting Calvin earlier this year. He has since played one of the “rude mechanicals” in the Invitation Company’s Midsummer Night’s Dream this summer.

And now… he is the new Skell, leading Worcester Live’s ghostbusting tours for children around the city.

The Standard article can be found online: “Ghostwalk starts up for new series of fright nights”. Also see the Worcester Live Children’s Ghostwalk page.

Relatively photogenic?

by Site Admin on Thursday, October 11, 2007
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STAC productions

With much thanks due to Howerd Brooksbank — STAC’s photographer and lighting guru — the publicity stills from Relatively Speaking are now available.

See the gallery under “Performance” on the show’s dedicated page.

Relatively Speaking runs until Saturday.

The play to end a summer that was “spoiled by the rain”

by Site Admin on Wednesday, October 10, 2007
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Newspapers, Publicity, STAC productions

This is somewhat belated, but the Worcester Standard carried an article preempting Relatively Speaking last Friday. The play began last night with a good first-night audience, and runs until Saturday.

The text of the article follows below.

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New Season at the Swan!

by Site Admin on Tuesday, October 9, 2007
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Children's Theatre, Production, STAC news, STAC productions

Princess Tania and the Wicked Witch kicked off a new season of STAC plays at the Swan this weekend. The first Children’s Theatre show of the 2007-2008 run had a fun cast and a great post-summer audience, including the usual 90% of children who all miraculously have birthdays to celebrate when they are called up on stage!

Next month… it’s Jill in the Box! Anyone interested in possibly performing for Children’s Theatre can make contact through the website and your email will be passed on to the Children’s Theatre organisers.

And tonight is the debut of Alan Ayckbourn’s Relatively Speaking.

Building the set at the weekend

Another of Andy Hares’ marvellous sets is in place, and the backstage crew outnumber the cast by more than two to one, so it should all run smoothly… relatively speaking.

If you want to see what the set looks like now it’s finished — and discover just who lives at The Willows, Lower Pendon, Bucks — then buy a ticket! The box office as ever is 01905 611427 and the show runs from tonight until Saturday at 7.30pm at the Swan.

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