Audition Notice: A Bride In The Hand

by Site Admin on Saturday, May 24, 2008
1 comment on this post

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
Make first comment on this post

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
Make first comment on this post

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
Make first comment on this post

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
Make first comment on this post

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…)

Reviews of The Blue Room

by Site Admin on Friday, May 2, 2008
Make first comment on this post

Newspapers, Reviews, STAC productions

Both the Worcester News and the Worcester Standard have reviewed The Blue Room this week.

John Philpott writing in the former, appears to understand the themes, has his ideas about “the essential truth” of the play, and is congratulatory over Chris Jaeger’s “masterly brushstrokes” as director. But it would all be for nothing “without the right materials, and his [Jaeger's] artist’s palette must surely overflow with the talents of Emily Portsmouth and Bob Churchill”.

Catherine Phillips writing in the latter, however, is less effusive. She appreciates the “convincing” changes between different roles, but her dislike of the play itself and her opinions of the morals displayed by the characters appear to be a hang-up. She also discusses the amount of sex at the Swan (is it really so much, or does it just appear that way if sex is particularly salient to someone as they flick through the programming brochure?)

The text of both reviews follows below.

(more…)

Worcester News awaits The Blue Room

by Site Admin on Friday, May 2, 2008
Make first comment on this post

Newspapers, Publicity, STAC productions, Worcester Live

The Worcester News anticipated this week’s STAC production, The Blue Room, with another article (we covered the first here). And the show’s director Chris Jaeger, in role as Worcester Live boss, discussed the play in his Centre Stage column.

The text of both articles follows below.

(more…)

Our website has been feeling blue

by Site Admin on Friday, May 2, 2008
Make first comment on this post

Online

Huge apologies for a fortnight of malware coming from this website. This was caused by a worm which infected our files and was attempting to redirect visitors to a site which would try to install malware on your machines. I believe this has now been fixed and the content management system has also been upgraded.

We will follow this post with some catch-up news.