Some of the action centres round an erotic Indian screen, but the production team are still looking for something ornate enough.  Lanyon says “It should have three or four ‘leaves’ - preferably plain on one side and with a carved top.”

If anyone can help with the search this would be greatly appreciated.

For this produciton, many of the cast are new or fairly new to STAC.  Angela continues:

Rehearsals are going well and it should be a load of laughs. Marcus and Verity are both new members and are fitting in well and good to work with.  Gilliam Charles is newish, he was in Memory of Water and Children’s Theatre.  Ann Lancaster is a member of Rachel le Sauvage’s Chance to Act group.

We could still do with a helping hand for the lighting.

If you’re not a STAC member and therefore don’t receive complimentary tickets, look out for an upcoming competition in the  Worcester News!

They say the most nerve-racking part of any production is the moment before you go on stage. I beg to differ; the most nerve-racking time in a production in this (very) amateur thesp’s opinion is two weeks before hand when you realise that you are the only member of a dedicated cast who is still fluffing her lines. Worse still, when you have several scenes which involve just you and one other person who is relying on you to give the correct cue in order to remember their own lines. This feeling of mounting panic alone can be enough to induce even the most confident of performers into sleeping with a copy of the script under their pillow.

Happily, this is not strictly the case in STAC’s upcoming production of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest. With director Timothy Crow at the helm, the cast have had a thoroughly enjoyable few months rehearsing for what is possibly one of the most famous plays in English literature (if you don’t count Shakespeare).

The lines, as it happens, are coming along well, as is the pace, comic-timing and often problematic blocking (made problematic by the huge amount of eating that goes on on-stage!) of this much-loved play. In fact, our biggest obstacle (or advantage, depending on how you look at it) is just that: everyone loves this play. GCSE students study it, pensioners quote it and even the most reluctant theatre-goer can usually be persuaded to sit through this beautifully written comedy. But it is this very popularity which makes it both an exciting and daunting project to undertake. For a notorious “paraphraser” like myself (i.e. someone who never gets her lines quite right but gets somewhere near enough) the thought of every audience member knowing my lines better than I do is more terrifying than a thousand Lady Bracknells.

Therefore, the accuracy of the lines is vital. An English teacher once described the play to me as “as perfect and as neat a play as any I have ever read.” She is, incidentally, coming to watch me in the play next week. So, no pressure, then. Whether any play can be described as in any way “perfect” is obviously open to debate but Importance is certainly neat, and it is only fitting that the crispness and clarity of Wilde’s writing be done justice by all those who undertake it. Indeed, who are we Paraphasers to think that we can casually erode Wilde’s genius?!

Lady Bracknell, on this occasion, has been bombastically undertaken by the insatiable Pat Hobday who has, I’m assured, been having restless nights over the notorious ‘handbag’ line and the crucial delivery of those immortal words. These nightmares are sure to have doubled when a jovial Simon Atkins (who is having a bash at the title role) regaled us during a break in rehearsals with the story of how, once, the legendary Judi Dench forgot her lines and subsequently skipped the infamous ‘handbag’ scene when playing Lady B on the West End; she later received a fretful letter from a furious audience member claiming that Dench had “ruined her Christmas”, a complaint which was mollified by a signed photo and sincere letter of apology from the great lady herself.

Now, while we do have a stack of signed photos of Pat standing-by, hopefully we will suffer no such complaints. Our lines are certainly getting there and, whether we are word-perfect or not, it promises to be a thoroughly exciting production. As the 7th of October approaches, tensions are high and pulses are racing but all in a largely pleasant way. The cast are jostling along together and have become remarkably candid and matey for ten people who barely knew each other two months ago. In fact, we’re all having far too much fun for our own good which is, after all, what am dram in all about. While it could certainly be argued that this is the most stressful time of any performance, it can also be the best part; very few things, after all, can beat good old-fashioned nervous anticipation.

Math Jones has acted extensively with STAC, and has previous directorial experience, but this the first play he has directed at the Swan.

Born in London, Math has been acting since Primary School, despite being “a shy and reclusive youngster”. His discovery of amateur theatre lead him to throw up his plans to become an architect, to abandon his Maths and Physics A-levels, and to audition for Drama Schools. Failing that, he enrolled in part-time courses in acting, singing, improv, mime, mask and drawing classes.

In South Norwood & Beckenham, South London, Jones enchanted audiences with performances in A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum, Female Transport, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, and also took up the role of Alan Strang in Equus. Elsewhere in London, he was seen in Love’s Labours Lost, The Revenger’s Tragedy, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and he even spent “a marvellous weekend” busking with mime in Covent Garden.

He did get paid for some acting work: as an Actor/Guide for the Museum of the Moving Image, improvising with the crowd and performing with the magic lantern, and you may have seen him in the opening credits for Film 90.

In Brighton, he had fun in some open-air Shakespeare: MacDuff in Macbeth, Theseus and Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (again), The Taming of the Shrew and as a daft doctor in A Comedy of Errors. In pub theatre, he appeared in No Exit and acted/directed in Peter Barnes’ double-bill Leonardo’s Last Supper/Noonday Demons.

Only relatively recently, in coming to Worcester, did the acting bug strike back. In the past few years, Math has appeared as Mick in The Caretaker, Vanya in Uncle Vanya, Charlie in On Course For Murder, Norman in The Dresser, a rock in The Hound Of The Baskervilles, Dennis in One For The Road and Toadie in Hare’s Lost Specks.

Previous directorial work includes: The Maids by Jean Genet, a staging of Shakespeare’s poem The Rape of Lucrece, and his own play, based on that poem, The Taking of Choice. Closer is his first directorship for STAC.

Math says “I am greatly enjoying directing this excellent cast through rehearsals for Closer and anticipate a moving, exciting production, if I can stop interfering.”

Closer opens next week and runs from Wednesday 12th to Saturday 15th March.

The show opens Thursday after next on Valentines Day and will be a perfect treat for a romantic night out … or perhaps to meet someone over a glass of bubbly!

The text of the article follows below.

Juicy part that Noel wrote just for himself
by Lauren Rogers

IF were you writing a play, wouldn’t you give yourself all the best lines? Noel Coward certainly did and the proof is Private Lives.

Coward’s sophisticated comedy about a divorced couple is being staged by Worcester’s Swan Theatre Amateur Company later this month.

The role of Elyot - the character originally played by Coward - is being filled by John Horton. He says: “It’s a delightful character. Because Noel Coward wrote the part for himself, Elyot has all the best lines. There are some really sparkling one-liners.”

Set in France in the late 1920s, Private Lives follows divorced couple Amanda and Elyot, who have both recently remarried and, by accident, book adjoining suites in a hotel for their honeymoons.

“They had an incredibly tempestuous marriage followed by this very acrimonious divorce,” says Mr Horton.

“It’s difficult to describe Elyot. He’s rather arrogant, supercilious, and very jealous. He and Amanda are both jealous types and that leads to these almighty rows.”

The production is being directed by Brian J Burton whose most recent shows at the Swan have included Misery and Educating Rita.

Mr Burton and his cast have been working hard to strike a balance between Coward’s highly stylised approach and a modern naturalism.

Mr Horton says: “We have to acknowledge Coward’s style. The way it is written demands it, so we’re playing very much a period piece. But at the same time we are trying to make it as naturalistic as we can. That’s really the biggest challenge.”

Written in 1930, the original production starred Coward, Gertrude Lawrence and Laurence Olivier. The show is considered a classic of modern comedic theatre.

Starring alongside Mr Horton is Julie Nunn as Amanda, Kathryn Bellamy as Sybil, Tim Watson as Victor and Pat Pickwick as Louise.

The show runs from Thursday to Saturday, February 14-23. For tickets, £5 to £9.50, call the Worcester Live box office on 01905 611427.

Sally Metcalfe, who has done a variety of work for STAC both on stage and behind the scenes, is playing Tricia Knowells in this week’s production.

How do you think the rehearsals are going?

Things are coming together at last - rehearsing 4 nights in a row this week has helped. It has been fun and the best bit has been when a rehearsal goes well with the cast all working together and reacting to each other.

Are you looking forward to performance week?

I am looking forward to the performances but I’ll be nervous too. It should be good fun giving the audience clues/red herrings and keeping them guessing.

Anything about it you’re not looking forward to?

The thing I’m perhaps looking forward to the least is the first night with the knowledge that 40 plus people are watching a few feet away but hopefully the lighting combined with my short sight and concentration on the role will mean that I don’t notice them too much.

What’s it been liking working with the cast and director? Who’s really good?

As I said it’s been great working with the cast. We get on pretty well and Angela gives credit where due.

I don’t want to pick out one individual who’s been really good as it’s been a team thing but special thanks to Rachel [le Sauvage, Assistant Director] for a bit of extra coaching.

Dig In For Murder runs nightly until Saturday with a matinee on Saturday afternoon. See the dedicated page for more details.

As well as penning various STAC productions, including many staples of the Children’s Theatre repertoire, Dig In For Murder’s writer/director Angela Lanyon also writes articles for magazines and has had work broadcast on Radio 4. She worked in professional theatre management for twenty years, including the Chichester Festival Theatre.

My last job was at the Theatre Royal in Plymouth where amongst other things I directed Out In The Midday Sun, a narrative of Noel Coward the traveller in the Studio Theatre. I also wrote and administered Theatre to Schools when I was working in Essex.

On her motivation for writing, Lanyon jokingly quotes Samuel Johnson — “No one but a fool ever wrote for anything other than money”. But she adds:

I do like to see people having a good time, a laugh and set them a puzzle. So far they have always been solved but usually only one person has come up with the right answer per performance. Will this year be different?

Dig In For Murder is showing from Tuesday 4th to Saturday 8th December at 7.30pm in the Swan Studio, with a special preview on Monday 3rd at 7.30pm, and a matinee on Saturday 8th at 2.30pm.

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.

From the Worcester News, Monday:

Holiday death of amateur dramatic’s star

A STAR of Worcestershire’s theatre scene has died suddenly while on holiday.

Liz Brownridge, aged 59, was in Algarve, Portugal, with her husband David when she suffered a heart attack on Thursday, August 16.

A member of Worcester Operatic and Dramatic Society (WODS) for 35 years, Mrs Brownridge will be remembered for her dedication to and passion for local amateur dramatics.

Bruce Wyatt, current secretary of WODS said, “She had contributed so much to maintaining the highest possible standards of performance with her enthusiasm on and off stage - there will be a huge gulf that will be impossible to fill.

“She will be sadly and greatly missed by many and our prayers and thoughts go out to David and her two step-daughters Vickie and Helen.”

Born in Hull, Yorkshire, Mrs Brownridge trained as a dancer from a young age. By the time she was 17 she had joined a local dance troupe and was involved with three operatic societies.

When she moved to Worcester in 1972 to work in the pathology laboratory of the former Royal Infirmary in Castle Street, she joined WODS, Kays Theatre Group and the Swan Theatre Amateur Company.

The article continues:

Performing quickly became a full-time hobby. As well as having a number of leading roles in WODS musical shows, Mrs Brownridge was a member of the governing committee for 20 years and honorary secretary for 12.

As a director her work included the award-winning productions of Chess in 2003, HMS Pinafore in 2005, and, more recently, The Full Monty.

In honor of her devoted service she was elected president of WODS in March this year.

Mrs Brownridge was 39-years-old when she discovered she was adopted.

Although she never met her real mother, in 1993 she traced her biological father to Scotland where she met him, her sister and half-brother for the first time.

Funeral arrangements are to be confirmed.

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.

Willy Russell — the playwright who also wrote Educating Rita, Blood Brothers and Shirley Valentine — penned One for the Road in 1979, but the humour, and the characters’ entrapment in a bland “phase two” suburban housing estate, are thoroughly recognisable in the twenty-first century.

Liz Whitehouse is directing the show in the Swan Studio. She grew up in Harrow, North West London, trained for librarianship in Birmingham, and later worked in the Gambia, stocking and organising school libraries and training staff and pupils how to run them. But even surrounded by books in the Gambia, her theatrical leanings were evident. “While there I was able to learn Scottish dancing, have my first taste of performing in operetta (Merry England), and take up theatricals again, oh! and travel around west Africa,” she says.

Whitehouse came to Worcester in 1975. Having been involved in theatricals in various forms (dance, drama, opera, musicals) on and off since the age of 3, she has now been a member of the Worcester Gilbert and Sullivan Society for thirty years. Now she has finally turned to directing.

“In recent years I have been doing a variety of activities at the Norbury Theatre in Droitwich. I have directed Trial by Jury and The Zoo plus parts of Pirates of Penzance and The Grand Duke. Alan Ayckbourn’s Confusions at the Norbury in May was the first full length prodution I have directed,” (and it was well received) “so One for the Road will be my second.”

Why One for the Road? “It is fast moving and funny, just right for light entertainment for a summer’s evening. It’s set on an 80s new housing estate (not Council) where all the houses and streets look the same and most of the inhabitants conform and join in the clubs and activities and mind-set of their neighbours. Dennis is desperately trying to avoid joining and the situation all comes to a head on the eve of his 35th birthday when friends join him and his wife to celebrate the event. The action is swift moving, amusing while evoking nostalgia for the loss of freedom and the dreams of youth.”

The cast is made up of familiar faces from the Worcestershire scene, with Math Jones (fresh from his co-starring role in STAC’s The Dresser), Amber Bluck (most recently playing for STAC as Amy in Charley’s Aunt), Alan Humphries (who figured in Whitehouse’s Confusions production earlier in the year), and Michelle Whitfield (who has previously starred in another of Willy Russell’s plays, as the eponymous Shirley Valentine).

“I have worked with them all before,” says Whitehouse, “so know what they are capable of and know that they will give us an excellent production.”

One for the Road is STAC’s offering for the Worcester Festival this year, performed in the Swan Studio next to the main building. “I have been to several productions in the Studio and have taken part in 3 of the Murder Mysteries there,” says Whitehouse. Can it can be daunting, directing and performing in such close proximity to an audience? “The space is ok and because of the closeness of the audience makes for a more intimate rapport with the performers than if we were on the main stage.

“I don’t know what [my style of production] is, it’s done by instinct and knowledge gleaned from years of involvement in theatrical activities. I am hoping to join in the [directing course run by Worcester Live] on the 8th July to gain further insight, (my cast are hoping I won’t suddenly change everything afterwards!)”