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.

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!

It is the 5th of the annual murder mysteries and previous shows have accrued a packed-out following, with some being toured as far afield as Buckinghamshire and Essex.

Angela says “there are opportunities for younger members getting some experience in both lighting (operating) and props.” So anyone else interested in getting started backstage can get in touch via the website and your details will be forwarded on appropriately.

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.

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!)”

So far the STAC blog has only had good news to convey from the nationals. But the Guardian this week reported that:

William Shakespeare’s 400-year reign as the world’s primary transmitter of the English language has finally been ended — by John, Paul, George and Ringo and their album Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

An academic conference heard yesterday that the collection of songs [...] has overtaken Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet as a global cultural reference point.

Which is good news if you like the Beatles, but no so good if you like the Bard. And there’s a less ambiguous bit of news about the “now-dilapidated” Bristol Old Vic theatre, reported in the Times.

Apparently, the UK’s oldest working theatre venue:

is depending on the goodwill of individual benefactors - and has even launched a telephone hotline for public donations - to save it from permanent closure by Christmas.

The [Bristol Old Vic] theatre has a shortfall of £2m for its £7m refurbishment programme which, it is hoped, will transform it from a venue that poses potentially life-threatening health hazards, with faulty electric wiring, asbestos and inadequate disabled facilities, to a state-of-the-art auditorium.

The theatre’s decline is also reflected in waning audience numbers. [...] It has now entered into dialogue with the local arts community in a desperate attempt to tailor its future artistic programmes to modern audiences. Nick Bacon, chair of the Save Bristol Old Vic appeal, said it was not just a case of refurbishing but also a mission to win back the “hearts and minds” of audiences.

Are you a STAC member or otherwise in the Worcester area? Are you coming to Popcorn? If you are, have you asked whether friends want to join you?

Can actors, whether on stage — or during rehearsals — legally smoke in closed areas in England after the July 1st smoking ban comes into effect? The STAC blog tries to clear things up.

On May 27th the Times reported (”Danger, onstage smoking kills“) that:

Theatres in England won an exemption from the ban by arguing that smoking could be integral to the plot. However, if an inspector decides it is not essential, both the actor and the theatre company could face fines. In Grease, the moment Sandy lights up signals her teenage rebellion, while a cigarette is seen as an essential prop for the seductress, Mrs Robinson, in The Graduate.

Richard Pulford of the Society of London Theatre, said: “The exemption allows for smoking on stage where it is an artistic requirement. But it is not clear whether we have to tell the audience if there is smoking on stage.”

The article concluded with a clarification from a Department of Health spokesperson:

“There is no requirement under the law for theatres to have warning signs but it is up to the theatres to decide. There is no warning that there is a murder or rape on stage but there could be if there is a cigarette.”

However, building on this article, Monsters and Critics argued that the effect of the ban might be that patrons are encouraged to complain, and therefore:

Theaters throughout England may have to follow suit [putting up warning signs similar to strobe light warnings] for any performance in which an actor lights a cigarette.

So, you can smoke onstage but only if it is deemed “essential” to the artistic integrity of the performance; you don’t have to put up a sign; but you probably should so you can point at it in the event an audience member complains.

Rehearsals are another matter. The BBC reported in March (”Smoke ban hits actors’ rehearsals“) that:

Actors in England who want to rehearse scenes where they smoke will have to practise their puffing outside, the government has said.

On-stage smoking will be restricted to performances only from 1 July.

“It is almost impossible to expect an actor to smoke on stage unless they have been able to rehearse,” Conservative peer Earl Howe said.

But health spokeswoman Baroness Royall said: “The government’s view is that people can practise smoking outside.”

She added: “If it is for artistic purposes, they can use pretend cigarettes.”

Actors’ union Equity said it had taken its concerns about the ban to the government.

“We believe that in terms of artistic integrity, performers should be able to rehearse properly with any prop, including a cigarette,” spokesman Martin McGrath said.

Non-smokers needed to be able to get their timing right when holding cigarettes, he added.

Baroness Royall added that the government had received representations from the theatre industry.

But she said: “We believe it is necessary for people to be allowed to smoke only during the performance for artistic effect.

“We have considered it carefully, and that is the view.”

The official “Smoke-free (Exemptions and Vehicles) Regulations 2007 “, paragraph 6, reads:

Performers
6. Where the artistic integrity of a performance makes it appropriate for a person who is taking part in that performance to smoke, the part of the premises in which that person performs is not smoke-free in relation to that person during his performance.

But there is indeed no provision for rehearsals. (The explanatory note feels the need to clarify that the “exemption does not apply to other persons who are present during the performance”, but does not explicitly address rehearsals at all. Apparently one does not “perform” in a rehearsal.)

STAC’s Bob Churchill smoked a small portion of a cigar onstage during each performance of Charley’s Aunt at the Swan last October. “I definitely needed to practice in the full context of a rehearsal before going onstage,” he says. “And it would have been counter-productive to take everyone outside in order to do that. During dress rehearsals I had trouble lighting the thing, and the first drag made me cough, so I’m glad we practiced.

“Also, I was playing a Lord who dressed as an old Victorian woman who should not have been smoking; I was discovered smoking by other characters, and had to hide the cigar during their lines, keeping down a lungful of smoke which could then be judiciously exhaled when they weren’t looking. This was a relatively complicated procedure, and performing it at all — let alone with comic timing — depended on decent rehearsals. Taking everyone outside to rehearse would have been more ridiculous than spending my evenings pretending to be a Victorian gent dressed up as an old woman hankering after a cigar.”

Here is just one example of the level of detail that production design can get down to…

Characters Wayne and Scout (Bob Churchill and Becci Stait) have been collecting commentaries and reviews on their favourite Oscar-winning director, Bruce Delamitri (Chris Isaac). Bruce’s movie Ordinary Americans is a controversial but massive Hollywood hit — it even wins him an Oscar during the course of the play. So one of the magazines that Wayne and Scout have collected is a fictitious edition of Empire (right) featuring Ordinary Americans on the front cover.

Wayne and Scout have become known as the Mall Murderers, copy-cat killers supposedly inspired by “a very similar young couple” who are the anti-heroes of Ordinary Americans. In the fictitious world of Popcorn these roles are played by Edward Norton and Sienna Miller.