Photos from the dress are now up on the dedicated page for The Importance of Being Earnest.  The show began its run last night and is being well-received.

Many thanks to Howerd for taking them and getting them to stac-worcester.com so quickly!

Also, here’s something which didn’t find it’s way to the website so promptly…!

The Birmingham Mail anticipated our Wildean production back on September 19th, focusing on the much-talked-about “handbag” line of Lady Bracknell.  See “Patricia bags star role in Wilde classic” by John Slim.

With the caution that Charley’s Aunt was actually a 2006 production, not 2007, the text of the article follows below.

Ever-popular masterpiece set to return to city stage

CUCUMBER sandwiches, a lost handbag, and high society – it must be The Importance of Being Earnest.

Worcester-based Swan Theatre Amateur Company (STAC) will don period costume and stiff upper lips for their production of Oscar Wilde’s ever popular masterpiece.

Set in the elegant world of Mayfair and an English country manor, it follows friends John Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff as they woo loved ones while pretending to be who they are not, all under the disdainful watch of the redoubtable Lady Bracknell.

Directed by Tim Crow, who was responsible for 2007’s farce Charley’s Aunt, The Importance of Being Earnest runs at the Swan Theatre from Tuesday, October 7 to Saturday, October 11.

For tickets, priced between £5 and £9.50, call the box office number on 01905 611427 or visit worcesterlive.co.uk.

The article is online: “Sister act at the Swan”.  The Standard calls the play “powerful and funny”.

You can read more about The Memory of Water here on the play’s dedicated page, or at the Worcester Festival website’s event page.

The text of both articles follows below.

Sex can be ridiculous in controversial Swan play [Friday 25th April]

A BOLD play about sex, love and betrayal is at Worcester’s Swan Theatre next week.

The Swan Theatre Amateur Company (STAC) will stage The Blue Room from Tuesday. In Sir David Hare’s controversial play, adapted from cult film La Ronde, two actors portray 10 sexual scenes as five different couples, drawing on the idea that sex is often ridiculous.

“I think Worcester can handle it,” said actor Bob Churchill, who stars with Emily Portsmouth. “We’ve got a jazz trio accompanying the action, and the play’s funny too, in a poignant kind of way.”

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Directed by Worcester Live’s Chris Jaeger, it contains nudity, explicit sexuality and strong language. It runs until Saturday, May 3.

Tickets are available from the box office on 01905 611427.

And Chris Jaeger’s column on the production:

CENTRE STAGE [Friday 18th April]

Chris Jaeger of Worcester Live

I am directing two different plays at the moment, the Blue Room and the Taming Of The Shrew.

In some ways, they could not be more different but there are also some surprising similarities.

The Blue Room is based on a play called La Ronde which shocked European audiences in the 1920s, although actually there weren’t many audiences because it was banned for some years after its first performance! David Hare has written a modern version - it was a smash hit in the West End with Nicole Kidman in the title role. (Nicole was not available for the forthcoming Worcester version but I do have a very good alternative actress!) The play is for adults only and is controversial in that there is nudity, sex scenes and strong language.

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However, the play is a brilliant insight into human nature (seen through our attitude to sex) and in the end, it is the words in the play that are significant, not the actions.

Taming Of The Shrew is also a controversial play these days, with the apparent subjugation of a strong-willed woman by fairly strong chauvinist actions.

However, there are many ways of presenting a text, and as this was written as a comedy, I am playing it for all the laughs I can get. I am sure we will not be offending the female, or indeed the male audience.

The Shakespeare is outdoors at the Commandery in the middle two weeks of June. The Blue Room is at the Swan starting on April 29. Come on, be daring.

* Chris Jaeger is chief executive of Worcester Live.

The article refers to the linked themes of our two upcoming plays, and looks forward to “Marber’s multi-award winning play about passion and betrayal.”

The text of the article follows below.

Witty play about love and betrayal

THE Swan Theatre Amateur Company is making a habit of performing plays about sexual desire.

Next week, the group present Closer, Patrick Marber’s multi-award winning play about passion and betrayal.

The witty play - which was adapted into a film starring Clive Owen and Natalie Portman in 2004 - has been described as painful, sad and wise, sometimes course, sometimes obscene. It is known for having a resounding effect on anyone who has ever loved and lost or experienced infidelity. Set in contemporary London, it tells the story of four people who over a period of years meet and fall in, and out, of love.

Directing this production is Math Jones, who has starred in numerous STAC productions, including The Caretaker and Uncle Vanya. Math, who is making a return to directing after a 20-year break, is working with an experienced cast - Suzie Davis, Jim Ballard, Jonathan Scot, and Amber Bluck.

For tickets, priced £7.50, call the Worcester Live box office on 01905 611427.

Often dark, but shot through with knowing humour, Closer and The Blue Room stand together as complimentary twin shows for our spring season.

Closer is in final rehearsals for its run next week and is directed by Math Jones (a profile will follow on the blog momentarily).

Bob Churchill and Emily Portsmouth star in The Blue Room

Meanwhile The Blue Room features in the Worcester News today, with words from both actors in the two-person show.

The text of the article follows below.

[UPDATE: Closer made the same paper! See this subsequent post.]

Stories linked by a sexual daisy chain
By Lauren Rogers

“IT’S about sex, but it isn’t pornography.”

Worcester’s Bob Churchill, currently preparing to play a range of characters in the Swan Theatre Amateur Company’s (STAC) production of The Blue Room, is fully aware of the play’s distinctly adult themes.

“It’s about sex, or at least relationships that revolve around sex and how sometimes there can be very little love between lovers,” he said. “It is about longing. It’s about desire and deceit and fulfilment - or the lack of it - and touches on lots of important themes central to a full human life.”

The Blue Room, a modern adaptation of Arthur Shnitzler’s 1897 play La Ronde, is performed by STAC at Worcester’s Swan Theatre in April.

Directed by Worcester Live’s Chris Jaeger, it features strong language, explicit sexuality and nudity - not that it will put theatre-goers off.

Emily Portsmouth, who lives near Tenbury Wells, is making her STAC debut opposite Churchill. The 26-year-old, who admits this is her favourite play, is not concerned by nude scenes.

“I hadn’t met Chris or Bob before the audition and I was naked for the promotional shots,” she said. “But the worst is over.”

The two-hander follows 10 characters linked, to borrow Churchill’s words, by “a sort of sexual daisy chain”.

“You could be following the path of a sexually transmitted infection, although this is never made explicit,” he said.

“Each scene sort of builds through a seduction of various kinds, slides into sex and then briefly breaks. When the lights come back up we’re seeing the characters after the deed is done, usually lying around naked or pleased with themselves and so on. Sometimes it’s the first time they’ve slept together, other times it’s the end of a relationship, or the middle.”

STAC’s production of The Blue Room runs from Tuesday, April 29, to Saturday, May 3.

For tickets, priced from £5 to £9.50, call the Worcester Live box office on 01905 611427 or visit www.worcesterlive.co.uk.

The two week run opens on Valentine’s Day and runs until Saturday, February 23rd.

The text of the article follows below (or is at the Standard online).

Swan debut is set to be in Private…
Catherine Phillips
07 February 2008

A TALENTED new member will join the ranks of Swan Theatre Amateur Company as it presents Private Lives by Noel Coward from Thursday, February 14.

The popular theatre group welcomes Kathryn Bellamy into their highly experienced cast which includes a published director and a former professional actress.

Set in France in the late 1920s, Private Lives revolves around a divorced couple, Amanda and Elyot, both recently remarried to new partners, Victor and Sybil, played by Bellamy, respectively.

Having inconveniently found themselves occupying adjacent suites at the same hotel in Deauville for their honeymoons, the audience watches as the ‘private lives’ of the divorced couple draw them back together.

The result is verbal and, eventually, physical violence.

This is one of Coward’s best loved and most sophisticated comedies and is considered to be Coward’s most enduring and successful work.

Written in 1930 for himself and Gertrude Lawrence, it has been revived thousands of times all over the world.

This revival is directed by Brian J Burton whose most recent productions at the Swan Theatre have included Misery, Educating Rita, See How They Run, Joking Apart, A Doll’s House, Dancing at Lughnasa and An Inspector Calls.

Kathryn Bellamy will be joined on stage by Julie Nunne as Amanada, John Horton, who was last seen in Educating Rita, as Elyot, Tim Watson will be playing Victor and Pat Pickwick will be playing Louise.

Private Lives runs until Saturday, February 23.

Tickets cost £7 on the first night and on the monday, £9.50 other times with concesssions available.

On Valentine’s Day, people seeing the show can take advantage of a free glass of champagne or a soft drink.

To book tickets call the box office on 01905 611427.

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.

The text of the article follows below.

Ayckbourn’s Relatively Speaking at the Swan

An Alan Ayckbourn play written for ’summer holidays spoiled by the rain’ will be performed at The Swan Theatre from Tuesday, October 9.

The Swan Theatre Amateur Company will be performing Ayckbourn’s classic comedy Relatively Speaking which, according ot hte playwright, was inteded to “make people laugh when their summer holidays were spoiled by the rain and they came into the theatre to get dry.”

Ayckbourn added “This seemed to me as worthwhile a reason for writing a play as any.”

After a summer of flooding across the region The Swan Amateur Company seems believed it to be an especially worthwhile reason to perform the play here in Worcester!

Audiences can expect to dry out in front of a warm comedy, which begins when Greg mistakes his girlfriend’s ex-lover Phillip, an older man, for her father and asks Phillip for permission to marry his “daughter”.

This year is also the 40th anniversay of the play’s debut in the London West End, and it is Ann Moore’s second time directing Relatively Speaking, reviving the show for the first time since 1985.

Ann said: “Coincidentally, this is the very play which Ayckbourn chose to direct himself this September as a celebration of his work.”

She added that those who missed Ayckbourn’s revival in Scarborough this summer, would probably find no better place to see Relatively Speaking than in a theatre that is frequently threatened by flood water.

It will be performed until Saturday, October 13 with shows at 7.30pm.

Tickets, costing £7 on the first night and £9.50 thereafter with concessions £5, are available on 01905 611 427.

The text of the article follows below.

Ann promises a night of laughter

By Lauren Rogers

“WE all need laughter, we all need light relief.” It seems Ann Moore, who directs the Swan Theatre Amateur Company’s latest show, is on the same wavelength as Alan Ayckbourn, the man behind the play they are about to perform.

The STAC production of Relatively Speaking, at the Swan next month, sees Moore, a stalwart of the local theatre scene, sitting comfortably in the director’s chair.

“I joined STAC in 1970,” she says. “I’ve directed more than 30 plays altogether.”

Moore seems to have an unwavering commitment to local amateur dramatics and a genuine passion for what she calls her hobby’.

“When we do Ayckbourn we know we’re going to have fun in rehearsals,” she said.

“And that is important because, after all, we doing this as a hobby. We all work hard during the day and we all need laughter, we all need light relief and that’s what we get with him.”

The last time Moore was on stage for STAC she was playing Doris in Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads monologue A Cream Cracker Under The Settee, the role famously played by the late Thora Hird.

“I don’t do as much acting now,” she says. “It’s a bit hard to remember the lines.”

Relatively Speaking, starring Bob Churchill, Miriam Knight, Keith Thompson and Sue Hawkins, is an early Ayckbourn play, which he wrote with the simple intention of making people laugh.

“If there is anybody who doesn’t laugh,” promised Moore, “I will personally give them their money back.”

The play is about Greg, who after a whirlwind romance, wants to marry Ginny.

When Greg mistakes his girlfriend’s former lover Phillip, an older man, for her father and asks Phillip for permission to marry his daughter’, things get out of slightly out of hand.

Relatively Speaking runs from Tuesday, October 9 to Saturday, October 13. For tickets call the Worcester Live box office on 01905 611 427.