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OAST NOTESOAST THEATRE
TONBRIDGE June 2015
An amatuer arrangement with Nick Hern Books Registered charity no: 227035
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SATURDAY, 6th JUNE LAST DAY FOR COPY FOR
JULY OAST NOTES
Tuesday, 9th
June Members’ Evening
Meet the Directors
Saturday, 13th
June &
Sunday, 14th
June
The Hoppers' Summer Show:
"The Writer" & "Family Time"
Wednesday, 17th
June &
Sunday, 21st June
Auditions – “Seeing the Lights”
Saturday, 27th
June to
Saturday, 4th
July incl.
Play of the Month
“The Thrill of Love”
Saturday, 27th
June to
Saturday, 4th
July incl.
Annual Art Show
Sunday, 9th
August The Oast Summer Lunch
NEXT MONTH'S PLAY – “Chase Me Up Farndale Avenue, s’il vous
plait” by David McGillivray & Walter Zerlin Jnr., 25th July – 1
st August.
Ladies de la Farndale Avenue Housing Estate taking up the baton, and in a
veritable Tour de France farce present un plot unintelligible, un plethora des
portes et un grand range de characteurs pour votre delectation.
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“The Thrill Of Love” by Amanda Whittington
This play, set in London in the 1950s, is based on the short life of Ruth
Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in Britain. She was found guilty of the
cold-blooded killing of her unfaithful lover, a womanising racing driver
called David with whom she had become obsessed.
The play is not concerned with the trial. It is really about how Ruth’s
friends, long before the murder charge, had fought hard to protect her from
herself. Ruth always said one thing but did another. This contradiction
exasperated her friends but they stayed loyal to the end. There appeared to
be no safety for a woman so determined to destroy herself. Why did she
plead guilty, but offer no defence? Why did she show no remorse? “It’s
obvious when I shot him, I intended to kill him”, she is reported to have
told the prosecuting QC. The play portrays what is essentially a lost cause
but one on which her friends refused to give up. It is a modern play, first
performed in 2013. There is warmth to the exchanges: real people
working their way through life. We, the audience, want Ruth’s friends to
succeed: we know they won’t, but there is humanity in the struggle.
The play is set in a Mayfair nightclub in the 1950s. It will look and sound
like a black and white film of those times. Therefore, the set and the
costumes will be in various shades of black and white. The exception is
Ruth, who, seeing herself as a ‘one-off’, dressed as a blonde bombshell at
all times. She is a blaze of colour in a drab world; a woman totally
absorbed in living a self-generated fantasy. A tightly-written, fast-paced
play which engages and involves in equal measure.
Phil Porter
Director
The plays this season have been of an excellent standard fully deserving of
full houses. Here comes another one. So make sure of your seat by
booking early. Your have three options to do this – online at
www.oasttheatre.com – by telephone on 01732 363849 or by post using an
Advance Booking Form which can be obtained from the foyer in
the theatre.
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THE HOPPERS’ SUMMER SHOW
13th
and 14th
June 2015
Matinées only, 3pm
Two one-act comedies
The Writer by Garry R Keane
and
Family Time by Helen Spencer
All tickets are £5.00
(no discounts for members and season tickets do not apply)
from www/oasttheatre.com or 01732 363849
an amateur production by arrangement with Lazy Bee Scripts
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THE HOPPERS’ SUMMER SHOW
2 plays for the price of 1!
Saturday, 13th
June & Sunday, 14th
June at
3.00pm
“Family Time” by Garry R Keane
Marty has to spend his holiday with his Grandparents while all his
friends are off having fun. It’s the last straw for Marty and he wishes
that his life was nothing like it really is. Luckily his wish is granted by
his Godfather. We join him on an emotional journey as he learns a few
lessons in what is really important in life.
“The Writer” by Helen Spencer
A young writer settles down to write a play. He tries several genres, and
the plays collide, forcing the characters themselves to lend a hand. We
follow our novice writer as he struggles to complete at least one of the
stories he has begun in the short amount of time he has.
Phil Burns
Director
PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL TICKETS FOR THESE SHOWS ARE
£5.00 with no discounts and Season Tickets do not apply.
Make sure you get your tickets early and support our talented youngest
members. Use www.oasttheatre.com, or 01732 363849 or an Advance
Booking Form available from the theatre.
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ONE POINT OF VIEW
"The Secret Lives Of Henry and Alice" by David Tristram
It was a disappointingly thin (numerically) audience, but we
chortled/guffawed and then warmly applauded this hugely
entertaining play; it deserved a full house every night.
Usually at this point in a review I am wondering how to keep within
what I thought was the 300-word limit while giving credit by name
to as many of the cast as possible as well as thanking the Director
and those backstage and upstairs. But the last reviewer revealed
that the word limit has been lifted, so I find myself wondering how
to fill the space – for this was a most accomplished cast of only two
(Nick Smith and Yvette Walters) under the masterly direction of
Pamela Murphy; there – need I say more? Well, yes: a little!
These were huge parts to learn, delivered at a lively pace with
confidence and with the splendidly clear diction which such a
brilliant script needs. Mr & Mrs Smith, a boringly ordinary couple
in their convincingly boring ordinary sitting-room, share with us
their tetchy, short and repetitive conversations, each critical of the
boring ordinariness of the other. The bulk of the script, however,
reveals what is going on in the exciting, exotic and erotic fantasy
world which they create in their imaginations; the slick contrast
between the two worlds was represented by skilful changes of
lighting to highlight the fantaziser – and the ever-present goldfish
Orca in its bowl, witnessing both worlds. The simple set, clever
sound effects and minimal props allowed us to concentrate on the
hilariously contrasting scripts and the impressive variety of accents
in which they were delivered.
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"The Secret Lives Of Henry and Alice"contd.
Yet it was not as farcical as it may sound: Copland’s ‘Fanfare for
the Common Man’ bracketed the play, and I’m sure that many of us
common men (and women) identified in some measure with the
ordinary, common reality as well as the exciting fantasies which
each believes are private to him/herself: the realisation of this
shared truth provided a cleverly touching and thought-provoking
denouement. This was a lovely, hilarious yet intelligent evening: a
warm ‘thank you’ to all involved.
Good gracious – 360 words! But perhaps I may yet be allowed to
share with you one quotation with contemporary currency, about Mr
Smith’s revealing shorts being ‘old enough to vote’!
John Smalman-Smith
BOX OFFICE RESULTS
A total of 702 people attended “The Secret Lives of Henry and
Alice” which was 78% of capacity.
174 (25%) were Season Ticket holders, 281 (40%) being Members,
246 (35%) were Non-Members, plus 1 Associate Member.
495 people booked online, which was 71% of all bookings made.
Brian Perryman
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ANNUAL ART SHOW
The Art Group will be holding its Annual Show this year to
coincide with the production of “The Thrill of Love” from
27th June to 4
th July. Works by members of the Group will be exhibited in
the Janet Young Room and will be available to view from before the start of
the show through to the end of the interval. The actual opening times are:-
Saturdays 2.00pm to 9.30pm
Sundays 2.00pm to 6.00pm
Weekdays 7.00pm to 9.30pm
All are welcome and are invited to cast their vote in our “Favourite Picture”
competition.
For further information please contact Gordon Court at
Gordon Court
THE OAST SUMMER LUNCH High Rocks, Tunbridge Wells – Sunday 9
th August
12.00 noon for 12.45pm
Your busy Social Committee, always thinking of your pleasure and
enjoyment, have booked our Annual Summer Lunch at our favourite High
Rocks again this year. We hope lots of members and friends would like to
join us for what is always a lovely day. Details and booking form are
enclosed with this Oast Notes.
If you came to the recent Members’ Evening you will remember what an
entertaining time we had with Tom Carradine, and I’m delighted to say that
he will be our special guest and will speak, play and sing to us after lunch.
I’m also delighted to say that the price is unchanged from last year! Look
forward to hearing from you.
Valerie Armstrong
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NEW MEMBERS
Splendid news! We are continuing to attract new Members. We must
be doing something right!
The Youth Theatre have gained –
Ally Simpson and Amelia Smith
and
Emma Sutherland has renewed her subscription.
Those of more mature years who have joined us are –
Vivienne Brittain, Jacqueline Martin and Peter & Victoria Westley – all
of whom have joined as Audience Members.
Ashley & Kate Munson have renewed their subscription.
Glad to have you with us. Have fun!
100 CLUB – APRIL RESULTS
£25.00 Mr & Mrs R Adamson
£10.00 Mr & Mrs P Harvey
£10.00 M J Perry
£10.00 Mrs E Trotter
£10.00 Mr K Morgan
You can join our Fund Raiser at any time. Ring Rita Carpenter on
01732 358282. It only costs £13.00 a year and helps raise funds for
your Theatre!
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“Seeing The Lights” by Brendan Murray
Auditions: Wednesday, 17th
June at 7.30pm
Janet Young Room
Sunday, 21st June at 10.30am
Janet Young Room
Performance dates: 14th
– 21st November
Director: Marylin Apps – 01622 873010 or
This is a brand new comedy, commissioned in 2014 by The Theatre
by the Lake in Keswick. Brendan Murray’s emotionally engaging
and witty drama is an astute portrait of the duality of family ties –
simultaneously a lifeline and a snare. Mum’s 80th birthday
approaches and all she wants is a nostalgic family trip to Blackpool.
Her longing to ‘see the lights’ is both real and metaphorical. A
small kitchen and a cluttered sitting-room with an old-fashioned
television at the foot of a bed: these are the limits of Mum’s
physical existence now she can no longer climb the stairs.
Infirmities of age tether her body, yet her mind remains agile. Her
middle-aged son, Terry, is a nurse. Caring for his mother restricts
his existence to hospital, home and supermarket. Daughter Marion
(Muna) and her husband Nasir come to stay for Mum’s birthday and
sparks fly as sibling rivalry and simmering resentments surface over
the proposed trip to Blackpool.
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“Seeing The Lights” contd.
CAST
Mum (80) - Feisty but forgetful. Cheats at
Scrabble! Likes singing and dancing.
Terry (her son) (53) - Long suffering, Sarcastic. Funny.
In denial.
Marion (Muna) (48) - A convert to Islam. Sharp tongued.
(her daughter)
Nasir (45) - Of Middle Eastern or Indian
(Muna’s husband) appearance. A lovely, lovely man!
Ray (Terry’s friend) (45) - An electrician. Married. Fond of
Mum. Fond of Terry.
The play is set in the North-West of England and requires regional
accents.
For further information or a copy of the script please contact the
Director – scripts will initially be available in the form of email as
published scripts are not yet available. Remember back-stage and
technicians are needed as well as actors – all rather exciting to be a
part of a brand new production.
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NEXT SEASON
We are pleased to be able to announce details of the programme for
our next (2015/2016) Season. The Drama Sub-Committee have
worked hard once again and we hope you will find this an
interesting and enjoyable Season.
We have taken on board the situation that more popular plays are
often sold out and potential audiences are unable to get seats.
Similarly some plays have significance being those on schools
curricula and therefore may well attract a number of students. You
will see, therefore, that extra performances have been added to some
productions. We are also pleased to be able to announce full details
of the Youth Theatre programme in advance.
Sep 18th
– 22nd
and then 24th
– 26th
(8 performances) – the Youth
Theatre will present “Mort” by Terry Pratchett
Oct 17th
– 24th
– “For Services Rendered” by W Somerset Maugham
Nov 14th
– 21st – “Seeing the Lights” by Brendan Murray – (This is a
new play which came to the attention of our New Writers group.)
Dec 11th
– 19th
– (10 performances, two Fridays and a matinée on the
last Saturday.) - “The Wind in the Willows” adapted by Alan Bennett
from the novel by Kenneth Graham. (A combined Hoppers,Youth and
Adult production).
2016
Jan 6th
– 9th
– A Murder Mystery evening.
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NEXT SEASON contd.
Jan 23rd
– 30th
– “Arms and the Man” by George Bernard Shaw
Feb 20th
– 27th
– “Blood Money” by The Heather Brothers
Mar 12th
– 19th
– (9 performances with a matinee on 19th
.) “All My
Sons” by Arthur Miller – (Schools’ curriculum)
Mar 31st – Apr 2
nd – The Youth Theatre – “Pronoun” by Evan Placey
Apr 22nd
– 30th
– (9 performances, two Fridays) – “Absurd Person
Singular” by Alan Ayckbourn
May 15th
– 21st – “Kindertransport” by Diane Samuels
Jun 4th
& 5th
– The Hoppers’ Summer Show
Jun 25th
– Jul 2nd
– “Moonlight & Magnolias” by Ron Hutchinson
Jul 23rd
– 30th
– “Funny Money” by Ray Cooney
A very full and varied programme for your diaries. Please try to support
them all and BOOK EARLY.
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MEET THE DIRECTORS! For our next great season
Our next Members’ Evening
Tuesday, 9th
June – 7.30pm for 8.00pm
Come and join us in the Bar and hear about the plays selected by the
Drama Sub Committee for the season 2015/16. There is a very
mixed bag including some you may not have heard of – but
PLEASE don’t let that stop you auditioning or, indeed, coming to
see them. This is always a very popular and interesting evening.
We have been very lucky this current season and have not had to
change a selected play – it was touch and go at one point, but we
made it!
So come and listen to what the Directors have to say!
This is a must for actors to discover the variety of parts
available – gentlemen please step forward – we do not want to
cancel a play for lack of male actors.
Our Oast Youth Theatre always do interesting and exciting
plays, and this coming year is no exception.
We’re doing a Murder Mystery next season – always great fun.
We are again doing a combined Hoppers, Youth, and Adult
production for December.
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MEET THE DIRECTORS contd.
We need you! Come forward if you are interested in being
part of the important backstage team, or working on wardrobe,
props, lighting or sound design.
As an Audience member, hear about what you have to look
forward to.
As usual, backstage tours will be available and the bar and coffee
bar will be open. Please come at 7.30pm if you would like a tour.
Look forward to seeing you there – it’s your Oast Theatre!
Sandra Barfield
Jo Pierce
“MACK & MABEL”
I was overwhelmed by your response to this outing. So much so
that all tickets were sold by 11.30am on 4th May. So sorry to
disappoint those of you who ‘phoned me after this.
Carol Wickham
16
THIS IS HOW IT STARTED The following is an edited extract of a letter received from
Rena Pope, founder of the Youth Theatre:
“I asked permission to start a children’s theatre when we were still at The
Mitre in Hadlow Road. It was 1972 and the Oast was being purchased for
the Club, hence the name ‘Young Hoppers’. The idea was to open entry to
all young people from 8-16 in Tonbridge. Previously children needed in
productions were drawn from members’ children. There were occasional
plays for these children but nothing regular. The idea to start the Young
Hoppers was met with some resistance. My plan to give membership for 50p
a year did not go down well, but eventually the idea was accepted and went
ahead.
The first production was at The Mitre, “Peter Pan”, and my Pyrenean
Mountain dog ‘Belle’ played Nana and the famous line “Can’t get the bloody
dog off” was hissed into the wings by an angel-faced ‘Wendy’. Belle went
on to play in the Son et Lumiere produced by the late Jean McConnell, and
was also Moonshine’s dog in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”.
It was in ‘Peter Pan’ that three talented children and their ballet dancer
mother joined the company, they were the Frais family. Doone, who had
danced in a French ballet company and in the London West End, quickly
became a wonderful support and right-hand woman.
Our second production was “Snow White”. The first production at The Oast
was “The Wizard of Oz” with a very large cast. They had allocated places on
the off stage stairs when not performing.
I felt that mixing young members and adults was important and my
production of “A day in the Death of Jo Egg” saw one of our older girls
playing the difficult role of the girl in the wheel chair. She was superb and
the play was sold out every night. We also did “Children in Uniform”, an all
female, sombre and thoughtful play. Older girls played the schoolgirls, with
Jacquetta May as the lead and Janet Young as the young mistress. It was an
austere set, the girls in grey, the staff in black and the set dominated
by a symbolic grandfather clock. All women casts can be so
dramatically powerful.
17
THIS IS HOW IT STARTED contd.
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” was again a mixture of
adults and Young Hoppers. Puck was a 12 year old
Jonathan Frais, played with freshness and vitality.
Titania was Jacquetta May and the fairies all Hoppers. The ‘mossy
bank’ never lost its old mattress odour, despite the efforts of the adult
scenery makers!
Young Hoppers also did outside productions when asked. One was at
St. Saviour’s Church. The vicar asked for something suitable for an
afternoon function and we did the story of Rahere. Rahere was a juggler
with nothing to give God but his talent. He founded St Bartholomew’s
Hospital and there is a stained glass window to him there. The Young
Hoppers danced up the aisle juggling and singing, very colourful and
energetic. They then told the story of Rahere to a background tape lent
by a friend of mine in BBC religious broadcasting. They were then
invited to play at Groombridge Place, a perfect setting.
Many years have passed since the beginning of the Young Hoppers.
Doone taught dancing and I dealt with acting, but we taught stagecraft
by doing it, rather than in classes. Many children had never been on a
stage before but learned confidence and the pleasure of working
together. The young people were taken on to achieve more and more by
those who came after and congratulations to all of them.
What of the original Young Hoppers, what has become of them? The
ones I do know about are:-
Jonathan Frais, one time vicar of Kiev, now rector of a Sussex parish.
Lorna Frais, with her husband, works in Turkey for People International.
David Frais runs a business, still with a screwdriver in hand!
Jacquetta May is an actress on TV and stage and also a writer.
It would be lovely to hear what happened to those other founder
members who were the Overture and Beginners of the Young Hoppers
in 1972.
Rena Pope
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AND THIS IS HOW IT GOES ON...
OAST YOUTH THEATRE
IMPORTANT – DATE CHANGE “Mort” audition (September production)
The audition date for “Mort” has been changed from May to Tuesday,
16th
June to accommodate those taking exams.
Performances will be on 18th
to 26th
September (with a break of a day in
the middle). If you would like a script in advance, please let me know.
If you can’t do all of the nights, please also let me know as we may do
some ‘doubling up’.
Sorry for the confusion.
“BURN/ “THE GATE ESCAPE”
Well done to all of those involved in our May production! Two very
different plays came together wonderfully well through your hard work
and dedication, and under the tireless commitment of Sandra. You
should all be very proud.
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WORKSHOPS
7.30pm – 10.00pm in the Barn
Thursday, 11th
June
Thursday, 25th
June
NEW MEMBERS
If you know of anyone who would like to join our group (particularly
boys), please get them to contact me using the details below. Do not get
them to just turn up without asking me.
EXAMS
Good luck to all of you who are taking exams, an experience I have
thankfully grown out of!
Jason
07812061753
Tonbridge Theatre & Arts Club Registered Charity No. 227035
www.oasttheatre.com
Officers
Chairman LAURA COLLINS 01892 750131 [email protected]
Honorary Treasurer DAVID KEITH 01732 458876 [email protected] Honorary Secretary ELIZABETH PORTLOCK 01732 300551 [email protected] Membership Secretary ANDY WHEELER 01732 832314 Cherry Trees, 38 Stocks Green Road, Hildenborough TN11 9AD Youth Theatre JASON LOWER 07812061753 [email protected] Premises Manager PHIL PORTER 01732 835460 Hirings and Rehearsal Bookings LYN PORTER 01732 835460 Publicity MAGGIE HOILES 01622 813573 Editor ANNIE YOUNG 01732 352084 [email protected]
Copy to 18 Hildenfields, London Road, Tonbridge TN10 3DQ or by email to above address.
Box Office: (01732) 363849
LONDON ROAD TONBRIDGE KENT TN10 3AN TEL: (01732) 350261
OAST THEATRE
TONBRIDGE
THE OAST THEATRETonbridge Theatre & Arts Club
