October 2008
CHAIRMAN’S REPORT Hello again everyone! Talking of workshops, the WOT committee Well that was summer!! If we blinked we have decided to only have 2/3 workshops would have missed it. Although to be fair we next year as we have had, overall, a poor have had 2 lovely weekends recently. response this year. (The Shakespeare was Firstly I would like to welcome 3 new Groups the exception.) We shall be concentrating on to ODN. The Standlake Players, The Acting techniques and maybe a dance Cumnor Players and Springline Productions. workshop. We have looked at the workshops I hope they enjoy being part of what we have over the last few years and chosen the to offer at ODN and look forward to seeing months of the year where we had the how they are getting on. greatest response, hoping that will up the Well, the Panto season is upon us again and numbers for us. We have approached a I do hope lots of groups are going to join in Drama Adjudicator from GoDA and John with this rewarding activity. Don’t forget we Nicholson of the professional Theatre have the Panto competition forms on the Company, Peepolykus, to help us next year. website. See you all there…oh yes you will! Here’s hoping we can find something which I have just been to a fabulous workshop with lots of you will want to participate in. Rob Clare, at the Unicorn Theatre. What a Please do not forget to let us know about great day and it was full too…we even had a your shows and if any of your ODN contacts waiting list. I am hoping that one of the or Treasurers have changed in the last few participants will write a review in either this or months? I hope to see many of you over the the next Newsletter. It was so compelling I next few months at Pantomimes, bye for wanted to rush out and Direct a now. Shakespeare. Susi
REVIEWS Editor’s Note: There are unfortunately no reviews of any productions this month – always the same after the summer break. I do hope everyone had a good holiday, and has come back bursting with new ideas for Theatre in Oxfordshire.
It is always good to receive a review from ODN, and I am sure we all appreciate the time and effort involved in coming to see Productions and writing reviews afterwards. If anyone else would like to join the Review Panel (and get free tickets to shows!!!), please contact Susi Dalton (details on the back page). All our Reviews represent a personal opinion, and not the opinion of the ODN Committee in general.
1 ODN website: http://www.oxfordshiredramanetwork.org
Oxford Theatre Guild invite you to look out Productions & Events Quick View for details of Oxford Theatre Guild auditions in All entries in this section are repeated in December for The Crucible by Arthur Miller, more detail elsewhere in this Newsletter Oxford Theatre Guild's Spring Production at the Oxford OCTOBER Playhouse. Audition dates and venue to be confirmed. 9-11 WADS For further details go to www.oxfordtheatreguild.com Bad Fortune 14 Banbury Cross Players New Season Preview Evening Chinnor Musical Theatre are looking a 15 - 18 Sinodun Players The Way of the World potential director for their forthcoming production of 22 - 25 Oxford Theatre Guild "Anything Goes" in April next year. If anyone is able to Wit help, or knows of anyone who might be able to help, 23 - 25 Charlbury Amateur Dramatic Society please contact www.chinnormusicaltheatre.org.uk (CADS) Scenes from the life of Moll Flanders 23 - 25 The Standlake Players The Didcot Drama Festival The Unvarnished Truth 18-23rd May 2009 27 Oct – Abingdon Operatic Society 1 Nov My Fair Lady The long awaited Didcot Arts Centre, Cornerstone, has 31 Oct - Launton Village Players finally opened! It has a state of the art auditorium for up 1 Nov When we are Married to 250 people, 2 whopping big changing rooms with NOVEMBER ensuite facilities & light bulbs around the mirrors, a 5 - 7 Domino Players ‘green’ room with kitchenette with fridge for chilling the Arsenic and Old Lace after show champers and a lighting/sound control room 6-8 Faringdon Dramatic Society with so many knobs & dials that it resembles Candleford something out of the control room of the Starship 13 - 15 Oxford Theatre Guild Enterprise! Not to mention the rehearsal rooms, My Mother Said I Never Should studios & café/bar open til 11pm every day. (Check it 14 - 29 Wantage Stage Musical Company out: www.cornerstone-arts.org) Old Time Music Hall on Tour
To celebrate this, a few members of Didcot Phoenix 16-22 HAODS are helping to organise a drama festival that will TITANIC the MUSICAL hopefully give local drama groups the opportunity to try 19 - 22 The Goring Gap Players out the fantastic new facilities and enjoy the The Cemetery Club 19-22 Abingdon Drama Club educational and social benefits that only a drama Pride and Prejudice festival can offer. It is in the early planning stages at 20-29 Banbury Cross Players the moment but we have already been lucky enough to The Tinder Box secure the services of experienced adjudicator, Colin 21 – 22 Chiltern Players Dolley. He has adjudicated for the ODN festival on a 28 - 29 Silhouette couple of occasions and his numerous engagements 24 - 29 Oxford Operatic have ranged throughout the British Isles and beyond. Chess 25 - 29 Chinnor Musical Theatre There are three other festivals in the Oxfordshire area: A Click Down Memory Lane Kenton Festival, Henley (2-9th May), the ODN Festival, 26 - 28 Bartholomew Players Abingdon (first week in June) & Corn Exchange Rumours Festival, Wallingford (mid June) and we hope to work 27 - 29 Kingston Bagpuize Drama Group closely with the organisers of these festivals and try The Accrington Pals DECEMBER and encourage groups to tour their plays more widely 3–6 St Peter’s Players, Wolvercote and support as many of these local festivals as Treasure Island possible. 12 - 13 Yarnton Amateur Players Captain Hook's Revenge Further details of the Didcot Festival will be available JANUARY 2009 shortly. We hope to have a website up and running in 20 - 24 Studio Theatre Club the near future which will have information on the Wyrd Sisters – The Director’s Cut format of the festival and have all the relevant 28 - 31 BreakaLeg Productions paperwork, such as entry forms etc. available to Outside Edge download.
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For those of you who are unfamiliar with Drama Festivals, they provide an environment where amateur drama groups can congregate to present a varied menu of one-act plays, over a period of several evenings, in the presence of not only an audience, but also an independent and qualified adjudicator. In each session, two or three plays are presented, and then the adjudicator presents a public assessment of the performance and provides constructive comments. Festivals are of value for many reasons: •They provide an exciting learning experience for groups not only through the constructive comments of the adjudicator for their own play, but also inspiration can be gained by watching other entries •They provide a means of meeting other enthusiasts who share the same love of theatre •They provide an opportunity for groups to try something different, take risks and not worry about being financially viable which is usually a major consideration when planning their programme for the year. •It is also a good opportunity for first time directors to direct without the pressure & expectation of putting on a full length play
As amateur groups, we should all be looking to improve in any way we can, and where better than in an environment that is both social, informative and in some cases competitive.
Researching for this project has been a real eye-opener. I couldn’t believe how many festivals are open to amateur groups all over the country. The National Drama Festival Association website (www.ndfa.org.uk) and www.amdram.co.uk both list around 50 full length and one act festivals. The NDFA also host the annual All British Winners Festival on the Isle of Man, where winners of all their member festivals are eligible to enter.
There is also another national theatre festival that also worth a mention - the All England Theatre Festival (AETF) (www.aetf.org.uk). This festival is the only countrywide eliminating contest for one-act plays throughout England. It is open to all amateur groups and entry is via a preliminary festival - either a local festival organised by AETF or an independent local festival affiliated to the AETF. The winners of their regional preliminary rounds then go on to battle it out in the quarterfinals, the semis & then the English Final. However, it doesn’t stop there! The lucky winners of the English final then get to do battle with the Scots, Welsh & Irish to contest the British Final.
I believe that if anyone is interested in directing for any of the festivals next year then they should start seriously thinking about it now. Having been involved in more festivals than I care to remember, I can thoroughly recommend the experience – it’s both nerve wracking and exhilarating – but ultimately really good fun.
Colin Dolley wrote an article in the Guild of Drama Adjudicators Newsletter last year on selecting plays for festivals which proved interesting reading (I think it still can be found on the amdram website (www.amdram.co.uk) and for all those who are thinking of directing festival pieces next year, I’ll leave you to contemplate is his own personal list of “dos” & “don’ts”: Don’t •Choose a play where the director is out of sympathy with – and not enthusiastic about – the script •Choose a play where you cannot solve the staging difficulties •Be desperate – above all – to win the festival. That desperation will be evident in the performance •Choose a play that looks an easy option. It often proves more difficult (e.g. a script which demands a bare stage •Choose a play where the actors cannot handle the dialogue and make it live. •Choose a play that appears to have no shape or climaxes. •Choose a play just because you noticed that it had won another festival. Do •Think of the company and their strengths – and play to them. •Choose a play that you can visualise and excites you. •Choose a play that “speaks to you” •Choose a play where the setting can be visualised – and realised in festival conditions •Consider the lighting, sound and music in creating the mood and atmosphere of the play •Think about the style, mood and atmosphere of the play •Consider a play where you can be original, inventive and imaginative •Consider a bold company stretching choice. Festivals are places to take risks. •Consider a play that will be stimulating – for the director, the actors and the audience •Consider a play that you have seen at a festival which you feel that your company could do better •Go to see as many plays as possible to widen your fund of theatrical knowledge. By Karen Carey
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Panto Competition/Children's Play 2009
Please complete this form and return along with entrance fee by 19 December 2008 to:-
Mike Lacey, 41 Poplar Grove, Kennington, Oxford OX1 5QN, 01865 736913 [email protected]
Contact name, address, tel.no. and e-mail:
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Panto/play title......
Author: ......
Performance dates & times: ......
Venue. (Including address. If the venue could be difficult to find for people unfamiliar with the area, please also send a map or clear directions on a separate sheet)
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Approximately how many rehearsals will you have on stage? ......
If there are any physical restraints or limitations (ie. no side or backstage space, not allowed flashes, etc.) which will affect your production, please list :
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The Judges always try to attend the first night. Please arrange for up to three free tickets to be reserved on the door and one programme. Seats if possible should be towards the front in the centre. If it is not possible for them to come that night you will be informed of the alternative evening. Judges this year are: Susi Dalton, Karen Whiffen, Barbara Douglas, Nancy Becker and Mike Lacey
Entry fee £10. Please make cheques payable to Oxfordshire Drama Network and write Panto comp. on the reverse. Thank you.
Groups will receive a critique from the judges and reviews will be published in the Newsletter after the results have been announced at the AGM
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Information about judging criteria can be found at www.oxfordshiredramnetwork.org
DETAILS AND PREVIEWS
OCTOBER
9 - 11 Woodcote Amateur Dramatics Society (WADS) Performances: Woodcote Village Hall Bad Fortune Tickets: £12 to include 2 course Ploughman's Style Was it love that inspired a philanderer like Richard Supper Myers to marry, or the prospect of a fast track career (Advance bookings only – tickets not available and guaranteed seat on the board of directors of a at door) prestigious city firm? Does his subservient wife, Box Office: 01491 680556 Helen, who allows herself to be controlled by others suspect her husband's infidelity, resulting in nervous and forgetful behaviour. Or does the fear of abject humiliation haunt her, should Richard ever discover the sordid details of her own murky background. Since their marriage the only visitor to their home has been Helen's younger, jealous sister, Angela (why does she visit so often?). As a result, Helen decides to invite her dear neighbour Betty and an old school friend, Gabby, around for a special evening, an evening with a difference – she has also invited a fortune teller! But Helen's party takes a turn for the worse when Madam Rosa, the fortune teller, is found dead. Witness the crime, examine the evidence, reveal the murderer at WADS next production – a Murder, Mystery evening : "Bad Fortune"
14 Banbury Cross Players Performance: 7.30pm. The Mill, Spiceball New Season Preview Evening Park, Banbury Tickets: As this is a one-night only event, The evening’s entertainment begins with Not Quite tickets are limited in availability. If you are Sunset by local playwright, Dot Burrows. Directed by interested, please contact us at John Bennett, making a welcome return to Directing [email protected] or speak to for BCP, the piece is set on a deserted beach of a our secretary, Jayne typical English seaside resort on an early evening in Buzzard, direct on 01295 256081. June. An elderly lady, sitting alone and deep in thought, is joined by a young girl. From the conversation, it appears the girl is a relative or family friend but things are not what they seem and the lady’s past and her reason for being there soon become clear.
Following this, the 2008/9 Season Directors whet your appetite with a short presentation on what to expect from their show – be it Classic Fairy Tale, All- Female Comedy, Ayckbourn or Modern Thriller.
A Cheese and Wine Supper rounds off the evening where you can catch up with BCP Members you already know and meet some of the new ones who’ve caught the Theatre bug recently. You can also find out about the ‘credit crunch beating’ deal for BCP Gold Card Holders.
15 - 18 Sinodun Players Performances: Corn Exchange, Wallingford, The Way of the World (William Congreve) 7.45 Tickets: first night £7 other nights £8 The Players Golden Jubilee season ends with this Box Office: open every evening between 7.00
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classic restoration comedy which has been edited by and 8.00 and also Fridays and Saturdays 10.00 its director, Chris Harris. to 12.30. Telephone 01491 825000.
22 - 25 Oxford Theatre Guild Performances: 8pm with a Saturday matinee Wit (Margaret Edson) at 2.30pm; North Wall Theatre, Summertown, Oxford
For more information: www.oxfordtheatreguild.com
23 - 25 Charlbury Amateur Dramatic Society (CADS) Performances; 8:00 Thursday 23 - Saturday Scenes from the life of Moll Flanders (based on the 25 October, Memorial Hall, Charlbury novel by Daniel Defoe, with Music by George Stiles) Bar open from 7:30
A musical depicting the highs and lows of her Tickets: Tickets £8 and £6 from 01608 810896 colourful life
23 - 25 The Standlake Players Performances: Standlake Village Hall; Doors The Unvarnished Truth (Royce Ryton) 7:00pm, Curtain Up 7:30pm
Married for 8 years, playwright Tom Bryce and his Tickets: £12 (including Ploughman's Supper) wife Annabel still love each other devotedly. What's more, they are keen to show and to tell each other Bar available as much - again and again. Unfortunately, human nature being what it is, there is already a little black cloud forming on the horizon. Before long, that cloud Box Office: Tel: 01865 300545 will get much bigger, much blacker and be right overhead. Many other people will be involved, Or by Email: [email protected] sexual divisions will open up, accidents will pile upon mishaps, panic will set in, and the Bryce residence will become a maelstrom of frantic activity. Still, don't take my word for it, but do hold onto your hats as we now look in on the Bryce household,"The Cosy Nook", Thames Ditton. The year is 1975, it is an early evening in Autumn and there will soon be a definite chill in the air....
27/10 – Abingdon Operatic Society Performances: Nightly at 7.30pm at The Amey 1/11 My Fair Lady (Lerner and Loewe) Theatre, Abingdon School Arts Centre, Abingdon Abingdon Operatic Society is pleased to present in from 27th October – 1st November 2008 our Golden Jubilee year, our Autumn production - the timeless classic musical “My Fair Lady”. This wonderful show, based on George Bernard Shaw’s Tickets: Tickets at various prices will be on famous play ‘Pygmalion’, is funny, heart-warming sale from 22nd September 2008 via the booking and unforgettable. A real treat for all the family to line on 01235 834383. Concessions, special enjoy! offers and group discounts available. Booking forms available from our website. Unreserved ‘My Fair Lady’ tells the well known story of London balcony tickets will be available from the Cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle’s transformation Newbury Building Society Abingdon also from into a lady. Eminent Professor Higgins, a confirmed 22nd September 2008 or online via our website. bachelor and linguistics professor makes a bet with Visit www.abingdonoperatic.co.uk for further his friend Colonel Pickering that he can pass Eliza information. off as a lady at a high society ball. Little does he realise the profound effect Eliza will have on his life along the way!
With lyrics and music by Lerner and Loewe, the world famous score is full of show-stopping songs including ‘I Could Have Danced All Night’. ‘The Rain in Spain’, Wouldn’t It Be Loverly?’ and ‘Get Me to the Church on Time’.
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With a strong cast of principals, an enthusiastic chorus, and stunning costumes this is truly a show not to be missed!
31/10 - Launton Village Players Performances: 31 October, 8pm. 1 November 1/11 When we are Married (JB Priestley) 8:30pm Parish Hall, Launton Launton Village Player’s next production is When we are Married, a comedy set in Yorkshire by JB Tickets: £7 Priestley. Box Office: Simon Turner, 01869 245352 Email: [email protected] In 1883, the Helliwells, the Parkers and the Soppits were married on the same day by the same parson. They have now gathered to celebrate their silver wedding and reflect on how successful their lives have been. But these upstanding chapel folk are in for a surprise. Their new organist recently met the parson who conducted the triple wedding ceremony and he admitted that he was not authorised at that time to do so. Pandemonium breaks out when these pillars of society realise they have been living in sin for 25 years!
NOVEMBER
5 - 7 Domino Players Performances: 7.30pm, Lains Barn, near Arsenic and Old Lace (Joseph Kesselring) Wantage
This November the Domino Players invite you to Tickets: £8 and concessions £6 are available sample this season’s vintage – a full bodied from the Vale and Downland Museum, production of Arsenic and Old Lace. Join Mortimer Wantage (01235 760176), or by telephoning Brewster, a theatre-hating drama critic as he 01235 868396, or online at discovers that his two delightful elderly aunts have www.dominoplayers.co.uk taken to disposing of gentlemen with the aid of their home-made elderberry wine, laced with arsenic, cyanide and just a pinch of strychnine. A brother who believes he is Teddy Roosevelt digging the locks for the Panama Canal in the cellar, has come in very useful for the disposal of the bodies. But will the return of Mortimer’s other Jonathan - a homicidal maniac, bearing a striking resemblance to Boris Karloff, thanks to the efforts of his alcoholic accomplice, plastic surgeon Dr Einstein - pour something nasty in the mix? Will the local police suspect foul play? Will the aunts get away with murder?
Watch this black comedy ferment with hilarious results.
6 - 8 Faringdon Dramatic Society Performances: 7.30pm, Faringdon Junior Candleford (Keith Dewhurst) School Based on the books by FloraThompson Tickets: tbc Box Office: Debbie Lock, 01367 242507 In this, their 60th Anniversary year, FDS is performing Candleford, the sequel to Larkrise, which they performed 10 years ago.
The action takes place in and around the town of Candleford in the late 19th / early 20th centuries. Laura has now grown up, left home, and begun work in the local Post Office.
The play is set on a single day in Autumn. Experience for yourselves the 19th Century daily
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routine of postal deliveries, gossip and servants chatter, not to mention the thrills of the Hunt and the Hunt’s Ball. The final scene is the adult Laura, looking back over her life.
Flora Thompson was born in 1876 and spent her early childhood in the hamlet of Juniper Hill, near Bicester, moving to Buckingham as a young girl to work in her cousin’s post office. Her trilogy of books "Lark Rise to Candleford" is an account of the life she remembered; the only names she changed were her own (Flora became Laura) and her brother's (Edwin became Edmund). The dialogue and many of the scenes in the play, although they did not take place on a single day, are taken straight from the books.
13 - 15 Oxford Theatre Guild Performances: 8pm, with a Saturday matinee My Mother Said I Never Should (Charlotte Keatley) at 2.30pm
For more information: www.oxfordtheatreguild.com
14 - 29 Wantage Stage Musical Company Performances: Old Time Music Hall on Tour Friday 14th Nov ...... Wantage, The Comrades Club. Let’s All Go To The Music Hall Saturday 15th Nov ...... Benson Village Hall. Friday 21st Nov ...... Faringdon Junior The first line of the opening song sets the scene for School. Wantage Stage Musical Company’s Old Time Music Saturday 22nd Nov ...... Steventon Village Hall which will be on tour again in November. You Hall. are promised a sparkling, sing-along evening that Friday 28th Nov ...... Didcot ?? will take you back to the ‘Good Old Days’. Familiar Saturday 29th Nov ...... Grove, Old Mill Hall songs such as All The Nice Girls Love a Sailor, Joshua, Lambeth Walk, and Knees Up Mother Tickets: A Ploughman’s Supper will be served Brown will set your toes tapping. during the interval at most venues, and is included in the price of the ticket: £10 (£8 Relish the thrills of a chilling melodrama, decide concessions). whose side you are on in a Victorian version of X- See Web-Site Factor, and sit back and enjoy a snatch of Gilbert & www.WantageStageMusical.co.uk for more Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore. Above all, put yourselves details, or phone 01235 770087. in the expert hands of our eloquent chairman, Nigel Thornbory, who will guide through a scintillating evening of mellifluous melodies.
16 - 22 Henley Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society Performances: Kenton Theatre, Henley-on- (HAODS ) Thames TITANIC the MUSICAL Tickets: Box Office:
19 - 22 The Goring Gap Players Performances: 8pm, the Morrell Room, The Cemetery Club (Ivan Menchell) Streatley (doors open at 7.30; a bar will be available) This hilarious comedy is about Doris,Lucille and Ida - three widows who are close friends and all meet Tickets: available from Inspirations,High Street regularly, every month at the cemetery, to remember ,Goring. Priced at £7.50. their dead husbands. On the 4th anniversary,Lucille For further information telephone 01491 thinks it is about time they' moved on ' and played 873530 the field! Each of them have different views as to whether they should remain faithful to their dead husbands. The appearance of Sam, a widower, at the cemetery causes them all to question their own beliefs and aspirations for the future. Their discussions test their relationships and bring out a few home truths. Will the attraction of Sam to Ida end their friendships completely?
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This is a clever play, raising different emotions,, when love, death,respect,loyalty and religion are discussed in a light hearted and humorous style. On a cold November night what better way to warm your heart, than to enjoy a witty play with many hilarious moments and amusing antics
19 - 22 Abingdon Drama Club Performances: 7.30 pm, Unicorn Theatre, Pride and Prejudice Abingdon Tickets: £7 (£6 concessions and ODN) from Jane Austen's classic novel in a new stage The Bookstore, Abingdon Precinct and from adaptation ADC Ticketline: 01235 524538
The glorious world of Jane Austen in all its romance, wit, and emotional force is brought to the Unicorn Theatre by Abingdon Drama Club. The classic tale of love and misunderstanding unfolds in class- conscious England near the close of the 18th century. Mrs Bennet, the overbearing mother of five daughters; Elizabeth (or Lizzie), Jane, Lydia, Mary, and Kitty is fixated on finding rich husbands for her girls to secure their futures. The spirited and intelligent Elizabeth, however, strives to live her life with a broader perspective.
Mr Collins, a clergyman, and the cousin who will inherit the Bennet estate as Mr Bennet's nearest male relative, arrives for a visit "in want of a wife", and intends to marry one of his cousins, thus atoning for his position as entailed heir. Though this pompous buffoon’s original intentions are thwarted, Mr Collins does not remain single for long.
When wealthy bachelor Mr Bingley takes up residence in nearby Netherfield, the Bennets are thrilled. Amongst Bingley’s sophisticated circle of London friends and the influx of young militia officers to nearby Meryton, surely there will be no shortage of suitors for the Bennet sisters? Eldest daughter Jane, serene and beautiful, seems poised to win Mr Bingley’s heart.
Lizzie meets with the handsome and – it would seem – snobbish Mr Darcy and the battle of the sexes begins. Their encounters are frequent and spirited yet far from encouraging. When the heretofore good- natured Mr Bingley abruptly departs for London, devastating Jane, Lizzie holds Mr Darcy culpable for contributing to the heartbreak. But a crisis involving the youngest sister Lydia soon opens Lizzie’s eyes to the truth about Mr Darcy.
20 - 29 Banbury Cross Players Performance Times: THE TINDER BOX (adapted from Hans Christian Wed & Thurs - 7pm Andersen by Peter Whelan) Fri & Sat - 7.45pm Sat Matinees - 2.30pm A poor, bedraggled soldier, coming home from war, meets a cunning witch who begs him to climb into an Venue: old tree to fetch her grandmother's tinder box and The Mill Theatre, Banbury promises great treasures in return... And so, the brave soldier is plunged into a magical, Ticket Prices: frightening world encountering unimaginable wealth, £8.50/£6.50 - via The Mill dogs with eyes as big as saucers and a beautiful BOX OFFICE on 01295 279002 princess, locked away in a tower by her father.
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But can the soldier double-cross the witch and live Visit www.banburycrossplayer.co.uk for further happily ever after? And just what is the mysterious information. power of the tinderbox? A Classic Tale to entertain the Whole Family
21 – 22 Chiltern Players Performance Times: 8pm 28 - 29 Silhouette (Simon Brett) Venue: Peppard Memorial Hall, Gallowstree We plan to test the brain cells of the keenest Road, Rotherfield Peppard amateur sleuth in our next production, an intriguing mystery. Tickets: at £7 are available from Village Yarns, Peppard Road, Sonning Common or on the This is a cut above the average whodunit, the door. seemingly simple plot turned on its head as it takes the audience on a journey full of twists, turns and blind alleys.
Can we assume that the actor Michael Wallis was murdered by the argumentative, drunken journalist sent to interview Celia, the actor’s wife and who police find sleeping in her bed?
Who is the sinister figure seen silhouetted against the front door shortly before the murder took place? Is it the murderer or merely a mysterious visitor?
Nothing is what it seems and this witty, cleverly- crafted plot will keep audiences puzzling up to and even after the final denouement.
24 - 29 Oxford Operatic Performances: 24th – 29th November at the Chess Oxford Playhouse
The critically acclaimed “Rock Opera” from Tim Rice and the men behind the music of Abba and Mama Tickets: Box Office: 01865 305 305 Mia comes to Oxford. www.oxfordplayhouse.com
Set during the later years of the Cold War, Hungarian refugee Florence is second to the American Chess Champion Freddie Trumper, who is also challenged for his title by Russian Anatoly Siergiesky. Things would be simple if all they did was play chess, but love politics and intrigue get in the way.
This rollercoaster of a musical will take audiences from Italian mountain towns to the streets of Thailand and beyond. Featuring songs “I Know Him So Well” and “One Night in Bankok” this is Chess as you’ve never imagined it before.
25 - 29 Chinnor Musical Theatre Performances: For one year only we are A Click Down Memory Lane moving just down the road to Bledlow Village Hall for this years November Show. Due to improvements taking place at Chinnor Village Hall at the moment we are temporarily relocating. Due to this change of venue we will not be able to offer our usual supper show seating format, seating will be in Theatre style rows and supper will not be provided this year
Tickets: All tickets are £8 per person everynight of the week, tickets can be purchased by sending a cheque to the box
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office, or by credit/debit card online using the paypal service, just click this link
For more information please visit www.chinnormusicaltheatre.org.uk
26 - 28 Bartholomew Players Performance Times: 7.45pm Rumours (Neil Simon) Venue: Eynsham Village Hall Bartholomew Players present Neil Simon's riotously funny farce at Eynsham Village Hall. The play Tickets: available from Evenlode DIY, High centres around the efforts of eight party guests to Street, Eynsham or at the door. For more spare their unfortunate host and themselves from information, visit the website: scandal. Ken, Len and Glenn and their wives Chris, http://sites.google.com/site/bartholomewplayers Claire and Cassie, together with Ernest and Cookie, try to make sense of what's happened to their hosts Charley, a prominent government official, and his wife Vivian.
27 - 29 Kingston Bagpuize Drama Group Performances: Kingston Bagpuize with The Accrington Pals (Peter Whelan) Southmoor Village Hall, 7.30pm
Tickets: £7, Available from The Log Cabin, Southmoor Food & Wine, Post Office or Telephone 01865 820375
Licensed Bar/Refreshments
DECEMBER
3–6 St Peter’s Players, Wolvercote Performances: Wednesday 3 to Saturday 6 at Treasure Island (Richard Lloyd) 7.30 p.m.; Saturday also matinee at 2.30 p.m. Tickets: Please ring 01865 556120 or 01865 Fed up after a wet and dreary summer? Come to the 725186 tropics in winter and get yourselves in the mood for Christmas with a rollicking good yarn of seamanship, subterfuge and skulduggery, with due acknowledgement (and apologies!) to Robert Louis Stevenson’s tale of the high seas.
Will the charming but thoroughly untrustworthy amputee Long John Slither lay hands on the treasure map – and the treasure? Will the Honourable Nancy Polperro win over the appealing but rather reticent Jim Ladd? And is that crimson Guatemalan parakeet as stupid as it seems . . .?
We’ve got a sea-captain to make Nelson proud and a brace of Spanish aristocrats in a stockade; we’ve got a very villainous Early Feminist Seafarer and a very pompous paterfamilias . . . oh, and we’ve got a parrot . . . oh yes, we have . . . and you may lay to that!
Ahoy there, me hearties! Come and take ship with us on a voyage to thrill and delight the whole family!
12 - 13 Yarnton Amateur Players Performances: Yarnton Village Hall, The Captain Hook's Revenge (Richard Coleman) Paddocks, Yarnton. Fri and Saturday 7.30pm The further adventures of Captain Hook and Peter Saturday matinee 2.30 pm Pan! This funny family show has all the usual ingredients - an outrageous dame, a villainous Tickets: Ticket prices to be confirmed baddy, a lovable hero and some truly awful jokes. Throw in some audience participation and a Tickets can be ordered from Sue Oliver 01865
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hungry crocodile and you have a value for money 460349 traditional pantomime that everyone can enjoy.
JANUARY 2009
20 - 24 Studio Theatre Club Performances: 7.30pm evening performances, Wyrd Sisters – The Director’s Cut (Terry Pratchett) 2.30 Matinee on the Saturday at the Unicorn Theatre, Abingdon A new dramatisation by Discworld Know-All Stephen Briggs to mark Discworld's 25th Anniversary and Tickets: £8 are available from Terry's 60th. [email protected] and full The STC goes back to where it started on Discworld booking details are on their website - eighteen years ago -- but with a bigger cast, new www.studiotheatreclub.com scenes and characters and better costumes & effects!!!
28 - 31 BreakaLeg Productions Performance Times: 7.30pm Outside Edge (Richard Harris) Venue: Unicorn Theatre, Abingdon
Tickets:
29 - 31 Didcot Phoenix Drama Group Performances: Once Upon a Time (Paul Barron & Sara Dyson) Tickets: The daughter of Cinderella is about to marry the son of Snow White, banishing evil from Pantoland forever or so the ancient prophecy says. Naturally the baddies aren't taking this lying down! Evelyn, the wickedest of wicked witches, spirits Princess Lottie and her two idiot helpers Nick and Nack away from the palace and drops them on the edge of Pantoland in the hopes that Prince Marvellous will despair and abandon his plans to marry her. Of course, the Prince embarks on a rescue mission, but what lies in store for him?
12 ODN website: http://www.oxfordshiredramanetwork.org
Oxfordshire Drama Network: Committee 2008 - 2009 Chairman Susi Dalton 01865 820196 [email protected] Secretary Sue Tibbles 01865 891452 [email protected] Treasurer John Williams 01865 862965 No e-mail Newsletter Editor Karen Whiffen 01793 784691 [email protected] Website Editor Mike Davies 01235 834690 [email protected] Committee Member Mike Lacey 01865 736913 [email protected] Committee Member Deidre Jones 01235 527865 [email protected]
Your ODN Contacts Abingdon Drama Club John Hawkins, 78 Hamble Drive, Abingdon, OX14 3TE, 01235 534477 Abingdon Operatic Society Phil Evans, 7 Old Nursery View, Kennington, OX1 5NT, 01865 454035 ACTS Valerie Crowson, Blomfield House, Cote, Bampton, Oxford, OX18 2EE, 01993 850139 Appleton Players Mo Alner, Cob House, Whites Forge, Appleton, Abingdon, OX13 5LG, 01865 863850 Aynho Community Theatre Jayne Ryman [email protected] Balancing Act Joe Graham 56 Cherry Tree Way, Witan Park, Witney OX28 01993 772197 Banbury Cross Players Terry Gallagher, 6 Home Close, Middleton Cheney, Banbury OX17 2LD, 01295 710875 Benson Players Tracy Leiper [email protected] Bicester Drama Society Nigel Arden, 22 The Bramblings, Bicester, OX26 6SU, 01869 325925 BreakaLeg Productions Deidre Jones, 14 The Motte, Abingdon OX14 3PA, 01235 527865 Charlbury ADS Marian Greenfield [email protected] Chiltern Players Roger Kendal, Woodbury Cottage, The Hamlet, Gallowstree Common, Reading RG4 9BU, 0118 9722201 Chinnor Musical Theatre Stephen Chadd [email protected] Compton Players Helen Saxton, Loughrigg Cottage, Abingdon Road, East Ilsely, RG20 7LQ 01635 281693 Cumnor Players Joan Gardner [email protected] Didcot Phoenix Drama Group Karen Carey [email protected] Domino Players Brian Webster, 10 Churchward Close, Grove, Wantage, Oxon, 01235 223809 Dorchester Amateur Dramatic Society Angie Paterson [email protected] Dramascope Musical Theatre Yth Grp Terry Powell, 35 Schofield Avenue, Witney, OX28 1JR, 01993 704820 Drayton Players Peter Jackson [email protected] Faringdon Dramatic Society Karen Whiffen, [email protected] Goring Gap Players Enid Stevens, Beechwood, 17 Lycroft Close, Goring-on-Thames RG8 0AT, 01491 874224 Hanborough Players Raymond Hopkins, 63A Main Road, Long Hanborough, Witney, OX29 8JY, 01993 882950 Hanney Drama Group Lynda Hart, The Paddocks, Main Street, East Hanney, Wantage, OX12 0HX, 01235 868870 Henley Amateur Operatic/Dramatic Soc Martin Jarvis [email protected] Kennington ADS Pat Giles [email protected] Kidlington Amateur Operatic Society Alison Jewitt, 148 Headley Way, Headington, Oxford, OX3 7SZ, 01865 762858 Guild of King Alfred Players Peter King [email protected] Kingston Bagpuize Drama Group Michael Lacey [email protected] Launton Village Players Steve Procopiou, Brightside, Thame Road, Blackthorn, OX25 1TE, 01869 325320 Marcham Players Joey Maclean, Collins Farm, Frilford, Abingdon, OX13 5NX, 01865 391242 Northmoor Players Jan Waterfield, Willow Tree Cottage, Northmoor, Witney, OX29 5SX, 01865 301922 Nortonian Amateur Dramatic Society Fred J Clifford, 1 Union Street, Stow-on-the-Wold, Cheltenham, GL54 1BU, 01451 830833 Old Gaol Theatre Company John Shore, [email protected] Oxford Operatic Society Alex Neil, 22 Poplar Road, Botley, Oxford, OX2 9LB, 01865 790864 Oxford Theatre Guild Joanna Matthews, [email protected] Oxford Touring Opera Lesley Donovan, 205 Saxton Road, Abingdon, OX14 5HQ, 01235 205388 Paper the House Productions Kate Belcher [email protected] St Peter’s Players Clare Winterbottom, 59 Rosamund Road, Wolvercote, Oxford, OX2 8NX, 01865 556120 Shrivenham Amateur Dramatic Society David Pratt [email protected] Sinodun Players John Jones [email protected] Springline Productions Susie Turnbull [email protected] Stagelights Debbie Smith [email protected] Standlake Players Paul Birkett [email protected] Stanton Harcourt Drama Group Jan Tomlinson, Spindlewood, New Road, Sutton, Witney, OX29 5RT, 01865 881709 Stonesfield Players Jenny Lines, Rivertop, Church Street, Stonesfield, OX29 8PS, 01993 898454 Studio Theatre Club Stephen Briggs, PO Box 147, Oxford, OX2 8YT, 01865 559655, www.stephenbriggs.com/stc.html Thame Players Tony Long, Oakwood, Oakley Road, Horton-cum-Studley, OX33 1BG, 01865 358907 Wantage Stage Musical Company Mike Davies, 40 Castle Street, Steventon, Oxon OX13 6SR 01235 834690 Witney Dramatic Society Carol Lee 165 Moorland Road Witney 01993 774364 Woodcote Amateur Dramatic Society Pauline Bainbridge [email protected] Woodstock Players Richard Marriott, 16 Cadogan Park, Woodstock, OX20 1UN, 01993 811609 Wootton Players Jenny Shepherd, 17 Deanfield Road, Botley, Oxford, OX2 9DW, 01865 439030 Yarnton Amateur Players Belinda Davies, 137 Rutten Lane, Yarnton, Kidlington, OX5 1LT, 01865 372917
The ODN Newsletter is published six times a year at the beginning of the month: February, April, June, August, October and December. The next Newsletter is due out in December. Submission deadline for copy is Friday November 28th 2008 Any opinions expressed in this newsletter as published by the Oxfordshire Drama Network are those of individual contributors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the ODN. Articles submitted for inclusion must include the author’s name and contact details and may be edited for publication.
Editor: Karen Whiffen, 4 Squires Road, Watchfield, Oxfordshire; Tel 01793 784691; [email protected]
13 ODN website: http://www.oxfordshiredramanetwork.org