NewsletterNewsletter FebruaryFebruary 20202020

In This Issue

• Chairman’s Final Letter P3 • Jottings from Michael Shipley P4 • Nothing Quite Like a Dame P8 • LTG National Conference P11

Vol.34Vol.34 No.1No.1 FebruaryFebruary 20202020 LTG Newsletter Vol .34 No.1 February 2020 Vol. 34 No. 1 Feb 2020 LTG Diary of Events The Little Theatre Guild National Conference represents 114 member theatres Questors, Ealing April 17- 19th that control and manage their amateur theatre companies Northern Conference with an annual audience of over Chads 2020 Date tbc 650,000 patrons, and a turnover Central Conference of approximately £4 million. Norbury Theatre, Droitwich February 22nd

Visit us at www.littletheatreguild.org New LTG Rep Articles for the LTG Newsletters 2020 deadlines Station Theatre, Hayling Island - Laura Duncan for copy: May 10th, Aug 12th & Nov 6th [email protected]

was interesting. It appears that festival. It was good to learn of A Word from there is a mixed feeling for the the different possibilities. competitive kind of adjudication The Chairman of such as when entering a Well I’m sure we can fill a whole festival and an adjudication edition of tales of adjudicators Carlisle Green Room which is just an assessment destroying the self confidence of a particular play. Maybe we of many a budding newcomer, I attended the LTG Conference should adopt the latter at the or sending an experienced in Nantwich at the end of Green Room. actor off in a monumental sulk October and high on the list of sometimes for the kindest ‘must attend’ workshops was Within this there is scope to have of advice! Some cast can be one entitled Adjudicators - either a written adjudication affronted on account of others What do they Know? sent to the company or to have if they feel a comment is a verbal adjudication delivered unfounded and sadly this can I was there like a shot, as I on the night of the performance now easily explode onto social knew this area is a hot topic after the show. Similar to media. Not an easy job being at the moment. What I found the system used in a one act an adjudicator!

Well by now some of you will know that Samuel the death of a name that IS Amateur Theatre, I French has been taken over by Concord was reassured that Samuel French would survive Theatricals Company. Fortunately the name as an imprint of Concord Theatricals. lives on at Samuel French’s Bookshop at The Royal Court Theatre. Not being familiar with the expression I don’t When I was commiserating with the staff over know how to feel about that! Little Theatre Guild of Great Britain www.littletheatreguild.org Temporary Newsletter Editor: Sandra Simpson National Secretary: 104 Albert Road West Caroline Chapman Bolton Friar’s Oak Lancs BL1 5ED 24 Mill Farm Road Hamsterley Mill Tel: 01204 843631 Tyne & Wear Email: [email protected] NE39 1NW Tel: 01207 545280 The contents of this newsletter are not necessarily Email: [email protected] the official views of the Little Theatre Guild.

2 LTG Newsletter Vol .34 No.1 February 2020 A Final Letter from the Chairman “It’s one of the tragic ironies of the theatre that this end we have negotiated only one man in it can count on steady work – valuable discounts on The Night Watchman”. So said play scripts from Samuel Tallulah Bankhead the American French, Nick Hern Books and actress of the 1920s and 1930s. Weinbergers. Depending on how many productions your The same might be said of LTG theatre puts on in a season it Chairmen who are now rotated can contribute or even meet the every three years. That is a policy cost of the LTG subscription. of which I very much approve. As this will be my last The process of negotiating Chairman’s Letter, I hope you will forgive a bit of other benefits is ongoing. reflection. A subject always under review is member The first thing to say is being LTG Chairman has been a communications. It is something very difficult to very enjoyable and rewarding experience. During my get right and like many other organisations we do term I have attended approximately 12 national and sometimes get the criticism we don’t know what is regional conferences. I can honestly say I never get going on. Sometimes it is justified but not always. bored of them. I suppose I have become a conference LTG has three main channels of communication, junkie. They have three great attractions, the people website, newsletter and yearbook. Certainly, when you meet, the stage productions and the opportunity we held relationship meetings round the country the to visit places you would probably never have visited. yearbook and newsletter were regarded as valuable The welcome at all these conferences has always and useful. It is fair to say our social media presence been very warm and friendly and the productions of needs to be developed and this is something that will a uniformly high standard which does great credit to be looked at. LTG. I now feel I qualify to become an Ambassador for Trip Advisor. Many services we provide have been an LTG feature for years and none more so than our Grey papers. The position is of course much more than being a They provide summary details and early warning conference junkie. It is being part of the national on legislation that will affect our theatres and also committee team who are constantly trying to make other related issues such as tax. These are very well positive changes in the way we operate and the received and often given as a reason for joining by benefits we can bring to our theatres. In the spirit of new members. They are constantly being added to reflection, I thought it might be interesting to detail and are reviewed on an annual basis for accuracy some of our more important initiatives. and relevance.

At the start of my term, with the support and active I have been very fortunate in being supported by a involvement of the national committee, I was anxious dedicated and experienced national committee. Their we developed a Business Plan to act as a “route map” great strength is that they all remain actively involved for the next three years. This covered most of the in their own theatres. This keeps us all well grounded areas we are involved in from member benefits to and very aware of what it is like at the “coal face”. I communications and from Grey papers to finance. would like to thank each and every one of them for For each area we established a projected outcome, the support they have given me and the work they target and review date with the plan as a whole being have undertaken which has made being chairman reviewed on an annual basis. It is, therefore, very such an enjoyable experience. much a living document. I have been very fortunate to have as my Vice Chairman We have also taken the opportunity to review our Jo Matthews from Questors Theatre. Many of you will Rules and make changes as appropriate. Changes know her and be aware of her undoubted abilities and were recommended and these were approved at our knowledge of the theatre. I could not have asked for 2018 AGM at the People’s Theatre in Newcastle. The a more supportive and dedicated vice chairman. As most significant change was extending the term of under the LTG Rules she will automatically become office of the Chairman and Vice Chairman from two chairman at this year’s AGM, I have no hesitation in to three years. This has enabled longer term planning saying she will become a very worthy chairman. to become embedded and the job holders to become more familiar and confident in their positions. Finally, could I thank you all for making the last three years such an enjoyable and rewarding experience. Enhancing the benefits of LTG membership has always been a priority for the national committee. To Mike Smith

3 LTG Newsletter Vol .34 No.1 February 2020 More Jottings from Michael Shipley A short piece from the There can be a lot in a name. photographer Dafydd Jones in a If the LTGs are keen to sell the recent book, quoted in The Oldie benefits of the Guild to their recently: “I noticed how many Theatres, great! If they are of my pictures featured people ambassadors of their theatres glued to their phones. Old to the Guild, even better. The people, young people, mothers process is two-way for mutual with children, workmen, cops, benefit.” cyclists, everyone - in shops, in the streets, on the train, in Moving to page 2, the popularity galleries, in bars and restaurants, parade (or Top of the Pops) everywhere. I’ve even seen of the plays chosen in the Guild a man standing at a urinal, a was announced. The five most phone cradled in his free hand.” frequently performed authors in 1988/9 were Alan Ayckbourn, A blast from the past! William Shakespeare, Noel It’s time to look at the archives Coward, Tom Stoppard, and again, this time for November Michael Frayn. The most 1989, thirty years ago! There, frequently performed plays Booker Prize Winner on the first page, comes this were The House of Bernarda Bernadine Evaristo wrote pithy quote from the Newsletter from Ilkley Playhouse: Alba, Noises Off, Chorus of feelingly in The Guardian about Disapproval, 84 Charing Cross youth theatre work on 24th “Theatre is about taking risks Road, and On Golden Pond. October: “(From the age of 12) and this is exciting. We climb the youth theatre soon became mountains, dive under coral Plans for the following year the focus of my social life. I reefs, drive too fast - and put in 1990 included a spring made friends quickly and looked on plays - all for the risks, the conference in Bolton Little forward to entering its creatively sharp intake of breath, the Theatre, featuring the work of stimulating environment, where racing pulse. Frankly I’m not a Strindberg, and the then newly I took not only drama workshops mountain climber; swimming for opened Forge Studio Theatre; and but also dabbled in photography me is a highly overrated pastime a full weekend training session and design. It was affordable to and driving too fast is self- at Loughborough College attend, costing literally pennies... indulgent and anti-social - but for ‘acting, physical movement At the youth theatre, we learned putting on plays - that’s the life and dance’ in September. to think independently and and, boy, is it risky? Meanwhile in November 1989 imaginatively while participating Grove Park Little Theatre had collaboratively in drama activities Right from choosing the play, offered a weekend seminar for that developed our confidence finding a director with a decent directors from Geoff Bennett, and honed our performance measure of imagination, attended by some 10 delegates skills... I came to love acting so creativity and flair, and selecting from the North West. While the cast (will they live up to much I couldn’t imagine doing Questors Theatre hosted it?); designing the set (will it an English Amateur Theatre anything else... After school I work?); sending out publicity Week, attended by members learned to stand for something (will the audiences see it and be of Lewes Little Theatre, larger than myself, to be the tempted?); - through all of this, change I wanted to see in the we’re risking everything.” Leicester Little Theatre and Bradford Playhouse. world. It was the incubator of my early creativity, a safe place And then on the very next “Those who enjoyed the free to spend my childhood”. There paragraph the following caught accommodation, sampled the my eye: “LTG REPS: so we no mountains of scrumptious food, must be many people who share longer want to be correspondents received non-stop help with all these words after experiencing or communicators! We want aspects of the production and working in stimulating Youth to be Representatives! This generally wallowed in the superb Theatre workshops, and good was the view of those meeting camaraderie, will know what I to receive such an important at Nottingham last November. mean”, reported Brian Cooter. endorsement! 4 LTG Newsletter Vol .34 No.1 February 2020 Requiem to Estrela Hall - The End of a Theatre Building Lisbon Players Theatre, 1947-2019 It is always sad to see a theatre close, but especially so London that was the ostensible in the case of this one with its strong links to the foreign owner of Estrela Hall, the British communities in Lisbon and to the city’s cultural scene. For Protestant School Fund. 72 years Estrela Hall has been the home of the Lisbon The financial crash of 2008/9 Players and since 1947 has presented an uninterrupted gave the theatre a brief respite theatre programme. Its participants have come from but a relentless search for a incredibly diverse national, ethnic, social and professional buyer led to the entire site being backgrounds but have been brought together by a single sold for a paltry three and a objective: of doing theatre in English for Lisbon audiences. half million euros instead of the That not all of these 72 years have been glorious is true – more than ten million initially there have been very troubled times and many threats to predicted. The eventual buyer the theatre’s continued existence but, on balance, the life of was a Portuguese real estate the Lisbon Players’ theatre and its contribution to the life of company called Arquimelo. its home city and to theatre in general has been extremely They plan to redevelop the site and their plans involve the significant. demolition of Estrela Hall. The closure and destruction of the theatre has multiple The Lisbon Players immediately went into urgent negotiations causes. One of these has to be the rapacious demands of with Arquimelo to see what could be salvaged from this the property business in the second decade of this century for the theatre. A proposal to build a new theatre for the which is laying waste to so much of this and other cities. Lisbon Players inside the new building to be constructed on But, if there is blame in other quarters, it can surely be laid Rua da Estrela was put forward by the representatives of at the door of the British authorities who were trustees for Arquimelo and eagerly accepted by the Lisbon Players but this once “British” quarter of Lisbon, for the neglect, poor in the end this proposal came to nothing. governance and greed which have seen the inglorious end The passing of Lisbon Players at Estrela Hall will be mourned of the century-old British Hospital, the demise of the Royal by hundreds of people who have passed through its doors British Club, the neglect of the Jewish cemetery and the as actors, directors, stage managers, designers, musicians, sad dilapidation of the other historic buildings, such as the composers, playwrights, bar staff, box office staff, costume Parsonage, under its care. The Lisbon Players Committee makers, audience members and countless others who, in over many years may also have to bear part of the blame thousands of little ways, kept this wonderful theatre going for not properly protecting the theatre’s best interests, with no financial reward. It has been an extraordinary but in its mitigation it must be remembered that it was breeding-ground for talent, and there are many people representing an unfunded amateur organization and its working in various branches of the theatre arts in Britain, adversaries were well-funded government and property Portugal and other places who will remember their time interests. working at Estrela Hall as a crucial learning experience and So how did this come about? a launch pad for their professional lives. For many others from other professional fields it has provided a unique THE HISTORY OF ESTRELA HALL contact with the world of theatre and performance. Estrela Hall was built in 1906 on land that had been WHAT CAN BE LEARNED FROM ALL THIS granted to the foreign communities in Lisbon, primarily for The first lesson to be learned is that when you are the poor the burial of its non-Catholic dead at the end of the 18th and powerless party you need to be properly armed. However century by the Portuguese queen, Dona Maria I. Evidence much you may feel that history, circumstance, morality, of this original intention still exists in the extensive British public opinion, and even politicians and institutions may cemetery and the much smaller Jewish cemetery that exist be on your side, you must always remember that property alongside the theatre. The building was initially intended to and finance, backed up by expensive legal experts, are an be some kind of church hall, school and community centre absolutely formidable enemy. under the auspices of the adjoining St. George’s Anglican The second is that nothing can be taken for granted. Church. Evidently this plan was never successful and, after However strong your moral and historical case might seem, passing through a number of uses – including that of a it needs to be armed with weapons at least as powerful as roller-skating rink and a cinema showing Allied propaganda those on the other side. films to the supposedly neutral Portuguese during the Money and property are extremely potent and, unless you Second World War – in 1947 it was handed over to the are very canny and highly organized, they will always win. recently-formed Lisbon Players with a rental agreement. THE FUTURE OF THE LISBON PLAYERS Actual ownership of the building has always been unclear, It is earnestly to be hoped that the sad loss of the Lisbon but the landlords to whom the Lisbon Players paid rent were Players’ home for the past 72 years will not mean the end a London-registered charity called the British Protestant of the long tradition of English-language theatre in Lisbon, School Fund whose trustees included the British ambassador and that somehow the ongoing negotiations with various and representatives of St. George’s Church. entities will result in a new home being found in order to In 2009 the Lisbon Players, faced with eviction, and in the give continuity for this great asset to the cultural life of the absence of any clear proof of ownership of the building, city of Lisbon. took legal advice and, at their own considerable expense, went to court in order to try and claim ‘usucapião’. (a kind of Jonathan Weightman, December 2019 squatters’ rights) The case for ‘usucapião’ was unsuccessful Please note that Jonathan Weightman has no official capacity at as the British government had already managed to obtain the Lisbon Players and any opinions expressed are his only. Having ‘usucapião’ for themselves, unbeknownst to the theatre’s followed the Lisbon Players story for many years he hopes that the lawyers. However eviction was avoided as the Lisbon basic facts are pretty much correct. Players were deemed legal occupiers though not owners of the building. On the very day of the opening of the The LTG send best wishes to the Lisbon Players and court case the trustees had also closed down the charity in look forward to an early resolution.

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as many female as male actors in the theatre. We wanted Brave Experiment at to find out whether gender could be as unimportant as, say, nationality or skin colour in playing a role; and we wanted to encourage our audiences to set aside gender The Cotswold Players prejudices, and to enjoy the play for it’s commentary on Julius Caesar October 2019 humanity. Our greatest playwright didn’t write many parts for To be sure, we had to make other changes too. It would women. In response to this unfairness, some companies not have been believable for women to be generals, have been experimenting in recent years with women dictators and senitors in Republican Rome, so we brought playing traditionally male Shakespeare roles. But this the setting into the 21st century, complete with mobile Autumn, the Cotswold players went one step further. phones, video conferences, webcams and live drone We decided to audition all parts in a production of Julius footage of battle. It was the use of technology, together Caesar on a ‘gender-blind’ basis. In other words we did with the play’s remarkable political relevance, that not take into account the actor’s gender as a criterion for generated the most audience comment. Of the dozens, deciding what role they might play. Then, having cast the possibly hundreds of items of feedback we received. Not play, we made textual adjustments, to change the gender one commented on the issue of gender. We think this of the characters in the play to fit the gender of the actor proves our point. chosen to play them. It is around twenty years since the RSC first cast a black The results were surprising, challenging and exciting. actor as one of Shakespeare’s English Kings. Today, In a cast that was broadly balanced between men and colour-blind casting is common place in the professional women, we had a female Julius Caesar, with a young male theatre. We should like to think that we have started a husband; and a female Brutus, with a wife of the same ball rolling that will eliminate or at least dilute gender as a sex. This threw new light on the dynamics of the key determining issue in casting too. relationships, and freed us from the shackles of traditional Ps. We look farward to comments on the above. Speaking approaches to the story. It also required more changes to for myself, I never believed there was anything sexist the text than we might have expected. about the two quotes friends, Romans, countrymen and a Many a ‘he’ and ‘him’ of course had to become ‘she’ and tide in the affairs of men, assuming ‘men’ was being used ‘her’. But many familiar lines such as ‘friends, Romans, as a generic term - neater than ‘human beings’. countrymen’, and ‘there is a tide in the affairs of men’, Have the Cotswold Players tempted others to follow suit? also displayed a kind of sexism, which we decided to Let us know. - The Editor. eradicate. This was not just a gimmick, nor was it simply a For more information contact Jonathan Vickers on vickers. pragmatic response to the fact that there were at least [email protected] 3. The Thrill of Love - Amanda Whittington How well did your Play 4. Bull - Mike Bartlett 5. The Railway Children - E. Nesbit Selection Team do? 6. Nell Gwynn - Jessica Swale 7. Di & Viv & Rose - Amelia Bullmore TOP TEN PLAYS 8. Hound of the Baskervilles - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 1. Blue Stockings - Jessica Swale 9. Around the World in 80 Days - Jules Verne 2. Ladies Day - Amanda Whittington 10. The Children - Lucy Kirkwood new playwrights adapt classics pros. Most of our plays are licensed Did You Know This?... plays or translate them afresh, new by Samuel French or Nick Hern, but editions are published. Apart from sometimes they are only the agent Ilkley Players – like many theatres, Shakespeare one should never and they still have to work with are just putting finishing touches to assume that a play can be performed the author or the publisher to get their 20/21 season. Their reading royalty free. permission to perform. This causes committee have read an average of In most cases we must, quite rightly, delays which we can ill afford - we forty plays each and are now juggling pay to perform someone’s writing need to get our season on the with the short list. but also get permission to perform it road! Also recently the window for A big issue for us in the last couple of as well as paying for it. permission has moved to eighteen years has been obtaining permission We have had issues with royalties months. So, when we approach to perform – or royalties. for a number of reasons. Many directors for a new season (mid- Royalties are defined as the sum plays sit on hold for several years December) we have not yet had our paid to a book sold or an author or pending the announcement of a long June/July 2021 productions cleared composer for each copy of a book professional tour. It’s all a bit of a minefield. sold or for each public performance This can be frustrating for community In spite of this behind the scenes of a work. It used to be generally groups such as us because sometimes frantic work, most theatres look assumed that once a playwright had the professional tour never comes forward to Launch Night, Directors been dead for seventy years then off. Or if the production happens it eagerly scanning the faces for likely a piece could be performed without may only be in London or other parts candidates, the aspiring actors any payment, but this is now often of the provinces. listening intently for the play that not the case.Estates and families of A ten day run at the Ilkley Playhouse is ‘just for them’ Only the auditions writers extend the royalties period, is hardly likely to affect sales for the between them and public acclaim!

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a lot of creative energy out of a theatre, they The Kevin also provide a great financial and artistic Spence Column stimulus to an amateur theatre, and I offer my THE UNNAMEABLE AND THE warmest congratulations UNKNOWABLE: THE CASE FOR to those LTG theatres MUSICAL THEATRE who continue to stage them so brilliantly and Suddenly, and a trifle unexpectedly, musical theatre has successfully! done a ‘smash and grab’ job on my life! I am very close to Scaled back Productions But is it possible for more of our the first night of my new production of TWELFTH NIGHT theatres to wade into these musical waters? There are lots and am constantly reminded in rehearsal of how music is of reasons, which we all know well, why some LTG theatres integral to this show. For me, this is as near as Shakespeare just cannot contemplate staging musicals, and we have to ever got to writing a piece of musical theatre. I guess the respect and understand those reasons. Some theatres are opening line - ‘If music be the food of love, etc’ - clearly not interested. Others feel they do not have the time, space sets the tone. or talent to stage such productions. However, the success These days I seem to be able to go for months without of a number of London ‘fringe’ theatres - like the Menier musical theatre featuring heavily in my day-to-day Chocolate Factory and Southwark Playhouse - in staging theatrical life, and then suddenly out of the blue, ‘scaled back’ productions of musicals - and my own current circumstances conspire to remind me of its visceral power favourite - the Hope Mill Theatre in Manchester - should and importance. give us pause for thought. They prove, for example, that Around Christmas time my theatre-going tends to centre the theatre can be small and still stage topnotch musicals on finding an escape route to see a musical when a few which sell out. You just need imagination and the right theatres (thank goodness) throw out a lifeline to those talent. Many of the ‘fringe’ venues are no bigger than LTG of us who want to celebrate the festive season with theatres, so size is not necessarily a factor. The recent something other than a pantomime. And yes, I know successful production of MAME at Hope Mill was a prime panto is important for a hundred different reasons - example of this. There are also a number of wonderful all valid - and I do not disagree with any of them. But musical shows which have reasonable-sized casts, are easy nowadays, I think I have possibly outgrown them - so to stage, and which provide backing tracks as part of their hence the search for something different. This year has performance licence agreements. Some audiences will be been no exception. It started with DEAR EVAN HANSEN intrigued to see that these are being presented as they in the West End - technically stunning, extremely well- are not the large-scale musicals that they tend to know. acted and sung, with a searingly contemporary message Again, the professional theatres have proved that within about mental health and social media. It was refreshing the catalogue of smaller musicals there are some real, to see lots of young, eager faces in the audience, too. hidden gems! There are also examples of amateur theatres Then GYPSY in Manchester - a salutary reminder of the across the UK who have found a way of amicably sharing ingredients that make a great musical - but also a brilliant resources - both human and technical - with local musical showcase for women in leading roles. The Royal Exchange theatre groups, to promote the success and viability of continues to astound with its creative spirit and ingenuity. both parties. I am aware that much is learned by such It is never daunted by transforming shows written for symbiotic arrangements. For instance, to find yourself conventional theatres into the ‘in the round’ format. And suddenly working with an experienced musical director finally, the masterpiece that is WEST SIDE STORY - Nikolai and/or choreographer can be a real eye-opener and pave Foster’s stupendous production at Curve in Leicester. This the way to exploiting their talents when movement and show above all - one which I have seen a dozen or more musical expertise are required in producing other standard times - even rather sombrely on the day that Leonard plays in a season. I know of one LTG theatre, for example, Bernstein died in 1990 - never fails to remind me that a - I will not embarrass them by naming them! - who mount great musical reaches the parts that other types of theatre a musical at the end of their season in the summer - a do not reach! I leave the auditorium an emotional wreck, time when audiences can be more difficult to attract - and but energised by discovering that once again live theatre make a great success of them. I have personally enjoyed has given me a unique experience which no other art form a number of them. can replicate. All of this underlines a key point for us all going forward However, there are other factors relating to musical theatre into the 2020s. which are worth remembering as we celebrate the start I suspect as tastes and audiences evolve, we would do of the new decade. Firstly, the sheer number of young well to remain open-minded and not discount any initiative UK actors who are brilliant exponents of musical theatre - for our theatres - whether it is producing musicals our acting, singing, dancing, playing instruments (often all in anything else - just on the basis that it is not ‘what we do’ one show!) - is just dazzling. We should constantly remind or that ‘we have never done it before’! ourselves how wonderful we are in this country at finding It is perhaps worth remembering the words of Leonard and training so many talented people - and this applies just Bernstein - ‘Music can name the unnameable and as much in amateur theatre, too! Secondly, the popularity communicate the unknowable.’ of musicals for audiences is evident and shows no sign of I am hoping that the musicals I have the good fortune to waning. Thirdly, our musical productions are a worldwide see this year - whether amateur or professional - have export success - something we might begin to value even both of these qualities and I wish you all a happy and more in a post-Brexit Britain. theatrically productive New Year! So, although I am well aware that musicals are totally exhausting to stage as part of a season and tend suck KEVIN SPENCE

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doubt, our world would be so There Is Nothing Like A Dame much poorer without her. But the greatest quality anyone playing the Dame can have, in my view, is the ability to connect with the audience. The Dame must be able to get the audience eating out of her hands. She must be able to rouse them up, calm them down, get them to respond to her every command and make them leave the theatre thinking what a wonderful character she is. The history of the Pantomime Dame goes back centuries, but the role of the Dame, as we think of her today, was undoubtedly created by the great music hall star, Dan Leno, towards the end of the Victorian era. He danced, he sang, he told jokes. He had the most remarkable eyes – looking as though the world had beaten him down but he was still there, indomitable. Leno would come on stage – small, dainty, diminutive – doing it all with his eyes and There is nothing like a Dame. But then, having played Dames in little movements. He was the ‘put upon’ woman. He would come 27 pantomimes over the last 35 years, I suppose I would say that, on stage, playing any one of several great Dame characters he wouldn’t I? There is no doubt every year that it is my favourite role and, thankfully, enough people think I make a good Dame that portrayed, and suddenly he became a housewife, a mother, a cook they continue asking me to play the role. Now at the age of 75 I or a nanny, perhaps wearing a long frock, apron and wig - all highly am getting close – but not too close, I hope – to hanging up my exaggerated. For anyone playing a Dame in pantomime today, dresses, wigs and make-up for the last time. At the audition each without doubt Dan Leno made them what they are. Dan Leno is year I think, “Is this the year someone will step in and take over?” the Dame’s Dame and should be revered by all who followed in his So far so good, and I shall be auditioning for the role once again footsteps. this year in the Thame Players’ production of Babes in the Wood. I Pantomime is a peculiarly British phenomenon. It is hardly seen remain hopeful that I will be chosen once again... anywhere else in the world, other than by expat audiences. And I am often asked, ‘What makes a good Dame’? Well, this is inevitably the Dame is the lynchpin that holds the whole show together - long a matter of opinion but, as far as I am concerned, the Dame should may it be so. There is, indeed, nothing like a Dame. But then, I definitely be a man, the audience should know that she’s a man, would say that, wouldn’t I? and the kids in the audience should know she’s a man. A Dame Written by Tony Long, Thame Players Theatre Company, the must appeal to all age groups and every section of the audience. Players Theatre, Thame The Dame must appeal to men as much as to women. If men in the audience are made to feel uncomfortable, then the Dame has failed. The audience must accept the Dame as a woman, whilst knowing perfectly well that ‘she’ is a man. The Dame does not And Did We Enjoy the Panto send women up, she fights for women’s causes, and everything she says is as a woman. The Dame is most definitely not a female impersonator. The Dame is allowed to get away with absolutely Season?...Oh Yes We Did!!! anything. As a woman, she is motherly, kind, foolish, fallible, flirtatious, disciplined, silly and strong. A Dame is outrageous, “I guess Panto is for life and not just for Christmas” never really offends anybody, and should be vulgar, beautifully A quote from Adam Schumacher who played the Dame in Babes vulgar. The Dame goes to the heart of what pantomime is. She in the Wood in 2019 at Priory Theatre, 25 years since he was has a special relationship with the audience. She is ridiculous, first ‘bamboozled’ into playing the dame in a pantomine by Anita absurd, vain, subversive and rude, but she’s always game and Dalton, who I notice is still busy - directing Mr Bennet’s Bride in she’s always warm, and she’s always uniquely British. And, without the spring. Good News for Some

Plaza Theatre, Romsey Romsey Amateur Operatic & Dramatic Society own and operates the PLAZA THEATRE (RAODS). They are sharing their good news. Application for a grant through the Community Infrastructures Levy to help with our stage/house improvements has been approved. We are looking forward to receiving £200,000 from the CI. The money will be spent raising the roof above the stage to bring it level with the rest of the roofline; installing a new rewire.

Chorley Little Theatre Archway Theatre - Alice in Wonderland Yes I know the purists will consider Alice in Wonderland a dark Who have received a grant from The Theatres Trust drama and not a pantomine but it’s a lovely piece of magical towards converting an adjacent disused restaurant into a theatre for Christmas. new acting space.

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theatres, to compensate for the failure of More from Michael... actors to learn how to project. 5. The delay Remember the Election? in turning off mobile phones until the first “This was pure theatre: am-dram at words of a play have been spoken or the its worst, with fluffed lines, missed first bars of a musical score have been cues, method stupidity” were the words played.” But when asked his best nights at of columnist in the Guardian, John Crace, the theatre had been, he answered: Ken covering the debate and arguments in the Dodd’s marathon celebration of comedy, House of Commons to fix a date for a new Ha-Ha, at the Liverpool Playhouse in 1973 General Election on 29th October. And the – ‘one of many happy nights, sometimes Pantomime season had not yet even started! stretching into the following day, watching were productions of The Merchant of a master at work’. Venice, Rigoletto and The Mikado. A letter Michael Billington retires! in the Guardian sums up the situation “Billington bows out after 48 years The Evening Standard Awards perfectly: “Clive James and Jonathan in ‘dream job’ as Guardian theatre The papers made a big fuss about Maggie Miller dead: just when we’re most in critic”. ‘After almost 50 years and some Smith’s award as best actress for her need of an increase in the national IQ, 10,000 reviews, Michael Billington is to performance in A German Life last May. we get a drastic reduction.” step down (at the end of the year) as the Yes, indeed, she first won the award 57 Guardian’s chief theatre critic. He has been years ago, with her role in The Private Ear What has happened to conversation? virtually a daily presence in the paper. and The Public Eye. Has this play by Peter “In 2005 I sat opposite someone at His incisive reviews, with their historical Shaffer been revived recently? The award a dinner party who spent much of the sweep, keen eye for detail and socio- for best actor was won by Andrew Scott evening looking at her phone under the political context, plus the odd judiciously for his performance in Present Laughter, table, sending messages and smiling to deployed pun, have made him one of the which many of us had the chance to follow herself. I was amazed by her rudeness. world’s most respected arts critics’ is the on screen with a live showing in late A month later I sat near a politician in a headline column. Easy to agree, especially November. The play of the year was Sweat restaurant, with a glamorous woman, but after a lifetime of reading the Guardian! by Lynn Nottage, and the best director they were not speaking; instead they spent In 2007 ‘Faber published his book State was Robert Icke. However, Sir Ian’s the whole evening looking at their own of the Nation: British Theatre Since 1945 McKellen’s one man show over 80 theatres phones. I found their behaviour fascinating which won the Theatre Book prize, and for his 80th birthday from May to Christmas and peculiar. Fifteen years later, the is essential reading for any theatre buff received a special award, as did also Peter preference for phones over humans no seeking a wise over-view of the best period Brook. Last but not least, a special award longer seems in the least remarkable. in British theatre for generations’. was also made to the behind the scenes At cafes, restaurants, and family dinner Some weeks later, Billington noted that the heroes, the stage door keepers, invited tables, rather than talking to one another, five things he won’t miss on his retirement to the stage to take a bow! people look at their phones. Or if they would be: “1. The ritual standing ovation are talking to one another, the phone – a filthy habit imported from the US – for Obituary Time is on the table, as if a part of the place even the most modest piece of theatre. 2. Particularly sad has been the news on setting, taken up at intervals as casually The sense of being pushed and shoved in the same day on 28th November 2019 as a knife or fork, implicitly signalling that cramped West End foyers by air-kissing of the deaths of Clive James and Sir the present company is not sufficiently B-list celebrities on fashionable West Jonathan Miller. engaging. There was a time when, during End first nights. 3. The sound of plastic Anyone remotely interested in the Arts, idle or anxious moments, people reached glasses and bottles being crushed under Literature and Theatre will surely have for a cigarette. But now people just as foot at the most crucial moments of a play heard the news, and will have some or reflexively reach for their phones. Like by spectators who will apparently expire many memories of programmes on TV smokers and cigarettes, people get if they are not allowed to drink. 4. The or performances they experienced after jittery without their phones.” (Amelia growing use of mics, even in medium-sized reading any obituary. Highlights for me Gentleman, in a book review)

This weekend of practical workshops will look at the making process, A Letter from Ian Wainwright which skills and techniques of musical theatre. The weekend focuses on those making and leading a musical, looking at directing, musical has already gone out to all Reps: direction, choreography, sound, design and writing musical theatre. Weekend Two: How to Perform in a Musical Dear fellow theatre maker, Saturday 29 Feb and Sunday 1 March 2020 Hope you have had a great Christmas and new year. This weekend of practical workshops takes you inside the rehearsal Here is information on the RSC’s HOW TO MAKE AND PERFORM process to learn some of the skills, techniques and processes of IN A MUSICAL weekends in Feb/March https://www.rsc.org.uk/ professional musical theatre. The weekend focuses on performers, events/how-to-make-and-perform-in-a-musical aimed at anyone working with choreographers, directors, voice coaches and musical interested in performing in or making musical theatre. Join us for directors. a weekend of workshops at the home of the Royal Shakespeare Each weekend ticket price also includes: Company. Work with RSC directors, choreographers and musical • Lunch on both days • Ticket to The Play’s the Thing, our interactive exhibition directors in the RSC rehearsal rooms and on stage to learn the • Backstage tour of our theatres skills and techniques of professional musical theatre and discover • An opportunity to purchase a discounted ticket to see our how the RSC brings its hugely successful musicals such as Matilda, acclaimed new musical The Boy in the Dress on the Saturday night. Les Misérables, and now Boy in The Dress, to the Stage. Registration is from 9.30am at the Other Place. The weekend will finish at 5.30pm on Sunday. Please do share with the appropriate members of your team/ All workshops take place in our rehearsal rooms as well as the members/participants. Thank you. Clore Learning Centre, The Other Place and onstage in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon. Warm Regards Price £205 per weekend (does not include accommodation) Participants must be aged 18+ Ian Wainwright Participation Producer Booking Royal Shakespeare Company Tickets are available by calling the RSC Ticket Hotline on 01789 33111 or in person at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre Box Office. Early How to Make and Perform in a Musical booking is recommended as places are Two new weekends of theatre training for amateur, limited. Tickets are not currently available community and non-professional theatre makers. online. From Les Misérables to Matilda The Musical, and now The Boy in All sessions are suitable for both those the Dress, we have a track record of creating hit musicals. For the starting out and those with more first time we will take you behind the scenes to learn fromour experience. To help us tailor the sessions creative and technical teams. an enrollment form will be sent so you How to Make a Musical can tell us your previous experience and Saturday 15 and Sunday 16 February 2020 any areas you would like covered.

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of the National Theatre, as well as a seedbed of talent and a Summary of Michael Coveney’s fascinating barometer and product of the times in which we live. book by Questors Some of the companies Coveney delves into – all taking centre stage in this entertaining and lively book - include the Questors and About Questors, Jesters and Renegades Tower Theatre in London; Birmingham’s Crescent Theatre; The Little Theatre in Bolton, where Ian McKellen was a schoolboy participant; This is the vital story of the amateur theatre as it developed from the Halifax Thespians; Lincolnshire’s Broadbent Theatre, co-founded the medieval guilds to the modern theatre of Ayckbourn and by Jim Broadbent’s father and other conscientious objectors at the Pinter, with a few mishaps and missed cues along the way. Michael end of World War II; Crayford’s Geoffrey Whitworth Theatre, where Coveney – a former member of Ilford’s Renegades - tells this tale the careers of Michael Gambon and Diana Quick were launched; with a charm and wit that will have you shouting out for an encore. Anglesey’s Theatr Fach, a crucible of Welsh language theatre; and

Cornwall’s stunning cliff-top Minack. Between the two world wars, amateur theatre thrived across the UK, from Newcastle to Norwich, from Bolton to Birmingham and Bangor, championed by the likes of George Bernard Shaw, Sybil Foreword by Kenneth Branagh Thorndike, and J B Priestley. Often born out of a particular political cause or predicament, many of these theatres and companies The publishers are the Bloomsbury Group who will provide continue to evolve, survive and even prosper today. promotional flyers to anyone with space to display them. In return you can purchase the book at a 35% discount on a RRP price of This is the first account of its kind, packed with anecdote and £25. Contact: previously unheard stories, and it shows how amateur theatre is www.bloomsbury.com/uk/questors-jesters-and-renegades more than a popular pastime: it has been endemic to the birth 9781350128378

To make travel easier it is to be held in Further information from Allo Zorina at the International Practical Papinniemen Leirik in Finland. Participants Russian National Centre - need to travel to Jyvaskyla, Finland, where [email protected] Training Course on the they will be taken to the venue. The cost This is a highly respected course and is Euro 68 per day for accommodation and participants are usually expected to work Method of Konstantin three meals. Payment is made on arrival hard for quite long hours. at the venue. Stanislavsky The course will run 7 – 13 August 2020 ps I remember applying for this course and deadline for receipt of applications in which was aborted at the eleventh hour The Russian Centre of AITA/IATA – 10 March 2020, The working language will because of the ash cloud from Iceland. International Amateur Theatre Association be Russian and English, More information Fortunately because British Airways – will hold the biennial Course on the can be found in the list of events on the wanted to buy up tickets to get people working methods of Stanislavsky. The AITA/IATA website www.aita/iata.net/ back to where they needed to be – I also course is described as practical training for events/html where you will also find the got my £300 air fare back and only lost actors and directors. application form. the cost of the visa!

need a small supplement of a few hundred pounds in order to buy Funding Award for a New Digital Sound all the kit and cabling we need but it is a significant boost to this much needed technical project. The event consisted of a “Dragon’s System at Priory Theatre Company Den” style pitch with questions and answers at the end. Specific thanks go to Neil Thomas and his team for the preparation and From Chris Biddle: I am delighted to report that at the Rotary excellent presentation. We were also able to promote our Charity Club of Kenilworth “BID 4” awards in mid November we were Nights to a number of fellow finalists. Perhaps a double whammy! granted £2,000 towards a new digital sound desk and associated equipment. This represented 40% of the available funding on the Rotary Clubs are always seeking worthwhile local small night and was thus the largest single award made. This money will projects to support.

first of his full length plays to be produced Tips for Aspiring Writers (Beyond the Horizon) and the last – the wonderful Long Day’s Journey Into Night. from Mark Twain Written, as he himself said, “in blood and tears” O’Neill never intended the play to be The author pseudonymously known as Mark produced and did not even want it published Twain is reputed to have told wannabee in his lifetime, leaving the manuscript writers to “Write what you know”. He with his publishers with instructions that perhaps intended to be more helpful than it was not to be published until 25 years American poet Howard Nemerov who also after his death. It was his widow, Carlotta advised “Write what you know” but rather Monterey, who overrode his wishes & had cuttingly added “That should leave you the play published. Its first production was with a lot of free time”. in 1956 in Sweden, where his plays had While a huge number of young (and not-so- always enjoyed enormous popularity, and young) readers are more than happy that it premiered on Broadway later the same the likes of J K Rowling paid no attention to year. The Broadway production won the Twain’s admonishment, there is no doubt that some of the most powerful, moving Tony Award for Best Play and the New York and unforgettable writing ever put down on Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Play paper comes from authors who have lived of the season. The first UK production was the experiences they so hauntingly recall. in 1958. And so it is with Eugene Gladstone O’Neill, The play is widely considered to be who repeatedly used the experiences of his O’Neilll’s magnum opus and one of the life and family to inform his writing. finest American plays of the 20th century. The outstanding quality of O’Neill’s writing It has been revived countless times. won him a remarkable total of four Pullitzer prizes and the Nobel Prize in Literature. And no doubt the widow was happy In a chance, but somehow satisfying, with her cheques too! Says the cynical symmetry he won Pullitzers for both the editor!

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evening performance will be Martin McDonagh’s Hangmen. A satire on the justice system which fuses a dark tale with the mundanity of northern pub life, undercut with McDonagh’s idiosyncratic humour. Set in 60s Lancashire, this is a gripping, fast-paced dark comedy. Archive - The Questors holds the LTG Archive and The Questors Archivist John Dobson will hold a related session. We know that some LTG Members have an archive or would like to know more about housing and looking after one, and John is keen to hear from LTG Members about what the session should include. Contact Anne Gilmour if you have any requests or ideas. Play in a day – an opportunity for those aged 18 – 25 from both LTG Member theatres and former QYT students who continue to be active at The Questors, to come together and create a play over the weekend. They will choose the theme Friday evening, write it that evening/overnight, rehearse Saturday and perform the 12 – 15 min play on Sunday morning to delegates. To be followed by a short Q & A. Workshops – we plan a session on co-ordinating social media platform, photography and videography to market your shows; a ‘serious’ session on the more challenging aspects of running a theatre building, presented by the National Committee; we hope LTG National Conference at to also include sessions on the Customer Experience; inclusion and diversity and outreach; and of course a session for our actor-delegates to strut their stuff. The Questors Theatre, Ealing, Programme – to follow the ‘usual’ shape: Friday – arrive for some congenial fun; Saturday - workshops, AGM, Open Forum and the play Hangmen in the evening; Sunday - workshops play London 17-19 April 2020 in a day and possibly a keynote speaker. The 2020 LTG National Conference will held at The Questors Early Bird Booking - the fee will be similar to recent conferences, Theatre, Ealing, London, the venue for the first ever LTG but we will introduce Early Bird Booking. Book between 3 Feb Conference on 19 May 1948, although this is disputed by some... and 9 March and you will pay less. Book late and it will cost Ealing and The Questors – Ealing, in West London lies within you more. Watch out for the email coming your way in early easy reach of Central London, well served by public transport. We February. have a Playhouse and Studio and stage around 19 productions Accommodation – there is plenty of competitively priced hotel accommodation within walking distance of The Questors - Premier each year and host over 15 productions by visiting companies. Inn, Travelodge, etc. There is no free parking around the theatre The Questors Youth Theatre (QYT) is attended by over 500 and we strongly recommend arrival by public transport. We are young people each week. a 12 min walk from Ealing Broadway – District and Central tubes The conference theme - In 1943, The Questors’ artistic and Paddington Mainline trains – and a 17 min (and bus) from direction was summed up in a statement of aims - known as South Ealing Tube – Piccadilly tube to Heathrow. Why not fly? “The Quest” - which has remained, with minor amendments, If you need any further information, do not hesitate to email me. our guiding principle to the present day. One of the five Quests Anne Gilmour is “To be an outward looking theatre” and to support this aim Questors Theatre, Ealing the overall theme of the weekend will be “looking outward / Secretary, Southern Region, LTG connecting with, and involving, the community”. We will come [email protected] up with a catchier title! Theatre Dramatic Socity Sounds great. I like the Early Bird opportunity. I’m in! The temporary Editor The production We are working on a feast of delights for Ps I’ll be seeking a permanent editor for the Newsletter delegates in April, with some already in place. The Saturday while I’m enjoying the conference.

celebrating how theatres are central to their communities. • Joy of going to the theatre. This could be the excitement of the communities. This part of its local area or how the theatre brings people together.

A new national competition with an National Theatre Director Rufus Norris The Story Behind the Photo exhibition at the National Theatre, will also be on the judging panel. We want to know the story behind each looking to find images that reflect photograph you submit. This could be everything we love about theatre Catergories buildings in the UK. There are various catergories - you can your connection with the theatre, why enter one photo in each: it matters to you or what the scene Judging the Competition • Beautiful buildings - photographs pictured says to you. The judging panel includes four of the highlighting the wonderful architecture Theatres Trust Ambassabors, Samira of theatre buildings, old or modern, small INTERESTED? Closing date: Ahmed, Matthew Bourne, Miranda Hart or grand. This could be the exterior of a and Jude Law, alongside Theatres Trust building, an inside space or a particular March 30th Director Jon Morgan and long-term design detail. Go to Theatres Trust website for all volunteer photographer Ian Grundy. • Connecting communities - photographs details or tel: 020 7836 8591

11 LTG Newsletter Vol .34 No.1 February 2020 Some Recent Production Photos Crescent Theatre - Pressure Farnworth Little Theatre - Bronte

Durham Dramatic Society - The Nightingales Southport Little Theatre - Perfect Nonsense

Questors - Fault Lines

Questors - 1984

Southport Little Theatre - Corpse Progress Theatre - The Children

TOADS Theatre Company - Babe the Sheep-Pig The Oast Theatre - Pressure Southport Little Theatre - Caring Cross Road

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