Do you have the Tech?

Lighting, Sound, Stage Management, Props BANBURY CROSS PLAYERS need you! Ray Cooney’s Come along to The Mill Arts Centre, Banbury, OX16 5QE GET INVOLVED Tuesday evenings, 8pm

IT RUNS Agatha Chrise’s Classic Thriller THE HOLLOW 20-23 April 2016 “Everyone’s a suspect” in the COMING COMING UP

GOLD CARD HOLDER FAMILY

EIGHT TICKETS for LESS THAN the price of SIX!

4 or 8 tickets - you choose which plays to use them for & how many!

PLUS ⇒ Exclusive Season Preview Evening Invitation ⇒ Free Quarterly Newsletter, Prompt Please ⇒ Advance Notification of News and Events www.banburycrossplayers.org.uk

£32.00 / £63.00

See Front of House / Brochure for details Feb 2016

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Welcome and a slightly belated Happy New Year to all of you Ray Cooney is recognised theatrically and publicly as “The Master of supporters of BCP. We kick off 2016 with a classic farce to banish Farce”. A most prolific writer of stage farces and comedies of high standards - those winter blues. which have not only played the stages of English speaking countries for more than 40 years, but have been staged worldwide and translated into more than - To be PC or not to be PC? That is the question! 40 foreign languages including Chinese, Japanese and Russian earning him an international reputation as the finest living writer of this genre with both From the days of Brian Rix and the Whitehall farces professional and amateur artists benefitting from his writing genius . to Carry On, we travel back to an era when WELCOME comedy was not so PC, and you could get away with Cooney's farces combine traditional British bawdiness with structural rummaging in Matron’s knickers, dodgy accents, complication, as characters leap to assumptions, are forced to pretend to be cross -dressing and naughty goings -on. Ray Cooney things that they are not and often talk at cross -purposes. says “Farce is light -hearted, but it is all very carefully rehearsed. It’s supposed to look like they’re making it up as they go along”. With a He began his theatrical career at the age of 14 in mixed cast of BCP stalwarts and new faces we hope you enjoy Song of Norway at the Palace Theatre in 1946. tonight’s ‘made up’ performance. Between 1950 and 1952 he did his National Service in the Army. Following this, he Our next production in April is Agatha Christie’s The Hollow directed had many acting roles in weekly Rep and tours

by Liz Riley. Recreating the glamour of the 1930s, coupled with the until joining the Brian Rix Company at the Whitehall Theatre in 1956. suspense of a sparkling Christie plot, the twists and turns will keep you guessing to the very end. - During this period he began his writing career, co writing One for the Pot with - Tony Hilton. This premiered at the Whitehall Theatre in August 1961 and ran Auditions take place soon for A Theatrical Feast , our trio of two for over four years. He co -wrote six productions with John Chapman

handers to be performed in July. David Tristram’s Peas and The including Not Now Darling and Move Over Mrs Markham. Extraordinary Revelations of Orca the Goldfish, and Pinter’s The Dumb Waiter will prove provocative, different and not to be missed! His biggest hit , Run For Your Wife in 1982, ran for nine years in the West End. It is estimated that over 100 million tickets have been sold throughout Look out for ‘BCP Bitesize’ taking live performances to other parts of the world for Ray Cooney comedies! the county. Recently we have appeared in Kings Sutton, Hanwell and St. Mary’s. We are also entering the Lighthorne and Abingdon Apart from starring in his own plays in London, America and Australia, he has Drama festivals in June this year. appeared in many other productions including a year in The Mousetrap .

RAY COONEY As you can see, a busy programme and much to look forward to. In 1992, he bought the Playhouse Theatre in London and staged the West Thank you for your continued support and we hope to see you again End premiere of It Runs in the Family there. This was followed by Jane Eyre , - soon at The Mill. adapted by Fay Weldon and starring Tim Pigott Smith, as well as Frederick Lonsdale's On Approval starring Simon Ward, Martin Jarvis and

If you would like to be involved, come to one of our Anna Carteret.

Tuesday night meetings at The Mill. See our website - Ray married Linda in 1962 and they have two sons Danni, who lives in banburycrossplayers.org.uk for details of all our Australia, and Michael, who lives in Los Angeles and is a successful play and activities. screenwriter in his own right. Ray was awarded the OBE in 2005 for services

Jem Turner to drama.

Chairman

Director Terry Gallager IT RUNS in the

Stage Manager FAMILY Rebecca Calverley

ASM CAST Janice Lake Front of House Managers Mike Jack & Barry Lothian

Dr David Mortimore Philip Fine Lighting Foyer Display THE COMPANY THE John Hicks Dr Mike Connolly Fraser McMinn Clare Lester Linda Shaw Rosemary Mortimore Trish Thompson Members of the Society Sound Dr Hubert Bonney David Smith built the Set and Steve Hill Matron Helena Boughton staffed Front of House Sir Willoughby Drake John McCormick

Props Jane Tate Hilary Beaton The Mill Management & Staff Jayne Buzzard Sister Zoe Pickworth Banbury Guardian Jane Young Banbury Cake Leslie Isaac Stuart Costume Banburyshire Info Police Sergeant Dave Robinson Puritans Radio Jane Shanahan Bill Jem Turner Castle Quay Shopping Centre ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Mother Ann Westcott Fairprint UK Hair Pan Designs Anne Twigg Mr Fenemore

St Mary’s Church Make Up Doctors’ Common Room, 3rd Floor, St Andrew’s Hospital, London Jenny Tustian December 1982

Choreographer Sharon Green Act 1 - Three Days before Christmas

INTERVAL Production Manager John McCormick Act 2 - Immediately following

Set Design Patrons are requested to switch off mobile phones before the performance and Peter Bloor are reminded that photography and video recording are strictly prohibited. This amateur production is

presented by arrangement with Prompt Emergency exits are to the left of the stage and to the rear of the auditorium. Samuel French Ltd Anne Bennett In case of emergency, please follow instruction from Front of House staff.

SPECIAL THANKS TO SPECIAL THANKS TO THANKS SPECIAL