Plays for 2008/2009 Season

There are still two slots remaining for the 2008/2009 Season at Progress Theatre. Those of you who were thinking about proposing but missed the original deadline, here is your second chance. The deadline for submitting proposals to the Play Production Committee (PPC) is Sunday 13 January. Presentations by the Directors will hopefully be held on Sunday 20 January.

The available slots left in the season are September 2008 and May/June 2009.

We are looking for modern/contemporary plays that are fresh and light hearted with some good, honest humour.

If you would like to be considered as a Director for the next Season, here is what you have to do in 4 easy steps.

1. Select a suitable play.
2. Complete a "Proposal form" (email the PPC at progress-ppc@lists.progresstheatre.co.uk to get one) telling us as much as you can about the play, your vision for it and which season slot you would prefer. Enthusiasm goes a long way.
3. Submit your proposal by Sunday 13 January to either the PPC email address (as above) or by leaving a copy at the theatre marked for the attention of the PPC.
4. The PPC will read all the submissions and Directors will be invited to present their proposal, hopefully on 20 January.

With the introduction of the new show production scheme please make yourself familiar with the "Production Team Guidelines" (also available by emailing the PPC)

If you need any help with putting a proposal together, do not hesitate to contact the PPC at progress-ppc@lists.progresstheatre.co.uk or Emma Sterry on 07814004634.

Auditions for Four Nights in Knaresborough

Four Nights in Knaresborough, by Paul Webb
Directed by Harry Gray
Performance dates – Thursday 10th April to Saturday 19th April 2008

Open auditions: Sunday, 20th January 2.30pm, and Wednesday, 23rd January 7.30pm at Progress Theatre.

It is the twelfth Century. Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury, is slain and England is crying out for the assassins’ blood. Deserted by their King and in danger from the wrath of the outraged population the four guilty knights hole up for a year in a castle in deepest Yorkshire. This fascinating, modern play explores what might have happened to four fighting men condemned to confinement in each others company after committing "the worst career move in history". It is funny, violent, touching and intelligent; join Brito, Traci, Morville and Fitz as they fight, freeze and fornicate through four nights in the worst year of their lives.

Fitz (Reginald FitzUrse), late thirties. A tough, violent, hardened veteran but affected by a deep sense of loss.

Traci (William de Traci), thirties. An intelligent soldier/aristocrat.

Morville (Hugh de Morville), thirties. A landowner knight, bowed down with a sense of guilt over the assassination.

Brito (Richard le Bret), the youngest. Lower in status than the others. Always striving to impress but with a vein of tenderness underneath his brashness.

Catherine, mid-twenties. A widow, intelligent, feisty and very protective of her young son.

The boy, ten. Catherine’s son. Non-speaking but could look angelic.

Becket, fifties. Non-speaking but conveys authority and strength of will.

Wigmore, fifty. A Yorkshireman. Leader of the local council.

John, the visitor, fifties. A hard-headed Yorkshire business man.

The parts of Becket, Wigmore and John could possibly be doubled up. The stated ages are flexible and could be adjusted to fit the casting.


If you are interested but unable to attend either audition or need further information a phone call will ensure that you are considered.

Harry Gray (Director)
36A Shinfield Road, Reading RG2 7BW
Tel: 0118 986 8672

Calling all technical people

Anyone interested in any aspect of technical work is invited to get in touch with Aidan Moran (0118 901 8456). We have dedicated three productions this season to be training shows so that people can learn 'on the job' under the supervision of experienced people. Do take this opportunity to widen your pool of talents.

Back-Eye Revised and Devised

For their winter term production, the Youth Theatre has been devising on themes from The Bacchae and has come up with an exciting and innovative piece of theatre bringing Euripides’ classic Greek tragedy frighteningly up to date. The piece is fully-scripted directly from the students devising work, so they are responsible for both the content and performance of this piece.

Performances take place at Park United Reformed Church, Palmer Park Avenue, 14th – 15th December, 8.00pm. Tickets £7 and £5 concs, available on the door.

This forms the second half of a project, as we were delighted to take part in the Shine Festival in October, presenting a shorter section of the piece in the first Shine 2, Spoken Word Festival. The organisers were very keen to have us back next year and we hope to make this a long-standing relationship with Shine.

So come along and support the students and see the full version in all its glory!

Jungle Book Update

Preparations for the Jungle Book are almost complete.

Working with Stuart Paterson’s adaptation of one of Kipling’s most endearing works the younger members of the cast have come to appreciate the real story. They came expecting Disney and have found a powerful story of love, betrayal, loyalty, revenge and courage. It has all the ingredients of a true adventure and will appeal to adults and children alike. Ali and Liz say that it has sent them back to re-discover the original stories which, if each were included, would fill several plays. However, Paterson has captured the essence of the original. Be warned – it’s definitely not Disney!

Performances are Friday 28th December to Saturday 5th January. Matinees will be on 29th and 30th December and 1st and 5th January. No performances on 31st December or evening performance 1st January.

Evening performances are at 7.45pm; matinees at 2.00pm.

Book now

Book now for Jungle Book

JUNGLE BOOK
By Rudyard Kipling
adapted by Stuart Paterson

Rehearsals are well under way and we are delighted that the promising script is being brought to life by some strong characters. Our younger members are learning that Kipling’s story is very different from the Disney version and have started to enjoy the powerful language and the unfolding dilemma of Mowgli. There is adventure, friendship and some scary stuff. We think that some children under five might find a few scenes a bit frightening (although many seem to watch Dr Who without flinching!)

There is an early bird booking offer. Tickets booked before 10th December will be £7.00 for concessions and £8.50 for adults.

Book soon – save money!

Blue Orange

BLUE ORANGE
By
JOE PENHALL

This production starts on Monday 19th. This is a powerful piece of theatre and is an excellent choice for the Progress stage. Book now to see this award winning play.

In a London psychiatric hospital, a young black patient claims to be the son of Idi Amin, a seemingly far-fetched story that starts to become surprisingly plausible. Two psychiatrists are at odds as to whether his discharge should go ahead. Is he schizophrenic, or has he just suffered an isolated episode?

Book now

The Woman in Mind poster and set

Finally, another update on Woman in Mind. The poster is out and being distributed around Reading and the surrounding area. Hopefully someone has seen it. It certainly seems to have prompted a few ticket sales, so make sure to book yours soon.

Meanwhile, back at the theatre, Martin and Rik have demolished the front half of the stage and rebuilt it again to house my swimming pool - yes there's going to be an onstage swimming pool. Can't wait to see the finished thing and good to have some people who know what they're doing working on my set.

Rehearsals are going brilliantly, too, with the "script-down-hiatus" ending remarkably quickly and all the cast on track. I'm amazed how well they've all done, this mix of old hands and people completely new to the stage. Hopefully they'll all impress the audiences equally and they deserve any praise they happen to receive with the hard work they've put into this surprisingly tricksy play.

Woman in Mind tickets now on sale

Tickets for Woman in Mind have just gone on sale at £10 (£9 concessions). Book in advance through Reading Arts 0118 960 6060 or online.

The Reading Arts website is a bit temperamental, so if the link above doesn't work, you can try http://www.readingarts.com/whatson/ and we're on the second page of results of you can filter them by "Other venues".

Put 20 - 29th September in your diaries now!

Progress goes to Edinburgh

The Edinburgh Fringe Festival starts in just a few days and a play that began life as a small piece in the First Writefest last year has been expanded and is going to join the fun.

My Voice(s) started as a ten minute piece as part of an evening of new writing. Although Progress has produced similar evenings for the last 10 years, known as "Showcase", with the aim of giving new writers, actors and directors a chance to hone their skills, last February was the first time that the event was publicised to the general public.

Kerry Murdock (who you might have seen in Entertaining Mr Sloane last year) wrote a piece about a woman recovering from the break-up of a relationship and advised, sometimes helpfully, often not, by three of her own inner voices played by Alice Mulford (Good Woman of Setzuan), Emma Sterry (choreographer for Godspell) and Tonya Walton (The Woman Who Cooked Her Husband). As an intense piece of physical theatre, full of music and dance, it wowed the audiences and Kerry took it on herself to develop the piece and take it to Edinburgh with her own theatre company Friction Theatre (visit their blog).

Keeping the same cast, also including Owen Goode (Good Woman of Setzuan, Godspell) and Alana Ramsey (Good Woman of Setzuan), and director Steph Weller (Skylight) the new improved piece has been in preparation for months, received a preview performance at the Midlands Arts Centre in Birmingham and the entire crowd arrived in Edinburgh last night ready for the first performance this evening. If you're in that part of the country, you can see them as the Rocket @ Demarco Roxy Art House at 10.45pm each evening. Alternatively, YouTube has a video of the show as seen at Progress.

If you're a writer and want more information about Progress' Writer's Group, please contact us at enquiries@progresstheatre.co.uk

Cage from People in Cages up for auction

Just a few months ago, Progress Theatre put on a double-bill production of the plays Decadence and People in Cages. For the latter play, Patrick, Rik and Geoff spent several evening cutting steel tubing and welding it all together to make a huge steel cage.

Well, now it's up for auction on eBay!

If you want to take a look or make a bid, please visit http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170134745960&ssPageName=ADME:L:LCA:UK:31

Tell you friends about this once in a lifetime opportunity to have a real piece of Progress Theatre history.

Midsummer Night's Dream a hit

Progress Theatre's yearly open-air Shakespeare in the Abbey Ruins is running until 28 July and so far has seen fair skies and bright reviews.

A F Harrold, is his review was particularly impressed by this memorable production, praising the strength of the cast.

So, if you haven't got tickets yet, hurry up because they're almost sold out. If you can't see the Dream, you can still have the chance to see some of the members of the cast in future Progress shows. Three of the mechanicals are appearing in Woman in Mind in September while fairies, including Puck, will doff their Fairy robes and don altogether different garments for The Veil in October. Keep an eye out for updates on both these plays here and on the Progress website.

Woman in Mind - casting update

Hooray! We have a full cast again. Kevin Hallett, who was to play Susan's dream brother, Tony, has agreed to try out the role of sexy husband, Andy. Trevor Dale, meanwhile, has been stolen from the cast of A Midsummer Night's Dream to take on the Tony role. He was particularly keen to be cast when I mentioned to him that he got to shoot Matt, playing Bill. One wonders how well all the mechanicals in Dream actually got on with each other!

So, the full and final cast list is as follows, together with a reminder of where you might have seen them before:

Susan - Ali Carroll (co-director of Progress Youth Theatre)
Bill - Matt Stevens (in Dream as Snug the Lion and previously in People in Cages at Progress)
Andy - Kevin Hallett (in Dream as the lead mechanical and previously in Decadence at Progress)
Lucy - Rebecca Mills (a newcomer to the Progress stage)
Tony - Trevor Dale (in Dream as the Wall and previously in Far Side at 21 South Street and the Brighton theatre festival)
Gerald - Barrie Armstrong (his Progress debut, but is currently appearing in Henry V at South Hill Park)
Muriel - Liz Paulo (a Progress regular and lat seen in Good Woman of Setzuan)
Rick - Michael Beakhouse (another newcomer to the Progress stage)

Woman in Mind - cast report

I thought I'd spare a moment to say something about my wonderful cast. Most of them are experienced players, although not all have trod the Progress stage before, and some haven't been seen for a while. Matt Stevens, though, who plays Bill, will be familiar to anyone who's seen A Midsummer Night's Dream in the Abbey Ruins this year.

In that play, he got to play Snug, the joiner, who emerges as the roaring lion. Here, he's playing an equally fearsome doctor, ineffectually trying to care for Susan after her bump on the head. He can't accuse me of type-casting, however, since the last time I saw him was when we were working together on People in Cages. There he got the chance to play a Killer, locked in a cage, pacing like a trapped animal. Maybe he was type-cast in the Dream instead...

More to come, including yet more members of the talented Dream cast. Have you seen that show yet? Make sure to book your tickets soon!

Woman in Mind - rehearsal update

While the search continues for a new Andy (things are looking promising, but no announcements yet) rehearsals are continuing with the other members of the cast. The play is useful in this respect, with Susan's life mostly split down the middle between fantasy and reality, it's possible to rehearse with only have the cast at once.

On Saturday, we had a really productive rehearsal with just Ali (playing Susan), Barrie (Gerald) and Michael (Rick). We looked at a couple of key scenes that we've been working on a little bit, but this time we really took them apart and started adding the subtleties that go towards a great production. It was really gratifying at such an early stage to be able to have my cast giving their all to get the highs and lows of the family arguments that are the centre of this play. Any nervousness I had about whether it would all work out come performance night, what with the Andy difficulties, suddenly dissipated and while there's still lots more to do, some key scenes now have a real emotional kick to them.

Even better, the humour, which lies underneath all the bitter fighting between family members is starting to come out naturally, without having to push it. It's gratifying that I can be made to laugh at the script all over again with just some subtle gestures by my cast and that they're going to be able to make this complex play funny without having to resort to farce. Hooray for good play-writing!

Woman in Mind - the story so far

So, here's my first post about Ayckbourn's Woman in Mind, which I'm directing and which goes on at the end of September. Rehearsals started a few weeks ago, so there's already been plenty happening and this is just a quick post to introduce the play

We've had a few rehearsals, and it's already going well with a solid and experienced cast. But who are my cast? Well, here's the official list (in order of appearance)
Susan - Ali Carroll
Bill - Matt Stevens
Andy - not yet filled!
Lucy - Rebecca Mills
Tony - Kevin Hallet
Gerald - Barrie Armstrong
Muriel - Liz Paulo
Rick - Michael Beakhouse

As you can see, there's a spot missing. It was filled, with Richard Tripp in the role of Andy, but he just got a call from his sister last weekend to announce that she had decided to get married during the run... in France! So, I'm a man short. However, there's stil plenty of time and the role isn't a huge one. Plenty of people who might fill it and plenty of time to work with them before the performance. Stressed, who's stressed? I wasn't until I got a call from Rebecca just after Richard dropped to say she was on crutches after treading on some glass. Yikes, poor Lucy! But, she's on the mend and as long as nobody breaks an arm, we're fine.

I look at as though every play has it's share of bad luck, so it's good to get mine out of the way early on. Be nothing but clear sailing from here on in (touch wood).

Welcome

This is the first post for the new Progress Theatre blog. On this blog we'll be providing news and updates on everything going on at Progress as well as reports on how rehearsals for the different shows are going. Please join in the fun by signing up for email updates, either on the main Progress Theatre mailing list or by entering your email address into the box on the left.