Thursday 26 July 2007

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.


Friday 20 July 2007

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.

Tuesday 17 July 2007

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)

Monday 16 July 2007

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!

Sunday 15 July 2007

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!

Thursday 12 July 2007

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).

Wednesday 11 July 2007

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.