Tuesday 25 May 2010

Beary Tales and Bored Office Drones.

There are still a few days left to catch The Pillowman. It has been getting rave reviews and runs until Saturday 30th May -  don’t miss it! 

June 14th to 19th is Youth Theatre week at Progress Theatre. There are two groups performing, Parcans (11 – 13 year olds) and Strobes (13 – 15). Last Sunday I dropped in on a rehearsal of Beary Tales and Office Drones the Strobes production running 18th and 19th June. They’d been working hard since 10 am and when I arrived were having a well earned lunch break.

Beary Tales and Office Drones is an update of a folk tale, East o the Sun, West o the Moon, based in an office. The office setting was a practical inspiration – co-leader Ali Carroll had some old office equipment that would make good props. The modernization of the original tale has included removing the part of the story where the girl who makes the best job of washing the prince’s shirt gets to marry him! 

As well as acting,the cast have been divided into teams to work on all the other things that have to happen for a production to be a success. The students have been responsible for areas like props, marketing, costumes, lighting and sound design, video recording and editing and script writing. Co-leader Alice Mulford, who set up the teams, said that getting involved in all aspects of the production has “created a sense of ownership. Some have struggled with taking the initiative but others have taken the opportunity and run with it.”

If you are interested in what goes on at Progress Theatre then sign up to this blog. Enter your email in the box under ‘about us’ and click on subscribe. New postings are made weekly so you won’t be swamped with emails.

Coming up...

The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh runs until 29th May 2010

Youth Theatre week - Parcans (11 - 13 year olds) 14th and 15th June "Is This It?"
Strobes (13 - 15 year olds) 18th and 19th June Beary Tales and Bored Office Drones.

Death and The Maiden by Ariel Dorfman 5 - 10 July 2010

See www.progresstheatre.co.uk for details of all our productions and auditions.

Tuesday 18 May 2010

Auditions for Breathing Corpses

The Pillowman opens on Thursday 20th but we are already thinking about next season with auditions for Breathing Corpses by Laura Wade on Sunday 23rd May 2010 at 7.30pm at Progress Theatre and Wednesday 26th May 2010 at 7.30pm in the small hall at Palmer Park.

Breathing Corpses is a series of scenes and monologues based around various linked deaths. It mixes dark humour with a whodunit element but is ultimately about wasted lives, the breathing corpses of the title,  as much as dead bodies. 

Director Carole Brown was in the play herself last year in a production with theatre group Table Nine where she played Elaine. She also co-directed the production and is looking forward to having a bit more stage space as they were performing in one of the small studio theatres at South Hill Park. Breathing Corpses is normally performed on a very stark stage and she is intending to have more of a set for this production. She is also hoping to be able to cast some of the characters with actors closer to the right ages, the youngest character is 19 and the actors available to Table Nine were slightly more mature. 

Carole's first production with Progress was in Going Postal last Christmas where she played Anghammarad and Miss Maccalariat. She heard about the auditions for Going Postal by joining the Progress mailing list. This is a good way keeping up with events at the theatre (apart from reading this blog of course!). You can sign up for the mailing list here. As well as directing Breathing Corpses, Carole has got involved with costumes for The Pillowman and sound design and operation for Death and the Maiden.

If you are interested in what goes on at Progress Theatre then sign up to this blog. Enter your email in the box under ‘about us’ and click on subscribe. New postings are made weekly so you won’t be swamped with emails.

Coming up...

The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh runs from 20th - 29th May 2010

Auditions for Breathing Corpses by Laura Wade. Sunday 23 May 2010 7.30pm Progress Theatre, Wednesday 26 May 2010 7.30pm Palmer Park Church, small hall.

Youth Theatre week - Parcans (12/13 year olds) 14th and 15th June "Is This It?"
Strobes (14/15 year olds) 18th and 19th June Beary Tales and Bored Office Drones.

Death and The Maiden by Ariel Dorfman 5 - 10 July 2010

See www.progresstheatre.co.uk for details of all our productions and auditions.


Sunday 16 May 2010

The Pillowman - toys for the boys

There are strict regulations about using guns in the theatre. All guns, whether they work or not, have to be kept in a locked box. They can only be taken from there to the stage or backstage area. The police also have to be notified when gun shots are to be used during a run. This prevents them sending out an armed response team if a worried neighbour dials 999. 


Stage manager Alex McCubbin unlocked the safety box to show me the guns. There are two used in this production. A replica one used on stage that can't be fired and one that fires blanks for creating sound effects off-stage. The off-stage one is clearly marked with tape so that there is no confusion.

There is also a real axe used during the play. Owen Goode who plays Katurian the writer is not too concerned about handling the axe as he practices Kung-fu where he works with 3ft and 6ft sticks.

The Pillowman runs from 20th - 29th May 2010

If you are interested in what goes on at Progress Theatre then sign up to this blog. Enter your email in the box under ‘about us’ and click on subscribe. New postings are made weekly so you won’t be swamped with emails.

Coming up...

Auditions for Breathing Corpses by Laura Wade. Sunday 23 May 2010 7.30pm Progress Theatre, Wednesday 26 May 2010 7.30pm Palmer Park Church, small hall.

Youth Theatre week - Parcans (12/13 year olds) 14th and 15th June "Is This It?"
Strobes (14/15 year olds) 18th and 19th June Beary Tales and Bored Office Drones.

Death and The Maiden by Ariel Dorfman 5 - 10 July 2010

See www.progresstheatre.co.uk for details of all our productions and auditions.

Monday 10 May 2010

Wiring The Pillowman


Husband and wife team Martin and Heather Noble spent their weekend set building for The Pillowman. As well as the usual carpentry and painting, set building for this show involves a certain amount of electronics. The set includes a bank of television screens that are variously used to represent CCTV cameras or to show scenes as part of the action. This has meant routing new cables from the tech box, at the back of the auditorium, to the stage. This is what Heather and Martin were busy doing on Sunday afternoon. Well, to be honest this is what Martin was doing; Heather, Zsuzsi Kingsnorth (director of the next production Death and the Maiden) and I were chatting, drinking tea and eating rather nice chocolate biscuits.

Heather (who has done lots of work on the set!) told me that she is working on a “need to know basis”. The plot includes several twists and surprises so she has made sure that she only finds out what she needs in order to do a particular job then she can enjoy the show to the full when she comes to see it. On the same basis I won’t tell you any more about the set, you’ll have to come and see for yourself.

If you are interested in what goes on at Progress Theatre then sign up to this blog. Enter your email in the box under ‘about us’ and click on subscribe. New postings are made weekly so you won’t be swamped with emails.

Coming up...

The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh 20 - 29 May 2010

Death and The Maiden by Ariel Dorfman 5 - 10 July 2010

See www.progresstheatre.co.uk for details of all our productions and auditions.