Of Mice and Men - the finishing touches

Tickets for Of Mice and Men are selling fast. Monday 14th and Tuesday 15th are already sold out and other nights have only a few seats left. If you want to be sure of seeing it you will have to book in advance.

Progress Blog popped into a rehearsal on Sunday and preparations are well advanced. Notes from director Joe Haynes mostly concentrated on people getting details right like shutting doors at the right time and making sure they were wearing a hat when they came in from the supposedly blazing sun. People do notice these details and as Joe said "audiences love to see things going wrong - I don't!"

The actors were all looking the part in jeans and cowboy boots. Producer Heidi Ashton, watching from the audience, had also got into the mood and taken on the role of a good American housewife. She was busy hand stitching stuffed mattresses to go on the bunk beds.

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...

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck Thursday 10th to Saturday 19th February 2011

Auditions for this year's outdoor Shakespeare The Tempest, Sunday 20th and Tuesday 22nd February 2011.

Teechers by John Godber 14th to 19th March 2011

See Progress Theatre website for details of all our productions and auditions.

All My Sons Auditions

Auditions for All My Sons by Arthur Miller are on Wednesday January 26^th 7.30 pm and Sunday January 30th. 7.pm both at Progress Theatre.

Over the years Progress have performed several Arthur Miller plays. The Crucible has been the most popular being put on in 1956, 1984 and 2004. Death of a salesman was produced in 1966 and then thirty years later in 1996. We have also done A view from the bridge (1983) and The last Yankee(1998) was directed by Harry Gray who is returning to Miller to direct All My Sons.

All My Sons was was one of Miller's earliest plays. He wrote it in 1947 after his previous play had been a flop on Broadway and had said that if it wasn't successful he would give up writing. Thankfully it was successful, winning a number of awards.

Harry Gray has directed and appeared in many productions since joining Progress in 1963. He most recently directed Four Nights in Knaresborough in 2008. This was set in the medieval period and involved chain mail, full helmets and big swords. (The photo shows a publicity shot with Harry standing in as a knight second from right.)  All My Sons is set in the 1940s so the costumes should be easier for the actors to handle although they will have to get to grips with an American accent. All the parts in the play are strong, it is a powerful piece with plenty for actors to get their teeth into. Harry describes it as a condemnation of anti-social behaviour that starts of gently and builds up to a devastating conclusion.  

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 All My Sons by Arthur Miller Wednesday January 26^th 7.30 pm  and Sunday January 30^th  7 pm

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck Thursday 10th to Saturday 19th February 2011

Auditions for this year's outdoor Shakespeare The Tempest, Sunday 20th and Tuesday 22nd February 2011.

Teechers by John Godber 14th to 19th March 2011

See Progress Theatre website for details of all our productions and auditions.

The Ash Girl and the Glutton Toad

For this week's blog I interviewed Helen Bryant who plays the Glutton Toad, one of the seven deadly sins featured in The Ash Girl. Helen described her costume as "very pink and very fat". The deadly sins also wear masks representing their characters. The mask covers the top half of the face depriving the actor of the use of their eyes in showing emotions and thoughts. Helen has acted in masks before, once at school where she played the angel of death, and in a short play in WriteFest at Progress. In the WriteFest play, Home News she played a man and a woman where for the male character she used a mask and for the female one she didn't. This meant that not only did she have to remember her lines and who was supposed to be saying them she also had to think about whether she should be wearing the mask or not! 

An access officer at Reading Borough Council during the day, in her spare time Helen is an active member of Progress. Her favourite roles have been a gypsy fortune teller in Too Clever by Half (2004) and in Godspell (2005). Her most recent role was as a fish wife in The Tamer Tamed (2008). The photo shows a scene from The Tamer Tamed with Helen being menaced by a bear.

As well as acting at Progress Helen has done some film work. She was an extra in The Sweet Shop starring Gemma Atkinson from Hollyoaks. Helen also had a small role in a local independent film called The Dragon and George. This was made by a group of amateur film makers called TeamTV. Both these opportunities came via contacts she made at Progress Theatre. She is also part of a training group called Spotlight on Diversity that uses drama to work on issues around prejudice and diversity.  

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 Ash Girl by Timberlake Wertenbaker 11th to 16th January 2011

Auditions for All My Sons by Arthur Miller Wednesday January 26^th 7.30 pm  and Sunday January 30^th  7 pm

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck Thursday 10th to Saturday 19th February 2011

Auditions for this years outdoor Shakespeare The Tempest, Sunday 20th and Tuesday 22nd February 2011.

Teechers by John Godber 14th to 19th March 2011

See Progress Theatre website for details of all our productions and auditions.