Neverwhere gets on stage

The set for Neverwhere is quite complex, there are two different height raised platforms, a curved staircase and several entrances. Before WriteFest finished most rehearsals were either in the theatre foyer or in the Palmer Park Church Hall. It is always difficult trying to block scenes (work out where everyone needs to be) before you are in the actual space but it is even more difficult with a set like this. It leads to instructions like 'stand behind them but actually you'll be above them' or 'they are actually coming down stairs while you exit under them'. It takes a lot of imagination when you are actually in an empty room with a few chairs.

Before Christmas the cast were finally able to see the skeleton structure of the set and start to see what director Rik Eke had been talking about.

The technical crew have been very busy over the Christmas break and the whole set is now really coming together and looking great - I'll include a photo in next week's blog.

Following the success with 39 Steps the first night of Neverwhere is going to be a Jelly Third Thursday event. For £10 (with no booking fee) you will get a ticket, pre-show drink and talk. See the Jelly website for details.

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 -

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman,  Adapted by Robert Kauzlaric 19th - 28th January 2012
(There has been a lot of interest in this production from Neil Gaiman fans, tickets are now on sale and selling fast so if you want to be sure of one then book soon.)

Auditions for Mindgame by Anthony Horowitz at Progress Theatre Tuesday 2nd February 2012 7.30pm or  Sunday 5th February 2pm

Art by Yasmina Reza 20th - 25th February 2012

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

WriteFest Tech and Cataloguing Costumes

Last Sunday was technical rehearsal day for WriteFest. With eight sets of sound and lighting requirements, making sure everyone has the right settings and props in the right place at the right time this was a long day for the technicians and stage management.

Also going on in the foyer was the latest day of cataloguing the costumes. Progress has a huge collection of costumes, some of them valuable period pieces, many handmade beautiful costumes and some moth eaten and falling apart. The problem is that there are so many it is very hard to know what we have and where to find it.

Chris Moran has taken on the job of sorting through all the costumes, throwing away the rubbish and creating a database of every single piece. The idea is that it will then be much easier for productions to find what they need and we will be able to hire out costumes to earn some revenue for the theatre. Luckily Chris has lots of willing helpers for this mammoth task including the invaluable Barbara Bentley.

Barbara showing her costume 'bible'
(not that she ever needed to refer to it!)

Barbara was in charge of the wardrobe at Progress for many years and has a wealth of knowledge. She can tell at a glance what period a piece is as well as usually telling us what plays it has been used in, where it came from and who wore it. She made many of the costumes herself including seventeen togas and tunics for the Abbey Ruins production of Julius Caesar.







Cataloguing involves assigning each piece a unique number and a code to indicate what type of costume it is. A photo is then taken showing the number and code, details are entered into a database and a laminated label showing its number is pinned to the costume.

This is the third costume cataloguing Sunday and so far over 100 have been done. There are still many more to do and more days are being planned for the new year. If you would like to get involved then email Chris at cmoran@ntlworld.com



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 -

6th Annual WriteFest 8th - 10th December 2011

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman,  Adapted by Robert Kauzlaric 19th - 28th Jan 2012
(There has been a lot of interest in this production from Neil Gaiman fans, tickets are now on sale and selling fast so if you want to be sure of one then book soon.)

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