Cold Comfort Farm

The next production is Cold Comfort Farm adapted by Paul Doust from Stella Gibbons' classic comic novel. Gibbons wrote the novel in 1932, when she was only 22, as a satire of the dramatic, romantic, rural based novels popular at the time.

When I went up to the theatre to see how things were progressing they were rehearsing the ball scene. I walked in to hear the director Ben Sandiford advising his cast to "Spend time with your poles". This is not as strange as it sounds! In order to give the feel of a huge ball they are doubling the number of party goers by giving each human guest a puppet partner - basically a pole with a jacket. At the rehearsal I watched they hadn't yet got the poles but were improvising with coat hangers. Ben was reassuring them that it would be easier when they had the poles as long as they got used to handling them by spending time with them.

To see the finished performance come along to Progress Theatre between the 4th and 9th April.

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Coming up...

Progress Youth Theatre Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons adapted by Paul Doust, 4th - 9th- April 2011

All My Sons by Arthur Miller 5th - 14th May 2011

Enjoy by Alan Bennett 6th - 11th June 2011

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

Teechers making noise

Most productions need some sort of sound effects, in Teechers it is mainly the school bell, rowdy school children and music. The way the play works there are no breaks for stage management to come on and change scenes. When the action switches the actors simply move to a different place on the stage, moving or picking up the props they need. Music will be an important part of making these transitions work smoothly.

Stuart McCubbin will be operating the sound and although Aidan Moran is responsible for sourcing the sound effects and music Stuart has been part of the process as well. He sat in on a rehearsal last weekend and made suggestions about what sounds he thought would be appropriate at different points. He has also contributed a CD box set of 80s music, something he felt showed his age.

When I asked Stuart if he had experience of involvement on the technical side of performances he mentioned operating the lights in a school play using rheostats(*) and a broom handle. Perhaps even less relevant early experiences were playing Father Christmas and leading an on-stage rabble singing the La Marseillaise.

Stuart was drawn into Progress by his children Alex McCubbin and Laura Mills who both started in the youth theatre and are still active members. He hasn't acted himself at Progress but enjoys performing with Reading Bach Choir and hopes to squeeze some of their music into the Teechers soundtrack. Regular visitors to Progress will probably recognise Stuart as he is often to be found manning the bar or working front of house, both roles that he enjoys. Members be warned - there will be more slots to fill for this production as Stuart will be busy.

* I pretended to know what Stuart was talking about and then looked it up here later. It even tells you how they work!

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 Enjoy by Alan Bennett, Sunday 6th March 3pm & Thursday 10th March, 7.30pm Progress Theatre.

Teechers by John Godber 14th to 19th March 2011

Progress Youth Theatre Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons 4th - 9th- April 2011

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