The Love Of The Nightingale

Before dropping in on a rehearsal I didn't know much about The Love of the Nightingale except that it is based on a Greek legend and is written by Timberlake Wertenbaker who wrote Our Country's Good.


I discovered that the play tells the story of Philomela who following, a violent assault, uses life size dolls to act out what happened to her. This explained the slightly scary rag doll sitting in an empty chair in the auditorium. In the story Philomela spends many years making the dolls but the props team have had only a few weeks to make their own versions.

The production is being staged in traditional Greek costume so the costumes will be relatively easy to make. Although the way producer Liz Carroll was explaining the 'simple' way the the cast will have to drape and tie their robes I hope they haven't got too many quick changes.

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.

Auditions for New Directors' Double Bill Wednesday 5th December, 7.30pm or Sunday 9th December 2pm, Progress Theatre

Progress Youth Theatre presents For the Love of a Nightingale by Timberlake Wertenbaker 10th -15th December 2012, Progress Theatre

The Fifth Elephant by Stephen Briggs based on the book by Terry Pratchett 17th - 26th January 2013, Progress Theatre

Details of all our productions and auditions can be found on our website.

Meet the marketing manager

This week's post is the first in an occasional series looking at the people who run Progress Theatre -  the management committee. Progress has charitable status and is entirely managed by a team of volunteers elected annually by the members.

Abby Salter sits on the management committee as the marketing manager and I met up with her over a cup of coffee to discuss her role. She originally joined the theatre to get involved with the writers' group but after agreeing to look after the marketing for The Women of Lockerbie she has not looked back and this is now her fifth year as marketing manager. She has even gone on to get a level 4 qualification from the Chartered Institute of Marketing.

Abby relaxing during a break from the theatre
 

The role of the marketing manager is to look at the marketing and branding of the theatre as a whole but Abby also co-ordinates the marketing activities of each show. Each production has its own dedicated marketing person (also a volunteer of course!) but Abby handles the press contacts to maintain consistency over the season. There is a marketing schedule for each production to make sure that nothing is forgotten. There is also a small team of people who do regular marketing jobs across the season like putting up displays in the library and  maintaining the website.

Selling a show is much easier if it is something people want to see anyway (or it is on the school curriculum and they have to see it!). As marketing manager Abby doesn't have a direct say on what plays are put on in a season but the management committee takes an overall view on the plays put forward by the play production committee. The ideal is to have a mixture of well-known popular pieces combined with some more challenging works.

Abby is clearly excited by all aspects of marketing and gets a real buzz from watching people coming out after a show they've enjoyed and feeling that they came along as a result of marketing. She is proud of increasing average seat sales form 59.8% to 67% over her time in office.

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.

Auditions for Little Shop of Horrors by Howard Ashman. Wednesday 21st November 7.30 to 10.30 pm plus Saturday 24 November 2 to 5pm (Main characters and call-backs)

Auditions for New Directors' Double Bill Wednesday 5th December, 7.30pm or Sunday 9th December 2pm, Progress Theatre

Progress Youth Theatre presents For the Love of a Nightingale by Timberlake Wertenbaker 10th -15th December 2012, Progress Theatre

The Fifth Elephant by Stephen Briggs based on the book by Terry Pratchett 17th - 26th January 2013, Progress Theatre

Details of all our productions and auditions can be found on our website.

WriteFest - a Writer's View

In last week's post I described the process of choosing the plays to be perforned and I thought  this week it would be interesting to talk to one of the writers.

I contacted Owen Goode as I'd heard that his play Skimming Stones had been the most popular choice among the potential directors. I was therefore surprised to learn that it was the first play he's written. It features a man who returns to his family home for a funeral after a prolonged absence and is about the different ways people deal with loss, and the subtle way relationships change. A lot to pack into a short piece and that was Owen's original challenge to himself in writing the play, to see if he could squeeze a complete drama with a lot of backstory into ten minutes.

Although this is the first play he has written Owen has had plenty of experience in performing other people's work. At Progress he played Richard Hannay in The 39 Steps and was the Angel Islington in Neverwhere. He also appeared in a play called My Voices(s) which was originally performed at the very first WriteFest in 2006 and then went to the Edinburgh Fringe in 2007.

Owen as Richard Hannay in The 39 Steps (although he claims this is how he always dresses to write)
 

So how does it feel to be on the other side of the fence? Some writers find it very difficult to let go and allow a director and cast a free rein with their work. Owen did admitt that it can be difficult to put your trust in other people to handle something you've made but, while willing to rewrite or clarify if requested, he was able to keep in the background. He has now seen a run through at the technical rehearsal and is very happy with the end result. He can see another layer of creativity spread thickly on top of  his script and even  some very nice moments coming out that he's sure he didn't put there.

He doesn't think first night nerves will compare to going on stage as an actor - after all it is out of his control now - but there may still be a slight jitter in the background wondering what the audiences will think...

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.

7th Annual WriteFest 14th - 17th November 2012, Progress Theatre

Auditions for Little Shop of Horrors by Howard Ashman. Saturday 17 November 2 to 5pm or
Wednesday 21st November 7.30 to 10.30 pm plus Saturday 24 November 2 to 5pm (Main characters and call-backs)

Auditions for New Directors' Double Bill Wednesday 5th December, 7.30pm or Sunday 9th December 2pm, Progress Theatre

Progress Youth Theatre presents For the Love of a Nightingale by Timberlake Wertenbaker 10th -15th December 2012, Progress Theatre

The Fifth Elephant by Stephen Briggs based on the book by Terry Pratchett 17th - 26th January 2013, Progress Theatre

Details of all our productions and auditions can be found on our website.

7th Annual WriteFest

I couldnt resist this photo of WriteFest director Stuart Merrall painting some stage urinals for his play Toilet. I should start a new series 'Things you never thought you'd find yourself doing'.

 

 

There were other directors busy making props - reupholstering chairs with sheets, installing a lifebuoy and creating a gameshow host's podium from a dream. As you can see quite a varied range of plays at this years WriteFest and co-producer Matt Drury explained to me the process of whittling down the 74 submitted plays to the final 7 chosen for performance.

Submissions are sent to Matt who skim reads them all to check they meet the entry requirements particularly that they shouldn't be longer than 20 minutes in performance. He also runs some Internet searches on key phrases to check the plays are all original work. He then removes the author's name from the scripts and sends them to Progress Play Production Committee for assessment.

Everyone on the committee reads every play and gives them a ranking based on 'gut feeling' and also ones on more specific technical aspects like the strength of the opening, characters and plot. These individual rankings are then fed into the WriteFest Web System created by Progress member Chris Hoult which gives each play an overall score. The top 12 plays are then considered as a shortlist and from this plays are chosen to create a balanced evening's entertainment finishing between 10 and 10.15pm.

Once the plays are chosen anyone who has expressed an interest in directing for WriteFest is sent all the scripts and asked to submit a proposal outlining their ideas for up to three of the plays. Matt and his co-producer Emily Goode make the final decision about who will direct what. Then the fun starts trying to co-ordinate rehearsal space, props and set designs.


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.

7th Annual WriteFest 14th - 17th November 2012, Progress Theatre

Auditions for Little Shop of Horrors by Howard Ashman. Saturday 17 November 2 to 5pm or
Wednesday 21st November 7.30 to 10.30 pm plus Saturday 24 November 2 to 5pm (Main characters and call-backs)

Auditions for New Directors' Double Bill Wednesday 5th December, 7.30pm or Sunday 9th December 2pm, Progress Theatre

Progress Youth Theatre presents For the Love of a Nightingale by Timberlake Wertenbaker 10th -15th December 2012, Progress Theatre

The Fifth Elephant by Stephen Briggs based on the book by Terry Pratchett 17th - 26th January 2013, Progress Theatre

Details of all our productions and auditions can be found on our website.