Tuesday 22 May 2012

A Special Night

The next main production at Progress Theatre is Mine by Polly Teale starting on the 11th June. Director Chris Moran has given herself the additional challenges of training to run in the Race for Life on 20th June and helping to organise a one-off evening at the theatre on 25th May, both to raise money for Cancer Research UK.

The theatre evening on Friday is open to all and is by  donation (min £5) on the door. The evening is a tribute to two Progress Members, Val Patchett and Anne McCubbin who lost their lives to cancer. Both women were very creative and the evening will be a celebration of this.

Val was a founder member of the Progress writers group and would be very proud of the many successful plays and writers that have come out of the group over the years. Her one-act play Way Out was first performed at Progress in 1999 and went on to win three awards at the Kenton drama festival. It will be performed again on Friday as part of this special evening. As well as writing Val was always busy behind the scenes with marketing or stage management, she even appeared on-stage as the dormouse in her own adaptation of Alice in Wonderland.

The (incomplete) set for Friday's performance of 'Way Out'

Anne was also a writer and there will be readings of her short stories and poems during the evening as well as a sale of her beautiful hand-made jewellery. Anne was a very supportive member of the theatre and could often be found working in the box-office. Her two children, Alex and Laura came through the theatre's youth groups and are both still active members along with her husband Stuart.

If you need any more incentive to come along on Friday there will be a cake raffle! If you are able to bring a cake to contribute to the raffle prizes you will be even more welcome.... Doors open 7.15 for 7.45pm start.

All proceeds will be going to Cancer Research UK, via the Race for Life which Laura Mills, Abby Salter and Chris are running on 20th June. If you can't make the evening but would still like to donate please go to www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/progress-girls.

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Coming up -

Mine by Polly Teale 11th - 16th June 2012, Progress Theatre

Henry IV Part One by William Shakespeare, 12 Jul - 21 Jul 2012, Caversham Court Gardens

Friday 11 May 2012

Mindgame running up against a brick wall

Instead of being shown on consecutive nights like other Progress productions, Mindgame is running Thursday - Saturday over two weekends with a break in between. Producer Steph Weller explained a bit about the thinking behind this change. Most productions at Progress run for either six or nine nights. The nine night runs are used for plays that are expected to be very popular and therefore justify the expense of paying the rights for the extra nights. The advantage of a nine night run is that people who come on the first weekend and enjoy it can tell other people, giving time for a buzz to build up about the production encouraging more people to come on the second weekend (weekends being the better selling performances). Six night runs normally start on a Monday, and if the earlier nights don't sell out there is less opportunity for word of mouth to build.
The other advantage of the split performance dates is that cast and crew get a longer break during the run, although the potential downside is that they could forget their lines or just lose a bit of the spark built up during the previous performances. Director Christopher Hoult has therefore decided to have an extra rehearsal for the actors without the lighting and sound on the Tuesday. He will though resist the temptation to make any mid-run changes to the performances!



When I met her on Sunday, Steph also made the slightly bizarre statement that she now detests brick walls. What she meant was she detests having to paint them. The brick wall seen through the window on the right of this photo has been painted in, and because of the window frame in front any deviation from a straight line would be obvious. It therefore had to be painted very carefully with the aid of a long piece of wood and a spirit level. 

Everything is ready for the opening night on Thursday apart from one last effect for which the production crew are awaiting materials. All Steph would say was thank goodness for the bank-holiday!

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 -
Mindgame by Anthony Horowitz 10th-12th May and 17th-19th May 2012, Progress Theatre

Auditions for Calendar Girls, by Tim Firth, Sunday 13th (2:30pm) and Wednesday 16th May (7:30pm), Progress Theatre

Mine by Polly Teale 11th - 16th June 2012, Progress Theatre

Henry IV Part One by William Shakespeare, 12 Jul - 21 Jul 2012, Caversham Court Gardens