Progress Youth Theatre and Absurdist Blogging

Progress Youth Theatre are presenting a double bill of Absurdist drama from 9th to 14th December. The evening features After Magritte by Tom Stoppard and The Bald Prima Donna by Eugène Ionesco.

In homage to the Absurdist style I thought I would make this week's blog nothing to do with their production. To be honest I went along to the regular Monday evening youth theatre session assuming I would be able to catch a rehearsal when there wasn't, and always ready to inform you about different aspects of Progress Theatre, I decided to write about the session I watched instead.

The session was run by Ben Sandiford, Youth Theatre leader and professional actor and director. He started off with warm up and breathing exercises. He then talked about an exercise he was going to teach them. He warned them that it was very powerful and they should never do it more than once a day. It can release adrenalin and serotonin and may make you feel invincible.

They were intrigued and so was I. What they had to do was go through seven different arm positions and in each one clench their fists forty-nine times. A few phones came out to calculate that is 343 fist clenches. Ben warned them that by the end it would be very painful. Writing this down it sounds like some bizarre form of child torture but I assure you they were free to stop at any time (although none of them did). 

Checking  arms at the end of the fist clenching exercise

At the end they all seemed exhilarated and they then went on to do some powerful exercises where they had to form shapes with other people and think about what Ben called the 'physical centre'. Ben explained that this work is about building up the actor's awareness and control on stage and is a grounding for mask work that he will be doing later with group.

I was very impressed with the maturity and commitment of the group. 

In the next blog I will bring you an update on the Absurdist Double Bill - unless I decide to write about goldfish or fried eggs....

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Jazz at Progress Theatre: Steve Waterman Quartet, Friday 22nd November 2013, 7.30pm

Progress Youth Theatre, An Absurdist Double Bill Monday 9th – Saturday 14th December 2013, 7.45pm, Progress Theatre

Jazz at Progress: Hugh Turner Quintet featuring Brandon Allen, Friday 20th December 2013, 7.30pm

The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, by Joan Aiken, adapted by Russ Tunney Thursday 16th January - Saturday 25th January 2014
 

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

Moonlight an Magnolias and an extra production

The theatre was pretty quiet for the Sunday before the start of a run. Normally there would be a final dress rehearsal but the cast and crew of Moonlight and Magnolias have been given the day off. The only people there were stage manager Fiona McNeil and director Liz Carrol putting finishing touches to the set.

Liz assured me that cancelling the final dress rehearsal wasn't over confidence. The cast were definitely ready as they had a press night last Thursday that was at full performance standards. Her only concern had been if any of the technical team needed more time but they all said they were good to go so everyone was given the day off.

The did tell me some exciting news though, co-director Matt Stevens had a production of his own. His wife Nikki gave birth to their first child, Polly, on Friday at the Royal Berks. Matt had popped into the theatre briefly on Sunday but assured me he was on his way straight back to the hospital! He told me that Polly weighed 7lb 14oz and, of course, is lovely.

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Moonlight and Magnolias by Ron Hutchinson Monday 11th – Saturday 16th November 2013, Progress Theatre

Progress Youth Theatre, An Absurdist Double Bill Monday 9th – Saturday 14th December 2013, Progress Theatre

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

Moonlight, Magnolias and Peanuts

The audition notices for Moonlight and Magnolias included the comment that being in the play would not be suitable for actors suffering from peanut allergies. Peanuts feature heavily in the script - the actors eat them, use them as weapons and generally leave them scattered around the stage.

The other food the actors get to eat a lot of during the show is bananas. Old banana skins are also scattered around the stage.

Director Liz Carroll looks on while actor Alison Hill displays their collection of aged banana skins



Some of the food mentioned in the script doesn't have to be eaten on stage so can be made to last longer. Cream cheese bagels have been made by varnishing real bagels and filling them with white plaster.

 

 

Liz said that she has a problem-solving cast and crew, when you come to watch the play see if you can spot the problem they successfully solved using fox's glacier mints.

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 Trainspotting by Harry Gibson, adapted from the book by Irvine Welsh, Wednesday 6th November at 7.30pm or Sunday 10th November 2013 at 2.30pm, Progress Theatre

Moonlight and Magnolias by Ron Hutchinson Monday 11th – Saturday 16th November 2013, Progress Theatre

 

Progress Youth Theatre, An Absurdist Double Bill Monday 9th – Saturday 14th December 2013, Progress Theatre 

 

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

The 8th Annual WriteFest starts this Wednesday and runs until Saturday, although tickets for Friday and Saturday are already sold out.

This is tech weekend when all the lighting, sound and stage management is put into place. With eight different plays to sort out this makes for a long weekend. It started on Friday night with one of the plays, three on Saturday and four on Sunday followed by a full dress rehearsal of the whole production.

For the technical crew there has been quite a lot of waiting around. Each play is allocated a two hour slot for their tech to give time for any problems to be ironed out but of course if things run smoothly and are not too complex they might finish in less than half that time. On the plus side it means the technical team have time to make tea, get something to eat or chat to passing bloggers.

All the plays have to share the same lighting set so to a certain extent directors  have to use a generic positioning of lights but there is enough capacity to include the odd special effect for an individual play. With a very simple set lighting can be a good way to create an atmosphere of time and place.

The other thing that has to be sorted out at the tech rehearsal is moving smoothly from one play to the next. When I was there they were looking at The Invisible Guest and director Stuart Merrall was explaining that the play starts with a pile of pink card (cherry blossoms) in a pile and lightly scattered at the front of the stage. Needless to say the blossom doesn't stay in a neat pile so at the end of the play stage managers Emma Walsh and Rebecca Gibbs have to come on a sweep them all off-stage.

The set for The Invisible Guest, the director was deciding which balloon to go with

Compere for the evening is Jon Speed, who is directing Our Father and was last seen as Captain Carrot, the 6'2" dwarf in The Fifth Elephant. It will be Jon's job to keep the audience informed and entertained during the scene changes. Let's hope for his sake it doesn't take too long to sweep up those blossoms.

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.

The 8th Annual WriteFest Thursday 17th - Saturday 19th October 2013, Progress Theatre

Auditions for Bold Girls,  Sunday 20th October at 7pm or Tuesday 22nd October at 7.30pm, Progress Theatre. There is also a pre-audition accent workshop Monday 14th October at Park United Reformed Church

Auditions for Trainspotting by Harry Gibson, adapted from the book by Irvine Welsh, Wednesday 6th November at 7.30pm or Sunday 10th November 2013 at 2.30pm, Progress Theatre

Moonlight and Magnolias by Ron Hutchinson Monday 11th – Saturday 16th November 2013, Progress Theatre

 

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

WriteFest and the improved auditorium

Preparations for the 8th annual WriteFest are well underway so I arranged to meet with producer Matt Drury to discuss this year's production. One of the roles that Matt and co-producer Emily Goode  take on is acting as key holders. They people in who need to rehearse and stay on the premises to lock up at the end, so he had plenty of time to chat to me while Three Small Words were rehearsing.

There were about 65 plays submitted to WriteFest this year and this was whittled down to eight by the producers and Play Production Committee (an elected group of Progress members who organise the season of plays). The plays are chosen with the authors name removed and it is not revealed until all the plays for the evening have been picked. Submissions are open to anyone in he UK and Ireland. The geographical limit was introduced a couple of years ago after the call for plays ended up on an American website leading to more entries than we could cope with.

I wanted to sit in for a bit of the Three Small Words rehearsal partly to have a peek at the refurbished auditorium and partly because I'd been told it contained face licking. I didn't get to see any face licking but I did get to try out the new, more evenly spaced seats.

WriteFest co-producer Matt trying out the reinstalled seats.

An important part of the Writefest evening is the compere who introduces each play and entertains the audience during changes between plays. The producers are still looking for a confident person to full this role. It doesn't necessarily need to be someone who can deliver gags but they should be engaging and able to give a polished performance. If you think you fit the bill and would like to have a go then contact Matt and Emily on writefest@progresstheatre.co.uk.

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 The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, Tuesday 24th September 2013 at 7.30pm or Sunday 29th September 2013 at 10am, Progress Theatre

Jazz at Progress, Neal Meets Steele, Friday 27th September 2013 7.30, Progress Theatre

The 8th Annual WriteFest Thursday 17th - Saturday 19th October 2013, Progress Theatre

Auditions for Bold Girls,  Sunday 20th October at 7pm or Tuesday 22nd October at 7.30pm, Progress Theatre. There is also a pre-audition accent workshop Monday 14th October at Park United Reformed Church

 

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