Intimate Exchanges with the cast

Intimate Exchanges is an exciting challenge for the cast. There are only two of them - Tonya Walton and Dan Clarke and they play two different characters each. A play with a small cast is always going to mean more lines to learn but in this case there are two whole plays to learn as during the run they are alternating A Gardener in Love with The Self Improving Woman. Keeping track of which play they are doing can be a challenge in itself.

Dan Clarke enjoyed acting while growing up but gave up the practical side of it when he moved to Reading to study film and drama at the university. He now manages a betting shop and after years of boring his friends by talking about  how much he missed acting he finally put his money where his mouth is and found his way to Progress Theatre. He played three different parts in Going Postal and was then cast in Intimate Exchanges, which is, he says completely different ...

Tonya Walton first appeared on the Progress stage in The Woman Who Cooked Her Husband in 2005. Last year she was in The Dianalogues and Popcorn.

I asked if it was difficult switching between the two characters in Intimate Exchanges.  Tonya and Dan agreed that it wasn't too hard as the characters have very different accents and personalities. What they have to be aware of is small gestures which may be a trademark of one character but they don't want to spill over into the portrayal of the other one. Tonya has a particularly interesting scene  in The Self Improving  Woman where she has to portray a fight between the two female characters - that has got to be worth the price of a ticket!

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 ….

Intimate Exchanges by Alan Ayckbourn 14 - 24 April 2010

Auditions for The Merry Wives of Windsor by Shakespeare Sunday 18 April, Progress Theatre, 2.00 p.m. and Wednesday 21 April, Park United Reformed Church, Palmer Park Avenue, 7.30 p.m. Call Back: Sunday 25th April Progress Theatre 2.00p.m. (Performance dates 26th - 31st July). Please note that for this production you must be 16 or older to audition.

The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh 20 - 29 May 2010

See www.progresstheatre.co.uk for details of all our productions and auditions.