Bold Girls

Bold Girls is a very emotional and funny play about the relationship between four women and the men in their lives. The men are spoken about and are an important presence in the drama although they are never seen on stage.

It is set in in Belfast in 1989 and the 'troubles' are a background to the action in the play but not its focus. When I was a small child I lived in Northern Ireland as my father, who was in the RAF, was based there. We left in 1970 so that the army could move on to the base.  All the characters in Bold Girls are Catholics who essentially view the British Army as an occupying enemy force. Having grown up influenced by the British military view of Northern Ireland it will be a thought provoking evening for me and others whose experience of the period may have been fear of IRA bombs in English cities.

Aidan's style of directing is to start the rehearsal process by spending time talking about the characters and their relationship to each other and reactions to events in the play. For Bold Girls it included discussing what the characters experiences of the violence might have been.

The cast themselves bring very different memories and experiences to their roles ranging from Libby who is young enough for it all to be just history to Alison who was living in London at the time. Her memory is of it being a scary time but essentially people just got on with life. This is very much the feel of the play. The politics and violence are a constant background but the play's focus is the relationships between the four women.

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Auditions for Lady Windermere’s Fan by Oscar Wilde, Sunday 26th January at 2.30pm or Tuesday 28th January 2014 at 7.30pm, Progress Theatre

Auditions for Not about Heroes  by Stephen MacDonald, Sunday 9th February at 1:30pm or Wednesday 12th February at 7:00pm, Progress Theatre

Bold Girls by Rona Munro. Monday 17th February – Saturday 22nd February 2014

Trainspotting by  Harry Gibson, adapted from the book by Irvine Welsh. Monday 17th – Saturday 22nd March 2014

Full details about out theatre and all our activities can be found on our website.

The sounds of The Wolves of Willoughby Chase

First the photo of the "Briskett" wig I promised in last week's blog.

Geoff Dallimore as Mrs Briskett and Joe Morbey as Kate (photo Kate Eke)

For this week's blog I spoke to Stuart McCubbin who is doing the sound for the production. He said that The Wolves of Willoughby Chase is not a musical but "a play with music and singing". The rights to perform the play included a CD of  recorded music and scores for some of the songs. Stuart recorded himself playing the songs on his guitar. No score was included for old folk songs like "Black is the colour of my true love's hair" so he found performances on YouTube and worked out how to play them.

Many of the sound effects are produced by the actors on stage including the classic coconut shells for horses' hooves. Most impressive is the use of cabasas to make train sounds, although Stuart does augment it with recorded sound especially when the train has to screech loudly to a halt.

Stuart has used additional microphones for this production. There are two at the back of the stage which are mostly so that the cast can hear themselves when they are singing. There are also microphones around the auditorium to give a surround sound effect. Look out for those wolves coming up behind you!

Keeping track of all the sound effects and music cues needs some organisation. Stuart has a thick file with detailed notes of when he needs to play what sounds.

The Wolves of Willoughby Chase runs from 16th to 25th January including matinees on both Saturdays. 



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

Auditions for Lady Windermere’s Fan by Oscar Wilde Sunday 26th January at 2.30pm or Tuesday 28th January 2014 at 7.30pm

Bold Girls by Rona Munro Monday 17th February – Saturday 22nd February 2014

Trainspotting by  Harry Gibson, adapted from the book by Irvine Welsh Monday 17th – Saturday 22nd March 2014

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

The Wolves (and geese) of Willoughby Chase

The Wolves of Willoughby Chase is a story told by a group of children to each other. The set includes a range of toys mainly made by Kate, director Rik Ekes's wife. Normally when Rik is involved in a show his living room is full of bits of metal and wiring waiting to be made into special effects but this time it is full of fur, fluff and wool. Kate has mostly been busy making geese like the two beauties shown below.

In total she has made thirteen geese including some baby ones and yes she made the witch's broom too.

The production team also went on a buying spree to the Christmas Fair at Park United Reformed Church where we hold rehearsals when the theatre is full. They were on the search for pre-loved toys for the set. For a few pounds they managed to get all they needed including this one who definitely looks like she needs a new home.               

I was intrigued to hear about the 'brisket wig' although slightly disappointed to find out it refers to a character not a wig made out of beef. It is made with acrylic wool wrapped wet round a stick and then baked in the oven to make it curly. It was still being worked on but I hope next time I visit for an update I'll be able to get a photo.

The Wolves of Willoughby Chase runs from 16th to 25th January including matinees on both Saturdays. 


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

Bold Girls by Rona Munro Monday 17th February – Saturday 22nd February 2014

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