The face behind outdoor Shakespeare in Reading

Peter Cockman joined Progress Theatre in 1974 but even before then he was involved with Berkshire Shakespeare Players, an amateur company that put on an annual Shakespeare productions in the abbey ruins. His claim to fame is he played along side Kate Winslet's father in Measure for Measure.

Peter wearing his crew t-shirt at the recent Progress AGM

Peter joined Progress when he was headhunted to play Hamm in Endgame after the actor originally cast "couldn't hack it" and pulled out after only two weeks of rehearsals. Peter was cast after being auditioned over the phone and clearly was more than able to hack it.

Peter was in the RAF until 1968 and acted and directed all round the world. He spent three years in Malta and belonged to the prestigious Malta Amateur Dramatic Club (MADC). He directed and appeared in several Shakespeare plays with MADC including playing Malvolio in Twelfth Night. MADC are still going strong and their latest production is Much ado About Nothing (outdoors of course).

After the Berkshire Shakespeare Players stopped putting on productions at the abbey ruins a professional production company called MDM took on the space. (Peter claims it stands for Make don't Measure after the production of King Lear when they miscalculated the height of some levels on the stage which meant the actors needed to have very long legs or be good at jumping.) Reading Borough Council only allowed MDM to use the ruins on condition that they involved Progress Theatre in the productions. The first show was Henry V and Peter's involvement was selling coke and crisps - all the bar ran to in those days. Things have moved on since then and if you come to this year's production you'll be able to buy cocktails!

Over the next few years Progress put on the plays while MDM organised everything around it including sets and costumes. Peter's involvement grew and he had parts in Macbeth and King Lear and co-directed Much Ado About Nothing . The crunch came in 1999 when MDM decided to pull out and Progress had to make a decision whether to run the whole event ourselves. Peter had long discussions with Jon Churchill, who is also still very much involved in Progress and they decided to go ahead. It was a huge risk and Peter now says they probably wouldn't have done it if they'd realised quite what a big job they were taking on.

The rest is history and over the years Progress produced many successful and profitable productions in the beautiful Abbey Ruins until they were finally declared unsafe and closed off in 2008. After a two year break Progress returned to open air Shakespeare with The Tempest at Caversham Court in 2011. This was by necessity much lower key than the abbey ruin's Shakespeares, the audience bringing their own chairs or sitting on the grass rather than installed banks of seating. Peter says that he was initially against this as it seemed like a step backwards but now thinks it has worked. The event is much easier to organise and there is less financial risk.

Caversham Court Gardens before Macbeth dress rehearsal, backdrop to my interview

Peter's role is executive producer which he describes as doing everything no-one else wants to do like hiring toilets, ordering the staging and being available during the day to take deliveries. I should mention that Peter is also the treasurer for Progress Theatre although after many years in the role he is now training up a replacement. I asked if he was also planning to retire from the open air Shakespeare. "I'll see how I feel at Christmas" was his reply.... 

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Macbeth Thursday 18th to Saturday 27th July 2013 at 7.45pm, Caversham Court Gardens

Informal read through of Writefest plays,  Sunday 4th August 7.30pm. Progress Theatre

Writefest auditions, Wednesday 28th August 7.30pm, Progress Theatre

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

Henry IV - the show goes on

You may have noticed that we haven't been having great weather this summer but in the best British tradition the show will go on - whatever the weather.

The first night of Henry IV part One in the Caversham Court Gardens was particularly wet but the hardy souls who had pre-booked all turned up dressed for the rain. We decided to give them some shelter by moving the box-office gazebo down to the stage area.

The cast all donned transparent ponchos to protect their costumes and performed a 'wet weather' version of the show with some of the more risky sword fights cut. Unfortunately the weather got even worse and they weren't able to carry on after the interval.

There have been some much better evenings and some performances the sun has even put in an appearance. Everyone who has seen the show has been enthusiastic - even when the weather was bad. The weather forecast is looking good for tomorrow evening (Wednesday 18th July) and we have decided to run a special promotion. Anyone who pre-books for Wednesday night will get £5 off their ticket price. You can still come on the door but the discount won't apply.

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 -

Henry IV Part One by William Shakespeare, 12th - 21st July 2012, Caversham Court Gardens

Auditions for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead by Tom Stoppard Sunday 29th July 2012, 1pm and Tuesday 31st July 7.30pm, both at Progress Theatre

Calendar Girls by Tim Firth, 13th - 22nd September 2012, Progress Theatre

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

Henry IV Dress rehearsal

Henry IV Part One, this year's out-door Shakespeare production, starts this Thursday 12th July and runs until Saturday 21st at Caversham Court Gardens. Monday night was a dress rehearsal and press night so I had a bit of a sneak preview of what it will all look like. The stage remains in position during the whole run but everything else like the tents needed for actors and props has to be put up and taken down each night.

Caversham Gardens are a beautiful setting for productions; the stage sits next to the river and among the mature trees. The trees are put to more than decorative use as they are used to hold the lights that enable the audience to get a good view of the dramatic battle scenes in the second half as darkness starts to fall.

As well as the actors and stage crew there is an army of willing workers who take on the less glamorous but vital roles like selling tickets, running the bar and selling programmes. Dress rehearsals are an opportunity for them to run through their procedures and make sure they have everything in place.

Production team checking what they need in the box 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.

Coming up -

Henry IV Part One by William Shakespeare, 12th - 21st July 2012, Caversham Court Gardens

Auditions for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead by Tom Stoppard Sunday 29th July 2012, 1pm and Tuesday 31st July 7.30pm, both at Progress Theatre

Calendar Girls by Tim Firth, 13th - 22nd September 2012, Progress Theatre

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

Trying on Henry IV costumes

What’s Wrong With Angry? By Patrick Wilde starts today and runs until Saturday 7th July. See last week's blog for details.



Shi being laced into her lady in waiting costume

The theatre is very busy getting ready for our annual Shakespeare production in the beautiful Caversham Court Gardens. This year we are presenting Henry IV, Part One in full period costume. Most of the costumes have been hired from a company called History in the Making who have a treasure trove of a warehouse near Portsmouth full of weapons, army vehicles, obsure props and of course a whole range of costumes.

Matt Tully showing off his Henry IV costume

The costumes arrived at the theatre on Saturday and were sorted out by the wardrobe team headed by Liz Paulo and Louise Butland. They were all ready for the actors to try on Sunday afternoon when a team of volunteers were ready with needle and thread to make any alterations.












We even have chain mail for the battle scenes. These can't really be altered easily and trying them on a couple of the chain mail tunics proved to be too short and would leave the wearers vulnerable in a battle. Liz and Louise will have to try and get some longer ones from the costume company of see if the National Theatre, who are supplying some additional costumes, have any available. We can't have leave our brave knights exposed on stage!

Matt Dury trying on his chain mail

 

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 -

What’s Wrong With Angry? By Patrick Wilde, 2nd - 7th July 2012, Progress Theatre

Henry IV Part One by William Shakespeare, 12th - 21st July 2012, Caversham Court Gardens

Calendar Girls by Tim Firth, 13th - 22nd September 2012, Progress Theatre