From Going Postal to going Polish

The next production at Progress is A couple of poor English-speaking Poles by Dorota Maslowska 1 - 6 March 2010.

Christine Moran who has just finished directing the very successful run of Going Postal is going to be on the stage for A couple of poor English-speaking Poles. As well as being an experienced director Chris is also a trained actor. She appeared most recently in A Right Mouthful by Liz Carroll which was shown at Progress and at the Camden Theatre Festival.

In this production she plays a drunk woman so if you've seen her in the bar she was just researching her character! Her role is fairly small, she is at the very beginning and end and in one other scene so she was able to combine rehearsals with directing Going Postal. The most difficult thing has been finding a time to learn her lines when she wasn't too tired to retain them.

The cast is a mixture of old and new faces at Progress, including another survivor from Going Postal, Matt Drury, who played Igor and Devious Collabone. The play is very episodic, rather like a road movie, so there are large sections of it that Chris hasn't seen yet. She is looking forward to rehearsing a full run of the play so that she can see what everyone else has been up to. Mainly she is just relieved to only have to think about one character rather than thirty seven.

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 ….

The next production is A couple of poor English-speaking Poles by Dorota Maslowska 1 - 6 March 2010.

Intimate Exchanges by Alan Ayckbourn 14 - 24 April 2010

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

Auditions For The Pillowman – Two Heads Are Better Than One

Auditions for The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh are being held at Progress Theatre on Sunday 7 Feb 2.30pm and Wednesday 10 Feb 7.30pm.

The Pillowman is a dark but funny play about a writer in a totalitarian state who is interrogated about the gruesome content of his short stories and their similarities to a number of child-murders. There are four substantial parts for men aged roughly between 30 and 60 and this is an excellent opportunity to get your teeth into a meaty role. Co-director John Goodman is half hoping that there won't be enough people at the auditions so that he has to take one of the parts himself.

The play is being collaboratively directed by Steph Weller and John Goodman. They last worked together directing Taming of the Shrew in the Abbey Ruins in 2008. Individually Steph has directed Life Support, The Woman Who Cooked Her Husband and My Voice(s) at the Edinburgh Festival. John credits include The Crucible and The Tamer Tamed. They are also both experienced actors with Steph appearing most recently in Much Ado About Nothing as Beatrice. 

I asked them what they enjoyed about working together. Steph replied that they tend to interpret things in a similar way, but have enough different ideas to keep it interesting and fresh.  John is good at visualising how things will look and she enjoys working on the characters, drawing out their subtleties and presenting a coherent picture. There is plenty of scope for this sort of work in The Pillowman,  encouraging the actors to explore the dark and violent aspects of their characters without tipping over into melodrama.  John said he likes the fact that Steph brings supplies of Krispy Kremes to rehearsals. 

There is more information about the play at www.progresstheatre.co.uk and at   http://abitabout.com/The+Pillowman.

 

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 ….

Auditions for The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh, Sunday 7 February 2010  and Wednesday 10 February 2010 at Progress Theatre.

The next production is A couple of poor English-speaking Poles by Dorota Maslowska 1 - 6 March 2010. 
 
See www.progresstheatre.co.uk for more details of all our productions and auditions.

 

 

Going Postal in Pictures

Going Postal starts this  Thursday (28th Jan). Over 75% of the seats are already sold so book soon if you want to be sure of seeing it.

 

Mandy King, who plays Greenyham, often takes photos of Progress shows and this one is no exception. This week we've taken advantage of Mandy's photographic skills to give you a taste of the show.

Igor, played by Matt Dury is part of a clan of servants - all called Igor. They have many skills, including surgery.

As well as being heavily involved in set building and other technical aspects of the show Rik Eke plays Gilt, a corporate bad guy.

The final photo shows Lord Vetinari and Moist played by Dan Powell and Owen Goode.

Going Postal by Terry Pratchett adapted by Stephen Briggs runs from
28 January - 6 February 2010 with matinees on 30 January & 6 February 2010. Tickets are available from the Hexagon 0118 9606060.

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 ….

Auditions for The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh, Sunday 7 February 2010  and Wednesday 10 February 2010 at Progress Theatre.

A couple of poor English-speaking Poles by Dorota Maslowska 1 - 6 March 2010. 
 
See www.progresstheatre.co.uk for more details of all our productions and auditions.

Going Postal Takes Shape

The Going Postal crew are catching up with the time lost due to the bad weather (see Going Postal in the snow). According to the rehearsal schedule this weekend should have been technical rehearsals, setting up all the lighting and sound effects and scene changes. However the set is not yet complete so the crew have been working hard to finish off ready for the technical rehearsal now rescheduled for next weekend.

The set design that we saw on screen in December (see Going Postal with Gaffer Tape) is now taking shape on the stage. I was also shown an exciting addition but I have been sworn to secrecy so as not to spoil the surprise at the start of the play.

One big task going on while I was at the theatre was the construction of a massive pile of undelivered letters. The base is about 1.5 m high and covered in chicken wire. Three members of the technical team were sticking and stapling old envelopes to the frame. To give you some idea of the attention to detail on this production hours of painstaking work have been lavished on this letter pile but it will only be seen for a few seconds on the stage.

Going Postal by Terry Pratchett adapted by Stephen Briggs runs from
28 January - 6 February 2010 with matinees on 30 January & 6 February 2010. Tickets are available from the Hexagon 0118 9606060.

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 ….
The next production after Going Postal is A couple of poor English-speaking Poles
by Dorota Maslowska 1 - 6 March 2010
.
See www.progresstheatre.co.uk for more details of all our productions and auditions.

Going Postal in the Snow

Preparations for Going Postal are being disrupted by the current arctic weather. It started before Christmas when Reading came to a standstill and a rehearsal and set building session had to be cancelled.

This week Chris and Aidan Moran (director and artistic director) set out for the theatre on Tuesday but had to turn back as the weather deteriorated. Following the heavy snowfall Wednesday’s rehearsal had to be cancelled.

The cast and crew have been working hard for months on this production and Chris is confident that the quality of the show won’t be affected by these setbacks. She tells us the rehearsals of the acting are going well and they started using props at the weekend. The plan is to start running with the costumes this weekend. So don’t worry the show will go on and with Progress’s nice new heating system we will all keep warm.

Going Postal by Terry Pratchett adapted by Stephen Briggs runs from
28 January - 6 February 2010 with matinees on 30 January & 6 February 2010. Tickets are available from the Hexagon 0118 9606060.

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 ….
The next production after Going Postal is A couple of poor English-speaking Poles
by Dorota Maslowska 1 - 6 March 2010
.
See www.progresstheatre.co.uk for more details of all our productions and auditions.