Exits in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead

"...look on every exit being an entrance somewhere else"

Exits and entrances are important in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead. The two protagonists are stuck on stage for the entire play while other characters come and go at will. Director Glynn Oram is highlighting this by using doors in the set design. There are going to be several doors of different types some of which open and are working exits/entrances and some of which don't. The set is going to be black with all the doors painted in a variety of colours.

The set build team contemplating where to put the next door

Glynn also wanted some of the characters to have knives - but wooden ones. Ellie Spencer was working on them in the foyer on Sunday afternoon. She had found some wooden knives in the Progress props store but they were covered in silver tape - presumably from a previous production where they wanted them to look more realistic. In this production they need to look like wooden knives. Ellie has stripped the knives back to the wood and painted the blades.

Talking of recycling props I was pleased to see that the Progress beer crates are getting another outing. These have been in use at the theatre for over 40 years and in this production get used as steps and as boxes to transport things for the infamous voyage to England.

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Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead by Tom Stoppard 15th - 20th October 2012, Progress Theatre

Auditions for Rumours by Neil Simon, Thursday 1st November, 7pm or Sunday 4th November, 2pm Progress Theatre

7th Annual WriteFest 14 - 17 November 2012, Progress Theatre

Auditions for New Directors’ Double Bill Wednesday 5 December, 7.30pm or Sunday 9 December, 2pm, Progress Theatre

Progress Youth Theatre presents For the Love of a Nightingale by Timberlake Wertenbaker 10-15 December 2012, Progress Theatre
 
Details of all our productions and auditions can be found on our website.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead - Reprising a Double Act

Calendar Girls is still running until next Saturday although it is almost sold out. A batch of tickets has been released for Thursday 20th September and they are available from the Reading Arts website or by phoning the Hexagon box office on 0118 9606060. If you haven't got a ticket and want to come on another night it may be worth turning up at the theatre on the night of the performance to see if there are any returns. You can also join the Progress Theatre group on facebook as people with spare tickets sometimes post them there.

The next show is Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard. The lead roles of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are played by Chris Hoult and Craig Daniels who were last seen together on the Progress stage in 39 Steps where they played dozens of different characters. Chris and Craig first appeared on stage together in Hook in the Hook Players production of Murder to Death in 2010.

Chris and Craig as they appear on the flyers for the production

 

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are minor characters from Shakespeare's Hamlet and during this play various characters from Hamlet appear and interact with them. The characters are all played by a small troupe of players and to help with switching between characters director Glynn Oram has bought a selection of interesting masks.

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 -

Calendar Girls by Tim Firth, 13th - 22nd September 2012, Progress Theatre
(Woodley Theatre's production runs 24th - 29th September)

Auditions for Fifth Elephant by Terry Pratchett Thursday 27^th September at 7.30pm and Sunday 30^th September at 6pm, Progress Theatre

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead by Tom Stoppard 15th - 20th October 2012, Progress Theatre

7th Annual WriteFest 14 - 17 November 2012, Progress Theatre

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

Calendar Girls - the Big Bake-off

The casts of Calendar Girls from Progress and Woodley theatres held a WI style bake-off on Sunday. There was a huge range of cakes and visitors were asked to vote for the lightest, moistest, most tasty, best iced, most unusual and best overall. In order to be strictly fair to all the entrants it was important to sample all the offerings! Of course there was plenty of tea to wash down all that cake.

This is just half of the cakes.

In the midst of the cake eating there was also a mini badminton tournament where the actors playing the same characters were pitched against each other. I'm afraid I have to report that Woodley Theatre won by 4 games to 3.




John Goodman and Jim McGuigan who play Rod in Progress and Woodley Productions

 

The stars stayed in character for the event including two very grand Lady Cavendishes giving out the prizes. As well as being great fun and promoting the two productions the aim of the afternoon was fundraising and a total of £210 was raised for Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research

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 -

Calendar Girls by Tim Firth, 13th - 22nd September 2012, Progress Theatre
(Woodley Theatre's production runs 24th - 29th September)

Auditions for 7th WriteFest, Sunday 16^th September at 2.30pm, Progress Theatre

Auditions for Fifth Elephant by Terry Pratchett Thursday 27^th September at 7.30pm and Sunday 30^th September at 6pm, Progress Theatre

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead by Tom Stoppard 15th - 20th October 2012, Progress Theatre

7th Annual Write Fest 14 - 17 November 2012, Progress Theatre

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


Calender Girls - Fabulous Concealment

I think the painting activity was really to keep the cast quiet but the stated aim was to produce some Sunday school style pictures to decorate the church hall set of Calender Girls.

The other craft activity the cast and crew have been involved in is varnishing sticky buns. The play calls for a big pile of buns and buying real ones could prove expensive. Instead they bought some cheap bread buns, varnished them so they keep better and then covered them with icing, using a glue gun for the shiny sugar look.

Good enough to eat?

The pile of buns is used for 'fabulous concealment' the phrase used to describe the scenes depicting the photo shoot for the calender. Although all the ladies are naked, various items are used to ensure that their modesty is maintained at all times.

Director Aidan Moran described how he built up the confidence of the cast in playing these scenes by starting off with them fully clothed, moving on to dressing gowns and then underwear before being fully undressed. Stage manger Emma Walsh protects the actors privacy during rehearsals by ensuring that doors are not left open and no stray men accidentally wander in. Assistant director Shi Sur took on the job of checking from various points of the auditorium that nothing could be seen that shouldn't be.

The amateur rights to perform Calender Girls have been released for the first time this year in an attempt to establish the record for the highest number of productions of one play in a single year. A percentage of the performance fees paid by each theatre is going to Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research. To raise more money Aidan has photographed and had printed calenders showing members of the cast in various theatre situations employing the same fabulous concealment technique used in the WI calender. This calendar had been made jointly with the cast of Woodley Theatre who are performing Calender Girls later in September. Copies of the  calendar will be available for sale.

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 -

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

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead by Tom Stoppard 15th - 20th October 2012, Progress Theatre

7th Annual Write Fest 14 - 17 November 2012, Progress Theatre

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

Calender Girls, Sunflowers and Pianos

The question I wanted to ask when I went to a Calendar Girls rehearsal was 'what is it with the sunflowers?' The poster features a sunflower and I'd heard that the rehearsals had started in June with a party where sunflowers seeds were planted outside the theatre.
Chris Moran, who is one of the calendar girls in the play, took me to see the sunflowers they planted and explained the significance of them. The plot of Calendar Girls centres around a WI member raising money for Leukaemia research by creating a nude calendar following the death of her husband. The husband's favourite flowers were sunflowers and he writes a talk for the WI about sunflowers where he compares them to Yorkshire women.

 The first read through of Calendar Girls doubled as a WI style tea party (yes there was cake!) and the cast and crew all planted a sunflower at the back of the carpark.

As you can see from the photo the sunflowers have come on a long way since June and fingers crossed they will be in full bloom in time for opening night. Look out for them when you come to see the show.

Tickets are selling fast, more than half are sold already so if you want to come and see this popular play then book your seats soon - there are unlikely to be any for sale on the door.

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 -

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

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead by Tom Stoppard 15th - 20th October 2012, Progress Theatre

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