The Woman in Mind poster and set

Finally, another update on Woman in Mind. The poster is out and being distributed around Reading and the surrounding area. Hopefully someone has seen it. It certainly seems to have prompted a few ticket sales, so make sure to book yours soon.

Meanwhile, back at the theatre, Martin and Rik have demolished the front half of the stage and rebuilt it again to house my swimming pool - yes there's going to be an onstage swimming pool. Can't wait to see the finished thing and good to have some people who know what they're doing working on my set.

Rehearsals are going brilliantly, too, with the "script-down-hiatus" ending remarkably quickly and all the cast on track. I'm amazed how well they've all done, this mix of old hands and people completely new to the stage. Hopefully they'll all impress the audiences equally and they deserve any praise they happen to receive with the hard work they've put into this surprisingly tricksy play.

Woman in Mind tickets now on sale

Tickets for Woman in Mind have just gone on sale at £10 (£9 concessions). Book in advance through Reading Arts 0118 960 6060 or online.

The Reading Arts website is a bit temperamental, so if the link above doesn't work, you can try http://www.readingarts.com/whatson/ and we're on the second page of results of you can filter them by "Other venues".

Put 20 - 29th September in your diaries now!

Progress goes to Edinburgh

The Edinburgh Fringe Festival starts in just a few days and a play that began life as a small piece in the First Writefest last year has been expanded and is going to join the fun.

My Voice(s) started as a ten minute piece as part of an evening of new writing. Although Progress has produced similar evenings for the last 10 years, known as "Showcase", with the aim of giving new writers, actors and directors a chance to hone their skills, last February was the first time that the event was publicised to the general public.

Kerry Murdock (who you might have seen in Entertaining Mr Sloane last year) wrote a piece about a woman recovering from the break-up of a relationship and advised, sometimes helpfully, often not, by three of her own inner voices played by Alice Mulford (Good Woman of Setzuan), Emma Sterry (choreographer for Godspell) and Tonya Walton (The Woman Who Cooked Her Husband). As an intense piece of physical theatre, full of music and dance, it wowed the audiences and Kerry took it on herself to develop the piece and take it to Edinburgh with her own theatre company Friction Theatre (visit their blog).

Keeping the same cast, also including Owen Goode (Good Woman of Setzuan, Godspell) and Alana Ramsey (Good Woman of Setzuan), and director Steph Weller (Skylight) the new improved piece has been in preparation for months, received a preview performance at the Midlands Arts Centre in Birmingham and the entire crowd arrived in Edinburgh last night ready for the first performance this evening. If you're in that part of the country, you can see them as the Rocket @ Demarco Roxy Art House at 10.45pm each evening. Alternatively, YouTube has a video of the show as seen at Progress.

If you're a writer and want more information about Progress' Writer's Group, please contact us at enquiries@progresstheatre.co.uk

Cage from People in Cages up for auction

Just a few months ago, Progress Theatre put on a double-bill production of the plays Decadence and People in Cages. For the latter play, Patrick, Rik and Geoff spent several evening cutting steel tubing and welding it all together to make a huge steel cage.

Well, now it's up for auction on eBay!

If you want to take a look or make a bid, please visit http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170134745960&ssPageName=ADME:L:LCA:UK:31

Tell you friends about this once in a lifetime opportunity to have a real piece of Progress Theatre history.

Midsummer Night's Dream a hit

Progress Theatre's yearly open-air Shakespeare in the Abbey Ruins is running until 28 July and so far has seen fair skies and bright reviews.

A F Harrold, is his review was particularly impressed by this memorable production, praising the strength of the cast.

So, if you haven't got tickets yet, hurry up because they're almost sold out. If you can't see the Dream, you can still have the chance to see some of the members of the cast in future Progress shows. Three of the mechanicals are appearing in Woman in Mind in September while fairies, including Puck, will doff their Fairy robes and don altogether different garments for The Veil in October. Keep an eye out for updates on both these plays here and on the Progress website.