Don't Misunderstand Me - Bilton Theatre

The next production from Bilton Amateur Dramatic Society, "Don't Misunderstand Me" by Patrick Cargill, takes place next week, from Tuesday 22nd May to Friday 25th May inclusive. The play is a comedy based on the complications and misunderstandings that arise when Charles and Margery prepare to entertain Charles's younger brother, Robert, and his new wife, Jane - whom they have never met. Robert arrives whilst Margery is out, without his new wife, and it transpires that Charles has had a brief fling with a young girl, Jaynie, in America during a short working vacation.  Much to Charles's surprise, Jaynie turns up at the house unexpectedly - Charles panics and tries to pass her off as Robert's new wife to Margery, whilst pretending to Jaynie that Robert is married to Margery. Matters get even more complicated when Robert's real wife, Jane, arrives and everyone is desperately trying to cover up for someone or pretend they are someone else!

At times fast and furious, the play is character-driven and, as director of this particular production, I am very pleased with the way in which the cast have all taken on their relative roles. We have a very competent team on stage and off - with Steve Haughey doing Sound & Lighting, and Keith Davison (my husband) doing Stage Management. We had our final "normal" rehearsal last night, which went remarkably well - only a couple of errors here and there. I hope Ellie has recovered from walking into the door that Nikki was using to go off-stage!

I will be proud to watch the play every night next week, as we will be having a couple of dress/technical rehearsals before the opening night - I will probably still take notes and ask the cast to slightly alter the way in which they do odd things, but that is my way - I always believe you can improve the whole production, even during the run.

If you are in the area, please book your seats now - or you could try turning up on the night if you are not sure which night you would like to go. The play commences at 7.45pm, doors open at 7. There is a car park right outside the theatre. Seats are £6, with all concessionary seats at £5. To book your seat, please ring Steve Dale on 01482 812750.

Audience feedback

Just thought I'd quickly share some of the amusing snippets of conversation overheard from our audience members during this week. More often than not, our typical audience members seem to think that when we are acting on stage, we can't hear them - or perhaps they think they are watching telly - whichever it is, it certainly makes for some entertaining dialogue.


Since the play is set in a garden, we've obviously had to decorate the set to look at least something like one - but that still doesn't stop the astonishment from some of them when the curtains open to reveal "Ooooh, there's grass! It's grass on stage. Grass!". 

The character I play is not at all pleasant, which makes it a real joy to play as I can get as vile as I like without worrying about what people may think of me. Thankfully, I must be doing the job properly, as one woman in the audience commented on the first night with "She's the Mother-in-law from Hell"

The funniest so far is one from last night. In one scene, Amy (who plays the part of my daughter-in-law in the play) starts the scene sitting on the garden bench. It is the first time the audience have seen her. When she stood up, however, one lady was obviously shocked at how deceptive the stage can be as she blurted out "Ooooh, she's a lot taller than I thought she'd be".

Over the years we've had many comments either spoken in a loud voice or even shouted from the audience as they work out the plot or whenever a new actor joins the society - they never cease to amaze and amuse us all. The one I will never forget is when we were doing a play set in  the 1940s and I had my hair styled accordingly. When I walked on, someone at the back of the auditorium "whispered" to her companion "I don't like her hair in this one". Priceless!

If there are any more gems tonight I will report back!

A Night On The Tiles

One week to go for the opening night of our next production at the Bilton Theatre. This is part of the reason I've not blogged since before Christmas! I have several ideas for blog posts to come, but for now, I just wanted to share the countdown to our production week!

Masks completed.

I've finally completed painting the masks that will act as the 2nd animal for the children who are playing them in the production of Noah's Ark  this coming weekend at Bilton Amateur Dramatic Society. Each child will be dressed in a face/head mask and will also carry their 2nd animal on these sticks we have attached to the masks.

Before they get wrecked (as tends to happen when children and props are put together!) I thought I'd take some photos of them to show you.

I shouldn't really have to explain what animals they all are, so I will leave that up to you:

Forthcoming Production - Unoriginal Sin

I can hardly believe it, but one week from now I will be nervously awaiting the first night of our next production. Rehearsals have been going really well (dare I say it?) and the cast and director (my husband, Keith) have thoroughly enjoyed the time spent in preparing for it. The past few rehearsals have felt more like actual performances which means that we should be raring to go next week! Bookings are coming in thick and fast now, and the Friday evening in particular is filling up fast!

I always like to use the countdown widget that Eventful provide whenever I add the play to their site, too!

Time seems to pass by so quickly when measured by the plays we put on! Last night Keith took some photos during the rehearsal for publicity in the Holderness Gazette this week, which I will post later on.

This comedy is not really suitable for young children, which is a shame because normally our grand-daughter aged 9 loves to come and watch every play we do - she has been coming for 3 or 4 years now. You can read more about it on Eventful or the Facebook page where I've created an Event here.

Scenic Painting - the process

Now that I've managed to stop myself from doing any more to it, I thought I'd share the images of the scenic painting on here. I can still see flaws in it and would have liked more time to spend making it perfect, but ultimately I had to leave it and let the cast have their dress rehearsal with a finished backdrop.

I can honestly say this was the most challenging piece of art I've ever had to create. I started off relishing the challenge and looking forward to creating such a big painting. Over time, however, that enthusiasm waned slightly and as I progressed, painted over, and repainted certain elements I started wondering how on earth Rolf Harris does those huge paintings he was famous for when I was growing up!

The plan was to create the illusion of a Spanish Villa - the terraced area overlooking the garden and surrounding countryside of the Sierra Blanca. I researched images of the area- it stated in the play that you could clearly see the mountain range in that area (the Sierra Blanca takes its name from the Sierra Blanca mountain range of which La Concha, the mountain that towers above the urbanisation, is part). I also wanted to feature a bougainvillea bush as it's mentioned several times in the play. 

The first job we had, which we (my husband Keith and I) did soon after the New Year was over, was to paint the walls of the inside of the "Villa" with a magnolia colour. We'd already built the set in September/October so most of the rest of the work was electrical and decorating along with ensuring everything was safe.

Stage one commenced on January 3rd - as you can see, we have so far painted the walls of the villa and the living room door. We are at the point where we are about to erect strip lights above the two arches on the upstage wall - these will help to convey the light of an outdoor scene. The back wall is as yet untouched.

 Day 2 - January 4th. Having completed the painting (two coats of magnolia) on all the living room walls, we started on the back wall, covering up any previous wall covering with white at the top and a magnolia effect on the lower half - this would soon become the wall of the villa's terrace. 

Day 3 - January 5th. Not much has changed in this view - I've blocked in a basic sky and straightened the level of the wall, since I forgot to take the spirit level yesterday! It's also had another coat of magnolia. As you can see, the strip lights are already shedding a fair amount of light in the two archways.

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Close up of SL arch showing gridded plan

Close up of terracotta wall tiles painted onto the lower edge of the "terrace" wall.

Day 4 - January 9th. A long time was spent today painting in the top of the terrace wall, the shaded areas to give some texture to the surface of the wall, and the tiles at the bottom of the wall. Keith helped by marking out a grid on the wall for the plan of where all the mountains would be placed - if you look at the close-up images you can just about make out the pencil lines and in one of the images you can see the plan I was working from. I also blocked in an area of green as a base colour for the garden.

Mountain line drawn in and basic sky colour blocked in.

Low line of clouds painted in at the top of the mountain range.

 Day 5 - January 10th. I pencilled in the mountain range first, then blocked in the basic sky colour, as seen in the first image for today. Then I added a low line of clouds at the foot of the mountain range, and finally I painted the individual mountains, using my gridded plan as a reference.

 Day 6 - January 12th. Didn't have much time to spend on the painting today as we were starting rehearsals with the Youth section again after the Christmas break and needed to do the lesson plan etc. However, if you look closely you can see that I've painted out the clouds that I did last time and repainted the whole of the sky. I didn't like them!

Day 7 - January 14th. Keith decorated the "hall" wall with some plain white textured wallpaper today (you can't actually see it in any of these photos, will show full stage later). I blocked in the mountains and created a new sky/cloud formation. I've also pencilled in other areas ready for painting - a house just beyond the garden, and the corner of a swimming pool which is supposedly in the garden.

Day 8 - January 15th. Most of the greenery has been blocked in now, the basic house colour painted in and the shape of the swimming pool painted in - you can just about see it on the left of the arch. I've added the rough shape of the bougainvillea too, along with a few small trees in the distance.The mountains in the distance have also been lightened to give the illusion that the they are much further away.

Here you can see I've added some basic colour to the bougainvillea bush, painted in the roof, window and side of the house, coloured in the swimming pool and surrounding area and added some houses in the very distant green hills on the right.

Day 9 - 18th January. Branches, leaves and more colour added to the bougainvillea to give it some shape and definition. A creeping ivy styled tree was added to the side of the house.

Day 10 - 19th January. I wasn't at all happy with the effect of the swimming pool in the garden - it just didn't look credible so I decided to paint it out and just have lawn instead. I added some highlights to the bougainvillea bush and painted several different washes over the various levels of green in the distance - and added some hedge lines here and there to help delineate them.

Day 11 - 21st January. I painted in the suggestion of another small bush creeping over the wall in the SL archway,  changed the appearance of a tree positioned in front of the house, in the SR archway and added some more greenery to the creeping plant at the side of the house.

Day 12 - January 23 (Dress Rehearsal day) After adding some shadow on the wall for the bougainvillea plant and the green shrub SL, I also added a path down the centre of the lawn and a low wall at the perimeter of the garden, I enhanced the buildings in the distance that had been painted over with washes, and added a few more splashes of colour to the bougainvillea leaves. The set was dressed with fairy lights for the two arches at the back (to represent evening approaching) and three of my pieces of artwork - as can be seen in the images below. One of them is a collaboration with fellow artist Rob Kirbyson, the Baobab tree. He painted the background and I painted in the tree, All three paintings are still for sale, so if you come along to see the play and are interested, please see me at the theatre or contact me via email to enquire about the price.

"Reading Between The Lines" and "Baobab"

"Watching Paint Dry". 

I am happy to report that last night, at the end of the play, one of the women in the audience spoke to me about how much she enjoyed the play. She then asked if I'd painted all the scenery, to which I said "yes" (I was cautiously replying because I didn't know what she was going to say about it, good or bad). She then said "It's brilliant". Result! All that time spent painting, planning, repainting etc has now officially been worth it. I always say that things are worth doing even if just one person notices - so my job is done!

My next piece of artistic output will be something much, much smaller - a postcard painting for an exhibition in Scarborough to be handed in for Monday!

I would like to thank Anna from http://nature-trail.blogspot.com/ for allowing me to use some of her photographs of bougainvillea as reference images for the scenic painting.

Opening Night success

Last night was the first night of our 4-night run of "Heatstroke" and I'm pleased to say that it was a hit with the audience. The cast of 6 did me proud, as did the backstage team of Keith (Stage Manager) Josh (Sound & Lighting) Amy, Shannon & Steve (Front of House).

It was the first time on the stage at Bilton for two members of the cast, Scott and Adam - and I was so pleased for them both when they obviously slotted into the production so well as though it had always been a part of their lives. Eloise was also making her debut in an adult production (as opposed to a Youth production, which she is normally a part of) and she rose to the occasion, playing to the audience. I was particularly pleased that they all managed to wait for the laughter to die down a bit before delivering their next line, making sure the audience didn't miss anything.

As ever, the Tuesday night audience consisted mainly of members from various old people's homes across the city - several different Lions clubs organise trips for them and we have always been grateful for their support - even if they do imagine they are watching TV instead of seeing a live performance. We have had some hilarious comments from audience members previously - they don't realise that the cast can actually hear what they say out loud and that it could be distracting.

The funniest remark I had was when one old dear saw me in the foyer and it then dawned on her where she was. "Oh, we're at that place, aren't we? What's it called? The theatre - oh, I thought we were going somewhere else." "Oh, didn't you realise you were coming to watch a play?" I asked her. "No, I thought we were at that other place" she replied. "Oh well, it's a nice surprise for you then, isn't it?" I asked her. "Oh, yes, I've been coming here for years, we never miss them - I've seen you before - the daughter, sister, mother, wife."  That was funny enough, but at the interval when I happened to see her again in the foyer, she asked me how my Mother was. "Oh, do you know my Mother?" I said, thinking it must be someone I'd not met before who knew my Mum from her involvement in a choir or such-like.  "Well, I've seen her lots of times, on the stage here - blonde hair."  Then it slowly dawned on me - and the chap standing next to her said "No, Ethel, that's not really her Mother, is it?". I explained that my Mother didn't go on the stage and then she said "Oh, no, I don't know your Mother" as she trundled off with her tea and biscuits....

I was so nervous prior to the start of the play, it was as though I was acting in it, but thankfully I was relaxed enough to enjoy the performance sitting in the audience. It's so much nicer to watch something you've all created after months of rehearsing with an appreciative group of people. A director's job is quite lonely at times, but last night was just the opposite. I'm looking forward to the rest of the week now (and the curry afterwards on the last night!). 

You're Nicked

We have just held our auditions for the next play to be performed by the Junior members of Bilton Amateur Dramatic Society and it is with great pride that we are to stage a play originally written for the drama club of a local primary school. One of the adult members of BADS, Andy Jowett (or Mr J as he is affectionately known), is also a teacher at Preston Primary School and he often writes plays for the children to perform. He runs the drama club, so he also gets to direct the plays he has written.

If you click on the title of this post, you will be directed to the blog of Preston Primary School and there you will find many comments relating to the school's production of "You're Nicked".

The play has a large cast, originally with 30 named parts, but we have had to double up some of the parts and cut out a few in order to be able to cast it from within our existing membership of 18. Fortunately, Mr J was quite happy for us to edit his original script in order to make it fit our requirements. The other very fortunate element in using a "home-grown" script is that we have no royalties to pay either! These can often be very expensive for a small society such as ours, so it's really helpful.

We saw the original version of this play at the school, so we know how good it is. Even with some editing, I'm sure our production will be just as enjoyable. We may even invite the original cast members to come along to see it, just to get their reaction!

This play will be performed in July, probably on two separate evenings and on the same night as the performances from the Youth Section.

The laborious process of blocking for all these plays is now in place - it takes a long time to plan all the moves of each actor/actress in order to ensure the play itself runs smoothly and to prevent any awkward positioning or stumbles during the performances. Our study has been a whirr of printing recently, with 21 copies of the play being produced for the Juniors, plus several master copies for us as directors. July seems a long way off, but with only 1 rehearsal a week, this is no mean feat, especially when not all the children will be committed to attending every single rehearsal!!!

Next Monday we will be telling the children what parts they have got and giving them their scripts - hopefully to be looked after but, children being children, no doubt several will be forgotten, eaten, sat on, left in a classroom at school or a combination of all those!

I know that some children will be elated, others disapointed with their allocated parts, but we utilise the same code of conduct in the Junior & Youth section that we do in the adult section at BADS. New members simply do not get large parts in plays. Without previous knowledge of anyone's ability to learn lines, act, or even be reliable to turn up on time to rehearsals every week, we do not take a chance and use our most reliable members for the larger roles. This has always worked and it ensures we produce a professional play each time.

Reactions from the younger members may be posted here next week!

Bilton Amateur Dramatic Society - latest production

In exactly two weeks I will be taking on another role in a production of "Life Goes On" by Adrian Hodges. Performed by Bilton Amateur Dramatic Society, East Yorkshire. My role is that of a woman named Joyce, who has recently been widowed. The character at first appears to be coping with the loss of her husband remarkably well, and her personality is quite a strong one. It transpires, however, that she is really missing him and needs to find something to do with her time. Despite the night of passion she shared with her husband's brother on the night of his death, it isn't love that's on her mind, but a business proposal.

Playing this part has been great fun - even the rather embarassing moments when I have to kiss Mike Hawxwell, who is many years my junior and one of the first members of the Junior section I run at BADS! He refers to me as Aunty Helen, so it's a pretty strange experience for him, too - particularly when his real-life girlfriend (also in the play) and his Mother (prompting) are watching it all unfold! However, we seem to get through it in a reasonably professional manner and have only had the giggles on a couple of occasions!

Much harder to cope with at rehearsals are the expressions on the face of Andy Jowett, who plays my dead husband (there is one scene in which we view the time leading up to his death, which I find funny every time.). Andy only has to look at me in a certain way or say a line every so slightly wrong and we both have to really fight to stop the laughter taking over - even to the point where I can't look at him until I've recovered!

It's also really nice to be working with one of our Youth section members for the first time - Amy Fletcher. She's reliable and accomplished for her age, so it's a real pleasure to be on stage with her. She has fitted into the adult section with ease, so we are hoping this isn't the last play she takes part in!

Finally, the newest member at BADS is Kay Humphries - she's Mike's girlfriend as I mentioned earlier. She is a very "natural" actress and has a sensitivity to her acting which is admirable. I have a feeling she will get a good review when the critic from N.O.D.A. comes to see it!

I can hardly believe it's only two weeks away now, we seem to have been rehearsing for months (well, we have,actually!) without thinking about how far away it is. Hopefully the weather will not be too bad during play week, as that can sometimes put people off coming to watch!

If you click on the title post, it will direct you to the Event on Facebook giving details on how to book for this production.