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.

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!

Summer Production - some pics!

OK, so this is slightly later than anticipated, but here are a few photographs that I took of some of the children involved in the Summer Production at B.A.D.S. last month. I have also included a photo of the ark we made for the Noah play, along with the rainbow that appeared at the end of the play and the tree stump that Noah sat on.

All the plays that were performed on the two nights were so well done by all the children and we were really proud of them all. Each time we start rehearsing for a junior or youth section play, we wonder how on earth it will ever be ready to show to their parents, but somehow it always seems to happen. Children who we thought weren't listening to us at the last rehearsals before the night suddenly do everything you asked and more besides - the younger members perhaps impressed us more this year than ever before, simply because there were no prompts required from any of them, which is quite an achievement for them. We did tell them that one of our aims at Bilton is to never have a prompt, but fully expected to give one or two out on the night due to nerves or lack of concentration. However, it would appear that we are actually having some influence on them, which is so rewarding and fuels our passion for passing on our skills even more. I think one of the best things about watching the children (whatever their age) perform is to see the joy on their faces at the end of the night, when everything has worked and they receive the applause they rightfully deserve.Considering the fact that we were several animals short with only a couple of weeks to spare, we are immensely grateful to Mr Jowett from Preston Primary School, since he helped us fill those places by sending along some keen members of his drama club - they all performed really well and we look forward to their return in September.

Mrs Noah with the girls in the family

The three "boys" (even though one of them is a girl in real life!) of Noah's family.

Noah, Mrs Noah, Rebecca, Japheth, Shem, Ruth, Rachel & Ham.

The animals as they walked to their entrance with me.

Waiting to make their entrance via the auditorium!

This animal also made a convincing God - see next pic!

God - complete with obligatory white beard!

The final scene when the rainbow appears as if by magic!

Youth members backstage waiting for their turn in "Panto Question Time"

"A trio of lovely girls" from the Youth Section - backstage ready for "Emporium 2".

Unfortunately, these are the only photos we managed to take - we didn't have time to take any during the performances as we were both tied up backstage.

The first night was a huge success. We invited some of our patrons to support the younger members and was happy to see that a fair few of them came along. To the delight of the audience (with the exception of one or two of the junior members who happened to be sitting on the front row at the time) a chair that is pushed to the floor during the course of the action in "Last Tango in Little Grimley" ended up rolling off the stage and onto the auditorium. This rendered the remaining cast speechless, the audience were screaming with laughter and the cast members were trying desperately to finish the scene without laughing.There then followed a moment of absolute farce when one cast member (during the scene change which was done in blackout) retrieved the chair from the audience, and another cast member came on looking for it without realising that it had been taken into the wings! Thankfully, nobody was hurt and the 4-strong team continued to the end of the play without losing control of their emotions. Credit to them all - it was a difficult play and they certainly did it justice.

I am pleased to report that our N.O.D.A (National Operatic & Dramatic Association) representative managed to watch the plays on the second evening and I spoke to him at the end of the night. He was impressed with them all, even if he wasn't too keen on one of the Youth Section plays (he's at least honest, which I like) and he seemed most impressed with the junior section's production of Noah.

Our next task is to source material for the Hornsea Speech & Drama Festival -this takes place in November each year and all our members take part in various classes to try and win trophies, but mainly for the experience of being adjudicated by a professional drama practitioner. We start rehearsing for this as soon as we meet again in September, so not much time now for us to get enough material prepared - we haven't yet received the syllabus either!!!

Forthcoming production

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The poster above is to advertise the forthcoming production by the amateur dramatic society of which I have been a member for over 20 years. My mind is overflowing with things to remember at this stage prior to a performance - it seems that this production in particular has given me even more things to think about.

A brief check-list would probably be something along the lines of:
1. Poster designed and printed.
2. Performance Rights applied for and paid.
3. Newsletter designed, written, printed, folded, stuffed into envelopes and posted to our patrons.
4. Front of House staff organised.
5. Source all props required.
6. Publicise on websites and pass on media contacts to resident Publicity Officer
7. Clean and tidy theatre including toilets, dressing room, stage and auditorium
8. Paint the required "scene" on the stage (the biggest job of all so far)
9. Distribute posters locally.
10. Check cast have all costume required.

I can at least say that most of those items are checked - however, I have been painting the back wall of the stage (an area of approximately 13.5ft wide by 8ft high) to represent the terrace and views out from a villa in the Sierra Blanca region of Spain.  This painting is becoming so much a part of my life that I am dreaming about the next stage each time I close my eyes! I have repainted whole areas of it on more than one occasion, and am sure I will still be adding to it right up to the opening night. I am also desperately trying to locate several ceramic ornaments/vases or money boxes cheaply that will break easily each night. Keith, my husband and fellow BADS fanatic, has already tried in the local Poundland, Wilko, Home Bargains and Boyes (a general store that often has really cheap household items) but to no avail. I went to Pound-stretcher this afternoon once I'd had enough of painting some bougainvillea that so far looks like some strange alien purple cloud formation (even though I know it will look better than that when I've finished, I hate letting others see my work in progress so am obviously stressing about this now). Pound-stretcher had some vases in that were £3.99. I would rather not spend that much per night (plus extras for rehearsing with) so am determined that tomorrow I will spend the morning scouring charity shops instead - and have a day off the painting!

Anyway, I have really enjoyed directing and producing this play, it still makes me laugh at rehearsals and the cast have all been very reliable and happy to be directed by me (or at least they appear to be).

You can read all about it on the Facebook Event I have created here.http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/event.php?eid=182877285069255

I do plan to post photos of the scenic painting in progress, once I have the courage to share them!

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.