Pretty flamingo (?)

While many birds fly south for the winter, a flamingo has decided to make the theatre foyer its home for the next month. This is just one of several weird and wonderful creatures that will be making an appearance in ALICE IN A NON-PC WORLD, this year’s alternative panto for childish grown-ups. Some people have even asked if Denzil the Donkey is making a reappearance after his star turn last year (answer: no)!

We don’t stage a traditional family panto – with our friends at the Everyman so close and always making such a fantastic job of it (last year’s was voted ‘the best in the west’), there would be little point in trying to compete. Ours is not an ‘adult panto’ of the sort staged by Jim Davidson for some years but something silly, occasionally suggestive, occasionally politically incorrect, and ideal for those people who just want a good laugh in the run up to Christmas. It wouldn’t be suitable for children, but teenagers usually lap it up.

It always proves extremely popular, particularly with office parties, and on Thursday nights we don’t start the performance until 8.30 to make allowance for late night shopping. This year, ticket sales are up an incredible 60% on this time in 2007 and the final Saturday performance is rapidly approaching sell-out status! You’ll be able to read a bit more about ALICE in next week’s ‘Notes From…’

Notes from A Strange Kind of Hero

Each December, we are always pleased to welcome Jacob's Well Productions to the theatre. This year is something of a landmark for the group, members of whom come from churches across the Cheltenham area. Here, to tell us more about this year's show, is producer - and no, we don't mean director - Libby Wall:

"This is our tenth year at the Playhouse and so we thought we should mark the occasion with something memorable. We have chosen 'Paul: Strange Kind of Hero' as our musical. Last year's production 'Noah' (rather ironic given the circumstances of last summer but chosen before the floods, honest!) was a fun show full of colour, dance, humour and a whole bunch of animals. This year we decided to go in a completely different direction so we have gone for something which is strong and dramatic. It is the story of Saul, a fanatical murderer and persecutor of early Christians, who sees the light on the road to Damascus and becomes Paul, a passionate leader of the new church.

This musical, written by Sue Pomeroy and Chris Eaton, has been produced on the professional stage several times but this is the FIRST amateur production, so for our tenth year we have gone for.............a world premiere!!! This show was produced by Sue Pomeroy, in Cheltenham in 2001 and two of our company were in the chorus. It was put on in a big top at the racecourse, starting its run during the Greenbelt Festival and continuing afterwards with a total of 17 performances. Chris Eaton, who composed the music for the show, has written for many professional singers and this music is brilliant.

Anyone who has produced a show knows that it is at the same time an exciting and completely stressful experience!! As far as this show goes our two main problems have been the resources and the lead actor. When the show was produced by a professional company there was no printed score and the script has been altered many times which has meant that we have had to receive both of these in a 'drip feed' fashion, the last of which arrived last week!!! Four different actors agreed to take the lead role, one after the other, and then pulled out! It is obviously very frustrating for a director to try and run rehearsals without the main character. Having said this, we are sure that we have the right person now.

Our musicals always support a local charity and this one is in aid of St George's Association, a Cheltenham based charity which provides residential care and many other services for adults with learning disabilities. In order to boost these funds we held a Jacob's Well concert evening in the Playhouse Green Room in October. We had various acts ranging from a number from the show to a vocal duo who accompanied themselves on the guitar and the didgeridoo. I would recommend this type of event as it raised a good sum of money but required no company rehearsal time at all. Rehearsals are going well now and we do hope you can come along to see the finished production and support the charity."

PAUL: A STRANGE KIND OF HERO Weds 3 - Sat 6 December at 7.45 pm

Matinee on 6 December at 2.30 pm

Tickets £7 (Weds eve and Sat mat) otherwise £9

PS The shoes have been claimed!

Lost property

We don't get a lot of lost property at The Playhouse - occasionally a coat, but more usually an umbrella or pair of spectacles, the sorts of things that are small enough to be easily forgotten (and while the item is discovered missing the next day, it generally takes the best part of a week before people realise where they left it).

This morning we found something we've never had left behind before. There, in the front of house bar, a pair of men's black SHOES, neatly placed under a chair! We have to assume someone merely changed their footwear, as I can't believe someone would have walked home barefoot and not realised!

Last night's packed audience for Epsom Downs contained a lot of racegoers here for this weekend's Open meeting, so it is possible that the owner of the said shoes is unlikely to read this blog. Just in case they do, however, please give the box office a call on 01242 522852.

Children In Need Jazz Party

This coming Sunday, 16 November, our friends from Cheltenham Jazz Arts are hosting a Jazz Party in aid of Children In Need in the theatre Green Room. The event starts at 7.30 pm, everyone is welcome and admission is FREE! There will be plenty of live music and anyone can make a donation to either play or sing along with the band. In addition, there will be a ‘bring and buy’ second hand CD stall and the bar, of course, will be open! For more information, please contact Sara Espley on 07947 676112.

Another scary thing

Following Friday’s Hallowe’en special – which brought in another instance of a disembodied voice – I wanted to post a picture of what many people think is the scariest thing in the building (other than me). The lighting board.

It’s amazing how few people will go near this equipment. I don’t think it’s a question of being afraid of an electric shock, just an assumption that it will be extremely hard to get to grips with. In fact, operating the lighting board is the easy bit as, once programmed, each lighting cue is achieved simply by hitting the button marked ‘go’. It’s the programming that needs a little more knowledge, along with setting the lights themselves into position.

But it can be an awful lot of fun and very rewarding. The designer and/or operator are an extremely important part of the production team – without them, the show does not go on. Yet, so few people seem to want to undertake this side of things and, as a theatre, it is starting to become harder to find enough people to light all the shows during the year.

If there is anyone out there who would be interested in getting involved as one of our technical volunteers – whether you’re an existing member of the theatre or not – do please get in touch on 01242 522852. We can put you in touch with one of the regular ‘techies’ and put you through an apprenticeship!