Notes from The Cherry Orchard

Next month sees a production of the classic comedy - yes, it is a comedy, and yes, there are plenty of laughs - The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov. Here to tell us a little more, is director Steve Evans:

"Twelve years ago I was offered the chance to teach drama in a boarding school and my first thought was that although I knew plenty about acting, I wasn’t that well versed in the great playwrights, other than Shakespeare. So I grabbed a biography of Chekhov and a book of his complete plays and prepared to be amazed at the brilliance of this iconic playwright.

I have to confess I was disappointed by the plays, though I was dazzled by the biography of this extraordinary man. Since then I have been fortunate enough to see all the major plays except The Three Sisters, and I have learned that the only way to appreciate Chekhov is in performance.

In the hands of actors and directors who understand how to play Chekhov, the plays are dazzling and it becomes easy to see why he is one of the few writers, if not the only one, whose name dare be mentioned in the same sentence as Shakespeare.

They are not dull, gloomy, or heavy going, as many people think. They are witty and insightful and bear all the hallmarks of this remarkable man who in an all-too-brief life and career as a doctor, writer and social benefactor, saw life in all its aspects.

The Cherry Orchard is a fundamentally a comedy though it does, like all great works, encompass many shades of emotion. We have put together a tremendous cast and it has been a great pleasure for me to work with some of my favourite Playhouse actors. I hope we will, in this production, change many people’s perceptions about a genius and his work, and provide an evening of great enjoyment in the theatre’s wonderful new auditorium."

THE CHERRY ORCHARD
Thursday 19 - Sunday 22 March
Thursday 26 - Saturday 28 March
Evenings at 7.45 pm
£10 (£8 concessions except Saturdays)
Schools Performance Wednesday 25 March at 7pm

Playhouse wins award!

We have just learned that The Playhouse has won a Cheltenham Civic Society Award for last summer's auditorium refurbishment! Full details will follow here as soon as possible

Notes from Best of Broadway

Next week, we welcome the return of Rolling Stock Theatre Company to The Playhouse - seen here last year with their hugely successful production of the musical Chess - with their latest touring show, The Best of Broadway. Here, to tell us a little more, is the director, Ann Wessen:

"The idea behind this revue came about as a result of a desire to raise money for a very worthy charity: The Sue Ryder Foundation.

Musicals have proven to be universally popular and continue to draw large audiences, hence a glimmer of an idea was born. We decided to select from amongst the best-of-the-best - those shows which have won a prestigious Tony Award: the Oscar of the musical world.

The Tony Awards began in 1948 with Cole Porter's Kiss Me Kate and continue to this day. The 2008 winner was In The Heights by Lin-Manuel Miranda, a show that most people have never even heard of - as so often has been the case in the history of the awards.

For our show, we have chosen a wide range of great winners with songs that have enchanted and entertained audiences worldwide for the past 50 years. In the selection are personal memories of two great leading men - Peter Wessen and Sean Mayo who are sadly no longer with us. As members of Rolling Stock, their love of musical theatre gave us the energy and inspiration to make this show possible. It is our heartfelt tribute to both of them.

From old standards like The Sound of Music and South Pacific, by way of the ever popular Phantom of the Opera and Evita, to modern classics such as Avenue Q and Wicked, there is something here for everyone."

THE BEST OF BROADWAY
Tues 24 - Sat 28 February at 7.45 pm
Tickets £10 (£8 concessions Tues - Fri)

The vanishing Open Day

The more eagle-eyed among you will have noticed that our new spring brochure makes no mention of our Open Day, which was advertised in our autumn brochure as taking place on Saturday 14 February.

We've decided to postpone this event until later in the year, hopefully when the weather is a little better and warmer to maximise likely attendance. Watch local press, the website and this blog for announcements in due course!

Half-term workshops

Schools will be closed again next week – not due to snow, this time – and many parents will be looking for activities to keep the kids happy. The Playhouse may have the answer with a number of drama and musical theatre workshops.

Focus Theatre
From Monday 16 – Thursday 19 February, Sheila Mander will be holding several workshops, with classes running at different times depending on ages. The Junior workshop, for those aged between 5 and 7, runs from 9.30 am – 1 pm Monday – Wednesday and from 2 pm – 5 pm on Thursday. The Intermediate workshop, for those aged between 7 and 9, runs from 9.30 am – 2 pm Monday – Wednesday and 1 pm – 5 pm on Thursday, while the Senior workshop, for those aged 10 and over, runs from 9.30 am – 3.30 pm Monday – Wednesday and 10 am – 5 pm on Thursday. The course concludes at 4.30 pm on Thursday with a performance of The Sharing, and each child is entitled to 2 free tickets to this performance. Any remaining seats will be sold from the box office for £1 adults/50p children. The fees for these workshops are £70 Juniors, £85 Intermediates and £115 for Seniors, with a 50% discount for siblings. You can book your child’s place by contact the box office on 01242 522852.

Theatre Studio
The Playhouse-based drama school are also holding workshops for half-term on Thursday 19 and Friday 20 February. Places may already be full for this course, but you can double-check by calling Suzanna Segura on 07977 227707.

Spring season now booking

The Playhouse, Cheltenham, has launched its spring season after an extremely successfully start to the New Year. “Our first production for 2009 was a new musical version of the classic story The Railway Children,” says theatre administrator Paul Scott, “and of the eight performances, four were sold out, with the matinee being completely booked out before Christmas. We had a lengthy list of people desperate for returns by the beginning of the production week!”

“Although we are only selling tickets at present for our spring season, we already know that our productions later in the year include the ever-popular West End comedy Art, a double-bill of Noel Coward with Relative Values and Blithe Spirit, The Hot Mikado and, in the run-up to Christmas, a stage version of the classic film It’s a Wonderful Life. Hopefully the trend started by The Railway Children will continue throughout 2009.”

The spring season lasts from February to early-May and with the top price seat for any show in the season costing just £10 (often with concessions available), a good night out at the theatre needn’t prove expensive.

February opens with a one-off performance of an Evening of Grimm Tales, with the members of Focus Youth Theatre bringing to life some of the famous fairy stories of the Brothers’ Grimm, while Rolling Stock Theatre Co – responsible for last-year’s sell-out production of Chess – return with The Best of Broadway, a revue of show-stopping numbers from 50-years of award-winning Broadway musicals.

March brings the annual One-Act Play Festival, with drama groups from around Gloucestershire trying to win their way through to the next stage of the competition. March also sees a production of Chekhov’s classic tragicomedy The Cherry Orchard, which includes two firsts: the theatre’s first Sunday night performance of a main house production, together with a special schools performance at an earlier timeslot.

In April, our Easter workshops will result in several performances of the rock-and-roll musical Return to the Forbidden Planet, while The Playhouse Company end the season with Godspell, the classic 1970s musical version of the Gospel of St Matthew.

FOR PERFORMANCE DATES, TIMES AND PRICES, PLEASE VISIT OUR WEBSITE

Talbot House - NOT cancelled

Some people have been wondering, due to the current weather conditions, if this evening's performance is going ahead, as some other venues have had to postpone productions.

Having just spoken with the producer and director of the show, I can confirm that this evening's performance WILL take place.