The Playhouse, Cheltenham

Playhouse Facebook Page

2010-03-09T11:29:00.002Z

You can now be an official 'fan' of The Playhouse, Cheltenham if you belong to social networking site Facebook. By becoming a fan you will automatically receive information every time it is posted to the page, whether it is notification of a forthcoming play reading or audition, tickets going on sale for a forthcoming production or, even more useful, a warning if we're about to sell out!

If you want to join our fans - we already have over 150 in just 4 days - click on the link to the right of this posting and we'll see you there. And please, after you've become a fan, invite any of your friends with an interest in theatre to sign up too!

Blogs and Facebooks

2010-03-04T09:12:00.003Z

Dear Readers (if there are still any of you out there, as I haven't exactly been blogging much of late)

As more and more people use social networking sites - and this includes a huge number of theatre members - we are going to be setting up a new official Playhouse Facebook page over the next week or so. There has been a basic page there for some time, created by Sarah Roberts, but as the popularity of Facebook has grown it makes sense for us to have a more official presence which will allow us to advertise shows, accept reviews from the public, and generally reach people quickly and easily.

I am currently considering the options regarding this blog. There is no point posting for the sake of posting and if posts aren't made it becomes pointless and obsolete. However, it, too, has proved a useful tool beyond its original intention - a running commentary on the refurbishment - as one posting (the one about the lost shoes) was even referred to in The Stage and others occasionally stirred up some interesting and useful opinions. Some people even said they "enjoyed it" (but then actors are a strange lot).

Death Of A Salesman

2010-02-25T10:20:00.000Z

THURSDAY and FRIDAY now SOLD OUT

Death Of A Salesman

2010-02-24T11:35:00.002Z

TICKET UPDATE
We have a handful of seats left for Wednesday and Friday evening, Thursday is sold out and we have 40 seats left for Saturday. The phones are ringing red hot and this is obviously going to be a complete sell out. If you were thinking of making a booking, please do so as soon as possible!

Box office closed

2010-01-06T08:17:00.001Z

Due to the current weather conditions, the box office will be closed today, Wednesday 6 January. Staff are unable to get to the theatre. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

Christmas closing

2009-12-23T11:07:00.002Z

The box office will be open on Christmas Eve from 3pm - 7pm for the collection of tickets for the final performance of It's A Wonderful Life (which is now sold out). The box office will then be closed until 10am on Tuesday 5 January, although the administration office will be open on Monday 4 January.

We wish all our patrons a very merry Christmas and look forward to seeing you all in the new year, when our productions will include the musicals Red Hot & Cole and Back to the 80s, the plays Death of a Salesman and Ten Times Table and the return of the ever-popular Irish dancing troupe Celtic Circle.

Ticket availability update

2009-12-22T11:14:00.001Z

Tonight's performance of It's A Wonderful Life is now sold out. There are a handful of single seats only left for Wednesday and two single seats left for Xmas Eve.

Ticket availability for Wonderful Life

2009-12-18T11:26:00.003Z

Seats remaining for sale as of 11.30 am, Friday 18 December:

Friday: 14
Saturday: 16
Monday: 39
Tuesday: 29
Wednesday: 36
Xmas Eve: 10

It's A Wonderful Life

2009-12-14T12:54:00.002Z

The theatre is currently being turned into the American town of Bedford Falls as we gear up to present the UK STAGE PREMIERE of James W Rodgers' adaptation of the immortal film classic IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE.

With a specially-written prologue by The Playhouse's own John Morgan, director Caroline Young has finally managed, after several years of planning and wishing, to bring everything together and provide a touch of magic with which to start off the festive season.

The production opens this Thursday, 17 December, at 7.45 pm, with additional performances at this time on Friday 18, Saturday 19, Monday 21, Tuesday 22 and Wednesday 23 December. There is also a Christmas Eve performance commencing at 7.00 pm. Tickets are £9 (full price), £7 (students and OAPs) and £5 (under-16s).

Stealing the infamous (almost) final line: "every time a bell rings, an angel gets his tickets"... And at the rate the phone is ringing, I wouldn't leave it any longer to get yours! Christmas Eve is almost sold out and two of the other performances aren't too far behind.

Hot Mikado

2009-11-24T10:33:00.002Z

Two exchanges in the box office from yesterday morning:

Box office: "Playhouse box office, good morning?"
Caller: "Can I have six seats for Hot Mikado on Saturday evening please?"
Box office: "I'm afraid we only have three seats left in the very front row"
Caller: "But I want six!"
Box office: "I'm sorry, this show has proved very popular and all we have left are three seats in the very front row"
Caller: "Well, can we have those three and three somewhere else?"
Box office: "No, we literally have only three seats left in total, there are no other seats available for this performance"
Caller: "What, really?"

Box office: "Playhouse box office, good afternoon?"
Caller: "Have you any seats left for Hot Mikado on Saturday evening please?"
Box office: "I'm afraid all we have left are three seats in the front row"
Caller: "But I wanted 13!"
Box office: "I'm sorry, all we have left are three seats, this show has proved very popular"
Caller: "But we've booked the coach!"

So, hear ye, hear ye. The Saturday evening performance of Hot Mikado has now SOLD OUT. Thursday evening is almost sold out. Friday and Wednesday evenings have very limited availability. So, when we say we only have a few seats left, we're not making it up!

Proposed parking changes

2009-11-20T14:51:00.004Z

Last month, we received notification that Gloucestershire County Council were proposing to make changes to the on-street parking in the vicinity of the theatre, in particular Bath Road, Oriel Road and Wellington Street. There followed a short period of consultation during which many of our members, together with other volunteer colleagues at the nearby Salvation Army citadel, said how damaging these proposals could be for our community work.

We have now received the official proposals following this consultation period and I am afraid to say that almost no concessions have been made in respect of our representations. The main proposal is that the current free on-street parking on these three roads will be subject to pay and display charges from 8am - 8pm, seven days per week. A maximum stay of two hours will be permitted, with the exception of Sunday mornings when a three hour maximum is permitted. The charges will be £1.60 for one hour, £2.80 for two hours and £3.80 for three hours. Some of Wellington Street will have residents permit parking and much of the current single yellow line in the general area will be removed.

Aside from the huge financial implications to our many volunteers that these changes would bring, of particular concern to the theatre is the removal of the single yellow line along Oriel Road. This is currently used on Sunday mornings for the loading and unloading of furniture, props, sets, lighting and sound equipment as one production leaves and another arrives. If this area becomes, as proposed, no waiting at any time, the general operation of the theatre becomes extremely difficult. The actual parking charges will affect all of our amateur casts, front of house volunteers and parents dropping off and collecting children from the assorted classes held after school and on Saturdays. These charges will also impact on the Salvation Army mothers and toddlers sessions, pensioners' lunch club etc, which are also heavily dependant on volunteers and frequented by the elderly and people on very limited incomes.

The trustees of the registered charity are meeting on Tuesday evening to formulate their official response and I myself met with the chairman this afternoon. We will be asking our supporters to lend us their help in the coming weeks ahead of the official deadline for objections (Monday 7 December), not just for ourselves but for all voluntary organisations in this area that will find their work, none of which is done for profit, severely impeded or potentially forced to stop. Please keep an eye on this blog for updates.

Christmas Treats

2009-11-18T13:26:00.002Z

This year we have two very different Christmas offerings, although there is no home-grown 'pantomime for childish grown-ups' (fear not - Friends Theatre Company will be back with a vengeance in 2010).

First up is PETITE ROUGE: A CAJUN RED RIDING HOOD, which is being staged by Canvas Theatre from the University of Gloucestershire. The familiar fairy tale has been reworked into an enchanting musical where Red is a duck and the Wolf is now an alligator named Claude! This show is a perfect Christmas treat for children of all ages but has enough humour and intelligence to be enjoyed by adults too. The music is infectious and provides an ideal change from traditional pantomime. The performances take place at 7.45 on Thursday 10 December and 2.30 on Saturday 12 December, with full price tickets costing £8 and concessions for children, students and OAPs at just £6.

Then we have the UK premiere of a stage version of the classic film IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. The play, like the film, is the ultimate in inspirational/feel-good entertainment in the run-up to Christmas as we see the effect George Bailey has on the world and what a different place it would be if he threw his life away. Performances take place from Thursday 17 - Saturday 19 and Monday 21 - Thursday 24 December at 7.45, with the exception of Christmas Eve when the performance will commence at 7.00. Tickets are £9 with concessions of £7 for students and OAPs and £5 for under-16s.

Hot Mikado tickets

2009-11-03T10:45:00.001Z

Please note that the Thursday and Saturday evening performances for this show are selling very quickly. We have availability in the front three rows only.

Deep End play readings

2009-10-27T09:48:00.002Z

Deep End Theatre Company are holding three playreadings this side of Christmas to which anyone with an interest - not just company members - is very welcome to attend. The three plays are all very different and are under consideration for possible stage productions in the latter half of 2010 and during 2011, so do come along and see what you think.

You can find out a bit more about the three plays and dramatists concerned by clicking on the links below:

TRANSLATIONS by Brian Friel (3 November)
http://www.samuelfrench-london.co.uk/books/translations
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Friel

THE LADY'S NOT FOR BURNING by Christopher Fry (24 November)
http://www.samuelfrench-london.co.uk/books/the-ladys-not-for-burning
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Fry

SPEED-THE-PLOW by David Mamet (8 December)
http://www.samuelfrench-london.co.uk/books/speed-the-plow
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Mamet

All three plays continue Deep End's reputation for tackling challenging plays and represent some of the best work by the dramatists concerned. The readings will all take place in the Joan Cross Lounge and commence at 7.45 pm.

Parking near the theatre

2009-10-08T09:55:00.002+01:00

On Tuesday we received notification that Gloucestershire County Council are proposing to change the nature of the onstreet parking in the vicinity of the theatre. At present, all the available parking on Bath Road, Wellington Street and Oriel Road is free of charge but with a maximum stay of two hours before 6pm. The proposal is that all these spaces will be switched over to pay and display parking from 8am - 8pm, seven days a week, with a maximum stay of two hours, at a charge of £1.60 for one hour and £2.80 for two hours.

This means that it will be almost impossible to attend the theatre by car - either as a performer, a member of the audience, someone taking part in a Pilates or dance class, or a parent collecting or dropping off a child for a drama class - without paying for your parking or walking some distance. The pay and display car park across the road already charges until 8pm at night (until three years ago it was free after 6pm).

We are told that: "Evidence from areas where on street pay and display parking has been introduced shows that a higher turnover of spaces means more visitors and shoppers can find a place to park to access local shops. You will also find it easier to get deliveries direct to your door. This is because the duration of stay is better managed so more spaces are made available more frequently."

While I have no evidence to dispute this, one has to argue that if the reason for introducing charges is to improve the parking for shoppers to access local shops, the charging could surely stop at 6pm once the shops are closed. Similarly, there would be no need for all-day charging on Sundays. This, of course, is if one accepts that in a time of recession/depression, introducing such high parking charges is a sensible proposal.

There is a period of consultation until October 23rd and you can read about the exact nature of the plans at www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/cheltenhampayanddisplay along with some questions and answers. You can also find a questionnaire on that site - either online or printable for posting - to air your views on these proposals. There is also a public consultation at the borough council offices on Friday 16th October during various times of the day.

We urge all supporters and users of the theatre and the local shops to air complete the questionnaire or write to the borough council to argue against the introduction of these charges.

Autumn season and new brochure

2009-08-20T11:08:00.003+01:00

On Monday we took delivery of 27 boxes containing 8,000 brochures for our autumn season and so the box office is a hive of activity of the 'stuffing envelopes' and 'printing labels' variety as we get them sent out to everyone on the mailing list. They are, of course, also available from the theatre foyer and, over the next week or so, will start to find their way into the usual display racks around the county. The brochure has also been redesigned to an A5 stapled booklet and, so far, the reaction has been very positive. For the first time, the brochure is also downloadable as a pdf file direct from the home page of the theatre website, so do feel free to have a peruse online!

Yours truly was interviewed yesterday by roving reporter Joanna Durrant for BBC Radio Gloucestershire and the first in a two-part segment was broadcast this morning at 9.45 on John Rockley's mid-morning show. The first part focused primarily on the changes to the theatre since the refurbishment - as a general bit of profile-raising for the venue - while tomorrow's part (which should be broadcast sometime between 9.30 and 10.00) focuses on the cult, classic and foreign films we are showing in September. Full details can be found in the brochure, but for quick reference:

Monday 7 September: Blazing Saddles (12A) at 7.45 pm
Tuesday 8 September: The 11th Hour (PG) at 7.45 pm
Wednesday 9 September: Moj Nikifor (12A) at 7.45 pm
Thursday 10 September: Casablanca (U) at 2.00 pm
Friday 11 September: The Shining (18) at 7.45 pm
Saturday 12 September: Shrek (U) at 2.00 pm
Saturday 12 September: The Rocky Horror Picture Show (15) at 7.45 pm

We have already received bookings for several of these films, including a block booking for Rocky Horror, so if you are interested in attending any of the films, it may well be worth your while booking now. Remember, we don't have a huge number of seats to sell and each film is only being shown the once.

Drinking in theatres

2009-08-03T09:07:00.002+01:00

This is a subject that occasionally gets aired around The Playhouse - namely, should audiences be allowed to take drinks into the auditorium? At present, they are not, although the practice has been allowed for specific events, such as Old Time Music Hall, where it is part of the whole experience and re-creating the atmosphere of Victorian music halls.

However, some people feel quite strongly that patrons should be allowed to take their interval drinks - or even pre-performance drinks - into the auditorium with them to continue drinking during the show. In theatres where this is allowed, glasses are usually replaced (for obvious health and safety reasons) with plastic glasses. This, in turn, tends to result in the sound of cracking plastic as people step on empties placed on the floor.

I, personally, don't agree with the practice and it seems that many performers, playwrights and producers are siding with me (wise people) according to an article in today's Daily Mail! West End theatres have noticed an increasing trend in bad behaviour, some of it seemingly alcohol fuelled, to the extend that BOUNCERS are being employed by some venues! At performance of the recently-closed A Little Night Music, one audience member actually walked over to the side of the stage and 'relieved himself'. Door staff at another theatre have actually been assaulted by drunk patrons. Producer Nica Burns, who co-owns five London venues, is among those hiring security staff because audiences can "get quite hectic and boisterous". Playwright Ronald Harwood, who has two plays on in London at present, has called for a ban: "I am deeply opposed to the taking of drink into the auditorium. I think it is an insult to the actors and the play. The audience should be in the play, not the pub."

The Mail article also relates many instances of performers being interrupted by mobile phones ringing, or texting, or taking photos with phones and cameras. Greta Scacchi relates how one audience member called out during a dramatic moment during The Deep Blue Sea last year and when other people told him to 'sssh' he shouted back "Chill out, I'm only having a bit of fun!"

I shall be keeping a close eye on this one. I suspect the debate will continue for some time.

What's happening in July?

2009-07-07T08:25:00.003+01:00

Although generally things do quieten down slightly in July and August here at The Playhouse, with many of the regular companies having a break for the summer, there are still a few shows taking place and preparations being made for autumn productions. Here's a little summary, including details of this year's rather 'wonderful' Christmas show:

TUESDAY 7: PRE-AUDITIONS at 7.30 pm
Tonight sees the second evening of pre-auditions for next March's fundraising production of BACK TO THE 80s (directed by Richard Webb, Toni Coles and Jonathan Carter). This show, set against the backdrop of the final year of the students of William Ocean High School, features a veritable feast of classic hits from the 1980s. Auditions follow later this month - see below.

WEDNESDAY 8 - SATURDAY 11: PERFORMANCES at 7.45 pm
Deep End Theatre Company presents the FARNDALE AVENUE HOUSING ESTATE TOWNSWOMEN'S GUILD DRAMATIC SOCIETY MURDER MYSTERY for four evenings. A brilliant spoof of the worst level of amateur dramatics, you can find out more about the show at http://www.farndaleavenue.blogspot.com/ Tickets still available on 01242 522852.

THURSDAY 16: PLAYREADING
This Christmas, The Playhouse will be staging a version of the classic Frank Capra film IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, with performances spread over a two-week period and finishing on Christmas Eve itself. The auditions will take place in September, but director Caroline Young wants to give everyone the chance to see what's involved this side of the summer. For more information please ring Caroline on 01242 512135.

TUESDAY 21 - SATURDAY 25: PERFORMANCES at 7.45 pm
Playhouse Company presents Noel Coward's 1950s' satire of snobbery in all its guises, RELATIVE VALUES, directed by Wendy Berry. Again, tickets are still available and you can find out more at the theatre website at http://www.playhousecheltenham.org/

TUESDAY 28 & WEDNESDAY 29: AUDITIONS
BACK TO THE 80s auditions will be held in the rehearsal room known as 'the dungeon'. For more information contact Richard on 07905 848134.

The silence of the blog

2009-06-30T09:10:00.003+01:00

You will be well aware that the blog has hardly been a hive of activity in recent times. Of course, a blog that isn't updated is pretty much useless, but its original purpose was merely to document the refurbishment that took place last year. And, in fact, it is exactly 12 months ago today that I posted the first photo of the completed auditorium (as work moved into the green room).

Over the summer, we shall be gradually attaching plaques to the backs of seats for all those people that kindly and generously sponsored this part of the refit. We had to ensure that everything was fully tested, tried and the whole project signed off before we started this process (and we have actually only just received the final certificate of completion).

At the moment, we are currently redesigning our main marketing tool, the theatre brochure. The next edition, out in mid-August, will be a 16-page A5 design, to take into account the fact that we not only have a lot of productions to sell tickets for but also the first of our film weeks in September. 2010 is shaping up to be a very busy year - in fact the calendar is almost full and enquiries are even being made about 2011 and there are a couple of projects being planned that could prove to be very exciting.

So, we will relaunch the blog this summer, along with the new brochure, with a commitment to trying to update it at least on a weekly basis.

Hired Man UPDATE

2009-06-10T18:08:00.001+01:00

Please note that both Friday and Saturday performances of The Hired Man are now sold out. Less than a dozen seats remain for Thursday's performance.

The Hired Man almost sold out

2009-06-09T14:49:00.003+01:00

Please note that at the time of posting this entry (Tuesday 2.50 pm) that there is very limited availability for the Thursday, Friday and Saturday performances of The Hired Man. In fact, we have only 4 single seats left for Friday. There is a better number of seats available for Wednesday's performance but these are generally towards the very front and very rear of the theatre.

We have been inundated with calls this week from people wishing to book 4 or more seats who have been disappointed to find that we have only individual seats or front row seats left. The moral of this story is, of course, PLEASE BOOK EARLY! Remember, we only have 180 seats to sell in the first place.

Summer season launched

2009-05-06T09:18:00.005+01:00

Our new summer brochure is now available directly from the theatre and will be arriving at the usual outlets throughout Cheltenham and Gloucester in the next week. Full information on the season can be found on our website (please click on the link to the right) and tickets are now on sale for all of the shows with the exception of Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit in September. Alternatively, if you are not on our mailing list and would like a brochure to be sent to you either in hard copy or via email as a pdf file, please give the box office a call on 01242 522852.

Canvas Theatre

2009-04-21T09:38:00.004+01:00

Canvas Theatre is a new company that will be making its debut at The Playhouse next month as part of our summer season - to be announced very, very shortly. Their name suggests one of those touring companies that play open air venues, possibly under some form of tarpaulin cover to keep the audience (but not the actors) dry. In fact, they have been formed from the students of the University of Gloucestershire's Performing Arts Foundation Degree course that was set up last September by respected industry professionals Sue Passmore and Sheila Mander.

Some of the students have progressed from our very own drama school for young people, Theatre Studio (whom many of you came to see recently in a superb production of Return to the Forbidden Planet, where even the set - deservedly - got applause).

Canvas will be presenting two productions, each for two performances. The first, on Thursday 21 and Friday 22 May at 7.30 pm, is the musical The Matchgirls, written by Bill Owen - of Last of the Summer Wine fame - and concerns the struggles faced by the young workers at the notorious Bryant & May's match factory in Victorian London . The second is Musicals On Parade, a revue devised by Sue Passmore looking at both the golden age of Broadway musicals - with a large helping of classics from the pens of Rodgers & Hammerstein - and the more recent hits like Five Guys Named Moe and Jersey Boys. This will be presented at both 3.00 pm and 7.45 pm on Saturday 23 May.

Tickets are now on sale for just £8 with £6 concessions (all performances) and those who saw an abbreviated production of Musicals On Parade earlier this year will confirm that these productions will be of a very high standard. Don't leave it too late to book!

Pilates at The Playhouse

2009-04-20T11:03:00.004+01:00

Someone once said that The Playhouse could become 'a village hall for the town centre' through community use of our facilities for meetings and classes that are not necessarily arts related. Generally, due to rehearsals, we are only able to hire rooms out during the day and while we do already have a limited number of classes, they tend to have an artistic element to them - acting, irish dance, tap dance - even if there is no actual public performance involved.

We are pleased to announce, therefore, that this summer The Playhouse will be home to some daytime PILATES CLASSES under the instruction of Jan Rowsell. Jan, who is a member of the Body Control Pilates Association (BCPA), will be holding two hour-long classes each Thursday, for a course of six sessions. The classes commence on Thursday 4 June and you can sign up for either 10.30 am - 11.30 am or 11.30 am - 12.30 pm.

Body control pilates exercises are good for stress relief, relaxation, strengthening, toning and improving stamina and co-ordination and the complete six-week term will cost £54. There is a maximum number of 12 people per class, so it is important to register your place with Jan on 07765 244761 as soon as possible. If these classes prove popular, it may be that we add additional classes on other days and at other times.

Wanted: milk carton tops (blue ones)

2009-03-31T09:36:00.002+01:00

Yes, you did read that correctly. We need the blue plastic lids/tops off your milk cartons. And they must be the blue ones, not red or green. Why? Because they are going to come in very useful for the set of Return to the Forbidden Planet, which is being staged here from 9 - 11 April.

The show takes places on board a spaceship and the plans include a great number of switches and buttons on various panels and these blue plastic things are ideal.

So, if you can save the blue lids from your milk and get them to the box office by close of play Tuesday 7 April, we'd be very pleased to receive them!

Cinema at The Playhouse

2009-03-24T09:33:00.002Z

Some of you may have caught the article in the Gloucestershire Echo recently about the possibility of our showing films here in the future. It is certainly something we are very keen to explore, as our improved seating rake makes our auditorium much more suitable for such a purpose.

Obviously, cinema equipment can be very expensive, so we would not be looking to make this sort of investment with undertaking at least a few trials, so the current thinking is that we will hire a top-notch screen, projector and speakers for a couple of weeks next year. We may, for instance, hold a film week in each season (as hiring for a week is the most financially sensible option) and show a variety of films during the week and possibly try out different types of projectors. This would then show us the long-term viability of the cinema option.

However, live events and theatre will continue to provide the vast majority of our output - film would be used to complement our existing offering (business speak) and attract a wider audience to our venue. Hopefully, we will show a wide variety of films, not just art films or foreign films, but also some classics that people might want to see on the screen again rather than the TV - and maybe we'll even present those in a nostalgic way with intervals, usherettes and B-movies!

Once the plans firm up, we will be asking our members, regular patrons and possible new patrons to let us know what sort of films they would like to see, in the hope that this market research will guarantee us decent audiences from the start. Watch this space!

One Act Play Festival

2009-03-03T08:55:00.003Z

This week, The Playhouse plays hosts to the Gloucestershire Round of the All England One Act Play Festival. Each night consists of two or three plays followed by an official adjudication, with the winners going on to the next round of the competition.

Thursday 5 March brings Oldland Youth and Oldland Players with productions of Deliver Us Not by Lee Howard and Greg Gamble, Effie's Burning by Valerie Windsor and Sins of the Father by Leo Smith.

Friday 6 March sees performances of Kathy Mead's And Who Will Pay the Rent - presented by Athlestan Players - and Bridget Derrett's All Around My Pole (Board-Walkers One Act Players).

Saturday 7 March showcases Tewkesbury Arts & Drama Society in Once This Was A Poet by Brenda Read-Brown and Sodbury Players in Samaritans, Can I Help You by Brendan Williams.

The two most local companies, Board-Walkers and Tewkesbury ADS are both presenting plays written by their own members. Tewkesbury's has already met with great success in other festivals while tickets are already selling fast for the Friday when Board-Walkers' comedy All Around My Pole demonstrates the pole dancing abilities of some of the Playhouse's illustrious female performers 'of a certain age'.

Each evening will present at least 90 minutes worth of theatre for just £7 (£5 concessions).

Notes from The Cherry Orchard

2009-02-25T11:16:00.002Z

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!

2009-02-24T08:28:00.002Z

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

2009-02-18T09:19:00.002Z

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

2009-02-11T12:26:00.003Z

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

2009-02-10T16:22:00.000Z

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

2009-02-09T09:35:00.008Z

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

2009-02-06T10:05:00.003Z

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.

Railway Children availability

2009-01-27T12:39:00.002Z

Following a sell-out performance last night (Monday 26 January), please be advised that the performances on Friday and Saturday (both matinee and evening) are also sold out. We do have tickets available for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evening performances.

Notes from The Railway Children (2)

2009-01-12T08:08:00.001Z

Director Jill Mico tells us a little more about what the cast of our forthcoming production of The Railway Children have been getting up to:

“As part of our rehearsals we were lucky enough to have an opportunity to work with the creators of the show, lyricist Julian Woolford and composer Richard John. It's not every day you get the chance to meet and actually work with the creators of one of our musicals. Julian and Richard spent a Sunday afternoon with the cast and production team. It was fascinating to hear how the show had come into being and how they decided which elements of the book to include and which to leave out and to understand how the musical numbers evolved from simple constructions into the wonderful compositions that punctuate the story.

Just to give you a flavour, Richard, explained how 'Posh Talk' - the musical number where the Railway Children meet the children of the village for the first time and view one another with hostility and suspicion - evolved from the playground chant “Nah, nah, nah, nah nah!” See if you can detect it when you hear 'Posh Talk' on the stage.

Julian took us through a wonderfully simple and yet fascinating exercise to help us develop the characters. Using a roll of brown paper laid out on the floor, he jotted down key dates over the past 30 years and asked each of us to write down important dates in our own lives: being born, going to school, getting married, etc. Then using a second sheet of paper he wrote down dates from 1850 – 1905 (the period in which the Railway Children characters are living) and asked each of us to imagine important occasions and times in our characters lives. Such a simple yet effective tool in getting us to flesh out the characters on stage.

As well as enhancing our production, it was a special opportunity for musical theatre enthusiasts both young and old to gain an insight into the world of the professionals and we are delighted and not a little daunted to know that Julian and Richard will be in the audience during our run!”

THE RAILWAY CHILDREN
Sat 24 – Sat 31 January (no Sunday performance)
Evenings at 7.45pm, 31 January matinee at 2.30pm

Please note that the matinee performance is SOLD OUT and there are very few seats remaining for the Monday 26 and Saturday 31 evening performances

Blogging off for Xmas

2008-12-23T15:29:00.000Z

As we have no shows on over the Christmas period – despite frequent calls from people asking us what time Aladdin will finish on Boxing Day (answer: try the Everyman on 01242 572573) – the box office will be closed from now until 10 am Monday 5 January 2009. The theatre isn’t empty, as there are drama workshops, parties and maintenance work taking place most days over this break. In the meantime, we wish all our patrons a very Merry Christmas and look forward to seeing you all in the New Year.

Notes from The Railway Children (1)

2008-12-17T09:34:00.002Z

January 2009 sees the return of Cheltenham Operatic & Dramatic Society to the Playhouse stage as one of the first handful of companies to present a new musical version of a classic novel and film. Here, to tell us more, is production director Jill Mico:

“When E. Nesbit wrote her stories of The Railway Children in the early 20th century, she probably never imagined it would be transformed into a musical in the early 21st; a modern musical, which captures all the charm and poignancy of the original story.

Directing any musical is a challenge and The Railway Children has been no exception, with 36 in the cast – many of them, as the title suggests, children. As is the way with modern musicals there was considerable doubling up in the original production (the constraints of budgets on the modern professional musical theatre). Happily that is one restriction we do not face, our actors do not get paid, and therefore we have been able to develop a traditional ensemble cast and give many more their opportunity to shine.

Rehearsals, which got underway in early October have proved challenging for two reasons. Firstly, the structure of the show itself imposes its own restrictions. When one finds principals in both dialogue scenes and the big production numbers, finding the time to rehearse all the elements and keep all your cast productively occupied is challenging. This has been further complicated by the limited time one can work with the children in the evenings - having to let them go around 9pm - which means we've had to squeeze the maximum out of the time we have. The main problem this presents is finding time for relationships between the various characters to develop and gel.

There’s just over a month to go until we move into the theatre and we have an awful long way to go in shaping scenes and knitting all the aspects together, although some of the more challenging close harmony musical numbers are taking shape. With several different locations to portray, often in a single scene, our set designer Michael Barwick is developing a series of magical watercolour backdrops that will be projected onto the back cyclorama - we hope!”

THE RAILWAY CHILDREN
Sat 24 – Sat 31 January (no Sunday performance)
Evenings at 7.45pm, 31 January matinee at 2.30pm
Tickets £13 (£10 concessions on Mon eve and Sat mat)

Please note that tickets for this production will not be available from The Playhouse until Monday 5 January. Prior to this date, tickets are only available through CODS’ private mailing list and company members. There will be a second set of Notes from The Railway Children in the New Year.

A private production

2008-12-16T14:13:00.001Z

January, according to our autumn/winter brochure, commences at The Playhouse with The Railway Children. In actual fact, there is another show sneaking in before this when the pupils of Christ College present their annual drama performance.

Only, we can’t tell you what it is. This year’s production was Bugsy Malone, and we were able to tell you about that. But we can’t say anything about this one.

Seriously, we can’t! The school has been given special permission to stage a shortened version of a current West End musical but only on the condition that it isn’t advertised.

Even now, the pupils are in one of our rehearsal rooms, going through the dance routines and practising a few of the songs (I heard them – they were excellent). We always like them to come in before Christmas so that they can have a good look around the place, have a rehearsal, and generally get some of the excitement out of the way so that when they return for the show, they are already familiar and comfortable with being here and can concentrate on the production.

Performances take place at 7.30 pm on Thursday 15 and Friday 16 January 2009. Tickets are priced £5 for adults and £3 for pensioners, children and students, but the Friday performance is already sold out.

However, there are still quite a few seats left for the Thursday performance, so do give the box office a ring on 01242 522852 if you would like to support local schoolchildren in their latest endeavour.

Notes from Alice in a Non-PC World

2008-12-09T14:45:00.001Z

Christmas is always hectic down at The Playhouse as assorted performers prepare for our annual alternative panto for childish grown ups, presented under the auspices of Friends Theatre Company (or, as they are now known, Friends: The Next Generation, having last year reached their 21st production).

This year’s show takes Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland as its starting point but gives it a technological spin. In this version, Alice is drawn inside her laptop and encounters all sorts of computer-related entities such as The Mad Hacker, the Google Bird, CD Ron and Auntie Virus. At, the same time, the script takes a well-earned swipe at political correctness and health and safety legislation, so you don’t have to be a computer-whiz to understand all the jokes. And there’s plenty to keep your toes tapping with some catchy tunes and fabulous dance routines with the usual background of a fascinating set.

Speaking of the set, Mike Kingston and Phil Hopkins seem to be spending every waking hour in the workshop building it and designing a weird array of props and creatures including the previously seen flamingos (as used to play croquet, obviously), hedgehogs and several strange green flying creatures that are slightly reminiscent of Martians from an episode of the classic BBC series Quatermass.*

Rehearsals have been directed by Caroline Young who once again has worked her wonders with a great script courtesy of several Playhouse stalwarts. Time has just flown by and it now feels like we have a great show for those who venture out on these cold nights. We just need to keep the energy up, as it’s all pretty fast moving.

The show runs for six nights – Thursday, Friday and Saturday this week and next – and Thursday performances don’t start until 8.30 to coincide with Cheltenham late night shopping (you can never get parked until 8pm, even if you aren’t shopping). There are still tickets available for all performances, although we’re down to under a dozen for the last night and not many more for the second Friday. We really do urge people not to leave it to the last minute for this show.

* Theatre joke for those of a certain age: Why are musical directors often known as Quatermass? Because they are always found in The Pit

Pretty flamingo (?)

2008-11-27T15:12:00.005Z

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

2008-11-19T09:59:00.002Z

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

2008-11-14T09:13:00.002Z

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

2008-11-10T13:43:00.000Z

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

2008-11-04T13:49:00.004Z

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!

Hallowe'en Hauntings

2008-10-31T09:24:00.001Z

Hallowe’en has become much more ‘Americanised’ in the UK since I was a nipper, but as most theatres have resident ghosts, it’s probably in our interests to observe the festival – just to be on the safe side. We are supposed to have three – a man, a woman and a little girl – although they have never been seen at the same time and aren’t believed to be a family. The man has been seen in the rehearsal room known as the dungeon while the woman and little girl have only ever been seen in the auditorium as far as I am aware, with the woman usually seen on the sound balcony. She has, however, been seen at least once on stage during a performance, whispering in the ear of a musician in a band.

People do say that major building work in old premises like ours can disturb the spirits and increase the likelihood of ghostly activity. While this didn’t seem to happen here, there have been several slightly spooky goings-on over the last 12 months in the part of the theatre known as No 47, which consists of a ground floor committee room, an office and costume store on the first floor and a rehearsal room on the second floor. There is also access into the cellar.

Last summer, an electrical tester was working in the top rehearsal room and was convinced he was being watched. Every time he looked round, he saw nothing. He mentioned this to me afterwards while he was testing the wiring in the swimming pool area and said it was probably his mind playing tricks from hearing someone moving around the room below…except, of course, there was no one else in that part of the building at the time. Mary never left the box office and I was in the back alleyway spraying the weeds!

Last year, I was in the office in No 47 and thought I heard my name being called by a woman’s voice. I guessed it was merely noise from outside or next door, until I heard it a second and third time. I went down the stairs, assuming it was Mary. Perhaps the intercom between the box office and admin office wasn’t working, so she’d had to come across and find me? No, the intercom was working and Mary had again never left the box office and had actually been on the phone for some time. Added to that, only a fortnight ago, I heard the sound of chairs being moved around in the committee room beneath the office several times over the course of a morning – on every visit downstairs, there was no sign of anything having been moved and no one else around.

Were these all noises from outside merely sounding as if they were coming from within the theatre, or genuinely ghostly goings-on? Happy Hallowe’en!

Notes from Epsom Downs

2008-10-29T08:56:00.004Z

We now go over to the racecourse and a commentary on the soon-to-be-run Epsom Downs – not from Sir Peter O’Sullevan but the play’s director, Steven Rayworth:

“And as we approach the final two furlongs…

Yes, indeed, Deep End Theatre Company’s production of Epsom Downs is just two weeks away and you bloggers out there may just like to know how it’s going.

Howard Brenton’s play is a theatrical treat. It is also a bit of a challenge: the staging of a day at the Derby in Silver Jubilee year. Forty-odd characters converge on the downs for the great day. Originally, as performed by Joint Stock Theatre, the company comprised nine actors with multiple role-playing in the true Brechtian style. Here, I’ve expanded it to 22 actors with some multi-various role-playing. The result, I think, is a theatrical entertainment of sustained variety throughout. By opening out the play in order to absorb more actors, I’ve been able to achieve an age range appropriate to the idea that Derby Day (and, indeed, racing in general) is for everyone.

Mike Kingston has designed the set that will convey the undulations of the Downs; he has also assured me that the special effects which I imagined difficult won’t be! Martin Oakes is gearing up on the lighting and sound front and there are already a couple of effects planned which will add a frisson of verisimilitude to the production.

Forty-odd characters to contend with has meant some pre-occupation with costumes: some easy to get hold of, others less so. Liz White is on board to help although many of the cast have been rooting amongst their own clobber. One way or another, the play will look colourful – as Derby Day should.

And what of the actors? Some I knew beforehand, others I have encountered for the first time. Some of them are acting out of their skins! We have been able to move forward considerably with the play because much line-learning has been done prior to rehearsals and what a boon that is! And oh boy, have we had a laugh!

Epsom Downs is both extremely funny and poignant; there are a number of personal stories to follow throughout the play and a rich revelation of character along with identifiable social types. I defy you not to have a good time when you see this marvellous play. Howard Brenton can be regarded as a political playwright of some renown and Epsom Downs is, arguably, his most accessible play. I’m enjoying it as much as I’ve ever done. Rehearsals have confirmed that you can have a laugh (my number one aim) and be creative. At the time of writing this blogette, the ‘vibe’ is extremely positive and a feeling that we’re close to doing this play justice.

Oh, and I have deliberately not mentioned the company’s research trip to Cheltenham Races on 18 October (courtesy of Edward Gillespie – a BIG thank you). My wallet is still reverberating from the pounding of losing bets it received…”

EPSOM DOWNS 12 – 15 November at 7.45 pm
Tickets £9 (£6 concessions except Saturday)

Notes from The Gut Girls

2008-10-22T08:15:00.006+01:00

Dave Wheeler is one of several members who trod the boards at The Playhouse as an amateur and eventually decided to go and train and turn professional. He still keeps his hand in down here when time permits – he was last seen as Chairman/Charles Warren in Jack the Ripper and his last stint in the director’s chair was for the musical Kiss of the Spider Woman – and, at present, he is directing The Gut Girls, the next production from The Playhouse Company. Here, he tells us a little about the play:

“I first came to know this play through hearing a monologue from it and I was immediately hooked. That was eighteen years ago and now I finally have the chance to direct the piece. There are ten roles for women and six roles for men and, never having directed a play about women with just a few men involved – the majority of plays require more men than women – I have got the men to double up and play more than one role each.

Set at the end of the nineteenth century the Gut Girls themselves are a group who love the financial freedom their job gives them even though they are considered one step away from whores. Their job is sorting the livers, lungs, kidneys, hearts and various other bits of animals' insides! At the end of the day, go for a drink or three and generally have a great time. The men do not mess with the Gut Girls!

With the play’s theme of female independence, her contemporaries have considered Sarah Daniels a feminist playwright – although she herself denies the allegation – for championing the cause of female emancipation and equality with men, the progress of which has been painfully slow and is a struggle that continues into the present day.”

THE GUT GIRLS, SAT 1 - SAT 8 NOVEMBER at 7.45 pm
(No Sunday performance)
Tickets £9 (£7 concessions Mon & Tues)

Off to the Races

2008-10-20T16:10:00.002+01:00

In 1977, Howard Brenton was working on a play that would eventually be titled Epsom Downs, providing a glimpse of the state of the nation in Silver Jubilee year through a day at the races (Derby Day, in fact). As research, the cast were invited down to Epsom so they could get to see the various character types that Brenton was reproducing in the play and help their understanding of what a busy race meeting is like. Among the younger members of staff at Epsom racecourse then was one Edward Gillespie.

Fast forward some 30 years and Edward Gillespie is now managing director of Cheltenham racecourse and he well remembers the visit from the original Epsom Downs cast. With extraordinary generosity, Edward invited the cast of our forthcoming production of this play (all 20 of them), to spend last Saturday at the first meeting of the season as his guests.

“Many of the actors had, surprisingly perhaps, never visited the races before and found it enormously useful,” says the play’s director Steven Rayworth. “And while 30 years have passed since the play was written, it was fascinating to see that most of the character types in the play are still with us! Our actors playing the bookies seem to have got it spot on and a lot of racegoers are as ‘larger than life’ as we’ve been portraying them in rehearsal.”

All had a fantastic day and almost the entire cast had a winner or two – or at least won some money on each-way bets – with the exception of the director himself, while Deep End treasurer Rod Holliman was the most successful punter of the day. Obviously the right man to be in charge of the finances! And no, John Roberts doesn’t normally go round with a hanky on his head, he’s just getting into character as Grandpa, a cross between Alf Garnett and Uncle Albert Trotter!

Young musicians

2008-10-13T09:36:00.003+01:00

Just over a week ago, our green room was filled with some ninety teenagers enjoying the music of three local young bands. Now we turn our auditorium over to the talented youngsters of the Cheltenham 'branch' of Clive's Easylearn Pop Music School.

Run by Nick and Ceri Smee, who may be known to people through their performing experience with Cheltenham Operatic & Dramatic Society, Clive's provides weekly lessons in learning and performing in a rock band, with tuition on guitar, drums, bass, keyboards and vocals. These lessons take place at nearby St Luke's Church Hall and twice a year the kids present a showcase in our auditorium - the next of which is this coming Sunday, 19th October.

The details have been changed slightly from the published brochure, with doors opening at 6.15pm for a 6.30pm start. Tickets are available on the door at £5 but can be purchased in advance for £3.50 by telephoning Nick or Ceri on 01452 530683 (the box office does not tell tickets for these showcases).

Anyone interested in joining Clive's - especially after seeing the show on Sunday night - may like to know that if you sign up this month, your first four lessons will be absolutely free! More information can be found at http://www.clivesmusic.com/

Email problems again

2008-10-08T10:52:00.003+01:00

Yet again we find ourselves with internet access but no email service. This is due to our ISP and not our internal servers. This is apparently affecting Virgin customers across the UK and the anticipated fix time is 16.00. Time to switch provider, I think! We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. Please call 01242 522852 if your enquiry is urgent.

Pro vs Am

2008-10-07T13:59:00.000+01:00

It is true to say that there has always been a slight ‘snobbishness’ surrounding amateur theatre (hence why many of us try to use the term ‘non-professional’ or ‘community theatre’, although the latter is something of an Americanism). In fact, I know of a case whereby the chairman of a local Cheltenham society refused to countenance a move to holding their meetings here because they didn’t want to be aligned with ‘the amateurs’! What a dreadful lot we must be!

Now we all know standards in non-professional productions – whether here or in any other venue – vary considerably. We often have to ‘make do’ and certainly aren’t able to have intensive rehearsal time. But most of us have also gone to see professional shows that have left much to be desired. The general blanketing of non-professional as sub-standard is both unhelpful and often untrue.

And while we may not be getting paid for taking to the stage, many groups spend a considerable amount of money on their shows here – sometimes as much as £12-£15,000 for a one-week run of a musical – and the venue itself is now anything but ‘amateur’. In fact, I have just given a guided tour to a lovely couple that thought the theatre deserves an award for the successful transformation.

We are now hosting some professional productions and we hope to increase the number further in 2010 and beyond – NOT because professional is necessarily better, but because we want to bring to Cheltenham performances that might otherwise pass our town by and host these alongside the best in locally-produced drama.

However, the tide may perhaps be turning slightly. It seems that some professionals are now rallying to the defence of what we do – including Michael Boyd, artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company no less, who in a recent article in The Stage said he wants to “take away the crucifix and garlic that we have held up in the profession against the non-professional theatre movement in this country.” You can read the full piece by clicking on the link to The Stage newspaper on the right and searching the ‘News’ section.

Notes from the Beautiful Girls

2008-09-24T09:59:00.003+01:00

In the first of our series of "Notes from...", Paul Scott talks about next month's production of BEAUTIFUL GIRLS, a revue of the songs of Stephen Sondheim, the composer-lyricist of musicals such as Sweeney Todd, A Little Night Music, Into The Woods and Company.

"A lot of people have asked: ‘What is Beautiful Girls about?’ and ‘Where does the title come from?’

The answer to the first question is that it is basically a cabaret of 27 of Stephen Sondheim’s best songs, all on a theme of women. When we decided to mount an evening of Sondheim, it quickly became clear that the women nearly always have the best songs - and the best of the men’s songs are about women! In fact, it’s fair to say that his musicals contain unusually good roles for women. So, we found ourselves some unusually good women to perform this fabulous material and who could be said provided the title (it’s actually a number from Follies): Judi Allan, Juliet Ascroft (formerly Wills), Kate Bennett, Rachel Prudden, Joan Self and Jackie Adams on piano, along with myself as token male.

The more you rehearse it, the more you realise what an incredible talent Stephen Sondheim has. No one else can write such an honest lyric and haunting tune as ‘Not a Day Goes By’ one minute and the wonderfully witty innuendo-laden ‘Never Do Anything Twice’ the next. It is exceptionally rewarding material to work on; actors who can sing usually adore it, possibly because the lyrics are often one-act plays in miniature, revealing more about the character, situation or plot than preceding dialogue.

Generally, the majority of the songs haven’t caused too much concern, but there are one or two pieces that are deceptively tricky, such as the trio ‘You Could Drive a Person Crazy’ from Company, written as a pastiche of an Andrews Sisters’ song. Some of the harmonies are very intricate and take a lot of practicing and I suspect Jackie will be quite pleased never to play that one ever again. Actually, Sondheim uses pastiche quite often, and there are several songs in this revue that point this up, including the Gershwinesque ‘Losing My Mind’ and a very funny spoof of ‘The Girl from Ipanema’.

Some people feel that Sondheim doesn’t write memorable tunes. The truth is, he writes music to fit the character and situation for that scene and doesn’t set out to write hit songs and bang them into your head by reprising them umpteen times in the course of a night. We think he is the best theatre composer and lyricist alive today and hope our show proves the point!"

BEAUTIFUL GIRLS, THURSDAY 9 - SATURDAY 11 OCTOBER at 7.45 pm
All seats £8

Production Notes

2008-09-22T08:32:00.001+01:00

There will be a new feature on the blog this season, whereby the directors of productions will be making a posting concerning their specific production and the rehearsal process. We hope this will prove interesting to those of you who attend the shows, so you can see exactly what work takes place to bring a play or musical to the stage. These musings, which will be entitled “Notes from….”, will generally be posted here on Wednesdays, two or three weeks before opening nights, thereby whetting your appetite to book your tickets (assuming you have not already done so). I am opening the batting this week on the Sondheim revue Beautiful Girls. See you here Wednesday!

Winter season announced

2008-09-18T08:36:00.016+01:00

With the CODS’ production of See How They Run opening this coming Saturday – and the stage having been converted to a wartime vicarage somewhere in Oxfordshire – attention turns to the launch of our winter brochure which will start distribution next week. OK, strictly speaking, winter doesn’t officially start until December, but with the next brochure detailing the productions from October to the beginning of February, I think we can get away with calling it our winter season.

Theatres often say: “this season has a wide variety of productions catering to all tastes” when it isn’t really true, and we’ve been guilty of that ourselves in the past. But this time it is fair to say we have an excellent balance of dramas, comedies and musicals (bucking the trend of the West End and many other theatres which are almost exclusively musicals at present).

The box office is now taking bookings for all the productions listed below, with the exception of The Sorcerer and The Railway Children, which are subject to the company’s own advance booking arrangements. Sorcerer will commence booking on Monday 27 October and Railway Children on Monday 5 January. Full details are available on our main website.

PLAYS
We have two contrasting dramas in November, kicking off with the Victorian-setting of The Gut Girls, followed by the 1977-setting of the very funny Epsom Downs, while the season closes with a professional touring production of Talbot House, the true story of a refuge for soldiers in WWI.

FAMILIES
There are two shows definitely aimed at family audiences. In October, for one night only, we have The King of Spain’s Daughter, presented by the professional Fabulous Old Spot Company – and children and students can attend for just £6! Then, in January, CODS will be in residence for a week with a new musical version of The Railway Children.

MUSICALS
Next month, Ad Hoc present their cabaret revue of the songs of Stephen Sondheim, Beautiful Girls; in November, Cotswold Savoyards return to their roots with a staging of Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Sorcerer; and in December, Jacob’s Well Productions will be bringing us the amateur premiere of Paul: Strange Kind of Hero.

CHRISTMAS
Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without our annual alternative to pantomime for childish grown-ups, which this year owes a nod to Lewis Carroll while taking a swipe at political correctness – Alice in a Non-PC World.

Tourist Information Box Office

2008-09-10T13:02:00.001+01:00

You may be forgiven for thinking that, in the box office, all we have to deal with are people wanting to purchase seats for shows, book a rehearsal room, or possibly enquire about hiring the auditorium. In fact, we also double as an unofficial tourist information office and directory enquiry service.

We regularly receive visitors or deliverymen asking for directions to the Town Hall, the Queens Hotel, the Ladies College, somewhere that repairs watches and, most regularly, the Everyman. Occasionally, we do have people thinking that we are the other venue and suddenly fly out of the doors when they realise they’ve come to the wrong place and they have five minutes to rush round for curtain up. Yesterday, a very nice lady came to the box office in person to tell us that she had tried to get into the theatre via the Regent Arcade entrance only to find it locked and that we might like to do something about it.

A fair proportion of our telephone calls used to come from people wanting to book seats at the Everyman but rang us because the Everyman weren’t in the Yellow Pages - an omission they finally rectified in the most recent printing, resulting in fewer people wanting us to connect them. However, we now appear to have yet another string to our multi-faceted bow, as this conversation from yesterday morning will prove:

Box office: Good morning, Playhouse Theatre, can I help you?
Voice on phone: Hello my love, can you tell me the time please?
Box office: Yes, it’s five-to-ten.
Voice on phone: Thank you, love.

And the gentleman rang off. Yes, apparently we are now also The Speaking Clock.

Credit crunch?

2008-09-01T09:29:00.004+01:00

It’s still too early to say whether the ‘credit crunch’ is affecting theatres in the UK. Several shows have posted early closing notices in the West End, but the summer is always the slowest time of the year – people want to be out enjoying the lovely weather (there’s irony) – and many regional theatres have said that, so far, they have noticed no unexpected slowdown in ticket sales. CCTA’s recent production of Beauty and the Beast produced their best result in terms of ticket sales in six years.

We, of course, don’t operate in quite the same way as a major touring venue and our ticket prices are considerably lower. The vast majority of our shows are presented by local non-professional companies, although we regularly welcome local professional outfits like Focus (http://www.focustheatre.co.uk/) and Dreamshed (http://www.dreamshedtheatre.co.uk/). We are certainly looking at increasing the number of professional performances here – witness The King of Spain’s Daughter – but the best way of keeping audiences interested is in presenting a wide variety of productions so that there is, to use the old cliché, “something for everyone”.

To this end, on Thursday 11 September we are hosting a visit from two extremely well-respected local mediums, Anna Galliers and Carol Green, both of whom have featured on television. On their last visit to Cheltenham they sold out the Pillar Room at the Town Hall and they are much in demand both on a one-to-one and group level. Anna and Carol will present an evening of Clairvoyance and Spirit Communication where they will endeavour to bring messages and proof from our loved ones of a continued existence beyond the physical world. You can find more information at http://www.annagalliers.com/ and http://www.carolgreenmedium.co.uk/

King of Spain's Daughter...

2008-08-27T15:47:00.004+01:00

It’s all kids at The Playhouse at the moment. Last week, CCTA celebrated their 50th anniversary and I believe there may be some photos in the Echo’s Weekend supplement this Saturday of the former members meeting the current members (this on top of the Central News piece broadcast at various times last Friday and an honourable mention in The Stage newspaper). This week, Theatre Studio are hosting their annual summer school, with over 100 young people working to stage FIVE different productions this coming Saturday.

We’ve also just arranged for a visit this October from The King of Spain’s Daughter. Not real royalty, of course, but the title of a 'theatrical entertainment' from the Fabulous Old Spot Theatre Company, a professional touring troupe based in our own county. Old Spot have a fantastic style all their own, involving music, masks, high drama, low farce and jokes for the kids the adults won’t get (and vice versa). We’re very pleased to be hosting this show for just one night only on Thursday 23 October and tickets go on sale from tomorrow. Further details will be found on our main website and in our forthcoming brochure, which goes to print at the end of this week.

Playhouse on TV...

2008-08-19T09:12:00.000+01:00

Now, please do not take that heading to mean that, in future, we’re going to broadcast our productions onto television or via the internet to save you coming out to the theatre on a dark, wet August night (it is August, apparently). Aside from that would miss the whole point about experiencing the magic of a live performance, there are convoluted copyright issues to be taken into account.

What it does mean, however, is that The Playhouse will this week feature on Central News West (I do realise that Cheltenham is one of those places where half the town gets Central News West while the other half gets Central News Midlands – or, rather, Birmingham – but I can’t do much about that).

Reporter Richard Franklin spent yesterday morning with us to do a combined feature on the refurbishment of a flood-stricken theatre and the 50th anniversary of Cheltenham Children’s Theatre (CCTA). Several of the kids were filmed undertaking jobs in the lighting and sound boxes, doing a spot of performing and being interviewed about what they get out of CCTA. The piece will be shown at some point during the 6pm news programme one evening this week, so those of you with the right reception may wish to keep an eye out.

Yours truly was also interviewed and I have no doubt that the kids will come out of it far better than I. They will appear wonderfully natural and interested whereas I will be stilted and dull (and before Steve Evans says it, no change there then). I never feel happy doing those things, despite the fact that I used to work in public relations and received media training! I guess it’s that old chestnut about only feeling comfortable when playing a role and hating being seen as yourself.

The CCTA show Beauty and the Beast opens this evening at 7.30 and we are still trying to encourage ex-members to attend on the Friday evening performance and attend a reception afterwards. In the meantime, we wish the kids all the best for their 50th anniversary.

We're back...

2008-08-18T08:21:00.003+01:00

Just to say that we FINALLY have full access to send and receive emails. I dread to think how many I have to get through to catch up three working days' worth...

Email problems...

2008-08-14T08:11:00.002+01:00

Technology is a wonderful thing. Until it decides to play up. Since 8 am yesterday morning, the theatre has been unable to send or receive emails, either via Outlook Express or Webmail, although we do have access to the internet. I hasten to add that the problem is with our ISP and is not a fault at our end. If you have sent an email to us and have yet to receive a response, we're not being rude, we are simply unable to do so at the present time. If you are awaiting an urgent response, please call us via the box office on 01242 522852.

Hopefully, what passes for normal service will be resumed as soon as possible. In the meantime, please accept our apologies for any problems this is causing (and it is causing plenty as far as I'm concerned).

Val Barker Tribute...

2008-08-11T09:41:00.000+01:00

Ron Carroll is currently organising an evening in memory of Val Barker who died earlier this year. He writes:

“Val Barker was, for 44 years, a great performer, director, writer and friend of The Playhouse and the tides of people who have been washed into and away from its precincts during that time. She took a hand in more than 100 productions, and the archives show that she would accept any kind of role, however anonymous, but of course she was responsible for great performances and great shows never straying too far from her love of music.

“Her friends are putting on a show in the Green Room on Saturday 6th September. The programme will be whatever her friends feel fits best with the memories they have of Val, so we will not know until nearer the time what the items will be. However, we already know that it will be a full programme.

“It should be a fun night and all are welcome, performing or not. Do come and enjoy the new facilities from 7.15 pm onwards. Anyone interested in taking part, either singing a song, reading some prose, or performing an excerpt from a production, can email me at ron.carroll1@googlemail.com or contact the box office for my telephone number.”

New acquisitions...

2008-08-05T11:18:00.001+01:00

Anyone who has rehearsed a musical here in recent years has been well aware that some of our pianos have, to put it mildly, been past their prime for quite some time, while one was wrecked in the floods last year. There is good news on this front, as we have recently taken delivery of a brand new upright piano for the dungeon and an electronic piano for the auditorium. The latter does all sorts of weird and wonderful things and will be kept under lock and key unless required for a production.

Two of our busiest members, Keith Swinford and Sally Norman, tied the knot on Saturday 2 August. A large circle of friends were present at the evening celebration, causing someone to remark that if a bomb had been dropped on the hall in question, amateur dramatics in Cheltenham would probably cease to be! We all wish Keith and Sally our heartiest congratulations and look forward to seeing them on their return from honeymoon.

Three of our autumn shows - The Gut Girls, Epsom Downs and The Sorcerer – all of which will be on the main stage in November, have now been successfully cast. Epsom Downs, in particular, saw a very high turnout of people and even with a large cast required director Steven Rayworth had to turn down over a third of those who auditioned. The next show up for audition will be Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard, possibly in a brand new translation, although one role has already been filled. Meet Phoebe, who will be playing the part of ‘governess’s dog’.

Both Epsom Downs and The Gut Girls are about to go into rehearsal here, which means that the green room will be open with a bit more frequency than of late. However, we are not quite back to six-days a week operation and will be closed during August on the following days: Thursday 7, Saturday 9, Monday 11, Thursday 14, Saturday 16, Thursday 28 and Friday 29. Don’t forget that you can add your name to the bar rota, or check which night you are ‘on’ by visiting the theatre website, which webmaster John Roberts has recently redesigned. It’s at the same address, or you can simply click on the link at the top right corner of this blog.

Reopen and then go quiet?

2008-07-23T15:21:00.001+01:00

Just because there are no shows in the auditorium for a month does not mean there is nothing going on at The Playhouse. The green room bar will be open on those nights when readings and auditions are taking place (see previous posting) and the contractors are going through the snagging list – those small tweaks that need making as we get used to the new layout and facilities in both new areas of the building.

With school holidays now underway, CCTA have started rehearsals during the day for their production of Beauty & The Beast (19-23 August). CCTA – the convenient acronym for Cheltenham Children’s Theatre Association – was founded by members of The Playhouse 50 years ago, and a production has been staged here every summer since then. Even when the auditorium was out of bounds due to the collapsing foyer, the show still went ahead in the green room!

All members of CCTA have to be aged 18 or under and they handle every aspect of the production – acting, directing, lighting and set building. Many members have gone on to become performers in the various ‘adult’ companies here and, occasionally, into the professional theatre industry.

We are very proud to have formed this company - which we believe is still the only company of its kind in the UK – and with this being its Golden Anniversary Production, we would love to have as many ex-members attend the performance on Friday 22 August and meet up with old friends in the green room afterwards. Tickets are on sale from the box office now priced £7 for adults with concessions at £5 for all performances.

Green room and auditions...

2008-07-16T09:21:00.011+01:00

You're impatient to see what we've made of the green room. I know this because I've had several emails from people demanding photos. Several people had a first glimpse last night at the official reopening and the general impression was, as with the theatre, gobsmacked. John Morgan thought it was like a hotel lobby! Certainly it is now a lighter, larger and more user-friendly space and we plan to try and make far greater use of it in the coming months with poetry slams, live music etc. There are still one or two tweaks to be made to get the bar fully up and running, but basically The Playhouse is back and better than it has ever been.

The companies are now gearing up for their autumn productions and there are a number of readings and auditions coming up for those eager to tread the boards in the new auditorium.

EPSOM DOWNS is to be presented by Deep End Theatre Co this November, directed by Steven Rayworth. There have already been two readings, so the auditions will be held on Tuesday 22 and Wednesday 23 July.

THE GUT GIRLS is to be staged by Playhouse Company, also this November, directed by Dave Wheeler. There will be a reading on Thursday 24 July with auditions the following Wednesday 30 July.

THE CHERRY ORCHARD is Deep End's production for March 2009, but director Steve Evans wants to cast early so he knows the line-up is in place. There will be a reading on Thursday 4 September with auditions on Monday 8 and Thursday 11 September.

ALICE IN A NON-PC WORLD is this year's pantomime for childish grown-ups presented by Friends Theatre Co this December. Caroline Young is directing and the reading will be held on Wednesday 17 September. Auditions will follow on Wednesday 24 and Thursday 25 September.

Sneak preview...

2008-07-04T11:09:00.005+01:00

While the auditorium is receiving a few visitors and winning rave reviews (let’s hope that all our future productions will match the quality of the venue), work is progressing over in the green room. Although we won’t actually be able to install the platform lift until next month, the photo left shows that the opening has already been made through to the dungeon where the spirit cupboard used to be.

At the opposite end to this opening, and in front of the bottle store, a new partition wall has sprung up and is already plastered (how appropriate). The bar – which arrived on site yesterday – complete with optics, will be on the face of this wall as you look at it, while the glasswasher will be the other side. The bar counter goes in the opening at the very forefront of the picture. The bar area itself is smaller than it was, but the layout will mean that things are much closer to hand.

This third photo, looking from the new bar across towards the stage and dressing room corridor, gives you an idea of how much bigger and more open the green room itself will be now that the central pillar has been removed.

The Echo spent quite a bit of time here yesterday interviewing me and taking copious photos and hopefully there will be a decent splash in either tomorrow or Monday’s editions. As usual, lots of silly poses requested of yours truly and I will no doubt look full of cold (which I am, sniff). As reported earlier, I’m off for a few days’ rest. Mary is manning the fort and so please keep her busy by booking lots of tickets for The Good Doctor. It would be lovely to have a sell out so soon after reopening!

At last!

2008-06-30T09:41:00.004+01:00

We have a new auditorium! There isn’t really much that can be said. As with any project of this size, there is a snagging list of tweaks and changes to be made over the coming days – a lick of paint here, an electrical cable there – but we basically have brand new facility.

Peter Harrison and John Cogzell are coming in later today to get the lounge bar fitted up again and Dave Deeley of Tivoli Glass has already arrived to put back the three glass panels that have been missing for restoration from the lounge for over a year. They were finished some time ago, but I didn’t dare get them brought back until the building work had finished.

The green room has been boarded off from the rest of the building while work continues in that area, and in two weeks that, too, will be returned to us and that will be the end of the current stage of our refurbishment. There remains other work to be done over the next few years as and when money allows, but the most significant part will have been completed.

Which leaves us with this here blog. I have to say that, when I started, the thought was merely to document the refurbishment for members who might be interested and possibly keep it going afterwards if enough people had been bothered to log on. I have been absolutely astonished at the amount of interest there has been – not just from members and local theatregoers but also from a much wider area (even the US!) – and would like to thank all those people who have been in touch to say how interesting and enjoyable they have found these pages over the last nine weeks.

The blog will go into abeyance next week while I have a few days off but I am planning to keep it going with a weekly posting about what has been, or will be, going on down The Playhouse. This will hopefully include little snippets from directors and cast members about productions that are going into rehearsal, showing something of what goes on down here of an evening in areas other than the auditorium.

This theatre owes its existence to the efforts of its members over the last 50 years. Hopefully, we have laid the groundwork for another 50 successful years. Welcome to the new Playhouse!

And now, the end is near...

2008-06-24T13:36:00.001+01:00

For those of us who have been living with this project for the last two months, it’s been a fascinating experience throughout, although the last few weeks have perhaps been slightly less exciting than the initial ‘opening up’ phase with all its discoveries. Now, as we enter the final stage (no pun intended), there is a definite buzz in the air – and just a little tension – as everyone realises that the handover deadline is rapidly approaching.

Light fittings are being fixed into place, final touches are being made to the paintwork and the seats are going in. The auditorium looks like a theatre again, albeit a somewhat different animal than it was at the end of April; it feels much more like a genuine playhouse rather than a converted swimming pool. The rear section of seating is finished, minus a few tweaks, and by lunchtime tomorrow, the front section ought also to be completed. Carpet has also been laid in the lounge bar and vestibule and the committee room is next on the list (the entrance to the green room will have to wait until the work in the green room itself has been finished).

A reminder that the box office is open and selling tickets for our summer season of productions. After Theatre Studio presents its end-of-term showcase next week, the Playhouse Company presents Neil Simon’s comedy The Good Doctor from 16 – 19 July. Members of the theatre can attend the opening night of The Good Doctor for FREE on presentation of their membership card – and as there are more members than available seats, I suggest you book now!

The famous five...

2008-06-20T15:42:00.002+01:00

Today, after eight weeks, site foreman Craig (second from left) leaves us, along with the rest of the gang that have been responsible for the construction of the new auditorium. The theatre is still a building site for another week and there is still a fair bit still to do – some plastering, some painting, quite a bit of electrics and the installation of the seats - but all the building work has now been completed. These guys have done a really incredible job; I can’t recommend them highly enough and it’ll seem very strange not having them around now after two months. Craig is now off to do a quick stint in Bristol before heading to London to spend a few days on the Odeon Leicester Square ahead of a major film premiere! However, he will be back during the final stages of the green room alterations. And if you’re wondering why the photo is a bit ‘speckled’, that’s all the dust still floating round in the air and being picked up by the flash!

The carpeting of the auditorium is nearly completed – just as well, for on Monday we take delivery of the new seats (which will take two men four days to install). Incidentally, for those of you who have sponsored a seat, you might like to know that your plaques won’t be fitted for a few weeks yet. Fitting nearly 100 small plaques using 6mm screws takes rather a lot of time and with the seats only going in as the last stage of the project – they’ve only actually finished making them this week – this is something that will have to be done when we have a dark week or two, probably early-September. There is also some additional signage that will start to appear over the summer, always our quietest period. Our aim is to have all these aspects completed in time for the autumn season, and there may be other little finishing touches and amendments to be made as we become familiar with the new structure.

The doors are now all in place and just need a lick of paint and the fixing of handles to finish them off. The photo shows one of the new sets of entrance doors on either side of the auditorium that separates it from the new corridor. These doors have been made to match the existing foyer doors (which you can see in the background). The corridor will be light blue, as it is a connecting link from the blue foyer to the predominantly blue lounge bar, with a white ceiling to keep it as bright as possible. The ceilings under the balconies once you enter the auditorium will remain black.

Finally, for those suffering withdrawal symptoms from lack of drama in their lives, Deep End are holding a reading of the enormously popular play ART on 24 June at St Luke’s Church Hall. All are welcome, even those not already members of the company, and it starts at 7.30 pm.

Edging ever closer...

2008-06-18T14:19:00.004+01:00

Next week, it will be 12 months since Mary Newman and I arrived at the theatre to find four inches of water in the lounge bar and green room. This was the first of Nature’s attempts to make us reopen the swimming pool and is generally referred to as Flood Minor. Fitting, then, that Robin Shapero confirmed yesterday that he will be here next week to fit the remaining Floodwalls – one airbrick, the vestibule door and the cellar hatch. This means we will be as protected as we possibly can against similar disasters. We’ll be running brief training sessions in how to operate the system in a couple of weeks’ time and will be inviting all those people we feel ought to know how to use them in due course.

On the inside, most of the activity is at low-lying levels. The dressing rooms and corridors have now been finished – painted throughout, plastered where necessary, and completely re-carpeted in a nice warm red. All that remains before the actors can make use of them is a quick running over with the vacuum cleaner.

In the auditorium, doors have been attached to the lighting and sound boxes and all that remains for them to be completed are the installation of the curved glass panes, as the frames are already in position. Underlay has been fixed to the raking while holes have appeared in the smaller set of steps – not through poor workmanship but deliberate design, as these will hold lights to ensure people can safely ascend or descend the rake.

The balconies have now acquired their new appearance and the pool area is completely boarded and painted. Electrical work is still ongoing and Ian Chandler is popping in every night to keep an eye on things. Ian – who should henceforth be known as ‘Our Hero’ – has spent an incredible amount of time down here liasing with contractors, electricians and the architect and I’m not sure what this place would do without him.

In the lounge bar, gripping strips are being laid around the edge of the room in preparation for new carpet while the front of house bar and kitchen are about to receive new vinyl flooring. The lounge, corridor and auditorium will be fitted with the same carpet, as in the photo (left). The flash on the camera makes this look a much brighter red than it actually is - it is very much a claret red - but you get the idea.

No hanging around...

2008-06-17T09:05:00.002+01:00

There was a lot of noise emanating from the green room during Monday morning. We’d got used to loud banging (as the actress said to the bishop) in the early stages of the project but of late it’s been much quieter. The cause of the cacophony was the demolition of the green room bar, and a sturdy construction it was too! It now lies in a heap on the floor, awaiting the arrival of a skip to cart it away.

As we suspected, the delivery time for a platform lift is 4-6 weeks, so this won’t be installed at the same time as the rest of the green room work. All the arrangements will be made in advance, however, so that the disabled lift can be fitted quickly and easily in mid- to late-August.

Yesterday, with only two weeks to go until the auditorium reopens, things suddenly seemed to move up a gear. There were more people on site than at any time since the project began, including five contractors, four plumbers, three electricians and two painters – not to mention the arrival of several rolls of underlay and carpet, some of which already appears to have taken up residence in the dressing rooms.

Lyn Morgan dropped by again yesterday and revealed what was, to me at any rate, another new fact. I knew that in the early-1950s, a fire destroyed part of one of the balconies and part of the stage area after the opening performance of a play on a Saturday night. What I didn’t know was that the balconies themselves were then used as dressing ‘rooms’, as this was before the formation of the Theatre & Arts Club and the acquisition of the rest of the complex. Although the theatre remained shut for some considerable time for restoration – far longer, in fact, than the current refurbishment is taking – the play that was being staged at the time of the fire simply moved to Pate’s Grammar School for the rest of the run, without, we believe, missing a single scheduled performance!

More originality...

2008-06-12T11:15:00.002+01:00

You can never have enough original features in a listed building. Just when we thought everything was settled, we realised that we had an opportunity to both restore another aspect of the building’s history and give the auditorium a fresh look. It’s long been known that the balconies had balustrades running along most of their length. They never actually went away; they have been visible to anyone working on the balconies as long as anyone can remember. However, they have been obscured from the audience’s view by the red wallpapered panels that ran along the balconies and which held the house lights.

Two of these panels had to be removed for wiring purposes and the balustrades looked so impressive that a decision has been made to reinstate them. They will be cleaned and painted a slightly brighter colour and black panels placed behind them both to enhance their appearance and obscure the equipment stored on the balconies. Incidentally, these balconies were built as viewing platforms from which to watch the swimmers below, and underneath were a series of individual changing cubicles (but we can’t really reinstate those).

The pool storage area is almost completely fireboarded and the new stairs installed allowing access from the rear corridor, which now just needs plastering, painting and doors attached to be finished. The recesses formed around the columns certainly give the corridor a better appearance, not to mention providing a passing place for anyone encountering John Shirley zooming through to the bar! And is that one of the ghosts, peering down into the pool and caught on camera????

Any colour, so long as it's...

2008-06-11T09:32:00.005+01:00

The smell of paint lies heavy in the auditorium at present, with plenty of Playhouse Black being liberally applied to the steppings, the orchestra rail and sound and lighting boxes (which now have ceilings). The architectural feature at the rear of the auditorium, however – known variously as ‘the dome’, ‘the bell’ or ‘the curve’ but actually called ‘the hemisphere’ (apparently) – is now white.

Yes, you read that correctly, white. Or, more accurately, Victorian 13, which is the slightly creamy white used in the triangular areas at the top of the red (sorry, Crimson) arches. Having been used to it being black for so many years, it was quite a shock at first, but Ian Chandler informs me that in show conditions it will be washed with a straw-coloured light to reflect into the back rows of the rake. This was a necessary choice to help overcome the house lighting issues associated with the new raked seating. You’ll remember that the house lights used to run along the side panels of the balconies, but now much of the seating is either at or above this level and the ceiling is still a very long way up!

The stairs from the new corridor into the pool storage area are being fitted as I type and columns are also being constructed around the steels at the rear wall of the corridor to add a touch of character and interest to what could have been just a very boring flat tunnel. And speaking of tunnels, the plumbing guys have been in the tunnels again in connection with the raising of the radiators from ground floor level to behind the back row on the new raking. Which reminds me…

Lyn Morgan, one of my predecessors here, popped in on Tuesday to say that she recalls a time when the council (who own the property) used to send guys into the tunnels beneath us to catch rats. He said that it was possible to get all the way to the ABC Cinema (long since replaced by Royscot House next to the Municipal Offices) in The Promenade if you really wanted to, but that it wasn’t very pleasant.

One or two people have asked whether there have been any ghostly goings-on over the last few weeks, as building work can often – if you believe in such things – disturb resident spirits. I have to report that, so far, no one has yet seen, heard, or smelt anything suspicious during the build, although many of us have interesting tales to tell. Lyn says that the lady that has been seen in the balcony – whom I hasten to add everyone regards as friendly and watches over the place - is probably very pleased to have a little house there now to live in (well, not exactly LIVE in...)

Green room alterations approved...

2008-06-06T15:57:00.005+01:00

We received confirmation this morning that consent has been granted to our plans for alterations to the green room members’ bar! We’re pressing forward for this to commence as soon as the contractors have finished in the auditorium. The wall facing you in the photograph (left) will be knocked through (with head height matching that of the purple wall) and most of the existing bar area will become part of the overall green room. The new bar will occupy the space adjacent to the snug – the door at top right will still be the door into the bar.

In addition, the current spirit store at the other end of the existing bar will be removed to allow the installation of a platform lift, allowing disabled access into the sunken rehearsal room known to all and sundry as ‘the dungeon’. This will be sited where the settle is in the photo (right) while the existing entrance will remain for the rest of us.

In the auditorium, the other wall to the front of house corridor is almost finished, the underside of the new steel and wooden floor down in the pool is being fireboarded and a new permanent orchestra rail (complete with removable central section) has been installed. Most of what’s left to be done is either cosmetic (plastering and painting), installation (seats and carpet) or electrical. Rumour has it that carpeting may commence this time next week…

Less than one month to go...

2008-06-04T08:52:00.010+01:00

Last week, someone asked me what would happen to the acoustics in the auditorium by building up into the dome. Those ‘in the know’ often preferred to sit in old rows M backwards – particularly for musicals – because the sound would travel to the back wall and bounce back off the dome. Well, again, it’s hard to be certain until the auditorium is full of seats and people, but it appears that the acoustics are just as good and possibly better. The guys had the radio playing from the stage yesterday and couldn’t believe how loud it sounded halfway up the new raking because of the bouncing effect.

So what’s happened since Friday? Both sound and lighting booths now have plasterboard walls and the electricians have obviously been around as there are suddenly lots of recesses appearing for plug sockets. The second tier of steps has been built and fixed into position, enabling a gentler ascent of the raking, which is now completely finished right up to the very back.

There are also two small walls built at either end of row F – this is because row E is shorter than row F by two seats and there is effectively no seat in front of F1 and F13 to break a fall onto the floor! I have the feeling these two seats may end up being referred to as ‘the boxes’. One wall of the front of house corridor has been built and you can now appreciate that the height of the raking not only allows the creation of said corridor but also greatly improves head height down in much of the furniture store (the pool).

What you probably most want to see is the view from the top. So here it is – although this was taken at standing head height, not sitting head height, during our get-in and morning cuppa at 7.30 today. Scott is very kindly standing on the stage to give an idea of scale. I’m not sure how well this shot really comes over, as all that wood has the effect of blending together rather than clearly outlining the steps. I suspect once the seats are installed it will have more impact.

Almost at the summit...

2008-05-30T09:35:00.003+01:00

This is the view from the window of the lighting box on one balcony across to the sound box on the other. There are just two seating platforms to be fixed in place before we can show you the view from what will be the back row of the auditorium, albeit without the seats. Suffice it to say, however, that as a significant number of patrons will now be sitting above stage level, choreographers will be able to indulge in more Busby Berkley-style dance routines and lighting designers will be able to project pretty patterns on the floor (that’ll keep Alex Lewer happy at least). I suspect that, from row G backwards, it may feel a bit like sitting in the dress circle at the Everyman while remaining close to the stage.

One or two readers of the blog have said they can’t quite make out from the photos the height of each row, so hopefully this close-up will help. This pillar was located alongside the old row G, which was the back row of the front section, and the level of the old floor at this point is clearly shown where the paint changes from brown to red. The lower of the two steps shown in the photo will be the new row E, the front row of the rear section. The higher of the two steps will be the new row F. Don’t forget, there will also be a riser between the two rows – you won’t actually be walking up 13-inch treads!

And it was gone...

2008-05-29T08:48:00.004+01:00

No sooner had it appeared than it was gone again. Apart from a brief glimpse if you stand at the rear of the auditorium, the pool is now covered over once more, as the guys cracked on yesterday and laid a great deal of the new floor. The photo (left) shows some of the platforms on which the seats will be fixed and gives a good idea of how greatly improved the visibility will be over the heads of the people in front. And if you are worried at just how high each step appears to be, fret not – a further set of shallower step platforms have yet to be installed between each of the seating platforms.

The seating capacity of the previous auditorium was 230 and, to ensure better comfort and visibility, this is being reduced by over 40 seats (although row A will be permanently in use and not require removal when the orchestra pit or apron stage is required). A little piece of research has revealed that in the 1950s, they somehow crammed a total of 272 seats into this same space! The seats must have been much narrower and leg room must have been minimal. The seating plan from the time shows that each row had as many as 20 seats in it, with no central aisle and two seats the other side of the existing pillars, resulting in very narrow aisles at either end (and presumably very poor visibility of the stage). There was also one row at the rear of the auditorium that was only available for purchase on the night and one raised section of 30 seats at the very back.

Finally, an apology. There were actually TWO winners of the recent competition, as Phil Hopkins also guessed the correct answer of 648 bolts. Apologies to Phil, and a bottle of wine is on its way to him, too!

Another rare find...

2008-05-28T08:34:00.006+01:00

We were all convinced that, once the old flooring was removed, there would be no more interesting discoveries to be made. Not so, according to yesterday’s Gloucestershire Echo where, on page 17, you will have seen the headline: “Hidden treasurers exposed by work” – directly under which was a picture of me, sat in the pool, looking for all the world like I’d been stuck down there since 1945 until rescued by the refurbishment. The caption under the photo read: “Rare find: box office manager Paul Scott.” Which is a bit rich, if you think how many hours I spend down this place. I’m not sure which I’d rather be: a ‘hidden treasure’ or a ‘rare find’.

And no, that isn’t the next competition.

But speaking of which, it’s time to reveal that the actual number of bolts involved in connecting the joists and steels will be 652. I’m pleased to say we had a lot of entries – a surprising number of people guessing 672 and 720 for some reason – and that the winner, with a very close guess of 648, is Liz Maisey. A bottle of wine will be delivered in due course.

Aside from that, what’s actually going on in the auditorium? Well, we can report that some of the said 652 bolts have already been used as the joists in the lower section of the new floor (nearest the stage) have all been bolted into place. Parts of the floor have also been laid.

The floor is also down at the rear of the auditorium underneath the steels. In the photograph on the right you can see where the walls of the corridor will be (note the wooden edging), the openings for the doors to the pool and store on either side, and a recess for a radiator.

Competition time...

2008-05-23T08:29:00.001+01:00

Yesterday, yours truly and Andy Powell, the managing director of Spacetailors, the principal contractors for the project, had to wear hard hats and fluorescent jackets to enter the auditorium and have pictures taken in and around the pool for use in the Echo over the next few days. In addition to stills, the photographer took some live film which may end up on the Echo website to allow you to take a guided tour of the place. Keep your eyes on the paper and on http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/

To mark the end (almost) of the fourth week of the project, we have a small competition. You thought I was joking yesterday, didn't you? Referring back to an earlier posting on the blog, the question is: how many bolts will Craig have to use to connect the joists to the steels? And to give you a slightly improved chance, the answer is somewhere between 500 and 800.

There is a bottle of wine on offer to the person who gets closest to the correct answer or two bottles if they manage to guess it spot on. Answers should be emailed by 8pm on Tuesday 27 May to boxoffice.playhouse@virgin.net and the winner will be announced here on Wednesday morning, which - due to the bank holiday weekend - will be the first posting next week.

And for those of you concerned about the times some of these entries seem to be posted at, I don't really live down here, or think about the theatre in the middle of the night - unless there is very heavy rain or I have nightmares about a certain musical production from 2006. I just haven't found out how to make this package work in 'proper' time yet!

Yet more unseen Playhouse...

2008-05-22T09:37:00.000+01:00

With the rear steels now in place in the auditorium, it is easier to see where the new front of house corridor is going to be. This photo is taken from the bar side of the theatre looking towards the foyer. To the left of this corridor will be a storeroom (and the shower) and, to the right, an access via door and stairs into the pool and furniture store. Fortunately, this will not be as low or as narrow as the tunnels found a few feet beneath! You do know about the tunnels, I assume?

This is an area of The Playhouse that few people have seen, although Craig and Scott ventured down here recently to see for themselves the construction of the building and the swimming pool in particular. Structural engineers have bored holes to ensure the pool floor can take the weight of the steels but Craig, being the conscientious site manager he is, likes to know every inch of a building he’s working on.

There is a series of brick tunnels below ground floor level that date back to the very early days of the building. One tunnel that runs all the way from the cellar to underneath the box office and boiler house, and while you have to crawl on all fours at the cellar end you emerge into a large, high chamber at the other. In this chamber there is still the lower part of an enormous chimney that dates back to the early-1800s and the medicinal baths and salts manufactory. This chimney, only capped at roof height in 1984, is clearly visible in a copy of an 1826 engraving we have in the theatre.

Another area of The Playhouse that few people have seen is the new front of house kitchen, replaced due to the floods. There is a great deal more storage space and anyone who has ever served coffee through that hatch will agree that this is a great improvement on the old one.

Make sure to check the blog tomorrow, as there will be a small competition for the bank holiday weekend with a bottle or two on offer!

No messing at the back...

2008-05-21T08:34:00.001+01:00

Today’s photo gives you a better idea of the height of the new rake (and if you haven’t already discovered, you can click on the images to enlarge them so you can see things more clearly). The previous raked floor went to a height half way up the shower door – now the most infamous shower since Psycho based on the amount of talk about it - roughly where the steel in the centre of the picture cuts across it. Now look up. There are two steels at the rear of the curved wall, the furthest being slightly harder to see because the metal and the wall are both red. This is where row P is going to be! From the stage, this seems very high, but part of this is an optical illusion because your eye is drawn to the floor of the pool, rather than where ground floor level will be – not to mention that the rear rake starts much nearer the stage than the old one did.

What are all those holes for..?

2008-05-20T09:07:00.000+01:00

A few more changes have taken place since yesterday morning. More of the brick pillars from the central section of the pool have been removed and the first of the rising steels has been put in place, giving some idea of the huge difference between the old rake and the new one in terms of providing visibility over the heads of the rows in front. We should get a really good idea of the overall structure this time tomorrow. The time consuming bit will come once the steel framework is finished. Each of the crosspieces holds the joists for the new floor. These will all need to be bolted in place – not just a couple of bolts, for as the photo shows, there are eight boltholes at every junction!

Meanwhile, after two rather trying hours of working out how to do it, the new seating plan has been installed on the box office computer and fully tested ready to start selling tickets in June. The wooden screen in the front of house lounge is being lovingly restored following its dip in the floodwaters and the new kitchen is being plumbed in. The repairs to the cellar have also been finished, so we shall soon be receiving another visit from Robin Shapero to seal up the hatch and make the theatre watertight.

More metalwork...

2008-05-19T11:27:00.000+01:00

It was a good thing that John Cogzell and his team of helpers did such an excellent job of tidying up the scenery workshop a few weeks back, as it is now fairly full of lengths of wood, sheets of plasterboard and bales of insulation material. There was another large delivery of wood first thing this morning, swiftly followed by a second trailer carrying steels, which are now being erected into a fitted framework by two guys and a minature crane.

The photo on the left helps explain where certain features will be in the new auditorium. The blue plasterboards (top centre) are part of the new walls. At the right end of this wall, where it meets one of the red pillars, there will be a set of double doors with a matching pair on the opposite side. At the far left end of this wall, at the top of the picture, you can see a gap with a view through to the electric cupboard. This is where the front of house corridor – which has also acquired an alternative name that I refuse to mention in print – will be, running underneath the raised seating and on top of the remainder of the 1945 floor which is clearly visible in the photo.

And for those of you who are following this saga intently, we have clarified the position on those metal rings around the edge of the pool. An old photo has proved that these did indeed provide a support for swimmers but in the form of a metal handrail rather than a rope.

All change...

2008-05-15T09:20:00.000+01:00

The view coming down Bath Road this morning was slightly different. For the first time in just over two weeks, there was no skip obscuring the workshop doors. Instead, there was a trailer bearing the steels that will support the new floor, each marked to show its place in the structure. They were taken through the workshop onto the stage and then placed almost ‘in situ’.

The view coming into the auditorium this morning was enormously different. For the first time in just over sixty years, you can see half a swimming pool, although at the moment it looks rather like an Ancient Roman under-floor heating system. This is as much of the pool as we are going to see, as the rear section – or, to give it its technical term, the shallow end – is still boarded over and will remain so. A new covering will be laid on top of this floor, still structurally in excellent condition, and this is where the new front of house corridor will be. The only other visible change to the pool before it starts being covered over again will be the removal of the brick pillars that the steels are effectively replacing.

We have, surprisingly, also found some more items of historical interest. There are a series of small metal rings - you can just make one out immediately above the brick pillar (left) - at what would have been water level and the presumption is that these would have been to fix a rope around the edge of the pool for swimmers to hold on to.

Are we nearly there yet...?

2008-05-14T09:34:00.000+01:00

This is possibly the most frequently asked question of the last few days. There seems to be great anticipation and excitement over what lies beneath. And I didn’t say the floor was definitely coming out on Monday. I merely asked the question. And the answer to that question was ‘no’.

Last night, however, with the raking completely gone (part of it has been used, incidentally, to make a dog kennel during lunch breaks) and the balcony ceilings almost finished, the first few floorboards were pulled up to reveal this glimpse of the swimming pool. Of course, many members have been in the pool through its use as a furniture store, but no one has seen it empty and exposed from the ground floor since World War II.

We won’t see the pool in its entirety – the deep end is under the stage, which is not being touched in any way – but around two-thirds of it will be completely uncovered, with most of the supporting brick pillars also removed. Sadly, we can’t give guided tours, but we will be ensuring photographs are taken (subject to the usual health and safety certificates).

The intention today is to remove around half of the floor, as part of it will need to remain in place to enable the steels to be lowered into the pool ready to begin construction of the new floor, rake and corridor. Meanwhile, in the other side of the complex, there is just a small amount of plastering, painting and fixing to do to complete the flood repair works.

Light, sound and water...

2008-05-09T12:37:00.000+01:00

With the majority of the overhead ceiling work near completion, attention has shifted to the two balconies. Both balconies have sloping ceilings that, as with the main roof area, need new insulating boards and then painting. The old sound box on the stage left balcony has been demolished and work has commenced on building a new improved version with, for the first time, a matching lighting box on the opposite balcony. These boxes will have some degree of soundproofing, so that the technical guys can exchange lighting and sound cues and, during those lulls when no effects are required, discuss how much better so-and-so is acting/singing/dancing this evening – or not, as the case may be – without the audience hearing a word. As long as they don’t SHOUT, that is.

The other work being carried out today is the draining of the heating system to allow four radiators to be disconnected and moved. Two of the radiators on the walls are being shifted approximately two feet towards the stage to allow for the new pairs of auditorium doors, while the other radiators – previously located at the rear of the seating – can be raised some seven feet in height up the rear wall to the level of the new back row. A new radiator of identical style will also be placed in a recess in the new front of house corridor.

Site manager Craig Ingham tells me that the steels for the new floor are due to arrive on Thursday and these will be brought into the theatre via the workshop double doors (with some traffic control needed, as there are some quite lengthy steels involved). Does this mean that the 1945 wooden floor will start coming out on Monday, revealing the pool?

Week two...

2008-05-07T08:42:00.000+01:00

There is less visible change to report on since the end of last week, although there are still plenty of workers in the building and lots going on. In the auditorium, all the old raking has now been removed and most of the ceiling has now been insulated and replaced. There are three scaffolding towers roaming around and these will be used to paint the ceilings (in Playhouse Black) very shortly. As soon as that has been achieved, then the wooden floor that covers the swimming pool will be removed along with the supporting brick pillars to enable the new floor to be constructed.

In the club side of the building, the decorators are putting finishing touches to everywhere that needed painting as a result of the flooding last summer. The committee room and corridor look better than they ever have and the dressing rooms and corridors are amazingly bright and clean (and will stay that way, actors, or I shall be standing over you with brushes and paint before I let you out after a show). At the moment, the front of house kitchen looks a bit like a bomb has hit it - the old cabinets have been removed, the walls plastered, skimmed and painted - but by the end of next week, it, too will look better than it has in years.

The Layman mystery...

2008-05-02T11:52:00.000+01:00

I wasn’t going to add another entry until next week, what with building work about to cease for the bank holiday, but I’ve received several requests for more details about the suicide of one of Nelson’s comrades referred to in an earlier posting.

Captain William Layman served with Admiral Nelson on several occasions but faced two court martials after running two of Nelson’s ships aground, effectively ending his career. Yet Nelson thought extremely highly of Layman, going so far as to write to the Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty that he was a greater loss to the nation than the loss of a ship. Unfortunately, Nelson was killed at Trafalgar soon afterwards and the Commissioner lost his position, so there was no second chance for Layman.

In 1825, Layman decided to rent a house in fashionable Cheltenham and it was here that he started to show signs of mental instability. He took to drinking rainwater and refused to return to London where he felt sure he would be poisoned if he ate anything. Some six months later, he apparently committed suicide by cutting his throat with a razor.

Where does The Playhouse possibly fit in? A report on Layman’s inquest carried in The Times on 27 May 1826 stated that the suicide took place in one of Cheltenham’s public baths. There were two public baths in Cheltenham at that time – Freeman’s Baths, at 61 High Street, and Thompson’s Montpellier Baths in Bath Road (now The Playhouse). Sadly, the inquest records, which should have specified at which baths the suicide took place, have been lost, but the case is certainly stronger for his death occurring here.

Firstly, Freeman’s Baths had been set up in 1788 but Thompson’s, opening in 1809, was the much more fashionable and popular premises, situated as it was on the edge of the Montpellier Estate and Gardens. It seems likely that someone of Captain Layman’s position would have frequented the grander establishment. Secondly, a parcel left by Layman at the scene of his death contained a book by the chemist Mr Accum, who was an authority on salts and spa waters. I have found references to Accum being connected in some way with Thompson’s Salts Laboratory, which was also based at the baths here.

More research is required and is ongoing!

Behind the door...

2008-05-01T15:59:00.000+01:00

Most people, unless they were really observant, have probably never noticed the door at the very back of the auditorium. You could just see the very top of it, poking out above the backs of the seats in Row R, and we do have an old photograph of the swimming pool clearing showing said door. I’d always assumed it was just a cupboard, as there was obviously nowhere for it to lead to. Today, with the final piece of raking removed from the rear of the auditorium, we were able to open the door and discover the fascinating truth.

It’s a shower and in incredible condition – even the showerhead and tap are still there! There’s a small ledge seat and the tiling appears to match those in the pool, so one assumes this is an original feature from the 1898 incarnation of the building. It’s possible some of the longest-serving (I nearly said older) members who were around when the raking was installed remember this feature but most of us were unaware of its existence.

Ironically, a shower is something most of the performers here have always wanted. This area will be protected and incorporated into the small store that is being created behind the new corridor linking the foyer to the lounge bar, as opposed to being covered up and never seen again.

Have I got noose for you...

2008-04-30T10:12:00.000+01:00

Did I say that they couldn’t begin work on the floor until the ceiling had been finished? Well, it seems they can and they have! While one team are working in one half of the auditorium and up on high, another team are taking apart the old raked floor in the other half – and quickly filling up the enormous skip outside the workshop.

Most of us are aware of the spooky stories surrounding The Playhouse but a new twist was added yesterday when this noose fell out of the ceiling when one of the panels was being removed. Covered in dust, it had obviously been up in the roof space for a very long time and is tied with an extremely good hangman’s knot! Presumably a long-lost prop from one of our earliest shows, or used in some way in the construction of the roof? Answers on a postcard please.

And speaking of spooky stories, I am trying to verify the facts, but Admiral Nelson’s right hand man may well have committed suicide in our baths…

The work begins...

2008-04-29T09:25:00.000+01:00

Monday 28 April, and there is a queue outside the box office. This would not be an unusual sight at 7 pm, as the majority of our shows in the past six months have sold very well indeed. However, this is 8 am, the box office isn’t open, and everyone appears to be wearing yellow fluorescent waistcoats. These gentlemen are, of course, the first arrivals from the team of contractors undertaking the theatre refurbishment.

A fantastic number of members turned out yesterday (huge thanks) to clear the auditorium – even the cast and crew of Copenhagen, who only finished their production a few hours earlier and must have been shattered after two performances the previous day. I don’t know about them, but I certainly found it rather eerie standing in a completely bare theatre this morning, knowing that within a matter of hours it would already start looking different.

Dave Rackstraw, project manager from principal contractor Spacetailors, hands a hefty file of plans and instructions to the site manager, Craig, and with that, the theatre more or less belongs to him. Suddenly, there is great activity. By 10 am, scaffolding towers and sheets of plasterboard are being delivered to the workshop and then carried into the auditorium via the ramp and stage.

The first area to be dealt with is the ceiling. The existing fibreboard panels are to be removed, insulation is to be laid between the joints, and then a new ceiling of insulated plaster board panels erected and painted. This will greatly improve heat retention in the auditorium and help deaden sound slightly from the outside world. Nothing can be done at floor level until this work is completed.

Playhouse in national press...

2008-04-25T11:02:00.000+01:00

You may have seen the article in the Gloucestershire Echo on Saturday 5 April concerning our refurbishment that suggested we were replacing our seats because “the audience is getting fatter”. It is true that people are bigger than they used to be – the Odeon cinema chain are installing seats that are 5cm wider than they were installing just 10 years ago – but that isn’t the actual reason for the refurbishment.

But, as someone once said, no publicity is bad publicity.

Shortly after this story appeared, someone told me they had spotted my quote about “fat people” – their words – in the paper. I informed them that I was not responsible for the Echo’s angle, and that I was not at all ‘fattist’. It then transpired that they hadn’t seen the Echo piece but that I had been quoted in The Sunday Telegraph under the heading “Theatre’s wider appeal”!

So, the Echo’s angle has resulted in The Playhouse being featured, possibly for the first time, in a national newspaper – which in turn resulted in my receiving a call from a professional company who hadn’t heard of us before and inquiring about staging something here in the future. I was very pleased. The Telegraph!

However, there is always a black cloud on the horizon. I learned this morning that I was also quoted in The Sun.

The return of Robin Shapero...

2008-04-23T08:39:00.000+01:00

If you've spent any time walking up and down Bath Road or Oriel Road over the last nine months, you may well have stepped over Robin Shapero without giving him much thought. He's often been found in the town recently sprawled across the pavements. This isn't because he drinks excessively. He's actually installing the Floodwall, a brilliant system that he designed and is now being marketed throughout the UK from here in Cheltenham. Having been flooded twice last summer - for the first time in something like 30 years - there was concern over the wisdom in spending £250,000 on an auditorium refurbishment for all that good work to be washed away.

So, last autumn, Robin measured up all the doors along our Bath Road frontage, together with the airbricks and cellar hatch, and had a series of Floodwalls made for The Playhouse. And last week, having been a bit under the weather for a while, he and his colleague Pat turned up to start installing them. The system is surprisingly simple but very effective. A frame is fixed permanently in place around the bottom of a door and, should you fear the worst, you simply clip an aluminium panel with a fixed seal to the frame. In a matter of seconds, the building is protected. You can read more about the system at http://www.floodwall.net/

I think everyone involved with the theatre has been worried that we might end up with a river running through the complex again whenever there has been a heavy downpour - in which case, it would probably be cheaper to reopen as a swimming pool. Having the Floodwalls in situ is a considerable comfort.

One week to go...

2008-04-21T16:45:00.000+01:00

The theatre was a hive of activity last week as work commenced both on the flood restoration programme and the preliminary stages of the much-anticipated auditorium refurbishment (which starts in earnest next Monday).

In terms of the damage caused by last summer’s floods, many rooms in the complex were left requiring some replastering and redecorating before we could consider replacing the flooring and carpets. The worst hit area was, fortunately, the least public part of the building - the cellar - which needs repairs to the wooden stairs, new rendering to the walls and a completely new ceiling. A team of builders arrived at 8 am Monday and achieved a great deal by close of play Friday. They will be on the premises for a few weeks yet and will need to dovetail the remainder of their tasks with the main refurbishment.

Ian Chandler (technical manager), George Whitford, and a few helpers have spent much of the week trashing rostra and properties from under the stage that were either water damaged or surplus to future requirements, as well as some preparatory work with regard to electrical cabling. The remainder of the properties stored under the auditorium will be removed next Sunday by a working party to enable the existing floor to be dismantled and replaced.