Review of shows

SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL
Another matinee performance at the Playhouse which for some of us meant a pre theatre lunch at Fisherton Mill. Once again the theatre was packed and once again we were treated to a very polished and professional performance of this Sheridan period comedy. It was fast moving but with good timing slickly moving from one scene to the next. A relaxing and amusing piece of entertainment.
FLANDERS AND SWANN EVENING.
Tim Fitzhigham and Duncan Walsh Atkins brought to the Point the best ever Flanders and Swann evening since the performances by the "Originals". We were entertained to a full repertory of those marvellously witty 1950s songs and how easily we recalled the verses of "I’m a Gnu" and the Hippopotamus song. In fact we were raising the roof with our enthusiasm for "Mud, mud glorious mud"! A happy, lively innocent and fun evening.

March Update

FORTHCOMING:

13 APRIL (Thurs matinee) Playhouse School for Scandal price £7.50

21 APRIL (Fri 7.45) The Point Flanders and Swann Evening price £12.50

23 May (Tues 7.30) Chichester Entertaining Angels: Penelope Keith price £15.00

We have already had 4 theatre visits this year for which there have been mixed reactions.

MACK and MABEL The Mayflower

Christine kindly arranged this and secured a block booking at an excellent price. She also arranged our transport by hiring 2 of the community buses which did make a great difference being delivered to and collected from the doorstep. Sadly the production did not live up to expectations. The supporting cast were very industrious providing all the music and dance routines. However the "e1ectricity" between Mack and Mabel, so essential to the story, just did not exist. I imagined that if David Soul met his co-star in a bar afterwards he would say "Who are you?" so little did he communicate or acknowledge her! This meant that Janie Dee had to work extraordinarily hard (which she did admirably) to generate the exciting energy that is so essential for this musical.

JANE EYRE The NUFFIELD

But what an unexpected treat was this! I had not expected that the Brontes' work could be transferred to the stage but I found for the first time that the play actually gave me a better understanding of the book. It was good to hear the dialogue being delivered in a strong blunt Yorkshire accent. The brilliance of creating the substantive character of Jane's imaginative, and passionate nature controlled and locked away in the attic who seamlessly melded with the character of the mad wife revealed so much more to me than I had gained from my reading. Rochester's account of his meeting of his wife was wonderfully illustrated by the cast recreating a wild exotic and glamorous West Indian scene as a backdrop to his words. Most importantly the whole cast blended so well together and who could not help chuckling at the guy who so delightfully and convincingly played the part of Rochester's dog! For the very first time I actua11y believed in the relationship between J and R!

ARMS AND THE MAN

Four of us went to a matinee performance of this Bernard Shaw play. We first treated ourselves to a light lunch at Fisherton Mill and then moved down the road to the delightful and comfortable Playhouse theatre. As is expected of this theatre we were treated to a polished fast moving we11 timed comedy production. Nothing rea11y to write home about but a very enjoyable and entertaining outing.

RABBI LIONEL BLUE

The Point at Eastleigh is now arranging speakers for one off evenings so I think we shall keep an eye on these particularly as they get booked up very quickly. Rabbi Lionel Blue was just as I expected from hearing him so frequently on the radio. He held the stage for almost an hour with highly entertaining jokes and anecdotes.

During the interval he signed books and without a break was back on the stage with more stories and to field questions from the audience. At the conclusion, having expressed his interest in meeting people he stated he would be in the foyer to chat and would stay until everyone had left, quite a feat for someone recovering from cancer. A very uplifting evening.

High Drama at Hanger Farm

The National All England One Act Play Festival’s local ‘Stage One’—Totton Festival of Drama—is back at Hanger Farm Arts Centre with a really vibrant and varied programme of plays throughout the week from Monday to Saturday March 13th–18th. Curtain up each evening at 7.00pm.

With authors such as Alan Ayckbourn John Godber, George Orwell and Shelagh Stephenson on offer audiences are in for a real treat. . This year’s selection of plays includes classic, comedy, physical, drama, farce and new writing. There really is something for everyone!

With three such varied one act plays performed per evening the festival offers the public a great opportunity to see an extreme variety of theatre in a superb venue, plus you have the bonus of hearing GODA professional adjudicator Jeannie Russell’s public adjudications.

14 groups from across Hampshire will be performing their festival entries in the hope of achieving a place in the Southern Divisional Final. Local audiences can follow the festival through to the next round as Hanger Farm Arts Centre will be the venue the Divisional final on Saturday April 22nd.

Tickets are just £6.00 per evening (£4.00 concessions) and with ample free parking on site—it is a superb chance to see quality theatre at an affordable price in Totton’s first-rate community arts centre. Ring the box-office tel. 023 8066 7683 for tickets, but hurry seating capacity is only 120! Weekly tickets are also available.



For your information Groups & Running order—correct at time of going to press.

Monday 13th March '

Bench Theatre Company 'Unworkable' by Mark Wakeman

Chameleon Theatre Company 'Teechers' by John Godber

Bursledon Players 'Between Mouthfuls' by Alan Ayckbourn

Tuesday 14th March

Hardley School 'Excerpts of Dr Faustus' by Christopher Marlowe

C.A.T.S. Youth Theatre 'The Shoemaker's Incredible Wife' by Federico Garcia Lorca translated by Lucinda Coxon

Wednesday 15th March

Oaklands Youth Music Theatre 'Sequinned Suits and Platform Boots' by Mark Wheeller

Stage Frite Theatre Company 'The Interview' by Les Clarke

Oaklands Community School 'Bang out of Order' by Johnny Carrington and Danny Sturrock

Thursday 16th March

Totton College '30th February' devised the cast

Wessex Youth Theatre 'Animal Farm' by George Orwell adapted by Ian Wooldridge

Chameleon Theatre Company 'A Galway Girl' by Geraldine Aron

Friday 17th March

Bursledon Players 'Gosforth's Fete' by Alan Ayckbourn

Portchester Players '5 Kinds of Silence' by Shelagh Stephenson

Bench Theatre Company 'Customer Delight' by Nathan Chapman



Saturday 18th March—Two plays recalled (Adjudicators choice) and Presentation of Awards



Contact Chris Farleigh for further information on 023 8086 2882 or email christine.farleigh@ntlworld.com

December Update

Forthcoming.
On Friday 8th December a small group of us are going to the Point to see "The Visit" performed by EBYT. We so strongly enjoyed their last production and therefore have great expectations for this.
We are still booking for "Mack & Mabel at the Mayflower on the 31st Jan (See Christine)
For February I suggest the Bernard Shaw play "Arms of the Man" (Comedy) at the Playhouse Salisbury. Let me know if you are interested.

Write up of shows seen.
I have been very dilatory at my follow up reports of our outings - which is probably because I am still flummoxed by our visit to "Islands in the Stream" at the Nuffield in October! I still do not know what it was we actually saw. I waited to read the Echo report, but it seems their reporter was equally mystified! But I can say that all of our group were enraptured by the superb dancing, tableaux and lighting effects and overall thought it was an enjoyable experience.
The same could not be said for Martin Shaw's performance in Man for all Seasons at the Mayflower. How disappointing or should I say, disastrous. The fact that he was unable to project his voice meant that one could not hear what he was saying - thus missing one third of the dialogue. Nor did he convince me that he was Thomas More - only Martin Shaw, TV actor! The evening was lifted by the levity portrayed by Tony Bell and a bijou portrayed of King Henry V111 by David Flynn. So delightful was the latter that when he left the stage I wanted to go with him because I was sure I would have a better time than staying with the remaining cast!.
Still, those are my views. Have any of you other's got comments to make? - more flattering perhaps?

Julie Horsman 02380 862704

Forthcoming events

Tickets for the Islands in the Stream and Man for all Seasons are now booked. please see Julie for the former and Christine for the latter re: payment.

£18 Stall tickets now booked for Man Of All Seasons. Meet at St Winfrids Church, Salisbury Road, Totton at 6.45pm. and travel together in the community bus
£16.00 block booking for stall tickets row J & K have been taken for the musical Mack & Mable at The Mayflower Theatre on Tuesday 31st January.

The Winter Programme for the Nuffield is out and includes the following.

Island in the Stream on Friday 21/10 at 7.30 cost circa £15 A stunning visual by a Russian physical theatre company (This is proving popular within our group.)

Romeo and Juliet Thurs 7 Oct 7.30 Cost circa £15.

Translation on Friday 11 November 7.30 cost circa £15. Performed by the National Theatre company.

Shoah The holocaust disaster on Thurs 17 November at 7.30 cost circa £15

There are also 2 talks on Sundays 13 and the 20 Nov at 7.30 by Shirley Williams and Jo Brand respectively.

Please contact me ASAP if you are interested in going to any of the performances.

Julie Horsman 02380 862704

One evacuee in thousands

Theatre Trips

A small group of us visited the Playhouse, the delightful theatre in Salisbury on the 29th September. We were more than amply rewarded for the journey by the superb performance of "To kill a Mocking Bird" Unusually it was done "in the round" the audience surrounding the "stage", The cast rose to the challenge (and that of maintaining accents) and kept everyone spellbound from the start to the finish. It was simply magnificent production played out in front of a packed audience.


On another lovely July evening, 14 of us made our first visit to the delightful bijou theatre at Hanger farm to see "Confusions", 5 short plays by Alan Ayckbourn, producer by the Mountbatten Players. Sadly the performance in at least 3 of the plays did not do justice to the wit and astute observations always to be found in A.A's work. However we were certainly rewarded by the magical live musical accompaniment provided by the 5 piece Simon Burrill orchestra.
Our next outing hopefully, is in September to see "To kill a mocking bird" at Salisbury Playhouse.


Earlier in July, the theatre group went to the Point to see the Eastleigh Borough Youth Theatre's production of "Blackout", a musical written by the local playwright, Mark Wheeler.
It was a very warm , mellow July evening. The prospect of being packed into a small theatre was not enticing. However we were all more than rewarded by a scintillating and energetic performance revealing the lives of evacuee children during WW2. The individual performance of these young people, particularly those in the lead roles, was outstanding and very convincing as they revealed some of the problems faced by children of the era. With such sympathy and understanding did these young actors portray their story, that it not only stirred childhood memories of our own group but also must have served as a vivid history lesson to the cast's own peer group.
The theatre group is now looking forward to the next outing.


Please contact me if you are interested in going to the Mayflower (7 - 12 Nov.) to see "A man for all seasons" starring Martin Shaw.

15 September 11.00am Meet Producer & Cast - 2.30 Matinee
To Kill a Mocking Bird
Salisbury Playhouse