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 Latest news from CADS March news (March 04, 2010) Spring is sprung! After some weeks of indecision, the smoke has finally been seen above the roof of Greneway School and a plan has emerged for our next production. If you were at our March monthly meeting (and if you weren’t, where were you? You missed a great evening!), then you’ll have heard that, in an unprecedented turn of events, CADS stalwarts Kathy Wholley and Michael Young are to co-produce/co-direct The Golden Pathway Annual by John Harding and John Burrows. The play tells in episodic form the picaresque story of a boy growing up after the Second World War. Born in 1945, the central character Michael is marked out by his relatively ordinary parents for academic success, and, with the help of a series of encyclopaedias delivered every year on his birthday, has a glittering career at school and university. But graduating in the mid 1960s, he soon discovers that all his book learning has left him unprepared for the harsh realities of working life.
The show is really a loosely connected sequence of sketches, some comic, some poignant, some satirical. It has three fairly meaty roles for the ‘principals’ – father George, mother Enid and Michael himself – but also features a host of cameo roles, including teachers, friends, workmates and even, in one scene, a chicken! Most of these “other” roles are involved in only one or two scenes each, but the current plan is to use the cast as a silent chorus or crowd throughout the play. We’d like to perform it largely in the round at the school with a fairly basic set (two chairs and a bookcase at the last count!) and hope to add a musical element to the show, whereby the various changes of time period are signalled by live performances of hit songs from the relevant years.
Auditions for the show to take place next Thursday, 11 March, at 7.30 p.m. in the Drama Studio at Greneway School; rehearsals commence on Monday 22 March and will almost certainly follow the time-honoured pattern of Monday and Thursday evenings (with a break over the Easter week). Provisional dates for the performances are Friday 21 and Saturday 22 May (we’re considering our options for an early-Sunday-evening performance as well but haven’t yet committed ourselves). If you’re interested but can’t make the auditions, or if you’d just like to know more about the play, do please get in touch as soon as possible with Kathy and/or Michael on 01763 223805.
Costume drama It’s all hands to the pumps this Saturday, when we are meeting at Greneway to sort out the costume store. (Apologies for the short notice period!) The idea is to take everything out of the container and spread it out in the school hall, with a view to deciding what to keep and what to get rid of, before neatly folding what we are going to keep and placing it back in the container in properly labelled bags and boxes. We could really do with some helpers for this, so if you can spare some time on Saturday morning, we’d be delighted to see you. We’ll be at the school from 9.00 a.m. and probably working on until the afternoon (so bring a packed lunch if you’re planning to stay for any length of time). Contact Kathy on 01763 223805 for further information or simply turn up on the day
Lock-up clear-out In similar vein, we shall shortly be looking for volunteers to help us clear out the lock-up garage in Beverley Close, having now given notice of our intention to vacate the premises in the Spring. The good news is that an alternative local storage facility has now been identified, but in order to make best use of this we shall need to be fairly ruthless about getting rid of some of what’s currently stored in the lock-up. No firm date for this as yet, but if you’d be prepared to help out, please contact Phil Rowe on 01763 231749 or Joe Daintrey on 01763 242906 in the first instance.
Bursaries
Kim
As mentioned last month, former CADS member Kim Ensor recently made her debut on the West End stage. Alison Bass went along to see the show and sent back this report:
“I was fortunate enough to go and see A Man of No Importance at the Arts Theatre, Leicester Square on its last day, not really knowing what to expect but wanting to support Kim , and I am so glad I did, for it was a real treat and one I am extremely glad I did not miss.
A Man of No Importance is, as you would expect, a story about a man of no particular importance in the world! Just the story of a simple Dublin bus conductor - Alfie Byrne, single and still living with his sister - who is content with his life, reading Oscar Wilde poetry to his passengers on the bus and staging plays in his local church.
His passion in life is his beloved St Imelda’s Players, a local amateur dramatic group with various amusing characters who all think they are wonderful and worthy of the ‘semi-professional’ productions they put on, where in truth, they are truly awful. And so here, you think, you have come to see a delightful comedy musical, until the play takes a different turn - Alfie is forced to cancel his latest play as Oscar Wilde is thought to be to risqué by the local church committee, and is forced to confront a lifelong secret and learn to face his true nature and finally take a stand in the world.
There was some wonderful humour, some touching moments between Alfie and his sister, and some moving scenes when he and the audience come to realise his lifelong secret in a time when it was seen as wrong and immoral to be anything other than ‘straight’.
It was a really emotional, touching rollercoaster of a musical and the score was perfect, catching the humour when needed and pulling at the heartstrings too. The cast were fantastic, headed up by Olivier Award winner Paul Clarkson, and our very own Kim was, as usual, hilarious in parts and always truly professional.
Well done Kim, we always knew we’d see you in the West End!!”
We’ve grown accustomed to her face…
Another CADS member – these days practically a regular! – Emily Bass is currently about to appear in a production of My Fair Lady by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe at Freman College, Buntingford. Details were pretty sparse on the school’s website when we checked, but what is certain is that the performance dates are Wednesday 24, Thursday 25 and Saturday 26 March at 7.00 p.m. For ticket prices and availability, you should probably ring the school on 01763 271818.
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