Current CADS production

Radio days!

We're currently preparing for our second and third radio plays for Royston Radio! (The first was a version of our award-winning play Strangers on a Film, which was broadcast last August.)

The second one is by an old friend of the group - local writer, actor and director Nick Warburton (who also wrote our one-act contribution to this year's Royston Arts Festival, Don't Blame It On the Boots) - and it's entitled Losing the Plot. Amanda is very keen on her allotment and thinks everyone should feel the same. So when Edward appears on the scene she encourages him to apply for the plot next to her own. But Edward has his own rather idiosyncratic ideas about what to do on an allotment which don't go down well with the other plot holders...

The characters and actors are as follows: 

We hope to record the play some time during March and/or April and it will then need to be edited before submission to the radio station. 
 
Following that, we're working on a recording of The Hitchhiker by Lucille Fletcher, which was first broadcast in 1941 on the Orson Welles Show on CBS. It's a spooky tale about a man driving across the United States, who keeps seeing the same mysterious hitchhiker wherever he goes and becomes obsessive about him to the point of near insanity. CADS has performed the play twice before - once in 2000 at the ADC Theatre in Cambridge as part of a late-night double bill, and once in 2004 at the Haverhill Drama Festival.
 
The cast for this one is as follows:
  • Ronald Adams - a young New Yorker - Patrick Key
  • Mrs Adams - Ronald's mother - Angela Sassoli
  • Filling Station Attendant/Mrs Witney/Telephone Operator - Pauline Rowe
  • Roadside Stand Proprietor - [tba]
  • Wife of Roadside Stand Proprietor/Telephone Operator - Rachael King
  • Female Hitchhiker/Telephone Operator - Cate Hall

Again, it's hoped to record this some time during March (we still have all the sound effects and incidental music from the 2004 production!) and then edit it for submission to the radio station some time afterwards.

There's also a plan to start work on a fourth radio drama - the one-act thriller Sorry, Wrong Number, also by Lucille Fletcher - which formed the other half of the double bill at the ADC in 2000. We're holding a combined read-through and audition for this immediately following our Annual General Meeting which takes place at 7.00 on Monday 25 March at The Old Schoolhouse on Market Hill, Royston. At present we have no director lined up for this one so, if you fancy your chances at directing a short radio play, we'd love to hear from you - please e-mail [email protected] if you'd like to know more...

There are a number of roles in the piece, some of which may well end up being doubled up as with The Hitchhiker and, like that play, it's set in the States. The roles are:

  • Mrs Stevenson - elderly, neurotic
  • Telephone Operators (6 separate roles including Chief Operator Miss Curtis)
  • 1st Man - heavy-set criminal
  • 2nd Man - also criminal, possibly with foreign accent
  • Information
  • Hospital Receptionist - middle-aged, practical
  • Western Union Employee
  • Sergeant Duffy - experienced police officer
  • Lunch Room Attendant - young, could be either male or female
You can find additional information and updates about CADS - including further announcements about these and other productions - either in the newsletter, on this website or on social media through our Facebook page... Sign up to our newsletter at the bottom of this page to be kept up to date with the latest news.
 
And don't forget, you can contact us at any time via our Contact page or by e-mail at [email protected]