March 28th – 31st 2012 directed by Sara Green

Written in 1935 and set in a village in Spain, the plot concerns a widow with five daughters who, on the day of their father’s funeral, tells the girls :

“There are eight years of mourning ahead of us. Not even the wind will get into this house.”

and as the play progresses, the temperature rises and so do the passions. Lorca was well known for his examination of the harsh treatment of women in his country and in his play he lays bare the repression, jealousy and frustration of a closed all female household. This is a powerful piece of theatre.

The play is now cast as follows:

led by Paul T Davies

March 10th and April 28th

By popular request, we are continuing these very successful workshops.Put these dates in your diary

March 10 will examine restoration comedy and farce

April 28th Contemporary Theatre. This one comes with a warning as we are looking at recent scripts that may contain swearing and disturbing scenes!

Another successful recorded for Colchester Theatre Group. The box office takings were up be nearly 50% and the shows were critically aclaimed; Canterbury Tales won several awards from the North Essex Theatre Guild, including best production.

On the social front, we had enough people at our August Picnic to play rounders for the first time, and our Pizza Quizza was its usual rollicking success. Workshops led by Andrew Hodgson and Paul T Davies have proved popular and a programme of future ones is planned. (See Website for further details). there was a discussion about CTG’s 60th anniversary celebrations and the chairman invited members of the group to come forward to form a sub committee to plan the events.

Committe and Officers were all re-elected:

Chairman: Steve Dunt, Secretary:Dawn King, Treasurer Sara Green, Committee Members: Lorraine Dunt, Rod Green, Andrew Hodgson, Sarah Manning Press, Anne Tomkinson.

Following the business of the AGM Dorian Kelly gave a fascinating talk on the history of theatre in Colchester, starting with the fact that there have been 30 theatres here over time.

Directed by Kerry King at the Headgate Theatre

Message from Kerry

I am directing the above for COLCHESTER THEATRE GROUP

The plan is to have a discussion about the production and a read-through on the 23^rd and
auditions on the 26^th April at the Bunting rooms (behind the Headgate Theatre).

You will need to be available for the week prior to production for 3 rehearsals and on Sunday 2^nd for an early evening rehearsal. You will also need to be available for a
matinee on the Saturday as we are likely to sell out so we will hold this in reserve.

Availability for ‘Calendar Girls’ has been given to amateur groups for one year from September 3rd so quite a few groups will be jumping on the band wagon!

The advantage we have is that I got in first so ours should be one of the very first amateur productions to be performed (certainly locally).

If you are interested in performing or being involved (it’s going to be great fun!) then either email or call. If you cannot make the auditions – we can add an extra one for those who
are unavailable for 23^rd and 26^th.

Below is a synopsis and details about the characters.

When Annie’s husband John dies of leukaemia, she and best friend Chris resolve to raise money for a new settee in the local hospital waiting room. They manage to persuade four fellow WI members to pose nude with them for an “alternative” calendar, with a little help from hospital porter and amateur photographer Lawrence. The news of the women’s
charitable venture spreads like wildfire, and hordes of press soon descend on
the small village  of Knapeley in the Yorkshire Dales. The calendar is a success, but Chris and Annie’s friendship is put to the test under the strain of their new-found fame.

Chris, 50s. Annie, 50s. Cora,
around 40. Jessie, late 60s/70s. Celia, age
anything 35-50. Ruth, 40s. Marie, 50s. John,50s  Annie’s husband. Rod,50s.
Chris’s husband. Brenda Hulse. Lady Cravenshire.
Lawrence.
Elaine. Liam.

This audition is open to all, but a condition of taking part is that you must be or become a member of CTG.

We need you to tell us what you think we should do to celebrate our 60th anniversay next year. The committee wants to put on 4 plays and ideas at the AGM included:

• returning to St Martins
• a promenade performance
• a Gala dinner with a famous speaker
• a children’s play in the summer
• a devised play about the history of Colchester

If you have a suggestion for us, please contact any member of the committee. We want you to be involved.

Audience Reaction

We came to see The Miracle Worker on Wednesday, and thought it the best you have done! And you have done some very good plays, but with Kerry’s direction, and Alessandra and Charlotte’s talent, and the extremely good performances from all the other cast members, this was really the tops.The fight over table manners was brilliantly choreographed and executed, the tantrums very well done. Young Helen’s every facial expression and movement was absolutely right. That girl was really blind every moment of the play, the eyes did not ‘see’, not once, and I do know how hard that is, having ‘done’ a blind girl in the far distant past! One never saw a moment when her character dropped, from the entry to the exit. Brilliant! The  curiosity, the wonder, the terrible frustration, the rage, the joy – all were there to be seen and felt by the audience. Especially good was the way she would start ‘doing’ , exploring something, while other characters were involved in talk, and one would suddenly notice, and watch Helen while one’s attention was still on the dialogue. And that final scene – wow.

Headgate Theatre 6th – 9th July 2011 directed by Steve Dunt

Baby With the Bathwater is a satiric black comedy that enjoyed a long run in America in the 80′s. It tells the story of Daisy, a child who’s parents were too polite to check  her sex when she was born–so they just “decided” she was a girl. Of course, when Daisy turns out to be a boy, he/she must work through all manner of emotional and personal trauma caused by his strange childhood.

Durang, an American playwright, has been awarded numerous fellowships and grants including a Guggenheim, a Rockefeller, the CBS Playwriting Fellowship, the Lecompte du Nouy Foundation Grant, the Kenyon Festival Theatre Playwriting Prize, and the Lila Wallace Readers Digest Writers Award. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild Council and is co-chair of the playwriting program at Juilliard.

Wed 23 to Sat 26 March 2011 at Headgate Theatre

We played to full houses. Comments to follow

Another successful quiz.

Well done to the team “We thought it was a disco” and thanks to Andrew and Anne for great questions!

cast and crew of Hayfever

Witty one-liners delighted audiences every night,

Excellent cast uder the directorship of Andrew Hogson, set and costume design evoking beautifully the period of Coward’s ironic comedy of manners.

Extracts of emails following the show
“just to say how much we enjoyed Hay Fever last night. Beautiful to watch and beautifully acted – a real treat – Many congratulations to all involved in the production of Hayfever.”

“I left the Theatre feeling “Blissfully” happy( even in the rain) after a great evening of entertainment. A classic evening of comedy.”