Our play will be Curtain up on Murder by Bettine Manktelow, with 5 roles for ladies and 3 for gents; it will be directed by Gill Gibbins.
Auditions will take place at 8pm on Wednesday, 9th and Monday, 14th January, 2019 at Christchurch Hall in Walton Street, Walton-on-the-Hill, Surrey KT20 7RT, with rehearsals to start there from 6th February, 2019.

An amateur drama group is rehearsing in a theatre at the end of a pier. A storm is building up and any thought of leaving the theatre is baulked by finding that somehow all the exit doors are locked from the outside. A ghostly presence flits across the stage and when the assistant stage manager falls to certain death through a trapdoor, the players begin to flap. Then one of the actresses is found poisoned, and it becomes clear that a murderer is in their midst . . .

Characters:
Linda – attractive, sharp, capable
Ginny – timid, unsophisticated
Sandra – bright, confident, outgoing
Harry (caretaker) – crabby, dogmatic
Alex – attractive, vain, self-absorbed
Sylvia – attractive, volatile
Martin – sure of himself, with a certain sang-froid
Moppet – untidy, endearing (in one scene, in ‘their’ play, she uses a cod Cornish accent)
Linda, Ginny, Sandra and Alex will look very much of an age; Martin, Moppet and Harry will look a bit older, with Sylvia in between these two groups.

Rehearsals will start on Wednesday, 6th February, 2019 at 8pm at Christchurch Hall, and every Monday and Wednesday thereafter until the production transfers to The Lord Riddell Memorial Hall in Deans Lane, Walton on the Hill, Surrey KT20 7UA for performance week from Sunday, 28th April. There may be an extra Sunday rehearsal at the Riddell in April.

Performance dates there are 2nd , 3rd and 4th May, 2019.

For any further information please contact the director, Gill Gibbins, on 01737 813 245 or gillgibbins@btinternet.com

On Sunday 16th September, Gregory Ardan will be running in the 10k race at RunReigate. As well as being a personal challenge for him, he is taking the opportunity to raise funds for the New Surrey Performing Arts Library (NewSPAL).

To read more or to donate, please visit https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/gregardannewspal?utm_id=108&utm_term=AJkxxaJb6

Did you miss the auditions?
Would you like a part in the Winter Production?
We are still looking to cast the part of David Hinson in Party Piece.

If you are interested, please see https://thegageplayers.co.uk/open-auditions-for-our-winter-2018-production/ for more details on the part and contact information.

Gatton Community Theatre is excited be hosting and inviting you to THE GAGE INVITATIONAL QUIZ 2018 for local drama groups

Saturday, 17th November at 7:30pm
St Katherine’s Church Room
Church Hill, Merstham, RH1 3BH

Please come with lots of teams – the more the merrier!

Ploughman’s supper for all those taking part and there will be a bar.
Hosted this year by GCT with Mike Fortune as quizmaster extraordinaire, the cost for this fantastically fun evening is just £10 per head, and all the profits of the evening will go to support the charity Combat Stress, the UK’s leading charity for veterans’ mental health.

Please reply to info@gattontheatre.org.uk to let us know how many teams and numbers in each group (suggested teams of 6 or 8) or special dietary requirements.

The winner of the first Gage Players’ Invitational Trophy Quiz for local drama groups in 2016 was Gatton Community Theatre, and they will be hosting the 2018 quiz.

The quiz date is Saturday, 17th November – please put this in your diaries now and please get busy rounding up a team or teams from your own drama group to take part.

The more teams the more fun, and the more we hope we can raise for Gatton’s chosen charity beneficiary, Combat Stress, the national organisation based in Leatherhead which helps veterans deal with trauma-related mental health problems. Prince Harry’s 2018 Invictus Games will have recently ended in Sydney, Australia by the time of our quiz, so we hope the need to support veterans will be very much in people’s minds.

Please get in touch with Gatton on enquiries@gattoncommunitytheatre.org.uk to book a place for your team – they will give you details of per head cost, information about the supper being laid on and details of the venue.  The timing will be 7.30pm for arrival for a 7.45 or 8.00pm start. Please notify any special dietary needs when you get in touch – teams generally bring their own nibbles and drinks.

It would be very helpful if drama groups could be in touch with Gatton before the end of October to confirm they will be coming to the quiz, and then confirm numbers by Monday, 12th November so that Gatton can plan catering and setting up the venue in good time.

We very much look forward to welcoming lots of you on 17th November – we all support each other’s productions, and this is another way of enjoying each other’s company, all in a good cause.  It could be your team taking home the trophy this year!!

Our play will be Party Piece by Richard Harris, with 4 roles for ladies, 3 for gents; it will be directed by Gill Lucas.
Auditions will take place at 8pm on Monday, 2nd and Wednesday, 4th July, 2018 at Christchurch Hall in Walton on the Hill, with rehearsals to start from 17th September, 2018.  Performance dates are 29th, 30th November and 1st December, 2018

Party Piece is a fast-paced laughathon about feuding neighbours, centred on an upwardly mobile couple throwing a fancy-dress barbecue party as a housewarmer on one side, and a dipped-in-acid widow on the other, who delights in giving her latest daughter-in-law a verbal mauling while dexterously manipulating her over-mothered son. Add to the mix a wandering zimmer frame, an igniting garden shed and some out-of control party guests, and the result is an evening of escapist fun with the chaotic action twisting and turning from beginning to end.

It is hoped that casting may be completed on 2nd July, enabling the Wednesday, 4th July meeting to be a read-through rather than another audition. Gill Lucas has copies of the play available now, so anyone wishing to read it ahead of 2nd July should contact her on the number below.

Characters:
Dr Michael Smethurst – boring, yuppy, meticulous
Roma Smehurst, his wife – nervous, timid
Mrs Hinson – dominant, acid-tongued, selfish mother
David Hinson, her son – self-made man, ex-barrow boy made good
Jenifer Hinson, his second wife – middle-class, the brunt of Mrs Hinson’s comments
*Dr Toby Hancock, anaesthetist – bachelor friend of the Smethursts, a bit of a letch
*Sandy Lloyd-Meredith – estate agent, effusive flirt
* = second act only

Rehearsals will start on Monday, 17th September at 8pm at Christchurch Hall, and every Wednesday and Monday thereafter, except that the date of 7th November has been changed to 6th November; the production will transfer to The Riddell Hall from Sunday, 25th November.
Performance dates are 29th, 30th November and 1st December, 2018 at The Lord Riddell Memorial Hall, Walton on the Hill.

For any further information please contact the director, Gill Lucas, on 01737 812 703.