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Newsletters

Newsletter – May 2018

From our New Chairman – Anne Henderson

Dear All,

I would like to thank you for welcoming me to my new role as Chair of The Gage Players, and I am looking forward to the year ahead.

Vintage Hitchcock: a live radio play – a resounding success
I am sure that those who attended our spring play, ably directed by Lars Sawyer, will agree that it was an excellent production and the write-up in the Surrey Mirror reinforced this. So, well done to all on stage and back stage, and also grateful thanks to those who supported front of house.  We wrapped the play with an extra, very well received, performance at the Banstead Arts Festival, the first time the Gage has been asked to take part in this.

Performing Arts Library, Dorking
As you may be aware, PAL has been under threat of closure and dispersal by Surrey County Council as a savings exercise.  The Gage committee has now heard that its current residence at Denbies Vineyard may also be under threat. The Gage has done a lot to garner support for PAL to prevent either its closure or the dispersal of the collection, and has also pledged some financial help and practical help; we have also recently written to the Surrey Country Council councillors most closely involved, urging them to work with the new charity, Newspal, and its board of trustees, to enable a sensible transfer of the library to new ownership.

Please may we ask you, if you have not already done so, to write in support of Newspal, by going to their website newSPAL.org.uk and completing a few minutes’ worth of input on their appeal site?  Thank you.

Quiz night
Our next social event will be the quiz at The Duke’s Head pub in Tadworth on Wednesday, 23rd May.  Timing is 7.30 sit down for an 8pm start; cost per head, £2.  Please let our social secretary, Jon Laws, know that you will be taking part, especially if you would like to eat at the pub before the quiz starts, so that he can book enough tables for us.  Everyone is welcome, especially those who can boost our general and modern music knowledge!!

Our winter production – open auditions
Our winter play will be a roaring comedy, Party Piece by Richard Harris, directed by Gill Lucas.  Gill will be holding auditions (3M, 4F) at 8pm on 2nd and 4th July at Christchurch Hall in Walton on the Hill, so do please come along to try out for this.

Rehearsals will begin on 17th September, every Monday and Wednesday evening at 8pm, also at Christchurch Hall, with performances at the Riddell Hall in Walton on 29th and 30th November and 1st December.

Please put all these dates in your diary now, and do come to the auditions – this will be a fun production!
You can keep up to date and see production photographs by visiting the Gage website (thegageplayers.co.uk) and our Facebook page.

I look forward to seeing you at the quiz, and at Gage and other local amdram productions.

Best wishes,

Anne

Anne Henderson

Archive

Winter 2018 – Party Piece by Richard Harris

Our Winter 2018 production will be
PARTY PIECE
by Richard Harris
on

29th, 30th November & 1st December

at

The Lord Riddell Memorial Hall
Walton-on-the-Hill

Auditions will take place on 2nd and 4th July 2018 at 8pm,
Christchurch Hall, Walton-on-the-Hill

 

It is the night of Michael’s and Roma’s fancy dress house-warming party. The evening looks set to be a lively one until a string of hilarious disasters strike, including a distinct lack of guests, a burning garden shed, a marauding Zimmer frame and the prospect of an irate husband on the prowl. Michael’s and Roma’s patience is further tried by the arrival of their neighbours, the indomitable Mrs Hinson, who brings her own brand of party entertainment in the form of the domestic squabbles of her son and daughter-in-law. This is a fast-paced and very funny play packed with action and set in the back gardens of the feuding neighbours.

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Previous Productions

Vintage Hitchcock – A Live Radio Play

26th, 27th and 28th April, 2018

PLUS an extra date at the Banstead Arts Festival on 2nd May, 2018

directed by Lars Sawyer
An amateur production in association with Playscripts, Inc.

In a triple bill of one-act plays, three early films by Alfred Hitchcock, the master of suspense, are brought to life on stage with live sound effects and a live broadcast from the studio of WBFR’s radio station.  The Lodger, a story of the London fog, a tale of mystery and murder; Sabotage, about a bomb plot in London; and The 39 Steps, a tale of spies, political intrigue and unlikely romance – all three  bear Hitchcock’s trademark ability to stretch an audience’s nerves almost to breaking point . . .

Performance dates: 26th, 27th and 28th April, 2018 at 8pm, The Riddell Hall, Dean’s Lane, Walton on the Hill.  Doors and bar open at 7.30pm.  Tickets £10, box office 01737 812 703.

An extra performance is being put on for the Banstead Arts Festival: 2nd May 2018 at 8pm. Banstead Community Hall, Park Road, SM7 3AJ. Tickets £10. 

 

Archive

Audition Announcement

On Monday, 15th and Wednesday, 17th January, 2018 we shall be holding auditions for our Spring play, Vintage Hitchcock: a live radio play by Joe Landry, directed by Lars Sawyer.  These will take place at 8pm in Christchurch Hall, in Walton on the Hill.

There are three one-act plays in this production, which takes place c. 1946 in the US metropolitan broadcasting studio of WBFR’s radio station, and which showcases the build-up of archetypal Hitchcock thrillers.

In The Lodger there are 2M and 2F main roles and 6 minor roles (plus the main role of the Announcer, who is heard in each play – this could be M or F).

In Sabotage there are 27 minor speaking parts, many of which could be doubled up.

In The 39 Steps there are 2M and 2F main roles and 22 minor speaking parts, many of which could also be doubled up – not to say tripled or quadrupled up, as in Sabotage.

One of the joys of this triple bill is that, since the action takes place in a live, authentic radio broadcasting studio, the players will have the scripts in their hands throughout!   Not having to learn the lines absolutely by heart is an advantage, but players will still be expected to know the lines, the cues and the drama, in order to give an authentic performance as a radio actor or actress.   All characters have British accents except the Announcer and the stage manager (American), and the few parts where foreign accents are specified.

Rehearsals will begin with a read-through on Monday 12th February, continuing every Wednesday and Monday thereafter until Wednesday, 18th April, all at 8pm in Christchurch Hall.  The play will then transfer to The Lord Riddell Memorial Hall for set-up and performance week.  Performances will be held on 26th, 27th and 28th April.

ALL PLAYERS PLEASE NOTE:
In addition, the Gage has been honoured with an invitation by the Banstead Art Festival Committee to present a play during the Festival week.  The evening play date will be:

Wednesday, 2nd May, 2018, when two of the above plays will be staged in Banstead Community Hall either side of an interval.  Therefore, those auditioning should be aware that they are committing to this further performance if they are offered a part or parts in Vintage Hitchcock.

Archive

Another Quiz Night (9th August)

On Wednesday the 9th August, we are once more venturing to The Duke’s Head in Tadworth to pit our wits against the regular teams. Please feel free to come and give us a helping hand (or brain).

Arrive by 7:30 if you would like to eat first (the food at The Duke’s Head is very good).

Previous Productions

WINTER 2017 PRODUCTION – Waiting for the Train

This new play, being given its premiere by The Gage, is set on a railway platform on the rural outskirts of London. The timeframe stretches from the 1930s to the 1970s, and during this we learn of the lives of some of the people who pass through the station, many of whom are left to fill in time there while waiting for the train . . .

Jeanette, a motherly soul, looks after the station café and also looks after George, who hangs around the station hoping that his wife Jane will return on the next train . . . Tom is a musician whom we first meet worrying about an audition. In time he becomes the conductor of a major orchestra and marries Mary, whom he met at the station when she arrived as a teacher accompanying evacuee children.

The play also has its serious moments, when the repercussions of a terrorist bombing in London reach some of our characters; and again when a newspaper reporter tries to put together a scandalous obituary for another of them, but is foiled . . .

Many lifetimes pass before your eyes in Waiting for the Train.

Performances will be at 8pm on Thursday, 30th November, Friday, 1st December and Saturday, 2nd December, at the Riddell Hall, Walton on the Hill.
Tickets £10, box office 01737 812 703.

Patrons intending to dine before the show at The Blue Ball pub near The Riddell Hall will be offered a 15% discount on food if, when they come to pay the bill, they show their pre-bought tickets to the staff.

Put the play dates in your diary now!

The Following Pictures Courtesy of Andy Carter LRPS CPAGB

The Following Pictures Courtesy of Melanie Rolls