A comedy in 2 acts by Peter Quilter

It is the 1950s and this charming comedy introduces the Nightingales, members of a theatrical family who perform more at home than they do on the stage. Jack is a cabaret star, as in love with his piano as he is with his silk dressing gowns. His parents, Charlie and Beatrice, are old Music Hall stars, full of hilarious tales of life on the road. Maggie performs with Jack in the evenings and regularly visits his house to rehearse, drink tea, and tell the sorry tale of her latest romantic disaster. If only she and Jack realized that their true love was right in front of them. The sudden arrival of Charlie and Beatrice, asking to stay with Jack for a few days, throws his and Maggie’s lives into chaos. They promise to be gone by Christmas, but this provides little comfort given that it is only January 7th!
Jack’s housekeeper Geraldine copes masterfully with the ensuing disruption, but then Beatrice unexpectedly disappears. It seems that this was not a simple visit, but an opportunity for her to leave Charlie and run off to another liaison in France. The question is, will anyone find their true love? Are there such things as happy endings? And what do performers do once the spotlight goes out? This is a very funny, touching showbusiness comedy, bursting with one-liners and lovable characters.

Finally, after being cancelled twice, we will be premiering this fantastic play, written and directed by our very own Pip Rolls.

Performances are 8pm on 23rd, 24th and 25th November at The Riddell Hall, Deans Lane, Walton-on-the-Hill, KT20 7UL
Doors open 7:30pm

THE PLAY

Molly’s Calling is a comedy about a bunch of oddities who take on the world and knock some sense into it.  From the outset, things are not quite what they seem.  Quiet, unassuming ladies turn out to be anything but.  They have a mission, or ‘calling’ to help the downtrodden and it leads them into some of the murkiest and most sophisticated activities on the planet.

Molly and Pauline are aided by their thespian pal Lionel, who has a penchant for shortbread fingers and a conviction that a return to medieval law would cure us of many of our woes.  Then there’s Molly’s destitute brother Donald from darkest Africa, who’s only happy when big game hunting, and there’s also a foreign care-worker whose grasp of English is amusingly quirky.

But don’t pass them off as cranks.  Their machinations are remarkably successful in managing to keep the Russian menace at bay and promising to bring back the Good Old Days, when fair play ruled.

Molly’s Calling is set in 2019, when there were a lot of things about Britain that seemed to be going wrong.  The UN had recently published a damning report, stating that a fifth of the population was living in poverty and that the government was making things worse.  Since then, the number of people going to food banks has doubled and our system of government has gone from being an admired beacon of good sense to one of incompetence and intolerance.

Don’t despair, the play presents these issues with humour and a possible way out of the current predicament.  The solution may seem bizarre but it points to the fact that, sensible people banding together, can make a change for the better.

Intrigued?  Why not come along and see it for yourself.

THE DIRECTOR AND PLAYWRIGHT

This is the fifth production that Pip has written and directed for The Gage, following on from two nights of Snapshots from History in the last year, Waiting for the Train in 2017 and The Junipére Affair, a musical, in 2002, for which he also wrote the music and lyrics.  He has performed locally with Leatherhead Operatic and in many productions with The Gage, The Heath Players, and at The Open-air Theatre at Polesden Lacey, where he is Chairman.   He has also designed and built sets for all three companies.  He sees writing, directing and building sets as easier options than trying to remember lines as an actor.  In his youth he worked as a professional actor on the London West End stage and in films, television and radio, as well as back-stage in a number of London Theatres.

As long as everything continues as it has, we are aiming to bring you Molly’s Calling in November 2021, postponed from April 2020.

New dates will be 25th, 26th and 27th November 2021

 

 

OPEN AUDITIONS IN AUGUST

for

THE MUSIC LOVERS
a one-act farce by Reggie Oliver

adapted from Amour et Piano by Georges Feydeau
for a rehearsed reading performance with supper
in The Riddell Hall, Walton on the Hill
at 8pm on Saturday, 14 th September, 2019

Set in the salon of an elegant apartement in 1890s Paris, this lively and fast-moving play revolves around the idea of mistaken identity. Lucile is expecting the arrival of a new music teacher hired by her mother. What she doesn’t know is that Gabrielle, the maid of Mlle Dubarroy downstairs, has, with the bemused agreement of Lucile’s own maid, Baptiste, arranged for Edouard Lorillot (a prospective ‘suitor’ for Mlle), to be sent upstairs by the concierge while Mlle is out, so that he will go to Lucile’s home while Mlle is detained – quite literally! So, Edouard arrives, and conducts himself as he thinks a  man-about-town would, with a lady of whom he has certain hopes. What ensues is a series of misunderstandings and unintentional double entendres, with Lucile and Edouard each believing the other to be someone else – a situation complicated even further by the return of Madame, Lucile’s scandalised mother . . .

Characters – these can be any age, though Madame should be made to look older

Lucile
Baptiste
Gabrielle
Edouard
Madame

A first audition/read-through will be held at Chris’s home in Bookham on Monday, 26th August (bank holiday evening) at 7.30pm, with a second read-through/audition at 7.30pm on Wednesday, 28 th August, also at Chris’s house. Rehearsals will be held there at 7.30pm on Monday, 2nd September, Sunday, 8th September and Friday, 13 th September. This last rehearsal will be a semi-dress rehearsal. Then there will be a dress rehearsal from 2.30 to c. 5.30pm at The Riddell Hall in Walton on the Hill on Saturday, 14th September, with a basic set plus props, lights and sound effects. This will be followed by a break until supper at 7.00pm and curtain-up at 8.00pm.

Please contact Chris if you are interested in taking part:
christopherslater@ntlworld.com or 01372 454 963

Open auditions for our Winter 2019 production

Our play will be Good Things by Liz Lochhead, written with one main male and one main female role. The remaining roles will be split between 2-4 actors.  One or two men and one or two ladies, giving at least 2 cast members the opportunity to double up in various roles. The play will be directed by Debbie Nichols.

Auditions will take place at 8pm on Monday 8^th and Wednesday, 10^th July, 2019 at  Christchurch Hall in Walton Street, Walton on the Hill, Surrey KT20 7RT, with rehearsals to start there from September.

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Set in a charity shop on three different days in one year – Twelfth Night in January, Valentine’s Day in February and Christmas Eve in December – Good Things is a poignant and funny play with a lot to say about finding love later in life.

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Characters:
Susan: a shop volunteer, nearing fifty and divorced, is kept busy by relationship difficulties with her daughter, her father – and her ex
David: in his fifties, widowed, is parting with some of his late wife’s possessions – and keeps coming back with more.

Frazer : a dapper man in early middle age
Marjorie : a middle class matron type
Five other gents
Six other ladies

Rehearsals will start on Monday 16^th September 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, 24^th November.  There may be extra Sunday rehearsals at the Riddell in November.

Performance dates at The Riddell Hall are 28^th, 29^th and 30^th November, 2019.

For any further information please contact the director, Debbie Nichols, on debbiemaynichols@hotmail.com

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.