Getting It Off My Chest

Fresh from her triumphant role in Jan Harris's The fan and the STAR and the Star and the FAN at Rada, Janice Day now writes and plays a one hander based on her own memoir about surviving breast cancer.... I'm sure it's funnier than it sounds!

Anyway, it's on October 3rd at the Phoenix. If I were crass I could make puns about Phoenix from that flames, but I'm not that sort of person.

Sweatbox - the Production

Lexy Howe's fine one act play which got a reading back in February last year is at last inching its way to its first production. All she needs is cash. Three thousand pounds to be precise. If you fancy being an angel, here's the place. Better than investing in gold, anyway.

Just One Day

September 26 brings us one of the highlights of the term, a brand new full length stage play by Mary Conway, entitled Just One Day. Let Mary explain:

"The play is set in the kitchen/living room of a converted warehouse near the river in South London. It is late spring.

Inside the building, a disparate group of inhabitants struggle to survive in a hostile world. They have little or nothing in common but somehow conspire to form a kind of symbiosis that allows them steadfastly and determinedly to stay afloat.

Meanwhile in the street outside, a disparate horde of displaced individuals combine to wreak havoc and vent their anger on the world at large.

Into this world of misfits, comes Owen – fresh from greener pastures. Or is he? And what does a charismatic mate like Aston have to answer for? Also, what does a life size statue of Jesus have to do with a prostitute and the overfull rubbish bin?

The plays shows us the detail of just five people’s lives, in all their comedy and pathos, as – like thousands out there – they battle with the vagaries of circumstance, and shoulder the realities of dispossession".

7.45 at the Phoenix.

Another Triple Bill

Always the way. You wait a long time for a triple bill, then along come two, one week after the last lot. Last week they came from a diverse set of sources, but this Monday they are all written by Louise Larchbourne, who has rejoined us recently after many a years absence. Let Louise explain:

"These scripts, one for TV and the other two for radio, emerged from a course I took in order to develop confidence in plotting and making people up. I took to it; of the three, Terence Gets it Out is a comedy with strong hints of the ridiculous – neatly reflecting my impression of life so far, and inspired by an Ayckbourn piece which puts it squarely in an English tradition.
Of the two radio playlets, one is a version of the other, taken to an extreme via the MO of Greek tragedy (more or less); it was written at high speed and with glee. I hope you enjoy them.

I’m developing a couple more as I type".

'Nuff said. Monday at 7.45 at the Phoenix.

Whatever Happened to Napoleon?

A year and a half ago Napoleon left us for the promised land, seeking fame and fortune in Hollywood. Looks like he found it. Here he is, playing an evil British aristocrat oppressing the poor American colonists in a drama set in New Hampshire in 1770.



Won't be long before he's in Lethal Weapon 8, I'm sure.

Our Youngest Member

Scripts wanted

I just got this email, and think it will be on interest to all our theatre writers:

Lion Tamers Theatre Company Call For Scripts

Overview

Lion Tamers Theatre Company are looking for talented writers to submit their work for consideration for our first tour, planned for next autumn.
The tour will begin with a run at the Edinburgh Fringe next year followed by a tour of the North West in the autumn of 2012.
This is an amazing opportunity for emerging writers as well as established ones as the company is looking to develop in the area of new writing.
Although we are a new company we are hoping to offer reasonable fees to the successfull applicant as we discuss the project, however the major benefit is to raise the profile of the successfull applicant.
Although rehearsals and casting would be based in Manchester we are more than willing to accept work by writers countrywide.
To apply for this exciting opportunity please attach some samples of your work or else a complete script as the major factor in our decision will of course be the quality of the text.

The Brief

Although there is never a set criteria for play submissions we are looking favourably on plays which meets the following criteria.

 Small cast size
 Full length though capable of reducing to possibly 80 mins length in order to be edited for Edinburgh Fringe.
 Suitable for a broad general audience encompassing a broad variety of tastes.

Contact

Please send all submissions and samples of work to the following e-mail address.
foggy12345@hotmail.co.uk
For any information do not hesitate to call on 07767886145

Triple Bill

September 12 at the Phoenix brings us a diverse selection. First up is the return of Jethro Dykes. He gave us some poems last term all concerning the wacky world of acting. Among the appreciation were a few brickbats saying they didn't rhyme enough. Has Jethro changed his ways? Find out on Monday, at 7.45.

After that comes a fifteen minute monologue from Nick Myles, entitled Friends Like Steve. Nick also debuted this year, with the full length stage play Anna's Eyes. This monologue, "the story of Lee, an ordinary bloke whose chance encounter with an old friend has unexpected consequences" is about to get a full performance at the Fifteen Festival at the Space later this month, and is being held out of competition ( as they say at Cannes ). That is to say, rather as with Jethro's pieces, the discussion will be informal, and without marking sheets.

Then, to round things off, we have Debbie Maya's first play for us. I say first, but she has won the competition this year already, so she is no novice to writing. Her piece, The Foot of the Bed, concerns "Delia, who is dying in hospital. At the foot of her bed are her deceased grandparents Bert and Reen who are waiting for her to pass over and take her soul on its journey..."

Kiss

Once upon a time it was Kiss and Tell. But five years on, it's been rewritten, revamped and now it makes its debut, tonight at 7.30 at the White Bear, for one week only. It stars our very own Teak Show thesps Johnny Hansler and Jacqui Stirling, and is written by our very own Ritchie Smith.