2007/2008
season. Newsletter No.9
Editor: Jill Fuller, Ramatuelle, 20, Blofield Road,
Brundall, Norwich, NR13 5NN
Tel: 01603 715346 e mail:
jill@ramatuelle.co.uk
Contents
Scapino
Sewell Barn Company Day
New Season's Brochure
Interested in Working with us?
Membership News
Game Plan
Fête
August Activities at the Barn
Start of Season Celebration
Workshop News
Casting for 'Loot'
Changes to Casting Information
Drinks Included
Ticket Office
What else is on in the area
Our
Next Production
Scapino
Adapted by Frank Dunlop and Jim Dale from Molière
Directed by Trudy McGilvray
July 10th, 11th, 12th and 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th at 7.30 p.m.
Our final production of this season,
‘Scapino’, promises to be a ‘fun-filled frolic’.
In the cast we have a mixture of long established Barn members, as well
as some new faces. Rehearsals are fun, interesting and challenging. We
are working together, experimenting and (hopefully) enjoying the rehearsal
process. I am confident that the end product (PERFORMANCE!) will be well
worth coming to see....see you all there!!!
Trudy McGilvray
Sewell Barn
Company Day
As a new comer to the Sewell Barn
I didn’t know what to expect. I had little reason to be nervous
though as I was made to feel most welcome from the moment I walked in
the door. The day was a wonderful way for a newcomer like me to find out
about The Sewell Barn Company. An amazing array of productions was announced
covering a broad spectrum of styles and tastes from the epic “A
Matter of Life and Death” to the more intimate “Loot”.
The workshop, where we were given a seemingly obscure line of poetry to
produce a short piece around, was a great way to meet the directors and
see how they work, with some interesting results.
All in all a great day for newcomers and old hands alike. I shall definitely
be coming back for more!
Mat Briggs
New Season’s Brochure
With a bit of luck our new brochure should be available in time for the
opening of ‘Scapino’ and we hope you like them. Please make
sure that all your family and friends have a copy! Once again, we are
very grateful to John Stokes for the great illustrations, and to everyone
who has worked on this publication.
Interested in
Working with us?
Please remember to get your Preferences Form back to Clare as soon as
possible! If you need another copy they are available in the foyer or
from Clare on: sewellbarn@freenet.co.uk
or 07981 449522
Membership News
We have not raised our membership subscription since 1999. Postage and
printing costs have gone up quite a lot since then, as have the running
costs of the theatre. Therefore we have reluctantly had to raise our subscription
this year to £10 for Annual membership and £50 for Life Membership
but we have introduced a ‘Couples’ Membership of £15
for couples living at the same address.
If your membership is due for renewal this year you should receive a renewal
slip with this newsletter. Please let me have your subscription before
September 1st.
Many thanks
Jill
Our Previous
Production
GamePlan
Just how funny could it be? A teenager having sex with a retired dry cleaner
for money?
Well hilarious, as it turns out. And this is Aykbourn’s masterstroke
with Game Plan. You’re sat there laughing, and a packed first night
audience certainly were laughing, but having this nagging doubt about
the sheer sordidness of the whole affair.
There’s certainly no doubt that this is a brave production. Normally
that means, in ‘reviewer-speak’, that a company has over-reached
itself. But not in this case! The risk is that the Barn’s loyal
audience, which we have to admit is older and at least middle class, might
find its earthy material a little hard to take.
Well not a bit of it. The audience lapped it up, vanilla flavouring and
all, and that has to do with the quality of the performance. Try to be
risqué and fall short and you’ll pay the price. With material
like this if the performance is spot-on then the audience will follow.
I felt the play itself was slightly unbalanced. The first half is paced
perfectly with the main characters introduced, the plot thickening, and
everything coming to the boil perfectly for the interval. But the second
half, though it resolves beautifully with a lesson about women fighting
back whatever the cost, never quite delivers the high expectations of
the opening hour.
It’s a play which asks huge amounts of its two leads, both playing
as teenage girls. Mia Bond pitched her already world-weary 17 year old
perfectly (but then again it wasn’t that long ago for her) and it
took a brave actor to expose herself firstly in school uniform and transform
shortly into stockings and basque and little else. She found perfectly
the balance of the virgin whore, determined to go through with her moneymaking
scheme. Assured on the surface, prepared with condoms and suitable reading
material for the waiting punters, but underneath like the baby rabbit
of time about to try crossing the dual-carriageway of destiny.
But what a double act. No, not Sorrel and her doomed punter, but her and
her friend Kelly played by Tawa Kesington. What a pairing. Tawa is a natural
comedienne. Just watch her face on stage, perfectly deadpan as if she
had no idea of the comedy she’s playing. And to her fell the comic
highpoint of the night, a simple move maybe but played to perfection as
she donned her maid’s stack-heeled shoes and tottered off her chair
as though she’d never worn anything higher than trainers.
Together they gave us a glimpse of a youthful, fresh vibrancy, a centre
of gravity for the play around which the other five members of the cast
orbit. I do hope they’ll forgive me for not name checking them all,
suffice to say even though it was a first night there wasn’t a weak
performance among them. It’s just that the two leads took the show,
grabbed it with both hands and made it their own. And who can blame them?
Bob Carter
Fête
Come
and see the Sewell Barn stand, and support your colleagues who are performing
the first ever Sewell Barn Mumming Play (with a Robin Hood theme) at the
St Augustine’s Medieval Fair on Sunday 27th July, 12-4pm. There
are lots of other activities planned and it sounds like it should be a
good afternoon out! St Augustine’s Church is off Pitt Street –
just round the back of Anglia Square.
August Activities at the Barn
This year we have arranged two working parties to spruce up the Barn ready
for the start of next season, and also to continue painting up the lists
of previous seasons’ productions on the foyer walls. You may remember
that because of the Blyth Jex building work we did not have access to
the Theatre last summer, so we have a bit of catching up to do this year!
Tasks will be many and various: a few suited to those with DIY skills
and plenty for the unskilled but willing…. If you can spare us a
bit of time on either or both days, Sunday 3rd and Sunday 24th
August, we would love to see you. Those members who have joined
us in previous years will vouch for the great spirit and sense of achievement
that these sessions have. It is a good way to meet other Company members
outside the context of productions. We will start work at 10 am and won’t
start anything new after 3pm though wrapping up will probably go on for
a bit after that. For further information phone Adrian Wenn, Building
Manager, on 01603 483504 or Mike Dunne, Company Stage Manager, on 01603
464156. Remember to wear suitable clothing!
Start of Season Celebration
Sunday 28th September is the date for our new pre-season celebration and
AGM. All friends are welcome – new and old alike. We will hold the
AGM in the morning (timings to be announced shortly) - having worked through
major changes to our Constitution last year, you will be pleased to
know that a smooth run should be ahead of us this time around! At the
conclusion of the AGM we will adjourn to the bar for one of our amazing
slap-up lunches and the chance to catch up with old friends and meet new
ones.
Lunch will be followed by a new event to celebrate the start of the season
– The Sewell Barn All-Comers Team Quiz. Questions will focus on
theatre and related subjects, with a bit of general knowledge thrown in.
Full details will be announced in the next Newsletter, but we hope that
plenty of you will want to join in. It will be great fun and we are confident
that a good time will be had by participants and onlookers alike.
We are looking for a couple of incorruptible people to assist with question
setting over the summer – if this is something you enjoy please
get in touch with Clare Howard at sewellbarn@freenet.co.uk
or 07981 449522. Jenny Hobson will oversee the catering, and will also
be glad of assistance – she can be contacted on 01263 822908 or
jenny.hobson@freeuk.com.
It obviously helps the caterers to know rough numbers so please let Jenny
know in plenty of time if you will be attending.
We hope that you will come along for the whole day and help to make this
another great Sewell Barn social occasion before the Season gets seriously
underway.
Clare Howard
Workshop
News
June 3rd Workshop
The curtain came down on this season’s workshops with a
real eye opener from Peter Sweet.
It’s an odd evening that starts with you blundering about blindfold
with a flyswat in each hand and ends up with you trying to put into a
character, memories from both hours and years ago, but I’ll try
to sum it up.
The person you become on stage comes from many sources and it’s
not enough, as I’m sure we all know, to rely on just stage directions
and author’s notes. This workshop sought to help us find more from
within ourselves. And so Peter’s aim this evening was to help us
into using things from our own lives to build a stage character or persona.
Peter patiently guided us through ways of reaching into our own experience
of memories and our own way of doing things to find those moments which
we can relive, recast, and incorporate into the person we are trying to
be.
It was thought-provoking and lasting. When I got home my wife told me
about how annoyed everyone at puppy class had been with one particularly
undisciplined dog and its owner and my reaction was to think that there
was an emotion to store away and use one day on stage. And if that wasn’t
enough we learnt a lot about each other: how important a moment it was
standing on a box in the Barclay stand in the 1970s; how odd to see a
cyclist on the Acle Straight; the sheer disappointment of a holiday let-down
including a heartbroken elephant and the importance of having a pair of
cowboy boots at the side of the bed.
Bob Carter
Workshops Next Season
Just a reminder that next season all workshops will be held on stage.
The usual pattern will be to hold them on the first Wednesday following
each Company production, 7.30-9.30pm. However, in order to reduce the
gap between Sewell Barn events the inaugural workshop will be held on
Wednesday 24th September. This will be led by Martyn Richards, who will
kick off our theme for the year – to increase familiarity with our
unique playing space and the opportunities and challenges it presents
to actors and directors.
Casting
for ‘Loot’
Our January production will be Loot by Joe
Orton, directed by Mike Dunne. The auditions will be held at the Barn
at 7.30pm on Monday 17th July.
After robbing a bank, Hal and Dennis hide the money in the coffin of Hal's
recently deceased mother, complete with corpse. However, their plans are
thrown into chaos upon the arrival of Inspector Truscott and the two thieves
hide both the coffin and corpse around McLeavy's house. The play descends
into a masterpiece of black farce as the upper hand and power swings between
Hal and Dennis, Nurse Fay and Inspector Truscott. Mike will be auditioning
for all roles as follows:
McLeavy: a
naive soul and Hal's widowed father. As honest and respectful as the day
is long. (Playing age late 40s - 60s)
Fay: murderous,
gold-digging Irish nurse who claims to be a strict Catholic, though she
has been through seven husbands in ten years!
(Playing age late 20s - late 30s)
Hal: McLeavy's
son is a common thief who, despite his recent bank robbery, is compelled
to tell the truth at all times. (Playing age
early - late 20s)
Dennis: Hal's
bisexual companion who is shrewd at manipulating the circumstances around
him. (Playing age early - late 20s)
Inspector Truscott: overbearing
and shamelessly abusive, Inspector Truscott fancies himself as an uncommonly
gifted detective! (Playing age 40s
- 60s)
Meadows: Truscott's
unctuous assistant. (Playing age 30s - 50s)
For more information contact Mike on 01603 464156, or mickjdunne@hotmail.com.
Changes to Casting Information
After some consideration, director Jenny
Hobson feels that with such a challenging production as ‘Who’s
Afraid of Virginia Woolf’ to direct, the male lead needs to be in
place as early as possible. We have discussed this and we have agreed
that on this occasion the part of George will be cast by invitation. All
other parts for this production will be cast at audition as previously
advertised: Martha on Thursday 30th October and Nick and Honey on Monday
1st December. Please accept our apologies for any disappointment caused
on this occasion and be assured that we remain committed to offering open
casting opportunities.
*Also please note that there is a typing mistake on the casting notes
sent out with the last Newsletter and the email address for Mike Dunne
(director for ’Loot’) should read mickjdunne@hotmail.com.
Clare Howard
Drinks
included
First
night tickets include a drink at the bar. (wine, beer, soft drink, tea,
coffee)
Also, don’t forget that members are entitled
to a free drink (as above) at the bar on 
Wednesday
performances on production of a valid membership card.
Ticket Office
Don’t forget: the ticket office is now located in Jarrolds. Customer
Services (2nd Floor)
Jarrold Dept Store 1-11 London St, Norwich NR2 1JF Tel: 01603 697248
Fax: 01603 611295 customerservices@jarroldthestore.co.uk
What
Else is on in the area?
The Maddermarket Theatre: ‘Tom Jones’ by
Joan Macalpine (from Henry Fielding): 17th – 26th July at 7.30pm;
also Saturday matinee at 2.30pm.