Congratulations to the cast and crew of ‘Scrooge’ at Freshwater Memorial Hall last week. This ambitious production involved the combined efforts of The New Strolling Players, Back Alley Productions and Kaleidoscope Theatre Company. Members of Kaleidoscope directed, designed the scenery, designed and operated the lighting and sound, assisted with set construction and acted. We were pleased to see many of the special effects devised and constructed by members of Kaleidoscope receive recognition in one of the show’s reviews (see below). The show also received a glowing review in the local press and was well attended raising hundreds for local charities.

This was a demanding production and it was rewarding to see the three groups pool their talents to provide various expertise in areas such as costume, choreography, music, set design and construction. Thank you to all those involved and the audience for supporting local entertainment. Photographs to follow.

Review by Sally Kimpton – IWCP 21/12/09

“This year the New Strolling Players broke with tradition and joined forces with the Kaleidoscope Theatre Company and Back Alley Productions to present Scrooge, a musical based on A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

The result was a real delight and just the thing to cheer up a cold, dark winter’s evening. The show was full of great songs, dancing and humour. Tim Bull did an excellent job in the demanding role of the old skinflint, Ebenezer Scrooge, and Antony J. Moore was a cheery Bob Cratchit, Scrooge’s much put-upon clerk.

Michael Dangerfield was great fun as Harry, Scrooge’s optimistic nephew, who kept trying to get his uncle to spend Christmas with him, and Mr and Mrs Fezziwig, played by Michael Grist and Helena Hewson, were full of good cheer and Christmas spirit.

Michael Wells and Rachel Dangerfield, as Young Ebenezer and his lost love, Isabel, made a charming couple, helping to tell the story of how Scrooge had ended up as such an unhappy man.

A number of young people took part in the production and they were first class, particularly Joe Cotton as Tiny Tim, Molly Hatch-Wheatley as Kathy Cratchit, Lawrie Burgess as Ebby – Ebenezer as a child – and Lily Hutchings as his sister, Jen.

Excellent special effects came to the fore in the scenes where Scrooge is confronted by the ghost of his old partner Jacob Marley, played by Kevin Wilson, who made shivers run down the spine as he appeared dressed in his white shroud and weighed down with clanking chains, and by the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future.

Making the ghostly face of Marley appear on Scrooge’s front door, as if by magic, was particularly clever. And at the end, when Scrooge had been made to see the error of his ways and had become a kind and generous man, we even had some snow falling on the scene to complete a special Christmas evening.”

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Kaleidoscope are pleased to report that they have received a £50 donation from Totland Parish Council. We are very grateful for the continued support of Totland Parish Council and their recognition of the work that Kaleidoscope is doing. With the increasing overheads involved with staging a production we will be able to put the money to good use for next year’s production!

Scrooge tickets will go on sale from the 21st November 2009 and will be available from The Cabin, Freshwater, Totland Pharmacy, Freshwater Bay Post Office, and Wild Silk, Yarmouth. Adult tickets will be £6, Children £3 and a Family Ticket (2 Adults & 2 Children) for £15.

Congratulations to all involved in ‘Black Comedy’ last week which played to full houses each night. Some hilarious groping around in the dark by Tony Moore, aptly supported by Kaleidoscope’s Kelly Pearce playing his love interest. Also thanks to Nick Cokes for stepping in to provide lighting and technical support for this production. There is increasing competition for rehearsal time in local venues, as such we have had to book dates for the summer show well in advance this year.

 Dates have now been agreed a rehearsal schedule has been drawn up; this can be downloaded from here. If anyone has any suggestions as to what show we should do in the summer, please use the comments box at the bottom of this post. All suggestions welcome! Finally a reminder about ‘Scrooge’, tickets will go on sale on sale at the end of November and the show runs from Wednesday 16th to Saturday 19th December 2009.

Kaleidoscope’s run of “Natural Causes” received some very positive feedback and has subsequently been nominated for the “Best Village Production” award by the Isle of Wight County Press. Thank you to all of those who support us and made this year’s show possible. We would welcome any suggestions that you may have for future productions.
 
Rehearsals for “Scrooge” are already underway and Kaleidoscope are teaming up with ‘Back Alley’ and ‘Curtain Up’ for this sizeable production. With a cast of 42 named characters plus a chorus this is one of the larger productions Kaleidoscope have been involved with in recent years.
 
In other news a number of our members are involved both on and off stage with Black Comedy which is due to be performed at Totland Church Hall on October 29th – 31st with all performances starting at 7:30pm. Tickets are £5 and will be available on the door. This is a farcical comedy with a difference! Brindsley Miller is keen to impress his fiances father but things go awry when there is a power cut, the lights go out and there are some extraordinary consequences.

Kaleidoscope will once again be taking part in the ‘Art on the Turf Walk’ festival at Totland Bay on Saturday 29th August from 10:00am. There will be a mix of sketches, music and extracts from our forthcoming show “Natural Causes”. If you are interested in joining in for one of our performances it is not too late! Please contact us using the “Contact Us” page of this website.

I would also like to wish everyone luck for “Summer Cocktail” which opens at Totland Church Hall on Thursday 30th July and runs until Saturday 1st. Tickets are £5 and are available on the door.

Rehearsals are now underway for Kaleidoscope’s summer production of ‘Natural Causes’ (see previous news update for a synopsis). The play has been cast as follows:

Walter Bryce - Nick Cokes
Celia Bryce - Kelly Pearce
Vincent Vincent - Robert Procter
Angie - Kate Devine
Mr Withers - Mike Wells

Although all acting parts have now been cast, we are still keen to hear from anyone who would like to be involved with lighting, costume, backstage, or set design/construction. Please use the ‘Contact Us’ page of this website if you would like to become involved.

Following the auditions held earlier in the month we were unable to cast either “The Arsonists” or “The Bells of Hell” due to an unexpectedly low turn-out. As such the summer show will now be “Natural Causes”. This is a black comedy which suits the particularly preferences of the group.

Show synopsis: “Vincent has an unusual occupation: his discovery of an odourless, tasteless, all-natural poison which causes a painless suicide has turned him into a professional suicide merchant. When he is contracted by Walter Bryce, he arrives at the Bryces’ country house and mistakenly assumes that his product was intended for Walter’s consumption. It becomes clear that Walter’s wife Celia is the client – or is she? Why are all her suicide letters typed and unsigned? A Samaritan agrees to make a house call on the Bryces, but after talking to Vincent, even his faith in this “wonderful world” is shaken. After several thwarted attempts to poison various characters (resulting in multiple poisonings of a rubber plant), will anyone actually manage to drink the poison? This is black comedy at its blackest and best”

Thank you to everyone who came to the auditions yesterday. Unfortunately the turn-out was not as high as had been expected. We were deciding between “The Arsonists” by Max Frisch and “The Bells of Hell” by John Mortimer, due to the poor turn-out we only had sufficient people to cast “The Bells of Hell”. Rehearsals will start on Tuesday 16th June at 7:30pm at Totland Church Hall. We would like to take the opportunity to again thank Gemma Slade for giving up her time to sit on the audition panel.

Good luck to everyone involved with ‘Prescription for Murder’ at Totland Church Hall next weekend. Please see our ‘Upcoming Events’ page for more information.

If you are interested in auditioning for this year’s summer show please can you drop me a quick email via the “Contact Us” section of this website. As soon as we know how many people would like to be involved in this year’s show we will be able to make a final decision regarding which script we select from the ones we have shortlisted.

As mentioned in a previous news update the auditions will be held on SATURDAY 6TH JUNE at Totland Church Hall and run from 4:00pm. Audition material will be issued upon arrival.