A play called “The Arsonists” has been suggested for the summer. The plot revolves around Mr Biedermann, a philanthropist and a respected member of the community with a loving wife and flourishing business. Fires are becoming something of a problem; however Biedermann has it all under control. He happily fulfils his civic duty by giving shelter to two new houseguests, and when they start filling the attic with petrol drums he’ll even help them wire the fuse. This is a modern translation of Max Frisch’s parable about our accommodating the very thing that will eventually destroy us. The play premiered at the Royal Court in 2007.

“The Arsonists” is currently being considered alongside “The Bells of Hell” by John Mortimer and “Cash on Delivery” by Michael Cooney. In order to aid the decision-making I will shortly be sending an email to everyone on the mailing list to find out who will be available for the show this summer. In the meantime please use the comments box below this message to voice your opinions.

A quick reminder that the auditions for the summer show will take place on Saturday 6th June at 4:00pm at Totland Church Hall. If you are unable to make these auditions, but would still like to be involved in the show, please contact me through the ‘Contact Us’ page of this website.

There has been no final decision regarding what play to do this summer, however enquiries are currently being made into the performing rights for ‘Bells of Hell’ by John Mortimer. Please click the comments box below this message to leave your suggestions for the summer.

I have not put together a rehearsal schedule for Scrooge which can be downloaded from the ‘Downloads’ page of this website. Although the details of each rehearsal have not been finalised, the rehearsal dates are accurate and are unlikely to change between now and the start of rehearsals in September. Please take a moment to look at this rehearsal schedule and put the dates in your diary if you are interested in taking part in the show.

In other news we have ordered three more scripts of ‘black comedies’ to consider for the summer show, these are:

‘You Only Die Once’ by John Watts
‘Portrait of Death’ by Richard Layton
‘Perverse Psychology’ by George Freek

Synopsis of these plays can be found at www.comedyplays.co.uk.

Congratulations to everyone involved in ‘Hearts and Flowers’ last week. The show was written by Ann and John Denby and took a ‘tongue-in-cheek’ look at marriage with a medley of songs and sketches. Despite a small audience on the opening night the show was well supported for the remainder of the run and received some very positive comments from the audience. Kaleidoscope provided technical support for this production in the form of lighting and stage crew as well as some members taking on acting roles. Congratulations to all involved.

The summer show is fast approaching and we are still keen for members to suggest plays for this year’s performance. We will need to have decided on what show we’re going to do by the end of next month in order to get performing rights confirmed for the summer. Please use the Forum page of this website to put forward any suggestions you may have.

Also I’m pleased to say that rehearsal dates have now been booked for Scrooge and a rehearsal schedule will be produced shortly and uploaded to the websites new ‘Downloads’ page.

Kaleidoscope’s first international excursion has been a success and we have been able to sample a variety of Czech theatre and music. Hopefully we will be able to repeat another international trip at a similar time next year.

In other news Curtain Up’s ‘Hearts and Flowers’ production is drawing near and performances will be at the Memorial Hall, Freshwater from Thursday 23rd April to Saturday 25th April. Tickets available on the door.

Also, a deposit has now been paid for the performance rights for ‘Scrooge’. Performance dates are likely to be December 16th – 19th. I will keep the website posted as we progress.

All rehearsal dates for the summer show have now been finalised and booked with the venue. You can download a copy of the rehearsal schedule from the link below. If you are interested in being involved in the summer show please ensure you are available for all the performance dates and Dress/Technical rehearsal.

rehearsal_schedule_summer_2009_provisional

rehearsal_schedule_summer_2009_provisional

Tickets have now gone on sale for this year’s Green Man Festival in the Brecon Beacons. The festival runs from the 21st to the 23rd August and in light of the fun had by all at last year’s festival I have left space in this year’s rehearsal schedule for everyone to come along if they wish!

Quoting the website:

“This year’s festival will see more than 100 acts playing psychedelia, folk, inidie and Americana across 5 stages, while DJ’s playing everything from psychedelia, dub-reggae, modern electro and stoner rock will keep the party alive right through the night!”

Acts such as Wilco, Bon Iver, She Keeps Bees, Sound Carriers and The Amorphous Androgynous who promise a “monstrous psychedelic bubble exploding in your mind”, will be playing this year’s festival. More information can be found on the festival’s website www.thegreenmanfestival.co.uk

Gemma Slade ran another excellent workshop for us last weekend. The workshop was a practical acting class with extracts from Pinter, Sarah Kane and Sam Shepard.

Unfortunately this was not particularly well attended and we hope to run another workshop as part of the rehearsals for the summer show which will be specific to the summer play. Performance dates have been set for the summer show:

AUGUST
Wednesday 26th
Thursday 27th
Friday 27th
Saturday 29th

A full rehearsal schedule will be displayed on the website shortly.

As previously mentioned in January, Gemma Slade has kindly agreed to visit the Island again to run another acting workshop. The details of this have now been finalized and the workshop will take place at Totland Church Hall on Sunday 8th March 2009 between 10am and 2pm. The workshop is open to members and non-members alike and will cover a wide variety of acting techniques. This practical session is designed to take attendees through the stages of how to approach a scripted play from the point of receiving the script, through to developing the character and staging the performance. The last workshop was extremely successful and I hope this one will be as well supported. Please feel free to turn up on the day and join in! This workshop has been arranged and funded by Kaleidoscope Theatre Company.

The New Strolling Players held their Annual General Meeting (AGM) last night during which they discussed last year’s show, finance, and their plans for next season. For a number of years I have been interested in putting on ‘Scrooge’, however finding a performance slot over the Christmas period has always proved difficult. A proposal to do ‘Scrooge’, rather than a traditional pantomime, was put to the AGM and I’m pleased to say that they have approved ‘Scrooge’ for the Christmas season. The show will be directed by myself with Martine Burgess doing the choreography and Janet Haire covering publicity and communication. Auditions will be held in early September directly following Kaleidoscope’s summer show, with rehearsals starting immediately after and a run of performances from the 16th – 19th December. I will post more information when the audition date is finalised.

Congratulations to the cast of “All You Need is Love” after a successful run last week. Also thank you to everyone who helped out with Keith Hempstead’s Memorial Concert, this was a great success and raised more than £1,500 for the Earl Mountbatten Hospice. One of the highlight’s of the evening was classical pianist Pawel Jankowski’s rendition of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, Chopin’s Prelude in E minor and his collaboration with the Phoenix Jazz Ensemble.