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.

As a result of a busy schedule of shows planned for this year we are having to book venues and rehearsal time earlier than we usually would. Next weekend I plan to make bookings in preparation for the summer show, please can you let me know whether there is a particular night of the week that might clash with other commitments such as rehearsals for another show or a regular meeting of a club/society. If we are aware of these in advance we will be able to work around them make the most of our rehearsal time.

In other news members of Kaleidoscope are providing technical support for a charity concert in memory of Keith Hempstead who died in September last year. Keith was a keen supporter of amateur dramatics and had directed for Curtain Up and The Strolling Players, he was also leader of The Slipshod Singers. The event will see notable musicians such as the professional pianist Pawel Jankowski from War-saw, among others, pay tribute to Keith. The concert will be held at Freshwater Memorial Hall on Friday 6th February, all proceeds going to the Earl Mountbatten Hospice.

The New Strolling Players are having their annual meeting about next year’s Christmas show at Totland Church Hall on Monday 9th February at 7:30pm.

Finally, good luck to Sasha Cave and Rowan Lathey and the rest of the cast of “All You Need is Love” which débuts this week at Shanklin Theatre. Please see our ‘Upcoming Events’ page for more information.

Gemma Slade has kindly agreed to visit the Island again to run another workshop. This is due to take place in the latter part of February; further details will be emailed to you nearer the time. The workshop is likely to be on a Saturday and take a similar format to the previous workshop. Please let me know if you have any suggestions regarding the areas of performance you would like the workshop to cover. The last workshop was extremely successful and I hope this one is as well supported.

For those of you wishing to come to Prague in April, the deadline has been extended. Dubbed “Kaleidoscope Goes International” this will be an opportunity to visit some theatres in Prague and hopefully perform some street theatre on Charles Bridge.

Please let me know by the morning of Friday 30th January if you would like to join us.

Currently three scripts are under consideration for the summer show, namely “Cash on Delivery” by Michael Cooney, “The Weekend” by Michael Palin, and “One O’Clock from the House” by Frank Vickery. Synopsises for each of these plays have been posted on the forum, please take a moment to read these and post your comments. Also please feel free to continue to suggest any other plays for the summer show

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I’m pleased to say that the website has been receiving a lot of visitors since its launch. It will be updated regularly and the forum provides an opportunity to post about events past, present and future, as well as an opportunity to take part in the caption competition, so please continue to visit the website and encourage others to visit.

Preparations have started for the summer show and monthly get-togethers for script read throughs will start again shortly. Please can you post any suggestions you may have for the summer show in order that we can order copies of proposed scripts in time for the read throughs. All suggestions welcome!

I’m pleased to inform you that Totland Regeneration Partnership has made a donation of £50 to our funds. We have worked closely with the Partnership for a number of years with Kaleidoscope members attending meetings and assisting with the organisation of a variety of events and projects. The Partnership has publicised our events in their literature and have often let us borrow equipment free of charge. They are keen to see us continue in the same vein and I believe this is a beneficial recognition of the work Kaleidoscope has been doing over the past year.

There is still time to get tickets for New Strolling Players’ production of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, with Kaleidoscope’s very own Kelly Pearce taking a lead role.

Tony Moore plays the villain of the show with exceptional gusto and is aptly supported by Phil Selby’s split-second adlibbing and quick wit. Very much a traditional pantomime the dialogue encompasses local references and encourages audience participation at every available opportunity.

Congratulations to everyone involved in Totland Church Hall’s pantomime ‘Dick Whittington’, it was well supported and has received good reviews. Tickets are still available for ‘Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves’ at Freshwater Memorial Hall, starting this Wednesday and running until Saturday, please contact us if you would like to book tickets. Thank you to the Kaleidoscope members who are currently providing technical support to this production.

This week has seen Kaleidoscope members working on New Strolling Players pantomime “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves”. This is due to run at Freshwater Memorial Hall from Wednesday 17th December to Saturday 20th December starting at 7:30pm with a matinee on the Saturday starting at 2:30pm. Kaleidoscope has been providing technical support to this production in the form of stage crew, lighting and special effects. Kaleidoscope’s Abbie Procter will take on the role of Stage Manager for this production with Bertie Everson designing and operating the lights, both will be ably assisted by Nick Cokes. If you wish to obtain tickets for this production please book early to avoid disappointment!

Contact us for tickets.

Jim.