Simon Gray - Rose Theatre

COMING UP AT THE ROSE…….
Out of Focus by Peter Gordon
24—26th February 2011
The Once Removed Theatre Company
Main House (A)
Standard Ticket Prices
May Contain Nuts
Fizzog Theatre Company (P)
3rd March 2011 Main House
Tickets : £10
Curtain up 7.30
Crazy for You
Music & Lyrics by George Gershwin and
Ira Gershwin
Kidderminster Operatic and
Dramatic society (A)
10th—19th March 2011
Main House: Curtain up 7.30pm
Ticket prices vary between £8 and £12.
Please ring Box Office for details.
Hotel Paradiso
by Georges Feydeau
11th—16th April 2011
Nonentities in the Main House (A)
Standard Ticket Prices
Curtain up 7.30
An Evening of Mediumship with
Anna galliers
24th March 2011 Main House (P)
Standard Ticket Prices
Curtain up 7.30
The NONENTITIES present
Out of Focus is set in the annexe of a church hall which has been blighted by a
series of over-bookings. A wonderful mix of characters from the local
community descend on the hall, simultaneously, to take part in a Brownie
troupe meeting, a Badminton game, a table tennis match, auditions for the
Vicar’s wife’s pantomime and an illustrated talk on steam locomotives—each
insisting on priority booking. Confusion reigns until, finally, everyone unites
in a common cause, the production of the pantomime. Rehearsals, the opening
night and the after show party are all ripe for comic pickings. A cleverly
crafted and very funny play.
The Fizzog's are an in your face act who attack the senses of their audiences
with their unique brand of comedy sketches, their comedy nights are proving
to be an event not to be missed.Featuring such characters as The Ode Folk how to grow old disgracefully, Mags and Barb - Throw away your encyclopaedias boys coz this pair know it all, Wayne Kerr - wanna be rapper, wanna be
gangster, wanna be loved...amongst others. Featuring your host for the evening Mrs Barbara Nice, your average Stockport housewife who has given up the
domestic bliss of Tupperware and Poundstretcher for the unpredictability of
the comedy world. No audience is too rowdy for her to handle. She's already
raised 5 teenagers. With the affectionate attitude of a playgroup leader at a
wild Iggy Pop concert, Barbara is guaranteed to warm the heart of any audience
Following last year's highly successful production of "Fiddler on the
Roof", KODS are transporting you to 1930's America. In "Crazy For
You", a stage-struck New York playboy, Bobby Child, is sent to a
small, poor town in Nevada to close down the local theatre. Bobby
soon falls in love with the theatre owner's daughter, Polly. In the
end, the town is reinvigorated, the theatre saved and Bobby finds
love. This new Gershwin musical comedy is packed with timeless
classics, such as 'I Got Rhythm'. 'Embraceable You', 'They Can't Take
That Away From Me', 'Someone to Watch Over Me' and many toetapping dance routines.
by
Simon Gray
This is classic French farce at its best. It is Paris in 1910: Marcelle becomes so
annoyed with her neglectful husband Cot, a pompous architect, that she
consents to a rendezvous with her timorous neighbour, Boniface, while his
domineering wife Angelique is spending the night with her ailing sister. They
adjourn to the Hotel Paradiso, which is also unfortunately being used as a
place of assignation by Monsieur Cot's nephew, Maxime, and Benedict's
flirtatious maid, Victoire. Panic sets in for Marcelle and Benedict when
additional arrivals include a barrister friend of Benedict's and Monsieur Cot
himself, who has come to inspect the plumbing. In a series of frantic attempts
to conceal their identities, Marcelle and Benedict concoct elaborate stories,
flee from bedrooms to bathrooms, hide in chimneys and don disguises... and
throughout all this the couple never even manage to exchange as much as a
kiss!
A natural Clairvoyant Medium, Anna, who is based in Worcestershire, has worked professionally with
sincerity and accuracy for a great many years. Trained at the prestigious College of psychic Studies in
London, the Spiritualist Association of Great Britain and the Arthur Findlay College, Stanstead Hall,
Anna gives regular public demonstrations, private consultations and tuition throughout the UK and
abroad and has now been invited to work in the channel Islands for 2009. A finalist on Channel 5’s TV
series ‘Britain’s Psychic Challenge’, Anna has worked on numerous live interactive psychic TV shows in
the UK and Europe, and been interviewed regularly on national and international radio. Anna recently
featured in local newspapers which included her work and contribution to a new book 'A Haunted
House in Malvern' by Dawn Bradshaw. She is currently on tour and committed to bringing her genuine
and compassionate approach to this work to a wider audience
14th—19th
February
2011
An Amateur production
Box Office: 01562 743745 Chester Road North, Broadwaters, Kidderminster, DY10 2RX www.rosetheatre.co.uk
Simon Gray was born in
Hampshire in 1936, the son of
an English mother and a
Scottish Canadian father, who
was a pathologist. Evacuated to
Canada for 5 years during the
war, he returned to England
and attended Westminster
School. Aged 17 he headed
back to Canada, where his father now lived, and went to Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia. In his play ‘The Late Middle Classes’ he describes the
bewildered adolescent boy who wins a scholarship to Westminster before
emigrating to the New World, drawing heavily on his own experiences.
Gray however did return to England, going to Trinity College Cambridge
where he studied under F. R. Leavis, who was an enduring influence on his
plays.
From 1965 to 1985 Gray was a lecturer in English Literature at what is now
Queen Mary University of London, where he was frequently heard
bemoaning the standard of teaching of English.
It seems that Gray was destined to have a split career in academia and as a
novelist. He only turned to plays on discovering the B.B.C. intended to turn
one of his short stories into a play and planned to pay the adaptor more than
they were going to pay him! Gray said he would do the job himself.
The stage plays started to come quickly—including ‘Quartermaine’s Terms’,
which the Nonentities performed some years ago. Several of his plays were
directed by his friend Harold Pinter and starred Alan Bates, who has become
intimately associated with Gray’s plays.
It is said that Gray bridged the gap between intellectual drama and popular
drama. There were 6 television plays, 4 radio plays and some splendid books
including 5 novels and 2 volumes of memoirs. He died in 2008
By Simon Gray
Stef and Martin
Stef and Bob
..
Kerena and Stef
Director’s Notes
Rehearsal Photos
Kerena Taylor and Martin Copland-Gray as Anne and Robert
Two actors meet in repertory, fall in love, and marry.
The career of one takes off whilst that of the other fails,
and the marriage ends in acrimonious divorce.
We have all read this story in newspapers and
magazines.
However, what if the “failure” refuses to leave, and
instead plans the very theatrical downfall of those held
responsible?
Murder and mayhem follow with red herrings galore.
We do hope you enjoy the evening and manage to work
out who did what to whom by the final curtain!....
Shirley Gaston
Stefan Austin as Herman,
with Kerena and Martin
Bob Graham as Widdicombe
with Martin
Stage Manager By Simon Gray A. S. M. Prompt Props CoplandCopland-Grey
Robert—
Robert— Martin
Herman - Stefan Austin
Anne—
Anne— Kerena Taylor
Widdicombe -Bob Graham
WardrobeWardrobeLighting Sound -
Keith Higgins
Mike Lawrence
Jan Young
Hilary Thompson,
Helen Speake
Carol Wright
Amy Jacks
David Wakeman
Set devised and built by Keith Higgins and
members of the Nonentities Society
The play is set in a large country house between
London and Brighton. Time: 1970s
Act 1: sc. 1 An evening in Summer
Sc.2 “The Day After Tomorrow” about 8.30 pm.
Interval 20 minutes
Act 2 A few seconds later
The Society extends grateful thanks to ‘S.C
Furniture Ltd’ for the loan of furniture.
Audiences should be aware there will be
gun-fire during the performance
Patrons are reminded that the taking of flash photography and videos is forbidden
by copyright laws.
Please also remember to turn off your mobile phones.