Wnfte - Harby Harlequins
Transcription
Wnfte - Harby Harlequins
?resent their #,^ uth Annuaf i'1.1 w(n, ?arttomime ^Wnfte Snow artfthe Dwarfs 4999 4 2oo9 O+ A"tt(vers^r'/ f, 1 The Story of Snow White Written and Directed by Eddie Lilley There was once a little rich girl who lost her mum (sadly run down by a hit and run postman .... on his bike ... butthat's another story). She was spoilt rotten, but was nevertheless quite a pretty young thing ... pre body piercing, tattoos and plastic surgery that is ...... until she found out that her step mum was a Wcked Witch who had this funny magic mirror. Well, "Mirror" told the Witch that she had a face like a bag of chisels and Snow White was far more beautiful, with or without body piercing. Not too pleased, the Witch told the Jolly Woodcutter to bring her Snow White's heart .... to which he duly obliged... except he tried to palm her off with a Tesco's meat pie .... apparently very similar in size, shape and "E" numbers...' The Woodcutter was undone.... these zip flies are not like the good old "Buttons" .... but, he's in Cinderella.... The Witch goes looking for Snow White at the Dwarfies cottage! Will Prince Charming be Charming? Will the Woodcutter lose his chopper ."" will Trumpy end up with Pooh on his lap? These questions may never be answered .... so why were they ever asked? Musical Notes from the Music Director Richard Hedley ffi}H shows '$\XLj' The Harlequins music has come a long way since the early when the shows were held together only by Amanda keyboard playing. In 2002 we were joined for the first time by a band of 6 instrumentalists and the music has since gone from strength to strength. The talent of the band has rubbed off on the singers on stage. We have peformed more difficult music year on year including various songs written by myself and Viv Griffin. Particular thanks must go to Viv, whose support and "can-do" attitude to the problems thrown at her (to find music, guitar tabs, provide musical arrangements and even Packwood's fldf change instruments minutes before a show!) has been invaluable. What are my favourite musical moments from the shows? There are many moments which I recall for one reason or another (three members of the cast forgetting their lines one after the other during a trio in The Three Musketeers springs to mind), but for me two performances stand out - "Hayseed Hick" sung by Paul Steward in The Wizard of Hose, and "Bat out of Hell" sung by Robin Stapleford and the chorus in Ali Baba' Snow ^lvhite artdthe Dwarfs Act One Scene t Scene z Scene 3 Scene 4 Scene 5 Scene 6 )r**** Insife the ?aface Somewfr,ere in tfre Castfe Som.ewhere in tfre Cast[e yeaars fater lfre Dwarfs' Cotta"ge Som.ewhere in the Castfe lhe Dwarfs' Cottage Int erv af w it h r efr e s hrnent s.., ntwrwnn **** il( Act {wo Scene 7 The Cast[e: 5{ext morning Scene 8 lhe Dwarfs' Cottage finafe HARBY HARTEQUINS IOth ANNIVERSARY 2005 The Wzard of Hose 1999 Robin Hood 2000 The Three Musketeers 2006 Robin Hood One for the Scrapbook 2001 Aladdin 2oo7 Ali Baba 2oo2 cinderetta 2003 Arfur Peg 2004 Treasure Island * One for the Road one offthe * Murder Mystery evening Once More Before the Fat Lady Sings 200g rhe Three Musketeers one More Before the Vicar Gets It Once More into the Bleach Treasure Island was awarded Best Pantomime Script in Leicesterchire 2004 BEATRICE KING : Young Snow White / Scratchy When Beatrice is old and famous, we'll claim that we discovered her first! (We'll conveniently forget her recent starring part in The Ragged Child and her forthcoming role of Cosette in Les Mis6rables...). The crucial question here though is, when she is famous, will she want to admit to having acted alongside us?? HELEN HUBBARD : Snow White Eddie looked high and low for a sweet and innocent Snow White look-alike. But I guess there weren't too many around, so he re-wrote the script for a slightly more street-wise version and knew he had the perfect person in Helen, one of our original and most talented members. MATTHEW O'DONNELL : Young Prince Charming - We're getting quite overwhelmed with starleb these days here's another one fresh from his W appearance in the ASDA advert. He'll be claiming the best dressing room next! It's a delight to have Matthew in the show again. He keeps the cast amused for hours! VERITY KING : PTince Charming Verity has worked her way through from child dancer to Principal Boy with the Harlequins. We always feel privileged that she takes pat, considering the huge number of acting and singing commitments that she has. Recently she played in The Ragged Child in Melton and willsoon be seen in Les Mis6rables NICK GOFF : The King Nick is using the pantomime this year to distract him from his impending GCSE exams. We hope that Eddie's pantomimes feature on the set book list for English! Nick has developed a commanding presence this year as king, though he seems to have gained a pair of rose-coloured spectacles on the way. 4 MARIA O'REILLY : The Queen / Smudge Maria's 2nd year with the Harlequins, she has fast-tracked the ranks straight to position of Queen, before quick changing and doubling up as the Dwarf 'Smudge'. Thanks, Maria, for squeezing the Harlequins into your busy social calendar. ANNE WHEATLEY : Wicked Queen Anne is pleased this year to be playing the part of a female character for the first time. This part of a bossy Wicked Queen and cantankerous old witch who makes testing demands upon her subjects, comes so naturally to Anne as she is a Primary School teacher in real life. HELENA WRIGHT : Magic Mirror Helena is an utter joy to be around in the Harlequins, keeping us laughing with her sense of humour, relentless smiling and facial expressions - in a good way. Her timing matches her rhyming, her looking glass makes a spectacle of itself, but what DOES rhyme with 'banana? RICHARD HEDLEY: Earnshaw the Butler Richard doesn't so much pull faces as pull OUR faces into a kind of singing shape, as best we and he can, which he does admirably given the many poor quality voices he starts with! As Earnshaw, he Buftles along with the imporhant job of sending out the invitations, so you'd better be nice. JONATHAN NEALE: Woodcutter Jonathan is very much at home playing a dim-witted but friendly lumberjack. Soppy and as lovable as an excited puppy, with a heart of gold (in a Tesco's bag?), he's also a complete fruitcake, but you can rely on him when it counts. The Woodcutter is much the same, and loves to sing and show off his chopper. BECKEN : KEVIN EECKEN Audrey Bluebottle the Housekeeper a few years to persuade Kevin into the Dame's pad, since he has always resisted in the past. Was this just false modesty, since he looks so gorgeous with a dress on? Or just resistance to the delights of the rest of the female clothing with the tights, high heels and Ifs taken underwear? Anyway, it's great to see his pink and fluffy side! PAUL STEWARD I TrumPY As soon as we see the script we can see Paul's part a mile off' It's the one requiring a funny accent. This year it's the luck of the Irish as Paul plays one of our dwarfs' He's had no problems producing the accent, just problems trying to read the Irish version of the scriPt! ROGER DE SILVA : DUmPY Best pal to Trumpy proves that Dumpy's sense of smell is somewhat eroded, which has to be a good thing, unlike kissing frogs. How to build that Wild Rover, though, is driving us all round the bend. ANN LILLEY: POOh The youngest of the Dwarfy Folk, and possibly the sweetest of all, Shy and gentle, forgiving, and always sees the good in people - just like Ann herself, umm well, mostly anyway' If anyone finds a script with Pooh on it, it belongs to Ann, a Harlequins player of long-standing which is why she has to sit down a lot. CLARE BELL neofr of our best character actresses, having Clare is one made her name early on as the lovable and scatty Wishee Washee in Aladdin. She assures us she hasn't been type-cast as Typsy, but living so close to Stathern Woods, who knows what vines she's growing up there! Cheers! LEN POTTER: Horny Len is a reliable stalwart member of the cast quietly but determinedly claiming his position on the back row for fear his deep baritone frightens those of a sensitive disposition' Len plays Horny.., well most of the time he is. MARTIN OLLEY : Tex Taking time out from filming for Casualty 1909, Martin returns for his second pantomime outing, so we couldn't have put him off too much last year! Who better to play the Texan 'dwarf'than our John Wayne (or should that be JR Ewing?), look-alike Martin. He certainly adds some'Tex'ture to our array of dwarfs! SOPHIE CHELL = Ozzh the Harlequins although This is Sophie's first outing with she is no stranger to the stage. She has put aside the serious business of opera in Nottingham to enhance our singing (thank goodness I hear some of you say!!)' Her challenge has been to conquer the dizzying effects of the corks flying in her eyes as our dwarf from down under! CHARLOTTE O'DONNELL : Itchy Rumour has it that Charlotte is also starring as the Wolf in a rival version of Snow White in Grantham. Maybe it's the wolfs clothing that is making her Itchy? We bet she doesn't get such a superb write-up (she's great by the way!) and her photo in the other programme! t ( ELLIE HUGHES : ComPost Ellie is the new girl on the block although not new to the limelight especially in her native Stathern where her drama skills are well known. We're pleased she's migrated along the road to Harby to breathe some new life into the Harlequins, and along with our other young actors, we know she'll delight our audiences! JACK SCARBOROUGH : Fairy Godmother This is bound to be the moment that Jack has been waiting for - to dress up as a fairy! Fairies are prety special, as we all know, so we needed a pretty special lad to do this part. Jack fums up regularly to help with soenery, so he's now a very valued member of our team and we do think he's special! SALLY FAGAN: NArrAtOr Sally is put to good use this year to eplain to the audience what on Earth is going on. The cast also benefits ftom this, of course. Her perceptive observaUons and helpful commentary in clear strident vocals are most welcome, like "You're not in it!". Rock on Sally! Viv Griffin, Keyboard Versatile Viv plays keyboard, saxophone, penny whistle and all, and is also a Master Web Designer for Spiderman. Simon Griffin, Guitar Strums the rocking rifts with ease, and is a rat-catcher during the day. Myles Ponsonby, Bass Guitar Myles is Chairman of the Harby Village Hall Committee, so you can blame him. John Cline, Guitar International Man of Mystery John Morris, Drums Snared again this year to bash those skins with his sticks, Mike Neale, Prompt This is Mike's 5th time as prompt. A vital member of the team! We keep him busy enough. Jo lves, Choreography Retired professional dancer, Harlequins are very lucky to have her skill and patience as she steps it up a notch. John lves, Stage Management Scene but not seen, John is ably helped by Ryan Waterman, these are the men who ensure all the scenes are in the right place at the right time. Katie Prince, Scenery New victim Katie press-ganged into painting after making the mistake of revealing her talent, Martin Fagan, Lighting and Photography Martin loves to get his hands-on. He's a Belvoir First Aider tool ludith Neale, Box Office Judith does a wonderful job of organising the audience and taking their money, something that clearly makes her smile. Al'rite our kid? Phil Gibson, Backstage Want a portable bed constructed? A set of doors? A walk-through extension? No problem, done in a jifty. Helen Fagan, Sound Taking time out from University studies to come back to her spiritual Nottoforget...homewiththeHarlequins Wardrobe: Anne Wheatley and Kay Booth Programme: Kevin Becken, Martin and Sally Fagan Make-up: Rachel Clarke, Helen Fagan, Leona O'Donnell, Kasia Mills Front of House: Ali Morris, Emily Morris, Emma Foulds-Rowan, Ruth de Silva, Sue Steward, Simon Thornton, Sarah Shipman, Alicia Foulds, Jane King I Director's Ravings Well, here we are again... that little spark of light at that most deprsing Ume of year.. the Harby Panto. Who would have thought 10 years have passed since we flrst pulled the opening curtain. In that time we have given you Gnderella, Arfur, The Wizard of Hose, Ali Baba, Aladdin and Treasure Island. We have staged both Robin Hood and The Three Musketeers twice (each with considerable rescripting and new music on their return) culminating this year with Snow White. What started as a drunken conversation in the Nags Head in the summer of 1998 has come a very long way. Quite a journey! We have employed (at least) 75 cast members, 70 .... yes 70 backroom staff and 13 (lucky for some) musicians! What is the secret of success? Set off with a good business plan, marketing a valued product with good sales staff and see what happens. In the Harlequins case, the sles staffweren't just good, they were exceptional.... and I take my hat off to each and every one of them for their commitment. Perhaps we do have a very partisan audience, but people travel considerable distances to the shows on the strength of what has gone before. As with all our shows, lots of hard work has gone into this production. Some people find it natural, almost easy to peform ... to act the fool on stage...' others need a bit more direction. Which ever way, it takes a lot of hottle to step out in front of those bright lights with 180 faces fixed on you. All those hours learning words, working on choreography, painting scenery, playing the music, everything that brings the show together... not to mention those tireless hours of drudgery in the Nags working on the script and songs... but, yes, it all has to be done! This is very much a team effort and I cannot thank enough the endless input from those around me with their thought provoking ideas and support. Those in the audience who regularly come to our shows will recognise names who have appeared numerous times before, whom I rely on to "show us the way". Without them we Interested in ading or would not have achieved just helping the anywhere near 10 years. Harby Harlequins? You wi// be more than welcome! Ca// 01949 861409 or 861747 To our committed audience: Thank you for your support, we hope you enjoy your evening as you hear a very unusual story of "Snow White and the Dwarfs" Eddie Lilley Scenery a vital piece of the pantomime jigsaw What are the vital ingredients of a good pantomime? Apaft from a funny script, good music and people willing to go out of their way to make themselves look silly? A pantomime has to be larger than life and is traditionally very colourful. Two ways to bring in the colour are through the costumes and the scenery. Our scenery in Harby has become ever more elaborate. It takes weeks of painstaking preparation to put it together. In the early days, there was a small stage extension, lifie decoration and inflexible heavy scenery. Eddie Lilley, our magnificent director, producer, script writer and general dogsbody, is also our chief scenery deigner. Eddie puts his aftistic talents to good use on the scenery. This doesnt nnean that those of us who are less talented aren't needed. Eddie draws it out, arrrd rve do the'paint by numbers'bit. Eddie comes along later and does his 'Rotf Harrit' bil He miraculously turns our blobs of colour into realistic looking bees, v{indou6, chairs, woodwork and brickwork. For our fourth pantomirne, rre irwe$ed in sheets of canvas that roll up and down from above the stage to enable mr.rdr quider and quieter scene changes. These are painted over each year b seate new scenes. With trE \tf@rd cf l-lo's€ came our new scenery innovation in the shape of Kevin Becken. f.iarry cf yo{l may know that Kevin is also a cartoonist. He now relieves Eddie of nruch of ttle artistic work, so that all Eddie now has to say is'Do me a palace scerrc' and t'tey presto, in the blink of an eye, Kevin has sketched out a fanbstk cfiardef""""ier, table, door, suit of armour...... and adds a mouse or dog for added lnEred. Thb year our artistic expertise has been enhanced fufther by Katie Prince, andrer with real talent. We duly painted Kevin's suit of armour grey, but it was Katie $fio made it look so lifelike! otr @e extension is three times the size it once was, and time goes into decorating the stage and the hall. Sometimes we need to invest significant time into oeatiys sudr as a pantomime horse, or bed to take 3 musketeers and lots of eltra feet. This year, the woodwork centred around doors for the dwarft'cottage and their fumiture. That's when people like These days Len Potter and Phil Gibson (and their nailguns and - give them a task and screwdrivers!) come into their own they just get on with it. Saturday mornings are never quite the same after the panto has ended. What's nice is that they can be a real family affair. Even very young children are able to help with something. Food and refteshments usually magically appear to keep us going (mainly thanks to Jo lves!). And the best thing about it? Definitely the camaraderie and the laughs that we have on the way! 11 We would like to thank our sponsors for supporting our showi # First Aid provided by members of Belvoir First Aid www. belvoirfirstaid. org. u k 07896 126866 WE NEED MORE MEMBERS! Illustrations by KB Art www.KBArt.co.uk We would like to thank the following for their kind donation of raffie prizes: Harby Post Office The Plough Inn, Stathern The Red Lion, Stathern The Cottage Salon, Waltham Thank you to all individuals and members of the cast who obtained or offered donations and sponsorship. Those costumes not made by the Harlequins have been supplied by The Lace Market Theatre Trust LtQ Nottingham, and The Altemative Wardrobe, Grantham. In association with the National Operatic and Dramatic Association. )kfrfr/r* A CRACKLING PERFORMANCE, BEST 87.50 EVER SPENT ON A WET WEDNESDAY!!! Harby Journal **ir/r* **irtr* Nowadays, where else can you get sidesplitti ng, foot-tappi ng, frocks and frolicking served up with a nice CUppa! - Jubilee club Definitety ASB - Amusing Sociat Behaviour. Must be seen. Crime not to! Harby Neighbourhood Watch