Category Archives: Miller Centre Players

Post-Production Depression

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Well done to all of this lot!

I’m not sure if there is officially such a syndrome as “Post-Production Depression”, but I know that for many people involved in theatrical productions there is certainly a sense of sadness when they’re over.

Over the last 3 months and especially the last 6 weeks, the cast and crew of The Matchgirls have been like a second family. Some I knew beforehand and others I met at this production. They’ve been a great bunch to work with. We’ve had our ups and downs but I’m glad to have worked with them all for this production, and in a strange way will miss not seeing them tomorrow, as I’ve seen them everyday for the last 2 weeks.

Looking back, how did the run go? Well, it certainly had a rocky start, and was a challenge each night to pull off, towards the end of the run I felt we were in the swing of things. This was the first musical I’ve done and it was a lot harder than I ever thought it was going to be. As a cast we perhaps “bit off more than we could chew”, with this production. John Harries-Rees the Director guided us and helped us pull it out of the bag.

The last 6 nights were all sold-out and that certainly helped us up our game and it was a great buzz to be playing to a full crowd.

The Miller Centre Theatre hasn’t done a musical for a few years previous to this and I imagine there will be a gap before we do another. Lessons have been learnt and we’ll build on that. For now, I’m glad I was given the opportunity to step outside my comfort zone, try something new, makes some great friends and see what it was like to be a “ginger” for two weeks of my life.

Well done to the cast, crew and a big thank you to our family and friends and audiences for giving us your support.

Now I look forward to a well deserved rest!

The Matchgirls – The Photos

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Well it’s the penultimate night tonight, this run has been challenging in many ways (I’ve got LOTS of ideas/material for future blog posts I can assure you!) The good news is that we’ve been SOLD OUT for the last 6 nights and had good attendance the first few nights too.

 

But for now here’s some great pictures from the highly talented photographer Avril Jones.

 

Our Amazing Set! Tony Dent was our fantastic designer and a team of hard-working chaps constructed it

The Empty Space needs people on it to create theatre though - here they are for the wedding scene

Here I am as GBS with my co-stars

I love this picture. and Polly's response to the banner - "Not yet, but I'll let you know when I am!"

Ranting to Annie over the "Tory Press"

A great image from the show - "We've Won!"

All the cast for the finale

Belting out the last number - George Bernard Shaw singing, that's not something you see very often!

The End

 

Two more performances to go and then this show that’s been part of my life intensely these last 3 months will be gone! There’ll definitely be a post on “post-production depression” coming up!

Break a Leg!!! for the last two shows folks!

Happy Birthday – Have Your Hair Coloured!

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Firstly – HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!! Theatre Thoughts Blog is ONE YEAR old today! Thanks to all my readers, writing this blog has been a steep but enjoyable learning curve, I trust my reviews and ramblings have been entertaining and enlightening!

Well it’s often said that we “suffer” for our art, and for this latest production I’m in, I’ve had to undergo a transformation of a rather radical nature.

 

A picture of me taken backstage recently

The hair stylists set to work

Letting the colouring do its thing - notice I'm reading a college book swot that I am!

Colour is looking good

 

Costume added, George Bernard Shaw is starting to take shape

 

In the dressing room today, some of this is needed and one final finishing touch

The beard is the finishing touch - transformation complete!

 

So there we go! The things we do for our art!

Rehearsals went well today, the Dress Rehearsal tomorrow then we open on Thursday!

Tired but Enjoying It (except for wearing a corset!)

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Working hard backstage

Firstly, I must say a big “sorry” for not posting over these last ten days. A combination of new job, college assignment and rehearsals have got in the way.

As most regular readers (yes I do have such things at this blog) will be aware, I’m currently rehearsing for a musical, The Matchgirls. This is the first time I’ve been in a musical and I’m loving the challenges it’s bringing. I’ve always heard musical theatre performers say how hard it is, and having now had my own taste, I agree, they’re VERY hard work.

I’m only in two musical numbers, but that’s giving my brain more than enough to cope with. As ever though the rehearsal period is teaching me more about myself and theatre and that’s great. It’s also fab working with others that are into theatre and having conversations about all sorts of random theatrical things, such as Hamlet being a girly play, the works of Sarah Kane, The Railway Children and finding out what others like and dislike in this crazy theatrical world.

The females in the cast are having to wear corsets as that’s part of the period dress. A word of warning, if you’re a male, be EXTREMELY sympathetic to your female co-stars if they have to wear these weird things. I thought they were just moaning, so I got strapped in one today – OUCH!!!! How they can do a whole musical in one I’ve no idea! Kudos to the Matchgirls!

Me laced up in a corset, suffering for my art!

“If that’s 12 foot, we’re £$%@&* !!!”

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These folks have serious competition from us.

“In 2011, a crack team of theatrical technicians, actors and wannabe directors were sent to a small studio behind the Miller Centre Theatre for a crime they didn’t commit. These men promptly escaped from this maximum security stockade. They now reside in the Caterham underground. If you have a theatre that needs it’s set/scenery and chairs moving, and you can find them (and afford them), maybe you can hire the M Team…………”

Yes, forget your recent remake of the classic A Team, watch instead the hard graft that’s done at the Miller Centre theatre.

Tonight an intrepid team of us, helped changed it from a Proscenium arch theatre, to one with a major thrust, that almost makes it playing in the round. This involves lugging groups of chairs that are bolted together in two’s, three’s and the colossus that is the four seater. These are now surreptitiously hidden in strange locations around the theatre (TOP SECRET). Also assembling rakes for the chairs to go on and building the thrust stage.

As for comparisons to the A Team, it goes;

Vernon = Hannibal, at the end, he almost said “I love it when a plan comes together”

Me = “Howling Mad” Murdock, my witty comments and lack of fear from crawling under raked seats, must make me a contender for this role?

Daniel = Face, smooth talking, smart dressing, yet always lending a hand.

Graham = BA Barracas, “I ‘ain’t liftin no chairs you fool”, and the title from this post comes from him!

Becky = Amy, who showed she could match the men no problems.

Two others helped too,  Alister and Chris – Thanks for being part of the team too!

All in all a productive and fun evening, alas I forgot my camera, but I’ll try to get some pics up asap.

Thanks guys (and gal) for all your help, any theatrical production is the sum of its parts and The Miller Centre Theatre Company has some great parts. (most notably George Bernard Shaw in the next production!!) ;)

Rehearsals continue apace

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Rehearsals continue apace for the Matchgirls. We spent a whole day yesterday rehearsing and we actually got through the whole show. I always love the camaraderie in productions and this one is no different. Despite it being a large cast, we’re all getting on well and having a good laugh along the way. We’re an eclectic group of all ages, abilities and experience, which is making for some humorous and interesting rehearsals. What’s nice is the support we’re giving each other and how people are willing to help each other out.

The Director John Harries-Rees in action

Our director John Harries-Rees, is getting to grips with us, and we seem to be slowly getting the play into some shape. We move into the theatre later this week for the remaining rehearsals. That will be a great step forward as we can then get the movements/blocking confirmed/learnt too. A key thing I’m learning from John, is the importance of technique. Getting that sorted is the first step, once the breath, position, lines are learnt we can then develop the play.

Doing further research into my character of George Bernard Shaw has been fascinating, the character of Annie Besant is my main foil in this play, and finding more about her, has also been a discovery. Which bits we use for character development I’m not sure yet. My Irish accent is coming along, but my beard hasn’t, so I’m going to get one made up. (picture to follow)

Tickets are available from here.

Swimming With Sharks – Miller Centre Theatre, Caterham – Review

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All I knew about this play was that it, a) contains a LOT of swearing and b) has a torture scene in it. So as I went off to see it tonight, I thought that perhaps it wouldn’t be my cup of tea, but I’m keen to support my local theatre and I will declare now I know most of the cast as I acted with them in A Few Good Men last year.

What surprised me most was I THOROUGHLY enjoyed this play. I wasn’t expecting it to be so humorous and the tension builds brilliantly to a wicked twist at the end.

Peter Whittle the Director certainly made the right amount of cuts with regards the “bad” language, but without it seeming like these folks didn’t swear, they certainly did, as indeed I’m sure they do in the offices of Hollywood (and in fact most offices – usually at the IT department I find). The torture scene was also superbly well done, not too gratuitous but likewise not wince free, and the gun shots certainly made most of us jump!

Chester Stern is a gem of an actor within the Miller Centre Players (the recipient of the 2010 Miller Centre Theatre Actor of the Year Award, which I was pleased to see was displayed in Buddy’s office) and I knew I’d enjoy his performance. He didn’t disappoint. Playing Buddy perfectly, he’s (Buddy not Chester) such a nasty piece of work, yet he toys not just with the characters emotions but the audiences too, in the torture scene as I started feeling sorry for this “boss from hell”.

 

Gerard Kelly as Guy and Chester Stern as Buddy

 

Gerard Kelly gave a wide-eyed and innocent portrayal of Guy, who starts to climb the ladder and become more like the boss he despises. Not an easy journey to show, but Gerard did it admirably.

Sharron Cox, played the love interest and key foil to both Guy and Buddy. She too, took us on a journey and I was never sure who she was screwing both literally and figuratively until the plays end.

The rest of the cast gave suitable back up to the above main three and helped to create this weird world of Hollywood in sleepy little Caterham.

 

The bewitching Mitzy played by Becky Gordon

 

It is on until this Saturday (15th Jan) and I really do recommend it. It’s great going to the theatre and being surprised and I really thought my review for this would be “Great Cast, Bad Play”, I’m pleased to say it’s not, it is “GREAT CAST, GREAT PLAY.”

Rehearsals, the blood, sweat and tears (more often from laughter) the audience never sees

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Myself and Alex Wakeham rehearsing A Few Good Men earlier this year

Rehearsals commenced for the next production I’m involved in, The Matchgirls, last night, it was great to finally get stuck in, after knowing for a couple of months I had got the part of George Bernard Shaw.

I love the rehearsal period of a production, it’s a time of discovering more about the play, yourself and each other and the camaraderie developed in productions is like nothing else. This show has a large cast of varying ages and abilities, but I got a good “vibe” from everyone last night, that I think bodes well for the rehearsals and more importantly the actual production.

I always feel a bit miffed that the audience of a production only ever see the final product. They never get to see how that came to be. The creative process of taking a script (and score in this case too), and realising that on the stage is what fascinates me about the theatrical process. Currently on TV in the UK is the programme Strictly Come Dancing and while I enjoy seeing the Saturday night dance, I love seeing the video of the couples rehearsing and training the week prior to the show, to see how they and the dance has developed, from just an idea in the choreographers head to a stunning (or not in some cases) piece of dance on the Saturday night.

My role in The Matchgirls isn’t a huge one, and so it’ll give me time to sit back and observe the rehearsal process and hopefully assist others as and when applicable. It can be a very draining experience rehearsing, physically, mentally and emotionally, but it’s necessary for us to push ourselves in order to put on a good piece of theatre.

This will also be the first time I’ve played an historical person on stage too, and one who himself was a playwright makes for quite a unique opportunity. I enjoy his writing and actually feel quite chuffed to be portraying one of my literary inspirations on stage. I’m fortunate as he’s the same age as me in this play, and so I had a look online to see if there were any photos of him from this era of his life and this is what I found;

So I have some work to do in the beard department! However I do like his suit and look forward to being kitted out in something similar.

As the process develops I’ll log some of my observations here, and hope to see some of you at the production in February. (tickets are released at the end of December)

Larkin With Women – Miller Centre Theatre Caterham – Review

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We battled through the ice and snow to get to the Miller Centre Theatre’s current production Larkin with Women. Was it worth the Herculean effort?

I have to admit I was pretty ignorant of Philip Larkin, I knew he’d refused the Poet Laureate post and died in the mid 1980′s but that was it. This play vividly portrays his life and the three women that played such a key role in it.

Brian Miller played the part of Philip Larkin, and it was an OUTSTANDING performance. He really brought Philip Larkin to life before our eyes, his foibles and his more personable traits. He delivered the witty lines perfectly, and the reading of Larkin’s poetry was very moving and effective. The final dying scene was done really well and despite Larkin’s faults, I felt sad to see him go.

Brian Miller as Philip Larkin and Jane Monaghan as Monica Jones

The three female love interests were all ably performed, Jane Monaghan played Larkin’s long-suffering partner Monica Jones, Avril Swift played his uptight Catholic mistress Maeve Brennan, and Denise Scales played his secretary turned lover Betty Mackareth.

My only criticism would actually be Ben Brown’s script. The scenes are very short which means the play feels quite “bitty” especially in Act 1. You just feel you’re getting into it and then the scene would end and we’d have to wait while the cast got changed/scenery changed for the next scene. This was done as speedily as possible by the crew and ably covered by the use of different Jazz tracks that Larkin liked. Act 2 was much better in this respect. The actual scripting and dialogue was excellent, I just feel the chopping and changing of scenes could have been eliminated by Ben Brown.

As I’ve said before I love going to the theatre when I’m not sure of the play and/or subject matter. Again I’ve come away with my horizons expanded, keen to read some more of Larkin’s work and having seen another great performance at The Miller Centre Theatre.

Relatively Speaking by Alan Ayckbourn – Review

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Forty years ago Alan Ayckbourn was commissioned to write a play for the summer season at Scarborough’s Theatre-in-the-Round. His brief was simple, it could have no more than four in the cast, was to be funny and couldn’t cost more than £10!! The result was Relatively Speaking, which launched not just Ayckbourn’s career but also Richard Briers as an actor.

The Miller Centre Players have chosen to present this as the final play in their successful and creative 2009/2010 season. 40 years later does this play still offer us something funny?

Chris Butler’s wonderfully resourceful set, skilfully sets the first scene in Greg and Ginny’s small shabby London flat (in a perfect 1960′s style), we’re then whisked away (courtesy of the newly refurbished revolving stage) to Philip and Sheila’s country residence, this transformation is brilliant and shows the resourcefulness and skill of Chris Butler and the backstage team.

With such a small cast, the play hangs on each of their performances and each one delivered. Robin Clark acted the role of Greg, just right, his delivery and facial expressions were spot on. Kirsty Pannett, looked stylish in her sixties mini skirt and hair do –   and as the culprit of why the characters are in their series of misunderstandings, wonderfully deals with each situation as it arose. John Lacy, was a great Philip, several of the biggest laughs were on his lines and reactions, and rightly so, they were delivered with just the right timing and tone. Suzi Whittle, as Shelia, reacted superbly to all the goings on as her home is invaded and delivered the last line with a fabulous twinkle in her eye. This cast understood that this play required the right rhythm and they worked well together to see this happened and the lines got the laughs they deserved.

So how does the play stand up 40+ years later? I really enjoyed it, as a fun evening of summer’s entertainment it was a pleasant and fun evening. On a deeper level Ayckbourn’s play is about the miscommunication that exists between people, and while in daily life it’s often not quite as funny as this, I found it an accurate observation. In an age of emails, mobile phones, blogs :) etc. It is still hard for us to communicate despite all these “communication mediums”, and yet tragically it’s often toughest to communicate to the people we’re closest too.