Forum Players

Latest News and Dates (Updated 19th July 2010)
For dates for your diary please click on the Calendar link below

Panto Reading Monday 19th July

BARKING MAD

At this point, I hand over the word to the genius himself, Anthony Deacon. Casting has been a bit labourious, but nevertheless an interesting result. I presume spectators will be just as surprised as the actors. “Rehearsals have been very bitty (bitty ... haha) with cast being away on holidays. Full cast rehearsals won’t begin until end of August which is a bit of a worry, but I'm sure we'll get there. Whose bright idea was it to do an Autumn production ... oh yeah, it was me. We have been videoing the rehearsals and most of the cast have found it very useful to see their performances. It is something they will never normally get to see. We intend to video the dress rehearsals and then put a DVD together of the full production including a "making of" section and "outtakes". The DVD will be for the cast and anyone else who fancies one.

We have no sound, lighting or backstage crew yet. Other than that, it's going great!”

Interesting to notice that the cast in agreement with the committee decided to keep ticket prices down, and we are hoping for a good turnout. We wish Anthony and the cast of Barking Mad the very best of luck with this production!

What a fete - at the Village Fete

It was the Day of Joy, in every sense of the word! I am referring, of course, to Joy Heward’s very successful Forum Players Café at the Village Fete. With a beautiful smile and the lovely smell of fresh toast wafting across the car park she managed to fill the café to capacity. Blessed by the beautiful weather, the Target Room looked spectacular with set designs from previous shows in the yard outside the café, and Wendy’s sumptuous costumes from Snow White on display inside. And guess who received more compliments? I’m not telling you any more, as I am still upset about it … It was lovely to see children investigating Snow White’s cottage, walking in and out through the canvas door, and to see visitors having a cup of coffee and a chat in front of the snowy castle scene. A big thanks to everybody who came to help! We made over £100 in total which is a record.

Whats On etc

Forum Players at the Day Centre – “connect with the community”

This project started from Brenda Phelps, who passed it to me, which I followed rather loosely to start with. Two weeks ago, I was suddenly possessed by a terrible sense of guilt, when I walked into the Day Centre and was welcomed by the matron, Stella. Having been put on the spot, we sat around the table and agreed a date and a show. As we had just started rehearsing Deckchairs for the Summer Festival, Gay Clark and Ali Arnold together with John Sendall on sound, agreed to do the first show, Day Trippers, on Friday, 9th July, truly a historical date. The curtain went up, and the show was extremely well received by an audience of 17 people. We received £15 as a donation, and we are planning to do a similar show every month. With a regular donation for 12 months, this will surely bring a smile to the face of our treasurer!

Summer Festival

The planning and rehearsing of this year’s Summer Festival was delayed as we wanted to wait for the casting of Barking Mad, as the rehearsals of for the Summer Festival were likely to clash. In the end, we decided to go back to two very successful Deckchairs plays by Jean McConnell that we had already done, and also introducing a new one. This time, we hope to realise an ambition we have had since we started the Summer Festival, which is to play Open Air, in this case, on the patio at the newly refurbished Bourne End library. It would be lovely to see members at 7.30 p.m. this Wednesday and the following Wednesday! Admission is free, and you will also receive a free glass of wine or orange juice. Come and help, or lean back and enjoy the show!

And to finish … communication

I remember an old advertisement on TV, “It’s nice to keep in touch”, and I realised how true it could be, when two weeks ago my telephone rang, and on the other end there was Teresa Stone, who had moved away. She is now part of another theatre group, but was looking for another theatrical outlet. Unfortunately, Barking Mad had just been cast, and it was yet too early for the panto, but I managed to offer her something to do with the Summer Festival, which she was pleased to accept, and we are pleased to welcome Teresa back in the fold, even if it is temporarily.

What is the moral of this moving little tale? As a chairman, I was pleased that Teresa remembered us, which means that we still have an appeal. Another thing I cannot help wondering about in this context is what is happening to our extended family from the Spring Production and Pantomime – are we still appealing to them? It would be so nice to hear from you – please phone me!!!

Other News

1) Village Fete:- very well attended this year and we made just over £100.00 profit. Many thanks to Joy for her organization.

2) Barking Mad written and directed by Anthony Deacon:- This has now been cast and rehearsals are now underway. Dates are: Senior Citizens 15th September 8pm. Performances Friday 17th September 8 p.m. and Sat. 18th September at 7p.m. Tickets will be on sale in the Library and via Leigh at £5.00 across the board. Please put these dates in your diaries and tell your friends.

3) Club Night Monday 28th June:- this was very poorly attended but we did manage to make two small teams and go ahead. Many thanks to Wendy for her hard work in organizing this. It was requested at the AGM that we re-instate club nights and the committee decided to hold 4 this year as an experiment. So far there have been two and neither was well supported by members. The next one is planned for Monday 20th September and a volunteer is needed to organize this one please.

4) Summer Festival plans.

5) Publicity Boards:- If anyone saw the boards up in the village advertising the "Donkey Derby" recently then we have looked at them and looked into making some for future productions. We need a small group of volunteers to take on the construction of these during the summer so that we can have them ready for the Autumn and the Pantomime please.

6) Panto 2011:- Oh yes it is that time again. Jill and Leigh will be putting forward a pantomime and the reading of this will be on Monday 19th July so please do your utmost to attend. Casting will take place at the end of September subject to the club members approval of the pantomime.

• The Club night and Club Barbecue were both run single handedly by Wendy. The Club night is something we have been trying to revitalise. On this occasion, Wendy organised a quiz night, attended be two teams, one of ladies and and one of gentlemen, which the ladies won after a highly contested competition. The barbecue was very successful, and we all gathered in Wendy and John’s garden on a beautiful summer evening, with very elegant looking club members (Jill sporting a particularly striking pair of sunglasses, to mention but one) enjoying roast pork and crackling, and other tasty barbecue food. A thoroughly enjoyable evening was had by all, and we even managed to raise some money for charity.

• From Portugal with Love – Best wishes from Brian Pemberton to all Forum Club Members! Older members will remember Brian as Stage Manager for many Forum productions. He now lives in Portugal, and managed to get involved in another drama group there: “The new drama group I belong to over here is a lot different to your one, everyone lives such a long way from each other and it is difficult to find a venue for social gatherings. But we do manage every now and then. I have been roped in to do all the stage managing since I joined the group, the first show I did was Treasure Island which was a sell out on most nights, the set was really well designed and I had a great crew to help me move the scenery. Since then I have done 12 shows, the next big production for us will be Honk - The Musical. We have held two workshops and will start rehearsals in September - the show will go on in Feb/March next year. We have yet to get the dates confirmed by Camera - the local council who run all the theatre events. We plan to do a 2x1 act play in September and probably a variety type show a bit later on don't know if I will be involved with them yet, it depends how much time I have spare.”

• Centre Quiz – Ali Arnold finally led Forum Quorum to victory at the monthly Centre Quiz. A fantastic achievement, and well done to all the team members!

NOW BOOKING FOR via Jill Hyde jill@forumplayers.com

Blood Brothers – September 13th – 18th

Witness for the Prosecution – September 27th – October 2nd

Swan Lake on Ice – October 12th – 16th

Spamalot – November 8th – 13th

NB Jill will only book if she has 8 or more people wanting tickets.

The Wycombe Swan Summer Youth Project this year is Fame the Musical. I have the tickets on hold for the evening performance on Saturday August 7th as usual. The price is £15.00. There are no concessions for this show. Please let me know by Wednesday May 26th if you would like a ticket and let me have your money. Many thanks.

If you are interested in going to any of the suggestions, or indeed have any suggestions of your own for anything else at the Swan or at any other theatres then please let Jill know by e-mailing her at jill@forumplayers.com

And finally (If you've read this far)
Anybody who would like to contribute to the Newsletter or write to the Chairman, feel free to get in touch with Rick by email to rick@forumplayers.com