November Newsletter

Posted on Mon 12th November 2018 by Steve Phelps

Hello to all members

Panto rehearsals for our 50th Anniversary are well under way.  I wish to extend a very warm welcome to all of our new members, we are so pleased to have you on board!

We will be celebrating our 50th pantomime is style, to recognize the achievement of reaching our 50th year!

 

As well as cast rehearsals, we are also busy with building the sets, creating the artwork and the band (The Bourne End Shadows) are also very busy rehearsing the new song numbers.  AJ Gibson and her musical theatre students are also hard at work learning songs and dance numbers as they make preparations to join us again this year.

 

The next focus for us will be making costumes…

Whilst we do have our own extensive costume wardrobe, we do find each year that more specific costumes are required in order to create the correct period/locations.  We have therefore order lots of fabulous fabrics for our annual sewing day. This year we have set the date of Sunday 25th November.  Whilst we do have some volunteers to join us, we would appreciate some more help.  “Many hands make light work” as they say.  Therefore is you are able to help, please let either myself or Tracey Huxley know (Tracey is the Forum Players Wardrobe Mistress)…You will find our contact email addresses on this email. Come along and bring a friend if you know anytime who would be interested to do some sewing.  In preparation for the day, we cut out the fabric pieces ready to start stitching.  Anytime between 10am and 3pm would be great.  Lunch is included.

With the festive season just around the corner, Forum Players will be supporting the festive events being held at Claytons School in Flackwell Heath, and the Bourne End Christmas evening (7th December).  Committee member Fiona Russell will be manning the stalls, and she has a ‘guess the Panda’ game for people to have some fun with, the prize being a cute Panda soft toy.  The Panda features in our panto, therefore If you are attending either of these events, please go and find Fiona to take part.
Have a great week and hope to see you all soon.
Kind regardsKerry
Chairman, Forum Players

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Sewing Day 25th November

Posted on Tue 6th November 2018 by Steve Phelps

This gallery contains 1 photo.

In the Target Room from 10:00 till 15:00 Calling all members… we would appreciate help from anyone who would like to join us and help make some of the costumes that we need for panto.  Our annual sewing day is … Continue reading →

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Rehearsals going well

Posted on Sat 20th October 2018 by Forum Players

Great music rehearsal this week. Lots of new & exciting song choices for panto. We are still looking for more peeps in our chorus for anyone thinking they might like to come & join us. ??

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Getting ready for January’s Panto Aladdin

Posted on Mon 15th October 2018 by Forum Players

 

 

 

Using the dragon from our 2006 Panto

 

 

 

 

 

The wardrobe team at work …

 

 

Stage crew and set designer being their usual cheeky selves

 

 

… and, of course, tea on the go all the way. Thank you Kerry! 🙂

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October Newsletter

Posted on Mon 1st October 2018 by Steve Phelps

Hello Everyone

It has been a busy summer for the Forum Players Committee.  We would like to share the details of the upcoming events and performances in the planning..

It’s getting close to Panto time…oh yes it is ?

We are very pleased to be able to confirm that our January 2019 Pantomime will be ‘Aladdin’, which has now been cast and rehearsals will begin on Monday 8th October.  This will be the 50th Pantomime for Forum Players and we are very excited to celebrate our 50 year anniversary during the show run.  Wendy Keeble will direct, with me as co-director.

We are really excited to be joined by new members who bring an incredible mix of experience from other groups, as well as some of our current members stepping into Principal roles, making this a very strong cast.

We still have room for people to join in the Chorus and also, we would appreciate help from anyone with time to spare in terms of costume making, stage set building, painting etc.  When we get closer to the show dates, we will also be reaching out for support in the Stage Crew team, front of house etc.  Please contact myself or Wendy to discuss.

Wardrobe Clear – 14th October:

Ahead of planning the costumes required for Pantomime, we would like to have our annual Costume Wardrobe clear out on Sunday 14th October.  We will start at 10am and hopefully this will just take a couple of hours.  Tracey Huxley, our Wardrobe mistress, would appreciate help with this task.  Many hands make light work as the saying goes.  Please come and join us, I will have the kettle on, with cakes and biscuits at the ready to help us along.

Bourne End community Christmas Festive Evening:

As many of you will know, Bourne End has its annual Christmas festival evening in early December, where all local business and community groups get involved to help spread the Festive cheer.  Forum Players will get  involved on the evening to share our Panto excitement with all.  Watch this space for more details.

50th Anniversary Celebrations:

In my last newsletter I mentioned plans for a celebration evening in September, unfortunately due to circumstance beyond our control, this was not able to go ahead.  However we do plan to celebrate this golden anniversary as part of the 50th Pantomime celebrations, and we hope that many of you will be able to join us at one of the panto performances.

If you have any suggestions for future performances, would like to Direct or get involved with stage sets, etc, please drop a line of either myself or any member of the committee.

Kind regards

Kerry

Chairman, Forum Players

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IT’S PANTO TIME – OH YES IT IS

Posted on Tue 24th July 2018 by Steve Phelps

Hi everyone

We had a great evening last week, reading the script for Aladdin.  We have lots of enthusiasm for this panto and lots of feedback in terms of people wishing to read for certain parts on the August casting evenings (Wednesday 22nd & Wednesday 29th).

I wanted to share with you all the character list, so that you have a chance to consider any parts that you might be interested in.  Most of the characters are not gender specific, although we will be restricted within certain age ranges (however we have a wide scope!).

*Abanazar

*Aladdin

*Sergeant Ping

*PC Pong

*Nobby (a panda)

*Wishee Washee

*Widow Twankey

*The Emperor (or Empress)

*Princess Jasmine

*Genie f the Lamp

*Genie of the Ring

*Chorus as Chinese citizens, Cave Sprites, Palace Attendants, Guards etc.

We are particularly keen to hear from those of you who might be interest in reading for the Villain, Abanazar!  Lots of energy, volume and snarls required!!

Quite a few of you have reached out to Wendy and myself to let us know which characters you are interested in for the casting evenings.  For those of you who haven’t already spoken to us, please do let us know and we can plan the casting evenings accordingly, or just come and join us when you can.  If you would like to see a copy of the script ahead of the August dates, please let us know and we can either email the PDF or send you a hard copy.

See you soon …”oh yes we will!”

Kerry and Wendy

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Latest Information

Posted on Fri 13th July 2018 by Steve Phelps

Hello everyone

Unfortunately we don’t have enough members available to take part in the Anniversary Show and therefore the show director, Jill Hyde, has reluctantly made the decision not to proceed.  We hope to have some sort of small get together, perhaps during the original planned show week in September, to mark our 50 years just for members past and present… watch this space.

As you know, in deference to the football, Panto reading is now on 18th July. There will also be 2 casting meetings/auditions on 22nd and 29th August, all held in the Bourne End Community Centre, main hall at 8pm.  If you can’t make either of these but are interested in auditioning could you let us know on or before the 18th, and we will give you the opportunity for reading that evening (18th July).

Rehearsals will commence on Monday 8th October for principles and chorus will join early November.

Last rehearsal before Christmas will be Dec 19th and will restart Jan 2nd.

‘Must Do’ dates for panto are as follows:

13th Jan Dress and Tech

14th Jan Dress

16th Jan Senior Citizens performance

19th Jan 2.30 performance

20th Jan 2.30 performance

26th Jan 2.30 and 6.30 performance

If you cannot make all these dates then I am afraid you will not be able to be part of the cast.

We look forward very much to seeing you all on 18th.

Wendy and Kerry

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Dates for your diaries

Posted on Mon 9th July 2018 by Steve Phelps

Hi Everyone

I hope you are all enjoying this wonderful summer!

I wanted to keep everyone up to date with details on the upcoming events for the group.

50th Anniversary Show…

This evening, 9th July, we have our rescheduled ‘first rehearsal’ for the 50th Anniversary Show.  Most of you will already have received an email from our show Director, Jill Hyde, however to keep everyone informed, I am sending this email to all members.  If you would like to be in the show, but can’t make the rehearsal tomorrow, please let either Jill or myself know.

The rehearsal today will take place in the community centre Target Room, which is on the left hand side of the main entrance.

Pantomime…

As previously shared with you, we had planned to have the Panto script read through this Wednesday, 11th July.  However, due to the fantastic success of our national football team, we have made the decision to move the date.  The rescheduled date for the script read through is going to be the following week, Wednesday 18th July, in the main hall at the Bourne End Community Centre.  The panto that has been put forward for this reading is ‘Aladdin’.

Panto auditions…

We have 2 audition dates, Wednesday 22nd August & Wednesday 29th August, 8pm start.  If you can’t make either of these dates, but would like to be considered for a part, please let either myself or Wendy Keeble know, and we can discuss with you.

Panto rehearsals…will begin early October, More details to follow nearer to the time.

That’s all for now!

Hope to see you all soon.

Kind regards

Kerry

Chairman, Forum Players

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Dates for your diaries

Posted on Mon 11th June 2018 by Steve Phelps

Monday 2nd July – 50th Anniversary First Rehearsal

Wednesday 11th July – Club Meeting to discuss Pantomime for Jan 2019

Wednesday 19th September – 50th Anniversary Dress Rehearsal

Friday 21st September – 50th Anniversary Show

Saturday 22nd September – 50th Anniversary Show

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50th Anniversary Production

Posted on Mon 4th June 2018 by Steve Phelps

Hi Everyone

Following on from the success of our recent Murder Mystery evening at Downtown Crabbey, we are now full steam ahead and focusing on our next performance events.

For those of you who are on the Forum Players Facebook page, you will have seen these dates already.  For those of you who aren’t, I would like to share with you the following:

– Wednesday 6th June (this coming week)

…we have another club evening to start firming up ideas and availability for the 50th Anniversary variety show. This will be in the Bourne End Community Centre main hall.

The idea behind the variety show is that for each of us who will be involved, there will be ‘bite sized’ pieces to perform.  Nothing too onerous in term of line lining or rehearsal commitment.  We have the live band confirmed and lots of ideas beginning to flow.  The show will conclude with a lively and fun ‘sing along’…audience participation is required!  Song sheets to be provided.

– Wednesday 11th July – Target Room

…Panto reading.  It’s that time of year again when we beginning to think about our next pantomime production.  Come along and join us for this initial read through and register your interest.  More details regarding the chosen Panto and audition dates will be released nearer the time.

That’s all for now, hope to see as many of you as possible this week.

Best regards

Kerry

Chairman, Forum Players

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