Archive for January 2018
Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare
Much Ado About Nothing
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Andrew Hamel-Cooke
Tuesday 9th to Saturday 13th October at 7.45pm
Tickets: adults £14, children/students £10 (£12 for adults on the 9th)
A sharply witty romantic comedy – a battle of the sexes. As soldiers memories of conflict give way to a life of parties and masked balls, two fall madly, deeply in love, while another two reignite their own altogether more combative courtship.
For Audition information – click here
Play In A Week 2018 – Keeping Score
Play In A Week celebrates 20 years in 2018!
Keeping Score
Directed by Brandon McGuire
Performances 28 July at 7.30 and 29 July at 2.30
Tickets: £13
Book online or call 01483 284747
The Nomads annual week-long project for people with a range of physical and/or learning disabilities. A special play is commissioned each year with a unique part to suit every individual wanting to participate. Not to be missed!
Love Me Slender by Vanessa Brooks
Love Me Slender
By Vanessa Brooks
Directed by Andrew Hamel-Cooke
Tuesday 10th to Saturday 14th July at 7.30pm
Tickets: adults £14, students £10
Box office: 01483 284747 or book online
A perceptive and comedic look at a modern issue… Siobhan, the ‘Achiever of the Year’ inspires her hopeful new recruits in the Slim For Life dieting club. Siobhan has lost seven stone, found a new self, a fulfilling job and a wonderful husband. Now, she encourages others to achieve the same.
These are seven very contrasting women – Siobhan, the leader of the group and a total control freak, who struts around the stage in her ‘Achiever of the Year’ banner and her ever faithful Kelly, quiet and deep and heading for disaster from the moment the play opens. Claudette the Liverpudlian, with an obsession for food, attractive, confident and loud, who is the exact opposite of Rosie, the dowdy and lank-haired loser. There is Lucinda, who feels far more at home with a large gin and tonic, is sophisticated , smart and could organise any office in the city. Celia is a jolly hockey sticks lady and everybody’s friend with a perfect marriage, or so we are lead to believe, initially, and Jean who is being ripped off by Siobhan and cannot afford to be.
The cast
- Siobhan – Moyra Brookes
- Claudette – Cheryl Chamberlain
- Rosie – Laura Spalding
- Lucinda – Sarah Gage
- Celia – Susan Monteregge
- Jean – Nikky Kirkup
- Kelly – Emily Ingold
Charlotte’s Web – Nomes Youth Theatre
Nomes Youth Theatre presents
Charlotte’s Web
By EB White
Friday 29th June at 7pm, Saturday 30th June at 2pm and 7pm, Sunday 1st July at 2pm
Tickets: adults £14, children/students £10
We meet Charlotte, the spider, who is utterly determined to save her friend Wilbur, the pig.
Box office: 01483 284747
“A Right Royal Romance” in association with BLOS
In association with Bookham Light Operatic Society
A Right Royal Romance
A concert of romantic songs from the shows to celebrate the Royal wedding, presented to you by BLOS!
Musical Director: Selena Hegarty
Thursday 17 to Saturday 19 May at 7.30
Tickets: £12 – call 01483 284747 or book online.
With songs from composers such as Andrew Lloyd Webber, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Lerner and Loewe, Gilbert and Sullivan, Franz Lehár, Leonard Bernstein.
Enjoy hearing musical numbers from the shows you love… Oklahoma, Les Miserables, The Phantom of The Opera, Patience, My Fair Lady, Half a Sixpence, Ruddigore, Kiss Me Kate and more!
Box office: 01483 284747 or www.ticketsource.co.uk/nomadtheatre
Chat Room – by The Young Company (Nomes Youth Theatre)
Chat Room
Friday 23rd March at 7.30pm
Saturday 24th March at 3.30pm
Tickets: a retiring collection will be made in aid of completing the Bob King room
Nomes Youth Theatre is a fun and exciting youth theatre group based at the Nomad Theatre in East Horsley, Surrey. We run classes for children and young people aged 4-18.
Auditions – Shakers
Auditions – Shakers
This 90 minute play is presented by four waitresses, Adele, Mel, Carol and Nicky, each under pressure in different ways, and describes a typical night at a bar called Shakers. The play is set in 1985, and has plenty of quick-fire humour as well as monologues by each character. The actresses play all the characters in the bar, including the clientele the four waitresses have to deal with.
- Director: Michael Ayres
- Performance dates: 13-17 February at 7:45pm
- Rehearsals: Sunday / Wednesday / Friday
Audition dates:
- Tuesday 9th January at 7.30pm
- Sunday 14th January at 6pm
Auditions will be held at The Nomad Theatre, Bishopsmead Parade, East Horsley, Leatherhead, Surrey KT24 6RT (click here)
Audition monologues (script provided):
- Carol – “When I was sixteen..”
- Adele – “I first slept with somebody…”
- Mel – “Bleedin’ cocktails…” and “My mum tells everyone that I work in Shakers…”
- Nicky – “It is something that I’ve put together myself…”
Northern accent preferred but not essential
If you are interested in auditioning and/or would like further information, please contact the Director on [email protected]
Characters
Shakers is an ensemble piece, with each actor playing equally featured roles. The playing age is 20s to 30s, but rapport between the actors is as important.
- Adele – mid 20’s Thinks life is for living, having fun is her raison d’être. Calls it as she sees it. The complete opposite of Carol.
- Carol – late 20’s/early 30’s Down to earth, no nonsense type. Degree educated at Lancaster Poly. She wants the other girls to make something of themselves and not waste their time on “men”, though she secretly wants to settle down and have children herself.
- Mel – early 20’s Despite of her youth, she is already embittered by life. Plenty of attitude and can stop an elephant at twenty yards with a quip. Comic timing is vital.
- Nicky – late teens/early 20’s Budding actor, keen to progress her acting career, gives the air of confidence (until she attends an audition!!!) Always feels slightly left out of things, in much the way that a younger sibling does when involved with older sisters. Has a “the show must go on” ethos.
Casting – Tommy and Jake – Annie Get Your Gun (with BLOS)
Casting for Tommy and Jake – Annie Get Your Gun
Bookham Light Operatic Society‘s summer show will be ‘Annie Get Your Gun’, performed at The Nomad Theatre w/c 14th May 2018. Featuring classic show tunes such as ‘Anything You Can Do’ and ‘There’s No Business Like Show Business’, this musical is one of the greats!
View the cast and show details
- Director: Andrew Hamel-Cooke
- Musical Director: Selena Hegarty
Auditions & rehearsals:
- Fridays at 7.30pm – Eastwick Road Church (URC), Eastwick Road, Great Bookham, Surrey KT23 4BE
Male characters yet to be cast – (with playing ages)
- Tommy Keeler – Male 18-30 – Supporting – Tenor. A dashing young knife-thrower with the Wild West Show, part Native American.
- Little Jake – Male 11-14 – Featured – Alto. Annie’s 8-to-10-year-old brother, her “bird dog” who flushes out game for her to shoot.
- Ensemble men – come and get involved, all ages welcome!
Audition pieces can be found at: http://www.bookhamlightoperatic.co.uk/blosauditions.htm
If you are interested in auditioning and/or would like further information, please contact the Director on 07747 527180 , or email [email protected]
Synopsis
Rough-and-tumble Annie Oakley is the best shot around. A backwoods gal, Annie uses her skill to support her family by selling the game she hunts. When she’s discovered by Buffalo Bill and persuaded to join his Wild West Show, Annie is plucked from obscurity and becomes the toast of Europe. Annie meets her match in Frank Butler, Buffalo Bill’s leading man and star marksman. She falls head over heels for Frank, but soon eclipses him as the main attraction in the show. Her success with a gun makes trouble for Annie’s chance at romance. Annie Get Your Gun follows the journey of Annie and Frank, revealing their competitive natures as they vie for best shot – and each other’s hearts. This fictionalized version of the life of real-life sharpshooter Annie Oakley and her romance with Frank Butler boasts a score of Irving Berlin gems including “There’s No Business Like Show Business”, “I Got Lost in His Arms”, “I Got the Sun in the Mornin’”, “Anything You Can Do,” and “They Say It’s Wonderful.”
All characters – adults (with playing ages)
- Frank Butler – Male 25-35 – Lead – Baritone. A suave sharpshooter in Buffolo Bill’s show – he enjoys his status
as a heartbreaker and star. - Annie Oakley – Female 18-25 – Lead – Mezzo-Soprano. Strong singer-comedian who carries the show, she immediately falls head over heels for Frank, who prefers a more dainty type of woman.
- Tommy Keeler – Male 18-30 – Supporting – Tenor. A dashing young knife-thrower with the Wild West Show, part Native American.
- Winnie Tate – Female 18-25 – Supporting – Mezzo-Soprano. Dolly’s 17-year-old sister. Tommy throws knives at her and hopes to marry her as soon as she turns 18.
- Dolly Tate – Female 18-40 – Supporting – Alto. Frank Butler’s “lovely” assistant, an ambitious and mean-spirited, but funny, woman.
- Buffalo Bill Cody – Male 35-50 – Supporting – Baritone. Middle-aged soldier/Indian scout turned showman, runs the “Wild West Show”.
- Chief Sitting Bull – Male 35-55 – Featured – Spoken. leader of the Sioux Nation, adopts Annie as his daughter and puts his money into show business with the Wild West Show.
- Charlie Davenport – Male 35-50 – Featured – Baritone. Middle-aged manager of the Wild West Show, always setting the scene for this show-within-a-show.
- Foster Wilson – Male 40-60 – Featured – Spoken. Hotel Manager, strong personality with dry wit.
- Pawnee Bill – Male 35-55 – Featured – Spoken. Owner of the Far East Show; Buffalo Bill’s former partner and
current rival.
Characters – youngsters
- Little Jake – Male 11-14 – Featured – Alto. Annie’s 8-to-10-year-old brother, her “bird dog” who flushes out
game for her to shoot. - Mary/Jessie/Nellie – Female 11-16 – Featured – Alto. Annie’s 10-to-14-year-old sisters, also part of the family hunting business.
Songs
- Colonel Buffalo Bill — Charlie Davenport, Dolly Tate, and ensemble
- I’m a Bad, Bad Man — Frank Butler
- Doin’ What Comes Natur’lly — Annie Oakley and her siblings
- The Girl That I Marry — Frank and Annie
- You Can’t Get a Man with a Gun — Annie
- There’s No Business Like Show Business — Frank, Buffalo Bill, Charlie, Annie, and ensemble
- They Say It’s Wonderful — Annie and Frank
- Moonshine Lullaby — Annie and siblings
- I’ll Share It All With You — Winnie Tate and Tommy Keeler
- Ballyhoo — Riding Mistress and Show People
- There’s No Business Like Show Business (Reprise) — Annie
- My Defenses Are Down — Frank and ensemble
- Wild Horse Ceremonial Dance — Wild Horse, Indian Braves and Maidens
- I’m an Indian, Too — Annie and ensemble
- Adoption Dance — Annie, Wild Horse and Braves
- I Got Lost In His Arms — Annie
- Who Do You Love, I Hope — Winnie and Tommy
- I Got the Sun in the Morning — Annie and ensemble
- They Say It’s Wonderful (Reprise) — Annie and Frank
- The Girl That I Marry (Reprise) — Frank
- Anything You Can Do — Annie and Frank
- There’s No Business Like Show Business (Reprise) — Ensemble
Dick Whittington – Polly reviews
Theatre reviewer, Polly, provides this review of The Nomads 2017 pantomime, Dick Whittington & his cat
“Think Christmas and at some point you will think panto. It is about as much part of our British Christmas as Carols from King’s College and the Queen’s Speech. This kind of iconic position brings with it a certain expectation, of course. It is an uniquely British form of theatre and we have a formula which must be adhered to or it’s not a panto! The story is usually a fairy or traditional tale, there is always a baddie, there is always a goodie, there is always a lot of singing and dancing, there is some very obvious, groaningly obvious humour, a lot of double entendres to keep the parents awake, pyrotechnics if you can and huge spectacle especially in the last scene. I have not mentioned, of course, the audience participation. This is as formulaic as are the plots. The phrases such as “He’s/it’s
behind you!” or a particular phrase given us by one of the “helpful” characters; the panto dame always played by a man and the Principal Boy is always played by a woman. You have to be British to understand any of it. Perhaps something like cricket?
So the expectation is high, but in the Nomad’s production of Dick Whittinton and his cat, they didn’t miss a trick. The programme itself promised a very high standard of things to come. Starting from the bottom, at least in height, I have to say that the young ratlets (Patrick Anderson, Ori Carr-Stein, Eden Garland, Amelia Tang and Ethan Tang) were terrific and the very youngest dancers were a delight. The choreographer, Samantha Potten did sterling work preparing her chorus of dancers (Alice Burgess, Caitlin Byrne, Ciara Byrne, Abigail Darke, Emily Davey, Amelia Potten, Katherine Warr, Sienna Wayland, Charlotte Weller and Francesca Woof.) I especially loved the more taxing and very difficult point work shown us by the older dancers. To top off the dancing, we had a panto dame, Sarah the Cook, played by Michael Ayres, who joined in the tap routine. Wonderful.
Tap dancing wasn’t the only thing that the Dame was good at. ‘She’ spoke with great clarity, though some of the jokes might have benefitted from a little more exaggeration, but his/her make-up was wonderful. “Her” son Idle Jack played by Millie Jane Franks was a wonderfully drawn character, with hugely exaggerated facial expression and physical movement. It was “he” (another girl playing a chap!) who led the audience participation.
She put huge energy into getting us to respond standing up and repeating a little routine each time she came on. We were not a very good audience as we were a bit lazy about getting up and speaking the lines we had been
given. Speaking for myself, I was heavy with cold and recovering from ‘flu so getting up every two minutes did not get my vote, but that was just me. I’m sure with a slightly younger audience especially, there would have been no difficulty and Jack really did deserve more help than we gave her!
Dick Whittington (Sophie Johnstone) spoke with great confidence and commitment and was a suitably glamorous and character. Dick and Alice had some very enjoyable duet and solo moments and between them kept the central story theme on track. They were an engaging couple.
Alice Fitzwarren (Sasha Plaché) was a very lovely young leading lady and she obviously enjoyed her role which communicated itself well to the audience. She obviously had her father, Alderman Fitzwarren (Iain Watson) in the palm of her hand as he quickly agreed to allow Dick to join the crew of his last surviving ship. The Alderman came across as an affable chap, who took his bad luck in his stride. He was kindly too to his officer in charge, Captain Cuttle played by Jeffrey Wightwick. Cuttle made good use of the silliness
when trying to call the crew to some order and made a significant contribution over all.
Bit parts are the real fun of panto. You get to be there almost all the time but don’t have to worry too much about lines and Colin Barnard and Joshua Locke made full use of their
moments as the Arabs, the Sailors and in the general ensemble. King Neptune (Ricky Powell) in the beautiful underwater kingdom scene where we also met a delightful mermaid, played by Tilly Winford, was also a bit part well developed and delivered.
Another high spot was the scene in the harem. Fabulous colours and sinuous choreography. The Sultan of Morocco (Richard Peachey) was every inch the part and gave us a lovely bit of singing although we could have done with a facemike at some moments. Nevertheless the scene was visually splendid and we enjoyed the sultan’s contribution .
The “baddies” are what really make a panto and gives us the excuse to boo and hiss to our hearts content at their every entry. Gnashfang (Lisa Arnold) and Gnawbone (Johnny Diamond) were wonderfully evil and their immediate boss, King Rat (Daniel Shepherd) was truly superb. His performance was suitably horrible and very well sustained.
In contrast to his nastiness, another must of panto is the Good Fairy Bow Bells (Hayley Clines) whose fluency and well pointed and delivered lines had us all enthralled. A
lovely performance.
There is one supremely obvious omission in all this comment, and that is of Tommy, Dick’s faithful and hugely intelligent and clever cat which is pivotal to the progress of the story. Tommy was played by Karolina Sepiak and what a great job she made of it. There was total engagement throughout and her catlike movements were sustained at all times, but her real moment of glory came during Dick’s solo when she used the stage to its fullest extent and gave a terrific dance/gymnastic display, moments of which were absolutely jaw dropingly supple and a joy to watch.
The scenes and costumes, always spectacularly good at the Nomads, were glorious. This was, over all, excellent ensemble playing, each player supporting the others and matching each other’s commitment to the success of the evening.
I had one or two issues with the general pace of the piece, but in the following performances I’m sure the actors will have bedded in to their performances as general confidence grows. The other slight grouse I should mention is that one has grown to expect that when there is an obvious joke in panto, one expects a “boom tish!” from percussion. That wasn’t quite as obvious, to my mind, as it might have been. The band, directed by Gareth Alber, however, were otherwise a great asset to the performance and provided sympathetic
support to the singing. One further niggle is that perhaps the flys could have been just a shade faster.
I am not usually a huge fan of pantos, but I really did enjoy this performance. The director, Andrew Hamel-Cooke and his army of back stage “beavers” such as lighting, props, stage manager to name but a few, are to be congratulated in bringing together so many players to produce such a great evening. We must remind ourselves that these are all people who give freely of their time to present us with high quality, local entertainment throughout the year. Thank you all. Your efforts are much appreciated.”
Polly