Posts by Elaine Burns
Old Herbaceous, starring Giles Shenton
Old Herbaceous
Saturday 15th October at 7.30 Sunday 16th October at 2.30
Tickets: adults £14, children/students £10
Starring Giles Shenton, Directed by Simon Downing
Produced by Andrew D Brewis
Play by Alfred Shaughnessy from the novel by Reginald Arkell
“One very talented actor, Giles Shenton as Herbert Pinnegar (Old Herbaceous), keeps us engrossed, entertained, amused and emotionally engaged for an hour and a half as a gardener in a potting shed… who knew that would work? A wonderful production: funny, emotional, touching, instructive: as it’s been dubbed : ” Downton Abbey with gardening tips” ( and some cookery ones too!)…and an acute and sometimes hilarious observation of relationships between the classes in a gentler, simpler age. As the song goes, “ Sometimes life can taste so sweet, when you slow it down.”
“Old Herbaceous is a story of one man working at the the same gardening job for all his working life. He sees the world change from a Victorian age through Edwardian to a modern world in 1970 when the play is set. Although it is the story of one manʼs life, it encompasses many different stories and sub-plots. It has been a joy to discover this manʼs journey, which centres around a platonic, unrequited love story across social boundaries. It is basically UPSTAIRS, OUTSIDE, rather than UPSTAIRS, DOWNSTAIRS. Above all it is a look at a world that no longer exists and a nostalgic yearning to return to a way of life gone forever. What surprised me most was how moving the piece is. So bring your tissues,you may need them.”
Get a 10% discount on food at The Duke and Goose (Bishopsmead Parade) by showing your tickets for that day’s performance.
Play in a Week – inclusive theatre rehearsed over a week
Strictly Come Shakespeare directed by Brandon McGuire
Workshops every day Monday 25 July to Friday 29 July 2016
Performances 30 July at 7.30, 31 July at 2.30
Tickets ; £12
“Our specially commissioned play for 2016 is “Strictly Come Shakespeare” – where, in the year of the 400th anniversary of the Bard’s death, a modern TV classic comes over all Shakespearian!
Play In A Week is an annual week-long fully inclusive project, now in its 18th year, which enables actors with learning and/or physical disabilities to enjoy the magic and benefits of participating in a theatre show and putting on public performances. “

Play In A Week 2016 production
Starting on a Monday morning each July, between 40 and 50 enthusiastic and talented participants and a raft of volunteer helpers, along with a team of specialist professionals start work at the Nomad Theatre in East Horsley.
The actors work hard everyday throughout the week to rehearse, learning lines, songs and dance routines from scratch. There are no “limitations” on who can be an actor at Play In A Week. Everyone is welcome regardless of disability. All we require is that people come along with enthusiasm, energy and team spirit, and are able to attend every day in order to learn their parts and be an equal part of the Company.
Easyfundraising
Please click (Easyfundraising) to find out more about how you can raise money for us while shopping online – and it won’t even cost you a penny!
Volunteering
There are lots of ways in which you can get involved to volunteer at Play In A Week and have some fun helping put on the show!
During the rehearsal week itself, and for the performances, we need helpers to support our participants in a range of ways: Assistance with script reading and learning lines, mobility, transport, having lunch and refreshments, learning dance routines, making quick costume changes, remembering cues and entrances.
Loserville by Elliott Davis and James Bourne
Loserville
In association with Showdown Theatre Arts
Saturday 16 July and Sunday 17 July at 3pm and 7.30
Tickets: adults £12, children/students £10
It’s 1971 and Michael and his sci-fi obsessed, social misfit friends are about to change the course of history, fashion and dating in no particular order.
Redeveloping the bar
March 2017
Work started on 27th February after a team of Nomads spent two weeks emptying the hut and finding space for props, paint, bar stock and kitchen equipment. Huge thanks to David Martin, Andrew and Jennie Hamel-Cooke, Tony and Dee Bowdery, Elaine Burns, Mary Brooks, Iain Macfarlane, Tracey Gillard, Paul Asher, Jackie Shearer, Rita Derriman.
Now the hut has been demolished and the builders are digging the foundations. They hope to finish in July. See the Gallery for photographs.
August 2016
If you hadn’t heard, our mission to replace the bar with a brand new building is progressing!

The Green Room Club at the Nomad Theatre
We received planning consent on 15 February 2016 and are now working with the architect on the detailed designs needed. We hope to be able to appoint a contractor by July with a view to starting work in August, after Play in a Week and the Nomes summer workshops.
Construction is likely to continue to the end of the year and will unfortunately mean some disruption to our activities, but the Greenroom Committee is working on plans to maintain a bar for shows and Prompt Corner lunches. The contractors will need to fence off most of the car park, too – so check out the parking map for other options! We will still have pedestrian access to the stage door.
We are lucky to have the funds, from Bob King’s legacy, to complete the building and its services, but we expect to need some fundraising for fitting out the bar and kitchen, as well as help to prepare for the building work.
Watch this space for how you can get involved!
Club Night in memory of Alan Wiseman Friday 1st July at 7.30
We are holding a Club Night in memory of Alan Wiseman who died suddenly on 15th February.
Alan joined the Nomads as an actor in 1997 to take part in a Young Nomad production Much Ado About Nothing. He became a regular director and actor, performed at club nights and was Editor of Nomad News.
The evening will also be a fundraiser for the new bar. You won’t need a ticket but there will be a retiring collection.
So far we have the cast of Pajama Game performing Steam Heat and the knife throwing scene, Graham Botterill and Richard Peachey performing one of the Pete and Dud sketches, Adrian Juste will sing The Elements from Tomfoolery, while James Marr will accompany many others.
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Arabian Nights
Nomes Youth Theatre Summer Show
Arabian Nights
Directed by Rachel Scott and Francesca Peplow
Friday 24 June at 7.30, Saturday 25th June at 2.30 and 7.30, Sunday 26th June 2.30
Tickets: adults £10, children under 16 £7
Join us on a trip to faraway lands filled with genies, flying carpets and magic lamps! This magical and creative production is devised by the Nomes’ four Youth Theatre groups who are all aged between 4 and 18.
Hayfever by Noel Coward
Hayfever by Noel Coward directed by Alan Wiseman
Alan Wiseman passed away unexpectedly on 15 February but Jeff Wightwick has stepped in as director. He and the cast are determined to make the play as good as Alan wanted.
22-26 March at 7.45
Tickets: adults £14, children/students £10, adults £12 on Tuesday
Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
Twelfth Night directed by Andrew Hamel-Cooke
Tuesday 27 September to Saturday 1st October at 7.45
Tickets: adults £14, children/students £10, £12 for all adults on 27th
Social disorder, role reversal and cross-dressing are the main elements in this sublime comedy.
Come to Illyria with us and enjoy a fun filled romantic comedy with one of William Shakespeare’s greatest plays that has stood the test of time. There are all the elements of confusion, shipwreck, disguise, and passion, with much humour. This very amusing play is all too often taken too seriously. Shakespeare was writing for the ordinary person in the street and they loved a good bawdy show. At the same time, we can learn much from his play about the frailties of human nature as well as the ‘tricks’ we play upon ourselves.
In Twelfth Night we have both a delightful and raucous frolic with improbable coincidences, making it almost farce, and love at first sight. There are love triangles with self-love, secret love and falling in love with love, truly the human condition.
The Bard writes ‘If music be the food of love ….’ Today we live in a time of music and love. None was more so than the 1960s from where we take our incidental music. They sang then ‘All you need is love’, we find that here in Twelfth Night he leads us through an interesting tale of social disorder, role reversal and cross dressing; then he allows ..‘time, thou must untangle this …’ so all will be well in our comedic play. This production is performed by a diverse and talented cast whose grasp of the Bard’s language will make the work accessible for all audience members both young and old.
This exciting production comes from Director, Andrew Hamel-Cooke…
Andrew has most recently directed The Pajama Game (musical), Cinderella (pantomime), Sisterly Feelings (play) and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Oct ‘14) which drew its inspiration from Seventies Glam Rock music and dance – a very interesting and entertaining take on the traditional Shakespeare, you can bet that Andrew will bring the same level of energy and innovation to Twelfth Night!
Andrew has been in theatre from a very early age, appearing in all genres from Shakespeare to Pantomime. He has performed and directed with Nomads for about twelve years. Originally trained at Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts he worked as a professional dancer, singer and actor in the UK and abroad. Andrew has also been a drama teacher in secondary education.