RAOC Gazette - page 102
Image details
| Corps | RAOC |
|---|---|
| Material type | Journals |
| Book page | |
| Chapter head | |
| Chapter key | |
| Chapter number | |
| Full title | RAOC Gazette |
| Page number | |
| Publication date | 1977 |
| Real page | |
| Colour | No |
| Grey | No |
| Early date | 1977 |
| Late date | 1977 |
| Transcription |
Wt)t i&latkboton ^fieatre Club Captain iWifee George FOR the first time since The Blackdown Theatre Club has started to use The Tela Theatre for its productions, three have been staged this season, instead of the normal two. ' Mixed Doubles,' * Boeing-Boeing F and ' Move Over Mrs Markham,' their last production which will be reviewed at the end of this feature. Under the new chairmanship of Major John Rosier thirty five people have acted on stage this season, many of them for the first time. Ninety six local hospital patients have been freely entertained and free seats have also been given to recruits and apprentices to endeavour to engender in them an awareness of live-theatre. Over and above these gestures, almost a thousand people have actually bought tickets. With the help of welfare grants and a contribution from club funds a sophisticated new lighting control system has been acquired which is in the process of being installed in the already much famed Tela Theatre. The theatre, obviously, is in constant use throughout the year thus enabling the Thespians to make only a minimal demand upon its facilities. They have been fortunate, con- sequently, in securing club facilities at the Apprentice College barracks. These premises include dressing rooms and a small stage which enable Mn-house' activities to be arranged. This, it is hoped, will encourage beginners and also create an all ranks atmosphere where the shy but interested soldier can fc shuck T off his inhibitions and come to appreciate that play- acting is not the sole preserve of the officer. Mixed Doubles, This first production of the season, success- fully produced by Fiona Dennison, was staged last November with a cast of over twenty. More than 320 people came to see it. Mixed Doubles was an entertainment on marriage. It took the form of eight short plays, each written for two characters by various well known authors. It was an amusing and acid picture of the progress of married life from the honeymoon to the grave. Each was an independent play in its own right, the whole sequence being linked by a series of wickedly anti- authoritarian monologues written by George Melly. Boeing-Boeing by Marc Camoletti, had a cast of six, at- tracted 368 people to see it, was produced by Leslie Barker and staged in February. The Great Enigma was the title given to the ecumenical church service which the club sponsored at St Barbara's Church. on 20th February. A special service was devised and a series of readings taken from T. S. Elliot, Studdard-Kenedy, Michael Guoist and Frances Thompson—as well as from the Bible, which. were read by Ruth Wilkinson, Charles Cooke, Roz Lance, David Furness-Gibbon, Pam Brown, Jeremy Baines, Gwenda Easton, Rita Miller and George Beaumont. The service was greatly appreciated by members of the local community, Move Over Mrs Markham. Fire Angel, the West End stage musical which recently had such a short lived run, was backed by entrepreneur/playwright Ray Cooney. Fire Angel's ill fate, however, was a far cry from the success which has been enjoyed by Move Over Mrs Markham, one of Cooney's earlier works which he wrote with John Chapman* After their success with Boeing-Boeing the Club chose Move over Mrs Markham as their entry for the 1977 Army Drama Festival in which they came third in 1976 and won in 1974 and 1975. Over two hundred and eighty people came to see the play which was staged at the end of May with a cast of nine. The plot is simple. Philip Markham and Henry Lodge (played to outraged perfection by David Stanton and that excel- lent humorous * heavy/, the ever strengthening Jeremy Baines) are partners in a childrens' publishing firm. One summer evening Philip and Joanna Markham are scheduled to have a dinner appointment. Assuming that the Markham's apartment will be vacant that evening, everybody else in the cast separately arranges to use it for an assignation with their respective lovers. The dinner is cancelled, the Markhams remain at home and the resultant comings and goings are very funny. Throw in a madly camp, violet shirted interior designer, a part Andy Barker minces through like an ebullient cross between Jim Dale and Kenneth Williams—and a strait laced Ruth Wilkinson who, as a famous childrens" writer, on emerging bewildered from a broom cupboard and being asked where she's come from, replied " Norfolk *—and it is easy to appreciate how Blackdown Theatre Club have established themselves upon the comedy band- wagon. Caroline Blythe played a seductively satisfactory Sylvie, the au-pair girl with the sexy wiggle, nighty and singing voice. Her real life sister, Christine Ward, played Miss Wilkinson who, all too fleetingly, adorned the stage in beige bra and knickers before scampering to divest them beneath an orange bed sheet and just the merest hint, perhaps, of a charming little pink blush which, although clashing with the sheet did not do so with the audience. Irene Willet set the stage competently as Joanna Markham, supported by the versatile Rita Miller in her role as the ' deter- mined to philander* Linda Lodge. Terry Magee, prancing dainrly through his part as Walter Pangbourne, amusingly played 1 the ' to be philandered upon. The entire cast romped gleefully and capably through the play's suggestive and hilarious ambiguities which called for and got both pace and critical timing. After the final curtain on the Saturday evening Mr Arthur Hodgkinson gave an interest- ing and entertaining public adjudication. Move Over Mrs Markham was another skilful production by Leslie Barker which he achieved in a total of only twenty four hours actual rehearsal time. At the end of the year the Blackdown Theatre Club in- tends to put on a star studded production involving the largest cast to date, probably taking the form of a pantomime or review. It is also hoped that there is a distinct possibility under the club's aegis, of resurrecting the Blackdown Singers. Amateur Dramatics can be a most enjoyable and reward- ing hobby requiring team-work and dedication. In its current financial climate it is an inexpensive escape for anyone willing to have a go. The new club rooms, hopefully, will provide the catalyst required to mobilise the dormant talent that is un- doubtedly to hand amongst the members of Deepcut Garrison and the local community. Dramatists from the Corps' further flung outposts currently amusing theatrical aficionados in theatres from Hong Kong to Rheindahlen, may rest assured—a posting to Deepcut need not mean only loss of LOA. It could also offer a starring role in the next Blackdown Theatre Club production. — 74 Almost time for ' curtain u p / |
| Book number | R0246 |