Run For Your Wife Gallery

We now have a Gallery for Run For Your Wife, which will be updated regularly to keep you up to date with the new production. There’s 5 photos as of this post, but more will be added soon.

As well as RFYW, the Gallery now goes back as far as 2004 and the index list shows we will go back to 1995. We will go further back if we can find any material of Lindisfarne productions before that year too, so if you have any photos, information or anything on Lindisfarne performances please let me know via my e-mail- roareye@gmail.com

The Gallery pages come complete with added Trivia to give the site a more personal feel. It includes a variety of information, some funny, some serious, and hopefully will give you an eye into Lindisfarne. The photos have been slightly rearranged so that it is easier to match actors names with faces, something that will become even easier when the new Meet The Players layout comes into effect. The intended effect is that the site becomes a more personal experience and we hope you will all enjoy it.

Rory Joscelyne.

Gallery Updated

The Gallery has been revamped and has been updated.
You will now find a year-to-year listing of all Lindisfarne productions (More added soon), and on clicking each one you will be taken to the page of photos and videos associated with each production. Currently the 2009 productions have all been done (A Doll’s House, The Talented Mr Ripley and The Canterbury Tales), and many more photos have been added to the original Doll’s House set.

As time goes on we will add more to the photos with some photos of our upcoming production, Run For Your Wife, prepared for release next week. Not to mention more photo pages on the older productions not yet on the site. We hope you will look forward to these, and we will focus on streamlining the site over the next few weeks.
Do not forget about the upcoming rehearsals for The Day In The Death of Joe Egg.

Auditions for “A Day in the Death of Joe Egg”

Lindisfarne are doing a read-through and auditions for their next production
(June 2010) A DAY IN THE DEATH OF JOG EGG.

Joe Egg is the name given by Bri and Sheila to their spastic child. To make
their lives bearable they have evolved an elaborate series of fantasy games
about Joe.
Yet ten years of devotion to a human vegetable have created terrible strains
on their marriage and when Bri sees an opportunity of allowing Joe to die.
He takes it, The attempt fails and Joe’s living death will continue. Although
the theme is deeply serious the tone is one of biting ironic comedy.

CAST:
2 Males (Bri and Freddie)
3 Females (Sheila, Pam and Grace)
1 Child (Joe)

SCENE: A Living Room

Auditions at Clarence Road Baptist Church Hall on Thursday 11th Feb at 8 p.m.

If you are interested then contact Steve McCartney on 0102-312783 or email
enigmaenterprises@blueyonder.co.uk

‘Run for Your Wife’ Cast!

Lindisfarne’s next production, the hilarious farce ‘Run for Your Wife’, has been cast. If you missed the auditions, don’t worry; there will be plenty of opportunities in forthcoming Lindisfarne productions.

In the meantime, here’s an essential list of who’s who:

 John Smith – Nathan Spencer
Stanley Gardner – Rob Stow
Troughton – Rory Joscelyne
Porterhouse – Trevor Corner
Mary – Kim Tobin
Barbara – Toni Taylor
Newspaper Reporter – David Perry and Simon Dunn
Bobby Franklyn – Ian Morton
Stage Manager – Elaine Roberts

Assistant Stage Manager – Carol Robinson
Set Design – Roger and Lee assisted by Andrew Holley
Lighting – Andrew Holley
Props – Jackie Storozynski-Toll and Lynda Belt
Prompt – still to be allocated

Rehearsals will start at 7.30 p.m. at Clarence Road Baptist Church Hall on Wednesday 26th November 2009.

 

Comment: Carving out your own niche

In this financially barren climate, where renting the theatrical venue and then paying for the licence to perform practically wipes out a drama society’s bank account, Lindisfarne is currently sailing against the waves that are wrecking many others’ chances of success. Chairman Steve McCartney maintains that even amateur groups need to carefully consider a “balanced” programme, backed up with a sound understanding of what makes a show sell.

This Southend based group with a below 20 person membership seems to be getting it right at the moment, their last production which lost money was Agatha Christie’s old corker “Murder on the Nile” and although it was a good show on stage, it was poorly attended mainly due to bad publicity and the performance venue’s lack of disabled access.

Steve decided a change was called for. Lindisfarne would re-launch and get away from the “amateur” label which had dogged their progress. They had talented actors and actresses and they just weren’t getting the mix right.

Ever since the early 1970s this group had a sound reputation in the town at putting on farces, so Steve decided to start there. Surrounded by a fresh new committee full of good ideas he decided to stage Ray Cooney’s “Out of Order”, staged at their normal venue in May 2008. It had some important differences. It was staged like a professional production, with a high-quality set, props, a very strong cast, and to assist its success a cash injection into the budget from the Chairman himself to make sure that only quality reached the stage. Very early on in rehearsals Steve adopted a professional approach which carried all the way through to the final production.

Publicity was improved with more flyers, and a highly-polished press photo. With a good press release the local papers could literally cut and paste, the play got excellent press coverage, which increased the audience attendance. The show itself was a triumph; one audience member remarked:

“I was really impressed, the play was well-directed and the cast performed with perfect timing.”

The show made a profit and the foundation was laid. The next choice of play was even bolder with Lindisfarne staging the first amateur performance in Essex of “The Graduate”. This again had a strong press release and because of the unique nature of the material, netted another record audience during its October run.

2009 saw the new committee increase its success. With the group now celebrating its fortieth anniversary, Lindisfarne decided to tackle “A Dolls House”. In this production they took the brave step of trying out a new director, Ashley Jarvis, and changing to a new performance venue, a small 95 seater performance studio “The Dixon” inside local professional venue, the Palace Theatre. This performance, expertly cast, saw an even higher audience return and the group exposed to the regular Palace theatre goers, as well as the friends-and-family circle. Backed up by more good publicity and a pre-show interview video posted on Facebook and YouTube, this brought even more attention to the production.

The group has launched a blog which has proved very popular and as mentioned Facebook has netted Lindisfarne a whole new list of fans, as social networking sites offer the facility to advertise and invite people to events posted online.

The success continued into the next and most recent production “The Talented Mr Ripley”, which again had excellent press coverage mainly due to its film crossover. It garnered interest from the local radio station and saw three local publications asking for press comps. The Chairman and director Steve McCartney also decided to do a tryout of the play before the Dixon run at the Thurrock Drama Festival which earned the group two awards for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor, which didn’t look too out of place on the advertising posters.

The group’s last production was also a great success with audiences. Lindisfarne decided to perform a modern version of The Canterbury Tales. Using guest players from other groups it had strong audiences and once again netted a profit.

As we move into 2010 Lindisfarne is already planning their programme consisting of three productions throughout the year. Re-visiting the success brought by Ray Cooney the group has just cast “Run for Your Wife” which should see record audience attendance.

Lindisfarne, by choosing their programme well and backing it up with a well-appointed performance venue and sound marketing, have gone from being just another “amateur” group to now being one of most well respected and “professional” performance groups in the town, and the bank balance is not looking too bad either.

One in the eye for the credit crunch!

‘Run for your Wife!’ Auditions on 18th November

Following a roof-raising run of Canterbury Tales at the Dixon studio this autumn, Lindisfarne returns with another cracking comedy; Ray Cooney’s Run for your wife!

The play showcases the master farce writer at his funniest. John Smith is a London Cabbie with his own taxi, a wife in Streatham, a wife in Wimbledon, and a knife-edge schedule!

By strict adherence to this schedule, he has been a successful, if tired, bigamist for three years, but one day, gallantly intervening in a mugging, he is taken to hospital with mild concussion.

In the ensuing complications, aided by the unwilling Stanley, John tries bravely to cope with a succession of well-meaning but prying policemen, the press, two increasingly irate wives and an ultra-camp neighbor, until he manfully confesses the truth; but no-one believes him!

Directed by Steve McCartney and stage-managed by Elaine Roberts, Run for your wife is the funniest farce of the past twenty five years. It has terrific pace and a single set showing John’s two homes, and wives, at the same time.

If that sounds like your cup of tea, come and get involved! Readings of the script will be held on Wednesday 11th November, followed by auditions on Wednesday 18th November at the Clarence Road Baptist Church from 8pm.

Cast

Mary Smith (John’s wife, female 20-40)

Barbara Smith (John’s wife, female 20-40)

John Smith (London cabbie, male 20-40)

Detective Sergeant Troughton (Policeman, 20-30)

Stanley Gardener (friend, male 20-30)

Newspaper reporter (friend, male 20-60)

Detective Sergeant Porterhouse, (Policeman, 20-60)

Bobby Franklyn (camp upstairs neighbor, male 20-40)

There can be some movement around the upper age ranges (but not too much!)

If you’d like to get involved but you’re not too keen to get up onstage, don’t worry! Lindisfarne is always looking for people to assist with props, costume design, business management, lighting, sound, prompting and everything else in between. As well as that, all of the cast will be expected to fully participate in the set build, so everyone can join in the fun.

Please note that fees are payable for membership and performance.

For more information, call Steve McCartney on 07519206223 or email him at enigmaenterprises@blueyonder.co.uk.

Canterbury Tales: just two weeks away!

The time has come! Lindisfarne’s production of The Canterbury Tales, adapted by Phil Woods and Michael Bogdanov, will mark the company’s 40th anniversary of performing to delighted Southend audiences.

Woods and Bogdanovs’ bawdy version of the Chaucer classic is set in a village hall, where the annual Chaucer Tale-Telling Competition is heating up to a climax, with interesting results.

Performances will be at the Dixon Studio, Palace Theatre from Wednesday 21st – Saturday24th October 2009.

Seats: £11.00 Adults.
 
Concessions: £10 (available Wednesday 21st and the matinee on Sat 24th)
 

Performance times:-

7:30 p.m. evenings

2.00p.m. matinee on Saturday.

To book call the Box Office on Tel: 01702 351135 or book online at http://www.palacetheatresouthend.co.uk/

Lindisfarne auditions for ‘Canterbury Tales’ next week!

Off the Lindisfarne Players go to the next production, after a stonking performance of The Talented Mr Ripley. 

Now it’s time for a modern reworking of Canterbury Tales, and auditions are next week! The auditions take place on 15th July at 7.30pm at Clarence Road Baptist Church, Southend.

All of the parts in the play apart from the MC and the Miller will be auditioned using the reading of the Wife of Bath’s Tale and the Nun’s Priest Tale.

The following parts will be singularly auditioned:

M.C – Pages 7-9; bottom of page 61; middle of page 63

Miller – Pages 7-9; and prepare a joke or two to entertain.

For actors who are unknown to the group the following needs to be learnt and performed in front of the audition panel only:

Extract from The Reeves Tale (Page 19): Reeve: “First let me say without pretence……. though who her mother was, noone knew.”

For more information, call head director Ian on 07977202374

Lindisfarne run of ‘Canterbury Tales’ this October

The dates have been confirmed for Lindisfarne’s next performance.

Taking a break from the gritty, seediness of Ripley, Lindisfarne will perform a modern reworking of Canterbury Tales.

The show will run from 21st to 24th October at the Dixon Studio, Palace Theatre.

You can call the box office for more information on 01702 351135.

Lindisfarne brings in rave reviews

My oh my, those theatre critics just can’t get enough of Lindisfarne’s latest performance of The Talented Mr Ripley.

Here’s another one, this time from Echo reviewer David Breen: check it out here.