Here we are again. The opening night of News.... how time flies! Why is that? Why is it when you could do with a few more hours in the day it seems like yesterday was last week! Incredible. Just about everything is ready to go. News... has sold really well and we're pleased with how rehearsals have progressed. Really, it's just up to the audience now!
Very much enjoyed my stint on BBC radio Lincolnshire yesterday. It was a lot of fun and hopefully a few listeners may be inspired to come and see either of the plays. Today I'm doing BBC radio Humberside and then dashing back across the bridge to make it in time for curtain-up! Then it's straight back to London for more rehearsals and last minute tweaking before we all head north for the opening of THE COLLECTOR. The drama continues.....
Tuesday 15 April 2008
Saturday 12 April 2008
Collector Rehearsals
Well, I can almost match John on his manic rehearsal schedule! It's a little more complicated for me as our rehearsals are underway in London with the three of us living (and working) in three completely separate locations!
We had an all-day rehearsal today in which we concentrated on Act 1. I find these rehearsals extremely exhausting. As there are only two of us in the play, we are both on stage for the whole time and of course there are lots of lines to remember. The Collector couldn't be more different from News... John's primary concern lies with the delivery of his jokes and his own direction of his own script, where he is able to see exactly what he wants. Whereas with our play, it's the characterisation of the two individuals and the emotions explored within those characters and their situation which eats away at our rehearsal time. When it all gets a bit much I tend to succumb to uncontrollable silliness and it's up to Laurence and Jonathan to drag the rehearsal back to its sombre and sinister tone.
I'm pleased we've managed to make the Grimsby Telegraph ahead of the News.... opening. Hopefully more people will get to hear about us and hopefully we might interest them and then.....hopefully......they may find themselves in the audience for one of our productions. If you're one of those people, I say: give it a go. You won't be disappointed.
I worry that my passion for what we are trying to do may have come across in a different way in the newspaper article. My ambition with Hambledon Productions is to bring professional theatre to our community and local people. I want our area to have the opportunity to experience new, contemporary, diverse, challenging and most of all accessible theatre. In no way do I doubt that there is 'serious' theatre being produced in our area. My aim is to do something completely different artistically and at the same time to relive those days of old when professional companies passed through our town on a regular basis, allowing the Grimbarian theatregoer a spoilt choice in what they could see.
I know as well as anyone the extraordinary richness of talented and inspiring performers in our region. That's why we set up Hambledon Productions. It's a journey. AND I have been informed that the Caxton Players produced a version of Othello recently. I can't find out exactly when it was (if someone could help me out on that, that would be great!), but I am very sorry I missed it. It's so hard to stay in the loop when you're so far from home.
Thanks for reading, and please please come and visit us. We'd love to see you!
Rachael
We had an all-day rehearsal today in which we concentrated on Act 1. I find these rehearsals extremely exhausting. As there are only two of us in the play, we are both on stage for the whole time and of course there are lots of lines to remember. The Collector couldn't be more different from News... John's primary concern lies with the delivery of his jokes and his own direction of his own script, where he is able to see exactly what he wants. Whereas with our play, it's the characterisation of the two individuals and the emotions explored within those characters and their situation which eats away at our rehearsal time. When it all gets a bit much I tend to succumb to uncontrollable silliness and it's up to Laurence and Jonathan to drag the rehearsal back to its sombre and sinister tone.
I'm pleased we've managed to make the Grimsby Telegraph ahead of the News.... opening. Hopefully more people will get to hear about us and hopefully we might interest them and then.....hopefully......they may find themselves in the audience for one of our productions. If you're one of those people, I say: give it a go. You won't be disappointed.
I worry that my passion for what we are trying to do may have come across in a different way in the newspaper article. My ambition with Hambledon Productions is to bring professional theatre to our community and local people. I want our area to have the opportunity to experience new, contemporary, diverse, challenging and most of all accessible theatre. In no way do I doubt that there is 'serious' theatre being produced in our area. My aim is to do something completely different artistically and at the same time to relive those days of old when professional companies passed through our town on a regular basis, allowing the Grimbarian theatregoer a spoilt choice in what they could see.
I know as well as anyone the extraordinary richness of talented and inspiring performers in our region. That's why we set up Hambledon Productions. It's a journey. AND I have been informed that the Caxton Players produced a version of Othello recently. I can't find out exactly when it was (if someone could help me out on that, that would be great!), but I am very sorry I missed it. It's so hard to stay in the loop when you're so far from home.
Thanks for reading, and please please come and visit us. We'd love to see you!
Rachael
Latest "News..."
Rehearsals carry with them a tremendous amount of emotions. Not all rehearsals go swimmingly, far from it, and it would be eerie if they did, for only by working through the "nitty-gritty" side of things do we advance our stage in the overall process. This has certainly been the case with the rehearsals for the past week - ten o'clock till three practically everyday, running and re-running the show tweaking little pieces here and there at every new time, and asking the actors and backstage crew to take on board the new instructions.
Only a closely-knitted team of individuals, who by this stage have become friends, acting in a professional environment and with professional attitudes, can maintain this rate of work without disintegrating into chaos. If you haven't gathered by now, "News at Two Minutes Past Six" has all the ingredients to be the funniest, funnest production an actor could wish to be a part of. But of course, everything comes with it's price. Often the most funniest and iconic comic moments are physically dangerous (Del-Boy falling through the bar, Basil Fawlty's falling moose head, Frank Spencer dangling off a cliff, not to mention the hoardes of silent clowns before them.) "News..." is equally as slapstick driven and ambitious. Taking a serious approach to presenting the funniest of physical set-ups is essential - the jokes almost have to be performed so regularly to make them unfunny for the cast to rid the production of crack-ups on stage. The reward comes when the audience are in hysterics at what we are performing. And the reward, at least by today's standards looking back at our rehearsals, will be well-deserved.
Ticket sales are equally impressive - one night is sold out, and the other two are catching up fast! We're so grateful for the support we get from the theatre and it's patrons, but we continue to publicise the shows further afield - to Grimsby, Cleethorpes, Lincoln, Market Rasen, Horncastle, Spilsby, Alford, Skegness and Mablethorpe in the hope of attracting different people to the theatre.
The opening night looms...cue's need to be picked up quicker, another stage hand needs to be found, programmes are being printed, and press articles are being released! It's going to be a hilarious riot!
Only a closely-knitted team of individuals, who by this stage have become friends, acting in a professional environment and with professional attitudes, can maintain this rate of work without disintegrating into chaos. If you haven't gathered by now, "News at Two Minutes Past Six" has all the ingredients to be the funniest, funnest production an actor could wish to be a part of. But of course, everything comes with it's price. Often the most funniest and iconic comic moments are physically dangerous (Del-Boy falling through the bar, Basil Fawlty's falling moose head, Frank Spencer dangling off a cliff, not to mention the hoardes of silent clowns before them.) "News..." is equally as slapstick driven and ambitious. Taking a serious approach to presenting the funniest of physical set-ups is essential - the jokes almost have to be performed so regularly to make them unfunny for the cast to rid the production of crack-ups on stage. The reward comes when the audience are in hysterics at what we are performing. And the reward, at least by today's standards looking back at our rehearsals, will be well-deserved.
Ticket sales are equally impressive - one night is sold out, and the other two are catching up fast! We're so grateful for the support we get from the theatre and it's patrons, but we continue to publicise the shows further afield - to Grimsby, Cleethorpes, Lincoln, Market Rasen, Horncastle, Spilsby, Alford, Skegness and Mablethorpe in the hope of attracting different people to the theatre.
The opening night looms...cue's need to be picked up quicker, another stage hand needs to be found, programmes are being printed, and press articles are being released! It's going to be a hilarious riot!
Wednesday 2 April 2008
The Story So Far
Hi everyone
If you're reading this, there's a chance that you may know me, and there's also a chance that you don't know anything about me; who I am, where I'm from and where I'm trying to get to. Hopefully this post will fill in all the gaps and take you on the rollercoaster ride that has been The Collector so far!
My name is Rachael, I'm 23 and I was born and raised in Great Grimsby. I started acting in school plays (St Joseph's RC primary and St Mary's Catholic high) and I joined Louth Playgoers theatre when I was about 10. I loved theatre from the very first moment I visited one and I have to say I simply cannot imagine my life without being involved in theatre. When I was 17 I got into the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School (after my A levels at Franklin College) and it was while at Bristol that I was able to develop and expand my passion and ambition for working in theatre. Since leaving Bristol I've done many exciting theatre and telelvision jobs, starting off with the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall. The Proms is an extraordinary festival of the most exteaordinary music incorporating world-class composers, orchestras, conductors, soloists and all the incredible television people along the way. After the Proms I did OTHELLO with the Birmingham Stage Company, which also transferred to London. After which I went straight into panto-land; ALADDIN to be precise at the Cochrane Theatre in London. Such fun but extremely hard work! Then came another BBC TV spell on the live show LIVERPOOL NATIVITY with Geoffrey Hughes, Jennifer Ellison and Gerry Marsden (more about him later...) After Christmas I found myself in Andrew Lloyd Webber's music library at the Really Useful Group where again I was reunited with my great love of music. I even got in on JOSEPH at the Adelphi with the lovely Mr Lee Mead. From there I went on to THE VIEWING ROOM at the Arts Theatre which is a new play and starred Leonard Roberts from HEROES. Having just finished that job, it's now time to concentrate on THE COLLECTOR which I am sure is my biggest challenge yet.
My little theatre company was set up over a year ago by myself and my brother John. He's a writer and an actor and we wanted to produce our productions on a more professional level after having worked on our own shows for years and years without a company name! Hambledon is the name of out family home and we thought the name would work well for our company.
The idea of doing THE COLLECTOR came after I saw a wonderful production whilst at theatre school. Jessica Ellerby played Miranda and Adam Ewan played Clegg. Those performances have stuck in my mind so stubbornly that I have thought about that show constantly as a piece of rivetting theatre ever since. After graduating, I wanted to do something that would get me back into acting with my own company and so the idea was born. I'm not sure I realised what I was getting myself in to...
One of the biggest hurdles was finding an actor to play Clegg. All two-handers require spot-on casting and this was no exception. I contacted all the actors I knew and read through with many of them but I wasn't convinced I'd found my man. Hambledon Productions is all about showcasing local actors so ideally I was looking for a local lad to play the role. Cue my old drama teacher Rick Dring and his extensive knowledge of local actors! I got in touch with Laurence Brown and he came round for a read through. We auditioned him with the director and the rest is history! Laurence was on board, we're ready to go!
Our director is Jonathan Rigby. I just cannot say how extremely lucky we are to have him as a director. Jonathan is also an actor and originated the role of Kenneth Horne in ROUND THE HORNE...REVISITED in the west end. It ran for 18months and some of you may have seen Jonathan in the BBC4 adaptation of the play. Magnificent stuff. Jonathan is best know for directing Shakespeare, but I managed to convince him that our production of THE COLLECTOR would be well worth his expertise and eye for detail. Eventually he agreed and now rehearsals are well on the way with him at the helm.
Since we run the company ourselves (John and I) everything is down to us when producing a play, and I mean everything. Putting on a play costs an astonishing amount of money and I knew I had a lot to raise before we could go any further. I wrote hundreds and hundreds of letters to local businesses and the like and applied for 5 different grants and funds. Nothing came back. This was absolutely devastating to us. I just couldn't get anyone to support us and the frustration was beginning to build up. I was very dismayed and disheartened and I began to lose sight of my dream. But I wasn't going to let this stop me. We got a small donation from Cosalt, but the rest we have done ourselves. I am eternally grateful to my family who have run around for us and been there every step of the way.
The next hurdle was finding somewhere to rehearse. We started of in our living rooms and soon realised that we really needed a space of our own. Once again my notepad and stamps came out and I wrote to almost every school and church hall in London. Because Laurence, Jonathan and I live and work in London we had to find somewhere convenient for us to rehearse around our jobs. Soon enough we got a space in a lovely little church hall and a proper drama studio at the Islington Arts and Media School, what a result!
I'd been trying to get the performing rights for THE COLLECTOR for a very long time. The novel was written by John Fowles and I had to contact his estate who work in conjunction with Samuel French (the publishers) in giving rights. I then had to contact the dramatist Mark Healy's agent to get the joint rights for the venues and the performers. This turned out to be a very long drawn out process (and expensive!) but we got there in the end. In fact, Mark Healy himself called me to wish me luck with the production. Once again I had a smile on my face.
I have to say, I think John Fowles is a magnificent author. The Collector is incredible. The story it tells and the characterisation within the story blew my mind. No wonder it was swiftly made into a film with Terence Stamp and Samantha Eggar. Very interesting film.
We had a full rehearsal yesterday which was great. I find rehearsing this play very exhausting and a bit of a struggle at times. We are both on stage all of the time and there are so many lines. The dialogue between the two characters is very intense and it is essential that the audience follows the two characters on their very different quests. Miranda's is to escape, Clegg's is to simply be understood by Miranda and given a little compassion. It's important that the audience sympathises with both characters and that takes a lot of work.
I tell you what, it's been horses work getting this play publicised!!! Those folks at the local newspapers and radio stations are so busy! Hopefully we will have mentions in the Grimsby Telegraph and the Louth Leader. I've already been on Compass fm and BBC Radio Humberside (which was a hoot! thank you to Lara King!) and I hope there are more to follow. I just want as many people as possible to see this play. It's a first-rate production which is going to London and it's right on your doorstep. I am so devoted to getting people in our area to the theatre, it's all I want right now and I just want you all to venture out and see the show. It's only a fiver. My grandparents talk about going to the theatre 3 or 4 times a week when they were my age. Now there isn't a single professional playhouse in the town and you have to travel to Lincoln or Hull to see a company. Come and see us! You won't be disappointed.
I really hope that I can get some local people to see this production who maybe haven't been to the theatre in a long time, or even never been at all. That's what I'd love. Please come.
Tickets are £5 each, available from the Louth Riverhead Theatre box office on 01507 600350.
Thank you!
If you're reading this, there's a chance that you may know me, and there's also a chance that you don't know anything about me; who I am, where I'm from and where I'm trying to get to. Hopefully this post will fill in all the gaps and take you on the rollercoaster ride that has been The Collector so far!
My name is Rachael, I'm 23 and I was born and raised in Great Grimsby. I started acting in school plays (St Joseph's RC primary and St Mary's Catholic high) and I joined Louth Playgoers theatre when I was about 10. I loved theatre from the very first moment I visited one and I have to say I simply cannot imagine my life without being involved in theatre. When I was 17 I got into the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School (after my A levels at Franklin College) and it was while at Bristol that I was able to develop and expand my passion and ambition for working in theatre. Since leaving Bristol I've done many exciting theatre and telelvision jobs, starting off with the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall. The Proms is an extraordinary festival of the most exteaordinary music incorporating world-class composers, orchestras, conductors, soloists and all the incredible television people along the way. After the Proms I did OTHELLO with the Birmingham Stage Company, which also transferred to London. After which I went straight into panto-land; ALADDIN to be precise at the Cochrane Theatre in London. Such fun but extremely hard work! Then came another BBC TV spell on the live show LIVERPOOL NATIVITY with Geoffrey Hughes, Jennifer Ellison and Gerry Marsden (more about him later...) After Christmas I found myself in Andrew Lloyd Webber's music library at the Really Useful Group where again I was reunited with my great love of music. I even got in on JOSEPH at the Adelphi with the lovely Mr Lee Mead. From there I went on to THE VIEWING ROOM at the Arts Theatre which is a new play and starred Leonard Roberts from HEROES. Having just finished that job, it's now time to concentrate on THE COLLECTOR which I am sure is my biggest challenge yet.
My little theatre company was set up over a year ago by myself and my brother John. He's a writer and an actor and we wanted to produce our productions on a more professional level after having worked on our own shows for years and years without a company name! Hambledon is the name of out family home and we thought the name would work well for our company.
The idea of doing THE COLLECTOR came after I saw a wonderful production whilst at theatre school. Jessica Ellerby played Miranda and Adam Ewan played Clegg. Those performances have stuck in my mind so stubbornly that I have thought about that show constantly as a piece of rivetting theatre ever since. After graduating, I wanted to do something that would get me back into acting with my own company and so the idea was born. I'm not sure I realised what I was getting myself in to...
One of the biggest hurdles was finding an actor to play Clegg. All two-handers require spot-on casting and this was no exception. I contacted all the actors I knew and read through with many of them but I wasn't convinced I'd found my man. Hambledon Productions is all about showcasing local actors so ideally I was looking for a local lad to play the role. Cue my old drama teacher Rick Dring and his extensive knowledge of local actors! I got in touch with Laurence Brown and he came round for a read through. We auditioned him with the director and the rest is history! Laurence was on board, we're ready to go!
Our director is Jonathan Rigby. I just cannot say how extremely lucky we are to have him as a director. Jonathan is also an actor and originated the role of Kenneth Horne in ROUND THE HORNE...REVISITED in the west end. It ran for 18months and some of you may have seen Jonathan in the BBC4 adaptation of the play. Magnificent stuff. Jonathan is best know for directing Shakespeare, but I managed to convince him that our production of THE COLLECTOR would be well worth his expertise and eye for detail. Eventually he agreed and now rehearsals are well on the way with him at the helm.
Since we run the company ourselves (John and I) everything is down to us when producing a play, and I mean everything. Putting on a play costs an astonishing amount of money and I knew I had a lot to raise before we could go any further. I wrote hundreds and hundreds of letters to local businesses and the like and applied for 5 different grants and funds. Nothing came back. This was absolutely devastating to us. I just couldn't get anyone to support us and the frustration was beginning to build up. I was very dismayed and disheartened and I began to lose sight of my dream. But I wasn't going to let this stop me. We got a small donation from Cosalt, but the rest we have done ourselves. I am eternally grateful to my family who have run around for us and been there every step of the way.
The next hurdle was finding somewhere to rehearse. We started of in our living rooms and soon realised that we really needed a space of our own. Once again my notepad and stamps came out and I wrote to almost every school and church hall in London. Because Laurence, Jonathan and I live and work in London we had to find somewhere convenient for us to rehearse around our jobs. Soon enough we got a space in a lovely little church hall and a proper drama studio at the Islington Arts and Media School, what a result!
I'd been trying to get the performing rights for THE COLLECTOR for a very long time. The novel was written by John Fowles and I had to contact his estate who work in conjunction with Samuel French (the publishers) in giving rights. I then had to contact the dramatist Mark Healy's agent to get the joint rights for the venues and the performers. This turned out to be a very long drawn out process (and expensive!) but we got there in the end. In fact, Mark Healy himself called me to wish me luck with the production. Once again I had a smile on my face.
I have to say, I think John Fowles is a magnificent author. The Collector is incredible. The story it tells and the characterisation within the story blew my mind. No wonder it was swiftly made into a film with Terence Stamp and Samantha Eggar. Very interesting film.
We had a full rehearsal yesterday which was great. I find rehearsing this play very exhausting and a bit of a struggle at times. We are both on stage all of the time and there are so many lines. The dialogue between the two characters is very intense and it is essential that the audience follows the two characters on their very different quests. Miranda's is to escape, Clegg's is to simply be understood by Miranda and given a little compassion. It's important that the audience sympathises with both characters and that takes a lot of work.
I tell you what, it's been horses work getting this play publicised!!! Those folks at the local newspapers and radio stations are so busy! Hopefully we will have mentions in the Grimsby Telegraph and the Louth Leader. I've already been on Compass fm and BBC Radio Humberside (which was a hoot! thank you to Lara King!) and I hope there are more to follow. I just want as many people as possible to see this play. It's a first-rate production which is going to London and it's right on your doorstep. I am so devoted to getting people in our area to the theatre, it's all I want right now and I just want you all to venture out and see the show. It's only a fiver. My grandparents talk about going to the theatre 3 or 4 times a week when they were my age. Now there isn't a single professional playhouse in the town and you have to travel to Lincoln or Hull to see a company. Come and see us! You won't be disappointed.
I really hope that I can get some local people to see this production who maybe haven't been to the theatre in a long time, or even never been at all. That's what I'd love. Please come.
Tickets are £5 each, available from the Louth Riverhead Theatre box office on 01507 600350.
Thank you!
Monday 24 March 2008
First Off ...
Last year, I saw a wonderful production of an extraordinary play in a tiny theatre above a pub, hidden in the backstreets of uptown Bristol. Fringe theatre of this kind is a remarkable thing. Sometimes playing to audiences of a number one can count on both hands, the intimacy of watching the actors only a few feet away takes the audience member to a completely different plateau to anything they may have experienced before.
I started Hambledon Productions in January last year with my brother, John. We have been producing theatre in various guises for about ten years. But since we both wanted to take our theatre company more seriously, we launched ourselves officially and began planning our future. Our first professional play premiere STOP! YOU’RE KILLING ME sold out in a week and received standing ovations at each performance. It was such a success that we took the show on tour last summer, with a one-night-only performance on the fringe in London. The cast of seven were all local actors; it was written by John and opened at the Louth Playgoers Riverhead Theatre.
This Easter, we are producing two plays. The first is a premiere of NEWS AT TWO MINUTES PAST SIX written and directed by John Hewer, and the second takes us back to that show I saw last year in Bristol. THE COLLECTOR is a novel written by John Fowles, and this new adaptation by Mark Healy will transfer to London’s Etcetera Theatre in Camden Town in May this year. Rehearsals for THE COLLECTOR are underway in London, with Jonathan Rigby directing at the helm. Local actor Laurence Brown and myself are playing the two characters in the story. NEWS AT TWO MINUTES PAST SIX has a cast of ten local actors, who are rehearsing at the Louth Riverhead Theatre. As the opening nights for both productions loom, preparations are falling in to place and decisions are being made. There’s a lot to think about! I hope you’ll join us for two nights of fabulous theatre.
I started Hambledon Productions in January last year with my brother, John. We have been producing theatre in various guises for about ten years. But since we both wanted to take our theatre company more seriously, we launched ourselves officially and began planning our future. Our first professional play premiere STOP! YOU’RE KILLING ME sold out in a week and received standing ovations at each performance. It was such a success that we took the show on tour last summer, with a one-night-only performance on the fringe in London. The cast of seven were all local actors; it was written by John and opened at the Louth Playgoers Riverhead Theatre.
This Easter, we are producing two plays. The first is a premiere of NEWS AT TWO MINUTES PAST SIX written and directed by John Hewer, and the second takes us back to that show I saw last year in Bristol. THE COLLECTOR is a novel written by John Fowles, and this new adaptation by Mark Healy will transfer to London’s Etcetera Theatre in Camden Town in May this year. Rehearsals for THE COLLECTOR are underway in London, with Jonathan Rigby directing at the helm. Local actor Laurence Brown and myself are playing the two characters in the story. NEWS AT TWO MINUTES PAST SIX has a cast of ten local actors, who are rehearsing at the Louth Riverhead Theatre. As the opening nights for both productions loom, preparations are falling in to place and decisions are being made. There’s a lot to think about! I hope you’ll join us for two nights of fabulous theatre.
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