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If you wish to apply for an audition, please understand there is a
high level of both competition and commitment for all roles.
You will need to be prepared for at least 8 weeks of rehearsal, often
up to 12 weeks, 3 nights a week and in the final week or two, every night.
Failure to turn up for rehearsal affects everyone else in the production
and the final result.
The Canterbury Players strives for a quality production which entertains
and stimulates their audiences, so whilst new members are very welcome,
if you have limited or no experience, expect minor roles until you have
proved your capabilities. |
The Day After The Fair
By Frank Harvey.
Director: Nigel Banks.
Whitstable Playhouse
25, 26 27 March, 2010
THE DAY AFTER THE FAIR - SYNOPSIS
SYNOPSIS – In this skilful adaptation of Thomas
Hardy’s short story On The Western Circuit a chance meeting between
Anna Dunsford, a servant girl, and Charles Bradford, a young, aspiring
barrister, at the town fair leads to serious consequences for them and
others. A second meeting the next day results in the inevitable, unwanted
expectation! Charles returns to London. Anna, who thinks herself genuinely
in love, can barely read and write, so asks Edith Harnham, her mistress,
to carry on a correspondence with the young man on her behalf. In writing
the girl’s love letters and reading out his replies, Edith finds
herself also falling in love vicariously. Charles, unaware of the deception,
proposes marriage to Anna when he hears that she is pregnant. Only when
it is too late does he discover the true identity of the writer of the
letters that have so bewitched him - the person with whom he is really
in love. The play ends with the “unhappy” couple setting off
for London, leaving Edith, whose own marriage is hardly blissful, desolate.
Period: late 19th century.
CAST
As Edith Harnham
As Arthur Harnham
Mike Ayris
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Mike Ayris
Actor: La Ronde; Play
It Again Sam; Arsenic And Old
Lace; Day
After The Fair
Michael has been with the Canterbury Players for many years, first acting
in Sailor Beware at the old Marlowe. He went on to study theatre at the
Rose Bruford College and worked professionally for a time. His love of
acting keeps him in touch with the society and he is always open to new
challenges. |
As Letty Harnman
Tessa Taylor
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Tessa Taylor
Actor: Much Ado About
Nothing; Day
After The Fair;
Tessa has been a Drama teacher in London and Surrey. She trained in Cheltenham
from 1960-63, performed at the Everyman Theatre, and then directed school
plays at the Thorndike in Leatherhead.
Moving to Canterbury in 1991, she joined Playcraft, played (among other
rôles) Maggie in ‘Hobson’s Choice’ and Natasha
in ‘Three Sisters’. Last year she completed her training for
the Church. So she has gone from the stage to the classroom to the pulpit.
There is a theme there!
Shakespeare's Much
Ado About Nothing is her first production with the Canterbury Players.
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As Anna
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Isabel Briccolani
Actor: Day
After The Fair
Isabel is currently in her first year of 6th form at Chaucer Technology School studying Music, Law, Sociology and her favourite Theatre Studies!
Isabel has been performing since she was young, starting tap and jazz at the tender age of 5. Then moved dancing school to start ballet at Jane Guy School of Dancing where she is currently studying Intermediate Ballet and jazz. Isabel has performed in many venues around Kent including Kings Hall in Hernbay, Marlowe Theatre performing in The Jungle Book and a professional dance show Celtic Journey, Gulbenkian and The Playhouse in Whitstable. Day After The Fair is Isabel's debut with The Canterbury Players but is looking forward to many more fun performances with them in the future! |
As Charles Bradford
Adam Summers. Actor.
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Adam Summers
Actor: Much Ado About
Nothing; Two; Day
After The Fair
Assistant Stage Manager: "Arsenic
And Old Lace"
Assistant Stage Construction and Lighting Engineer: "Bazaar
& Rummage".
Adam joined the Canterbury Players as a result of an email that asked
him to come along to an audition for 'Much
Ado About Nothing'. The rest as they say is history.
Adam has always loved drama and as a result, studied the subject at college.
He has appeared in a number of productions, where he has played roles
such as Hatch in 'The Sea', Algernon in 'The Importance
of Being Earnest' and Napoleon in a musical version of George
Orwell's 'Animal Farm’.
He is greatly looking forward to future productions with the Players.
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As Sarah
Louise Gibbins. Actor. Publicity.
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Louise Gibbins
Actor: Play It Again Sam;
Gosforth’s Fete;
The Accrington Pals;
La Ronde; Much
Ado About Nothing; Bazaar and Rummage
by Sue Townsend; Woman in Two; Day
After The Fair
Louise joined the Players in 2006 & has since been involved in several
productions.
The first was Harold Pinter’s ‘The
Birthday Party’ where she was the official teapot bearer between
Acts II & III. Following the success of teapot placement, she was
cast as Councillor Mrs Pearce in Alan Ayckborne’s ‘Gosforth’s
Fete’. Louise proved herself to be a massive hit when Charlie
Jubber (Gosforth) omitted to catch her as she fell off the podium backwards.
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In Schnitzler's ‘La
Ronde’, she played a prostitute which was lucky as Louise was
concerned about being typecast! Louise also appeared in the production,
"The Accrington
Pals" by Peter Whelan. Here, she played Sarah, a hardworking
but fun loving mother in her late twenties.
Louise is seeking film extra work, her public profiles on casting websites
can be found HERE
and HERE.
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The Vortex
By: Noel Coward.
Director: Brian Godden.
Assistant Director: Elaine Godden
Gulbenkian Theatre
24, 25, 26 June, 2010
"The Vortex" is a disturbing play, focusing on the psychology
of its protagonists rather than the cut and thrust of the events in the
plot, a serious drama in which its witty dialogue reveals profound observations
about the human condition.
The play was originally banned by the Lord Chamberlain as "far too
unpleasant" and, when performed, described as "dustbin drama"
by the tabloid press. However the author is in fact not condoning the
behaviour of his characters but reporting and describing it. The play
deals with drug addiction, adultery and nymphomania, with implicit suggestions
of homosexuality and oedipal love; indeed the final scene between mother
and son has been compared to that of Gertrude and Hamlet in Shakespeare's
masterpiece . Written 85 years ago, its subject matter is timeless and
still relevant today, and offers an excellent opportunity to anyone of
the Players looking for a challenging role.
PLOT SYNOPSIS
The scene is a country house party. Florence, a fading beauty, is having
an affair with Tom, a man of her son's age, Her son Nicky, a musician,
returns from Paris with his fiancée, Bunty, who recognizes Tom
as an old friend and soon falls in love with him. She breaks off her engagement
to Nicky, and Tom abandons Florence. A close family friend, Helen, tries
to advise Florence and Nicky, who are both emotionally unstable, but has
to witness the painful outcome of events, in which family secrets are
dramatically revealed.
CAST
As Preston
Robyn Hunter-Pescetto
As Hellen Saville
Anne Hancox. Actor.
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Anne Hancox
Committee Member
Actor: RolePlay;
Play It Again, Sam; Fallen
Angels; Bazaar and Rummage;
Two; The Vortex.
Anne's early performances were all in music theatre. Later came a shift
to straight drama.
Her involvement with Canterbury's long-established amateur theatre group
Playcraft for 21 years and now, with The Canterbury Players has provided
a wealth of acting opportunities.
She has enjoyed numerous leading roles ranging from Nora in
Ibsen's "A Doll's House", Katharine in Shakespeare's
"The Taming of the Shrew"; the drunken and shameless Arabella
in Ayckbourn's "RolePlay"
and Julia in "Fallen
Angels" by Noel Coward. |
As Pauncefort Quentin
Tony Johnson
Read more about Tony Johnson. |
Tony Johnson
Actor: RolePlay;
Much Ado About Nothing;
Arsenic And Old Lace; The
Vortex.
Tony made his acting debut in the first year at Grammar school, when he
was cast as the Virgin Mary in a Nativity play.
"The embarrassment of this put me off acting for about twenty years,
until I joined the Charing Guild of Players with the proviso that I would
play only male roles.
"I began this acting hobby more than forty years ago and despite appearing in over fifty Plays and Musicals since then, I'm still trying to get it right!
"The
Vortex is only my second Noel Coward play since "Blithe Spirit" in 1977 so I'm looking forward to the role of 'Pawnie' - an elderly maiden gentleman - as the playwright describes him!
Should be a lot of fun." |
As Clara Hibbert
Jill Akhurst. Actor. Director. Director's
Assistant.
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Jill Akhurst
Director – "Palace of Varieties"
and "Bazaar and Rummage"
Director's Assistant "The
Accrington Pals"
Singer of saucy songs; Actor Fallen
Angels; Two; Arsenic
And Old Lace; The Vortex.
This is the second "old lady" Jill has played for the Canterbury
Players - are they trying to tell her something? Guildhall trained Jill
has been with the Players now for three years, during which time she has
directed "Palace of Varieties"
in 2007 and "Bazaar and Rummage"
in March this year. She also played the maid Saunders "Fallen
Angels" in (March 2008) and the Old Woman in "Two"
in July this year. She is also involved with the "Really Promising
Company" and enjoyed some success last October playing the Princess
Puffer in "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" at the Theatre Royal,
Margate. |
As Florence Lancaster
Ruth Cameron
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Ruth Cameron.
Actor: Much Ado About
Nothing; Bazaar and Rummage;
Arsenic And Old Lace;The
Vortex.
Ruth was a singing, dancing, and acting child and won the best actor prize
for Lady Macbeth at age 16. Despite gaining a provisional place at the
Hampstead School of Drama, she did not follow an acting career.
In the 1980s Ruth co- produced a school pantomime with the writer John
Larr and took part in local sketches, but then did not return to drama
until 2006 when she joined the Canterbury Players; Ruth has been involved
in most productions since. This includes singing in Marie Lloyd songs
in "Palace of Varieties",
being an attendant in "Much
Ado About Nothing" and performing the outrageous, yet poignant
part of the blaspheming vulgarian Margaret Gittings in "Bazaar
and Rummage".
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As Tom Veryan
John Rye. Actor.
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John Rye
Actor: Blue Remembered Hills,
Much Ado About Nothing; Two;
The Vortex.
John has always loved the stage especially musical theatre. He took
lead roles in university productions of ‘Fame: The Musical’,
‘East’ & ‘A Midsummer Night's Dream’. He also
directed successful performances of ‘Bouncers’ and an adult
pantomime. Since moving back to Kent he has worked with Yellow Brick Road
Theatre Company as well as the Really Promising Company in their shows
‘Promised Land’, ‘Kentish Tales’ & ‘The
Mystery of Edwin Drood’. John made his Canterbury Players debut
in 'Blue Remembered Hills' and
loved every single second of working with the wonderful cast, crew and
the fantastic support.
John moved back to kent after graduating in the summer of 2005 and is
now working far too hard as a teacher at Chaucer Technology School. Recently
he has worked with the Really Promising Company in their shows Promised
Land and Kentish Tales, through which he has met Sarah Gooch
and Sid Moon. He has also worked with Yellow Brick Road productions in
a very well received performance of 100 last year.
John would like to thank the Players for their warm reception and he
is looking forward to successful future productions.
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As Nicky Lancaster
Peter Fox. Actor.
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Peter Fox
Actor: Arsenic And Old Lace;
The Vortex.
Peter has previously worked behind the scenes on "Bazaar and Rummage" for the Canterbury Players,
in set production and assistant stage manager capacities.
He is also a budding young singer-songwriter, having played his first ever public gig in September 2009.
Peter dreams of one day writing for the big screen, that's if the music thing doesn't take off!
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As David Lancaster
Robert McGregor
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Robert McGregor
Actor: Arsenic And Old Lace;
The Vortex.
Robert woke up one day and decided to 'give acting a go'; as it happens,
the Canterbury Players company was able to accommodate him.
Robert's only previous acting experience was over 30 years ago in a school production of Ubu Rex (Ubu Roi). He seems to remember forgetting his opening lines but doesn't think anyone noticed.
He mentions, by way of an aside, that he is not suffering from a mid-life crisis, although he also tells us that he has recently started riding a motorbike. |
As Bunty Mainwaring
Sally Parker. Actor.
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Sally Parker
Actor: Bazaar and Rummage; Roleplay;
La Ronde, Two;
The Vortex.
Sally made her stage debut as Noddy at FHODS Little Theatre at the age
of ten, and on leaving school played Honey in "Who's Afraid of Virginia
Woolf". She made connections with CDS while acting in "Sir Gawain
and the Green Knight" and was immediately cast as the prompt for
"Dr Faustus". She went on to play Pattie in "Season's Greetings",
Dr Scott in "Who's Life is it Anyway", Olivia in "Twelfth
Night", Julie-Ann in "Roleplay", Ilsa in "La Ronde",
Bell-Bell in "Bazaar and Rummage",
and most recently the Landlady in "Two".
Sally is currently a full-time mother.
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As Bruce Fairlight
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Dark Of The Moon
By Howard Richardson & William Berney
Director: Pip Piacentino
Gulbenkian Theatre
11, 12, 13 November, 2010
DARK OF THE MOON, set in the Appalachian Mountains of
America in the 1930’s, tells the story of two star-crossed lovers
which can be likened to the plight of Romeo and Juliet. The play
dramatises the American folk song “The Ballad of Barbara Allen in
which John, a witch boy, falls in love with Barbara Allen, a human girl.
It is played against the rich tapestry of the supernatural world clashing
with that of the humans of Buck Creek while the lovers only desire to
love each other and live happily and simply. There is considerable humour
in the play as well as unforgettable pathos leaving one’s ideas
of tolerance and justice challenged.
The characters call for a wide ranges of ages and are:
John, the witch boy
Floyd Allen
Barbara Allen
Bergen
Conjur Man
Mrs. Bergen
Four Witches
Burt Dinwitty
Conjur Woman
Greeny Gorman
Hank Gudger
Hattie
Emma Summey
Marvin Hudgens
Mr. Summey
Mrs. Allen
Mrs. Summey
Mr. Allen
Miss Metcalf
Preacher Haggler
Uncle Smelicue
Although not a musical, some characters do sing, and there is a big barn
dance number involving the humans and four witches. Early in his career,
Paul Newman once played John, the witch boy.
Audition dates to be announced.
Apply for an audition for 'Dark Of The Moon' using the form below.
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Canterbury Tales.
Sarah Gooch.
I am planning to direct an additional show for the Players – The Canterbury
Tales - during the summer. This will be a more ‘fringe’ production
than The Vortex and is consequently likely to appeal to different members. It
will be staged at the Farmhouse in Canterbury in early June, as ‘café
theatre’, and the plan is to then take the piece to Lounge on the Farm
in early July.
The production will focus on just three of the tales and use the script by
Phil Wood and Michael Bogdanov. We will be using a lot of devising and physical
theatre, storytelling techniques in rehearsal so this production is aimed at
those people who enjoy working in this way. I am looking for a cast of 7 (3
women and 4 men). In the first instance I will cast an ensemble team and we
will decide exactly who plays what once we get going on rehearsals. Everyone
would have more than one role and be in at least 2 of the 3 stories. The whole
piece will be fairly short though as this is appropriate for both the venues.
Rehearsals will start in late March / early April
Auditions for Canterbury Tales will take place soon in the New Year and will
be more of a workshop than a reading evening. Details will be announced nearer
the time. If you would like to know more, or to express an interest in getting
involved, please call me on 01227 458815 or use the form below.
Apply for an audition to 'The Canterbury Tales' below.
Sarah Gooch
Would you like to sponsor
any of these performances?
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