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Alan Ayckbourn's "RolePlay"
01, 02 & 03 December, 2005, @ The Gulbenkian
Theatre , Canterbury, Kent. |
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The best of Ayckbourn’s trilogy ‘Damsels in Distress,
RolePlay is a hilarious piece with dark undertones, a vintage ‘dinner-party
from hell’.
Ayckbourn is a master at handling people divided by class, accent,
habits and race. A young well-to-do couple, living in a posh docklands
apartment, have planned a civilised occasion when they hope to introduce
each other’s parents and also announce their engagement.
The situation is tense enough before the arrival of two unexpected
guests, one a lap-dancing gangster’s moll, the other her burly
gun-toting minder.
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What her parents (the bigoted northern stereotype
and his dim twittering wife) and his mother (toy-boy chasing
and drink-soaked) find when they arrive shows us that the bourgeois
guests, under their respective veneers, are far more frightening than
the interlopers.
Each of Ayckbourn’s characters is playing a role to escape reality. |
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Click images to enlarge |
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The Cast, in order of appearance:
Sally Parker as Sally-Ann Jobson
Edward Clark as Justin Lazenby
Emily Rosen as Paige Petite
Mike Rivarno as Micky Rale
Tony Johnson as Derek Jobson
Irene Marley as Dee Jobson
Anne Hancox as Arabella Lazenby |
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The Players in "Roleplay". We're awaiting biographies
for those currently not appearing here.
As Dee Jobson - Irene Marley
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As Justin Lazenby
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Ed Clark
Actor: Justin, in Roleplay;
Tom in The Accrington
Pals; Peter in Blue Remembered
Hills
Ed has played a variety of roles over the last few years and keeps up
his skill set in a number of other disciplines, including singing and
sports, making him a very useful member of the Players and to others,
including film and tv production teams etc. |
As Paige Petite
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Emily Rosen
Actor: RolePlay;
More to come soon. |
As Derek Jobson
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Tony Johnson
Actor
I made my acting debut in the first year at Grammar school, when I 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.
This seems to have worked reasonably well for the last 40 years, with
a couple of best actor awards sprinkled amongst the fifty productions
I've appeared in since. |
As Julie-Ann Jobson
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Sally Parker
Actor
Sally made her stage debut as Noddy in 1987, then went on to play Pattie,
Dr Scott, Olivia, Nancy, Julie-Ann and Queen Bertha with CDS/C Players.
She is a valuable cog in the wine trade, and is currently working towards
her WSET exams. She is a songwriter, plays the 12-string guitar &
the piano, & records demos in her inadequate studio. She likes playing
on the PS2, renovating furniture, and playing HW tennis (?). Sally is
passionate about buildings of historical interest and cross-stitch.
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As Mickey Rale
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Mike Rivarno
Actor
Mike has worked with the Players since early 2003 and has had a lot of
fun doing so. His roles include Alan Ayckbourne's "Roleplay"
in 2005 and Schnitzler's "La
Ronde" in 2006 followed by his part as CSM Rivers in Peter Whelan's
"The Accrington
Pals" (April 2007).
Initially appalled by the poet's ( La
Ronde, Whitstable Playhouse, 2006 ) dissimilarity to his own character,
his good friends Sally and Sarah soon dispelled his anxieties - especially
over all that kissing.
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| Mike is a constant source of amusement, forever telling jokes;
performing excellent impressions; quoting lines from his previous productions
and from books read and films and plays he has seen. |
As Arabella Lazenby
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Anne Hancox
Committee Member
Actor: Arabella in Ayckbourn's "RolePlay";
Linda in Woody Allen's "Play
It Again, Sam"; Julia in "Fallen
Angels" by Noel Coward.
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. |
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Stagecraft for Roleplay.
Director
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Rani Innes
Performance Director, Actor.
Rani joined Canterbury players in 1998, a year after moving to the UK
from Japan. Her love affair with theatre started over 30 years ago in
India where she founded Spandana, an amateur theatre group, which
is still going strong. She’s worked as an actress and director with
several amateur and repertory theatre groups in India and the well-known
English theatre group TIPS (Tokyo International Players) during
her 17 years in Japan.
By profession, Rani is an English language and literature teacher and
has worked as teacher and teacher trainer in countries like Japan, Austria,
India, Malaysia and the UK. Until recently, she was the vice principal
of Stafford House College in Canterbury.
Rani has directed several plays for The Canterbury Players since 1998:
Death of a Salesman, Dr Faustus, Habeus Corpus, Whose Life is it Anyway,
Desire Under the Elms and the well received Roleplay.
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Set Design and Construction
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Derek Standing
Set Design & Construction
Some 42 years ago, Derek responded to an urgent advert from Canterbury
Dramatic Society and although only 18 he got a job and even survived giving
the cast a nightmare on his first set because he did not know that one
has to add size glue to the powder paint.
Recent productions: RolePlay;
The Birthday Party; The
Accrington Pals; Play It
Again Sam; Fallen Angels |
For this production: Stage Manager
For this production: Prompt
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Mark Charles Smith
Actor: Gosforth's Fete;
La Ronde; Fallen
Angels; The Accrington
Pals (For Canterbury Players);
Seasons Greetings (For Chilham Players)
Sound Engineer for Blue Remembered
Hills.
Mark joined the RAF in 1974 and performed his first stage piece - in a
wind-blown tent in the Falkland Islands - in 1982. This was as one of
the "Three Degrees" song trio, miming to a recording
and dressed in a chiffon dress - a dangerous thing to do with several
hundred other airmen removed from their wives and girlfriends for some
months. He is now a director of the succesful online marketing company,
Internet Marketing Kent
Ltd.
Mark has appeared in end of year short films at universities in Canterbury
and Hastings and also as a film extra for various productions filmed in
Kent including "The Other Boleyn Girl" and "Wild Child".
Mark is looking for more extra work to get him out of the office once
in a while.
See his profile pages on Extras.co.uk
or Universal
Extras.
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For this production: Prompt
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Liz Findlay
Actor: Play It Again Sam
Stage Manager (The Birthday
Party, La Ronde, The
Accrington Pals, Gosforth's
Fete, Play It Again Sam,
Fallen Angels, Blue
Remembered Hills.)
Liz joined the players in 2005 as prompt for Roleplay, rose to the position
of chief of teapot bearing and has been stage managing since then in Pinter's
"Birthday Party",
Ayckbourne's "Gosforth’s
Fete", Schnitzlers "La
Ronde", Whelan's "
The Accrington Pals" and Woody Allen's Play
It Again Sam in which she also took the part of Vanessa.
Liz is trained in Fine Art and has exhibited locally. She designed the
posters for Fallen Angels
and Blue Remembered Hills.
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Publicity and Press
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Geoffrey Learner
Chairman (2004 - )
Geoffrey began his acting career as Professor Theophilus Brainwave in
a sci-fi play at his junior school in the 1930s.
After being Secretary of his college dramatic society at university,
he became a junior school teacher and over his career directed more than
twenty plays on the school stage.
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Retiring to Canterbury in 1989, he joined the Canterbury
Dramatic Society in 1998 for a production that never reached performance.
As Secretary, he helped to bring about the reuniting of C.D.S. with
Playcraft in 2003 and established the pattern of regular performances
before the public at the Gulbenkian Theatre, the Whitstable Playhouse
and other venues.
He has appeared in seven productions of the group and directed the performance
of the play ‘597’ connected with the unveiling of the statues,
in Canterbury, of Ethelbert and Bertha by Prince Michael of Kent in May
2006.
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| Crew
For Canterbury Players RolePlay production: |
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| Director:
Rani Innes |
| Stage Manager:
Sarah Gooch |
| Technical Director:
Derek Standing |
Construction assistants:
Chris Graves, Brian Jones |
Transportation:
Charlie Jubber |
| Assistant Stage Manager:
Geoff Morley |
Lighting Design:
Shaun Weager |
Lighting Operator:
Adam Webb |
| Sound Engineer:
Tony Innes |
Publicity and Press:
Ian Burroughs, Geoffrey Learner |
Prompts:
Liz Findlay & Mark Smith |
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| For the Gulbenkian Theatre |
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| Director:
Dee Ashworth |
Technical Director:
Pam Hardiman |
Marketing Manager:
Frances Moran |
| Front of House:
David Edgar |
Box Office Manager:
Ian Baird |
Bar Manager:
Ben Silcock |
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Alan Ayckbourn's "RolePlay"
Directed by Rani Innes and performed on 01, 02 & 03 December,
2005, @ The Gulbenkian Theatre, Canterbury, Kent.
| 16th December 2005.
Reviewed by:
Elaine Godden.
Kentish Gazette. |
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Excerpt of the review by Michael Pilcher, BBC.
The Canterbury Players performed each of their characters impeccably, with
Ed Clark’s Justin someone you
can truly emphasise with.
Some of the situations may be far-fetched, but the story is well written, funny
– wickedly so at times – and makes for a thoroughly engaging piece.
Below, review by Elaine Godden, Kentish Gazette.
Regarding the set:
".... Docklands flat, brilliantly designed by Derek Standing, in which
the play was set."
And the production:
"Sally Parker must have subdued a large chunk of herself to play the neurotic
frump Julie-Ann so convincingly, yet at the same time win sympathy in her futile
psychological battle against Paige, the hard faced tart.
"Emily Rosen ably revealed the complexities of Paige's character; adaptability
in an impossible social situation, catty flashes of temper and an underlying
vulnerability which seemed at first to exist only in Justin's imagination.
"Anne Hancox, as his [Justin's] mother Arabella, was magnificent, the
middle aged but stunning alcoholic whose outrageous, batty behaviour contributed
so much to the demise of her son's relationship with his fiancee.
"Tony Johnson and Irene Marley were
hilarious as Julie-Ann's parents; two provincial bigots ultimately succeeding
in conducting their daughter's life.
"Above all, Mike Rivarno, playing Mickey, almost dominated the stage with
his menacing near silence, but his masterful acting also betrayed the aggressive
inadequacy of Mickey's character ("I don't eat foreign!")
and finally gave him the humanity which allowed Paige her freedom.
"Ayckbourn's drama is typically, more than a riotous comedy. An unerring
psychological insight which works alongside the crazy actions of his dysfunctional
characters and this production was hugely successful in provoking thought as
well as providing entertainment."
Audience response:
"We enjoyed RolePlay so much, please let us know of your next productions."
RM.
"Brilliant, haven't laughed so much in a very long time."
MCS.
"I wanted to hit you - the way you treated Justin!"
Response from member of the audience on the night, to "Julie-Ann".
Canterbury Players would also like to thank all those other Members and
associates who have indirectly helped to make this production possible, especially:
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RolePlay's MAJOR SPONSOR:
St. Christophers School
An independent Co-educational day school and nursery for 3 - 11 years.
New Dover Road, Canterbury, Kent.
Sponsor for Alan Ayckbourn's "RolePlay", December 2005
"Where the needs of the child come first."
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Plus:
Brewers of Maynard Road,
Glass Services Ashford
and
Marley Plumbing
for helping with set requirements
and
David Foster (Plumbing) 01227 830032
for water service requisites. |
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