BaCStage open house on July 14th – all welcome

We’ve barely filed the tax returns for our last production My Friend Miss Flint, and there’s still the small matter of adding some photos here, which will happen soon, but already our thoughts are turning toward what comes next.

Maybe it’s the enthusiasm and excitement of being back under the lights, or simply the relief of completing our first full production in over two years, but we have started to plan not one, not two, but our next three productions! Oh yes.

Assuming that we can assemble the required casts and secure the necessary performing rights, we are planning

• A play this autumn, featuring the return of an old favourite
• A play next spring, based on a well-known and much-loved TV sitcom
• Something rather different between the two, early in the new year.

This, dear reader, is where you come in – hopefully, literally come in. We’re on the look-out for new members. We’re holding an open-house meeting at the ODS in Bluntisham on Thursday, July 14th @7:30pm. If you fancy having a go at any of the following, contact us through the website, socials, email bacstage.amdram@gmail.com or just turn up on the 14th and say hello! No previous experience is necessary, all you need is enthusiasm and some spare time. You’ll be working alongside experienced group members, not just left to fend for yourself!

We’re looking for:

• Actors
• Directors
• Set builders
• Set dressers (including painting and decorating, sourcing props, designing the look of the set)
• Publicity (online and printed)
• Techies (lights, sound and effects)
• Costumes (finding, making)

…anything related to putting on a show, we’ll appreciate your help!
We’re also looking for people to help run the group as a whole, such as a Secretary, Treasurer and the like.
If you’d like to find out more before deciding whether to take the plunge and join us, get in touch as described above for a no-obligations chat.

As well as hopefully saying hello to some new faces on the 14th, we will also be having a first read of the script for our next production. This autumn we will be completing Peter Gordon’s Inspector Pratt Trilogy of comedy murder mysteries with the final part, Death by Fatal Murder. The play is set in November 1940.

Inspector Pratt’s record of crime detection at Bagshot House is not enviable. In his two previous visits, chronicled in Murdered to Death and Secondary Cause of Death, the body count mounted disastrously as he looked on, helpless and hopeless! Now he is back and, as usual, chaos reigns supreme.

During the course of his latest investigations, Pratt meets the new owner of the house, Nancy Allwright, and soon he is embroiled in more mystery, aided and abetted by Miss Maple and Constable Thomkins. Upper-crust Ginny and Italian gigolo Enzo help with enquiries but danger soon looms with an unexpected arrival, and a frightening suggestion by Welsh busybody, Blodwyn Morgan.

We will read some of the script on the 14th to introduce ourselves to the story, and to help people decide on which parts they would like to audition for. The cast consists of four male and four female roles.

Nancy Allwright
Her usual demeanour is bright, open and friendly. She speaks very plainly with no pretension.

Ginny Farquhar
Comes from a very wealthy background of generations of “gentlemen farmers”. She exudes self-confidence and her accent is cut-glass and cultured in the extreme. She has a “braying” laugh.

Constable Thomkins
A typical village policeman. He has a tendency to be rather shy in the company of ladies.

Inspector Pratt
Pratt is an inept, clumsy, walking disaster area.

Miss Joan Maple
Miss Maple is an amateur sleuth and interfering busybody.

Blodwyn Morgan
Blodwyn has a very strong Welsh accent with an equally overwhelming personality. She occasionally speaks with a Scottish accent.

Enzo Garibaldi
Enzo is a gregarious Italian with a particular eye for the ladies.

Squadron Leader Roger (Stiffy) Allwright
Roger is a typical military man, well-spoken and generally unflappable.

Photo credits: “We’re open” Photo by Richard Balog on Unsplash; Organizer photo by Estée Janssens on Unsplash.