Andrew takes a royal role in ambitious play
[gallery] His days may be spent in court but by night he treads the boards – and next month solicitor Andrew Whittle will become Henry VIII for an ambitious new play by his own amateur theatre company.
The word "amateur" may be misleading – Here to There Productions was set up by the Ludlow solicitor last year, with the aim of raising the bar for what amateurs can do.
For its second production, the 48-year-old specialist in litigation, employment and family work, said: "All the costumes are being supplied by The Royal Shakespeare Company.
"The lighting has been designed, and is being operated, by Ludlow-based Appletree Film and Theatre Company.
"We have professional musicians and the severed head of Anne Boleyn has been made in London by Howling Hands model makers who usually work with television and film companies."
The company, registered to Mr Whittle's office at Green's Solicitors, where he is a partner, is putting on Howards Brenton's play Anne Boleyn at the Regal Theatre in Tenbury Wells in a three-night run, finishing tonight.
A new play, only commissioned for Shakespeare's Globe, London, in 2010, it is not the sort of thing amateur companies would normally attempt, Mr Whittle said.
As well as playing King Henry he is also acting as producer on the play.
"It's a challenging piece to undertake. There are 20-odd characters and a cast of 12. As far as I'm aware we're only the second amateur company to attempt it. It's the sort that people are not going to see here otherwise – I do not think that it would ever come to Ludlow or Tenbury."
Mr Whittle took up acting five years ago, working with three amateur companies in Worcestershire but he felt it was time to try something more ambitious.
One of his main aims was to give actors the opportunity to work with professional people, such as Howling Hands model makers. Assistant producer Lauren Edwards said that the gruesome prosthetic head was a labour of love.
She said:?"It was really difficult finding someone who could do it, we were looking at Glasgow, London or Cardiff."
They sent the actress playing Anne, Carolyn Blamey, to London to get her head cast for the prosthetic. "They moulded her head in silicon and then had to paint it by hand," she said.
Ms Edwards, 23, is Andrew's trainee solicitor as well.
She said: "We spend half our time doing law and half our time getting severed heads made and such like."
The company is not based at any one theatre, but aims to put on productions throughout the region. Earlier this year it staged the Peepolykus version of The Hound of the Baskervilles at The Swan Theatre, Worcester.
The current production starts when newly crowned King of England, James I, discovers the legacy of Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII's second wife.
It then goes back 70 years when the witty and flirtatious Anne was in love with Henry but also conspired to make England permanently Protestant.
Tickets for Anne Boleyn are available from the Regal Theatre on (01584) 811442 or www.regaltenbury.co.uk at £12, concessions £10.
