Your Midlands and Shropshire am dram round up
There is so much am dram taking place at this time of year, I’m inundated with requests to promote your shows.
All Saints Players, who are based in West Bromwich, will be presenting the Alan Ayckbourn farce, Neighbourhood Watch from November 7-10, with performances at 7.30pm nightly. This is a relatively new play, written in 2011 in Ayckbourn’s irrefutable style.
Brother and sister Martin and Hilda Massie have moved to the Bluebell Hill development where they hope to enjoy a quiet existence. Just as they are preparing for a housewarming however, their peace is shattered by a young trespasser in their garden.
The neighbours congregate and together they agree to form a Neighbourhood Watch group to safeguard against crime. But after the Massie’s beloved garden gnome is thrown through their window, matters swiftly escalate, complicated by Martin’s growing romance with Amy, the wife of Gareth, rather too soon after her affair with Luther the husband of Magda!
Neighbourhood Watch is not as innocent as it would first seem.
l Call 0121 588 4786 or 0121 358 1141 to purchase. Alternatively, email kenford98@btinternet.com
And there’s more from Ayckbourn from November 8-11, at the Walker Theatre within Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury, when Shropshire Drama Company presents Bedroom Farce.
The action takes place in three bedrooms during one night and the following morning, with a cast of eight, paired as four married couples.
At the beginning of the play, the oldest couple, Delia and Ernest, are getting ready to go out for a meal to celebrate their wedding anniversary; Malcolm and Kate, the youngest, are about to host a housewarming party, to which the other two couples, Jan and Nick and Susannah and Trevor have been invited.
Amid a torrent of who kissed who, who was once coupled with who and a whole host of other ridiculous but amusing confusion and chaos, Bedroom Farce is a must for lovers of the 1970s adult comedies.
Director, Jonathan Cross, says: “With the help and support of Revive Shropshire, a recycling and resale organisation, we have achieved a visually interesting set which will provide the right background for this hilarious play.” That’s am dram performers for you – self-sufficient to the end!
l For tickets call 01743 281281 or visit www.theatresevern.co.uk
Meanwhile at the Festival Drayton Centre, Market Drayton Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society is presenting a tribute to the American Jukebox on October 26-29, in their concert entitled Oh! What a Night!
Shake out your petticoats and dust off your dinner jacket to twist and jive the night away! It features music from Buddy Holly, Bobby Vee and The Chiffons.
l For tickets call 01630 654444 or visit www.mdaods.org
Following her highly successful concert, A Song to Remember, local soprano Tara Kelsey will be treading the boards again.
This time, it’s in her latest show, From Hollywood to Broadway, which she will perform within the Grand Hall at Wolverhampton Grammar School on October 29, at 7.30pm.
Tara says: “This concert will prove a real musical treat for lovers of the golden era when Gene Kelly sang in the rain and Fred and Ginger had us on our toes! There is a real vintage, nostalgic feel to the evening, which is set against the backdrop of 1940s and 1950s New York.
Tara is joined by guest singer, popular Midlands tenor, Joe Johnson and her talented show pianist, Wayne Baddeley, who will be performing some wonderful piano solos. Tara continues: “This type of music I hold very dear to my heart. Both Wayne and I feel that we were born in the wrong era.” How lovely.
l For tickets priced at just £12, visit www.buytickets.at/songsforyou or call 07957661222.
One of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s greatest musicals is Carousel.
It’s the sad but strangely uplifting tale of bad boy carousel barker, Billy Bigalow who falls in love and marries a beautiful local girl, Julie Jordan, only to die in tragic circumstances and leave her alone and heartbroken with their daughter.
But when Bill has the opportunity to come back from heaven for just one day, will he seize it and be reconciled with his wife and child and undo the wrongs he committed while on earth?
Carousel was the first musical I ever performed in and, for that reasonm it remains very dear to me. I only have to hear the strains of the opening number and memories of my first show with the home company, South Staffs MTC, come tumbling back. I love it!
Cloc Musical Theatre Company who perform at Sutton Coldfield Town Hall, will be presenting Carousel from October 24-28, with evening performance sat 7.30pm and a 2.30pm Saturday matinee.
Heaving with classic tunes including June is Bustin’ Out All Over, If I Loved You, When the Children are Asleep and of course the stirring anthem, You’ll Never Walk Alone, Carousel is unforgettable.
l For tickets priced at £12 each visit www.cloc.org.uk or call 07873 192715.
Finally this week, you are invited to Hollywood on Broadway, a concert presented by Bournville Musical Theatre Company, which the group will present at the Dovehouse Theatre on October 29.
It features songs from 42nd Street, Footloose, The Witches of Eastwick, Beauty and the Beast and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers to name but a few.
The group will also be performing the same concert at Austin Sports and Social Club on November 5.
l For tickets contact chair@bmtcweb.co.uk or visit Chris Corcoran’s Facebook page.
