Pantomime season is looming...

Now is the time that many groups will be considering their pantomime production for the coming winter season. To help you with your choice, here are a couple of suggestions. Cinderella was first performed by the Southfields Theatre Group in January 2009. It received very good reviews and played to a total audience of around 500. It is a fairly traditional take on the story and was written specifically for amateur groups on a tight budget.
Ali the Barber and the Forty Thieves has yet to be performed so why not be the first group to give it a try? It too can be done on a fairly tight budget and it is a very humorous script. In each case, as the author, I will be happy to advise on any aspects of the production of either pantomime and to do any rewrites that might help to produce the show to your needs.

Creating an exciting piece of theatre...

My own experience of writing for the theatre is to think this way. First of all, come up with a clear vision of what the finished production will look like. This is what I am doing for the first show that will be produced through Grid#Productions.
I used the same process with my first piece, Cinderella. Okay, so the story is very familiar. However, I wanted it to be a simple show that could be produced by an amateur theatre group on a very tight budget. In fact most shows can be produced very simply.
Once the vision is there, the rest sort of falls in to place. It is a matter of introducing the various characters and ensuring a good plot line that has a beginning, middle and an end. This is all rather similar when starting a business - putting on my hat as a business adviser for a moment. It's all about that vision of where you want to be. At the end of the day, if you can see the big picture, the detail will fall into place much more easily.

Grid#Productions

I am setting up Grid#Productions to produce exciting and sometimes different theatrical productions. The first show will be an adaptation of an Edgar Alan Poe poem. The script is still a work in progress but just needs actually putting to paper. Poe was the master of the macabre and this script will take the relevant poem and explore the characters in more depth. The aim is to produce the first show by the end of next Spring.
Further scripts are planned, again based on classic stories, either directly or as a theme. The challenge comes in turning incredible imagery into an entertaining (and hopefully chilling) piece of theatre.
Watch this space or the Grid#Productions site for up dates.

Simply Marketing

In my advisory capacity and as a writer, I have recently penned a short article about marketing which you can view HERE.

New Web Site for Southfields Theatre Group

Southfields Theatre Group now has its own web site: http://www.southfieldstheatregroup.org.uk
It's still a work in progress but a good start. Take a look to find out more about our last production of Forty.

Forty

Last night saw Southfields Theatre Group's production of Forty go live and prove to be a roaring success. Two more nights to go. Two more nights of stage fright! Tickets still avaliable for Saturday night.

Up date

Ho, ho, ho! Southfields Theatre Group has undergone a revolution. The next show will still be on the same dates but the play will now be something called 'Forty' by Sue and Clive Read. This is a relatively new play about a woman undergoing a mid-life crisis on her fortieth birthday. We shall be performing it at the Earl Spencer on Merton Road, SW18. Please contact me for further information - if you dare.

Show dates

The next performance of the Southfields Theatre Group will be No Time for Fig-Leaves to be performed at the Earl Spencer pub, Merton Road, SW18 on the nights of 2nd, 3rd and 4th July 2009. For further information please email.

The Next Show

After various discussions, posturing, posing, walking, talking and getting nowhere fast, we have now settlesd on No Time for Fig-Leaves and I am to direct it. Dates set, subject to venue and performing rights to be 3rd and 4th July. Lots of planning to do now.

Next Production

We have now set the dates for the next production of the Southfields Theatre Group as 10th & 11th July. The play we have chosen (subject to performing rights) is No Time for Fig Leaves by Duncan Greenwood and Robert King. It is set in the future where all men have been annihilated or so it seems until two men are discovered in a test chamber in a laboratory. The ruling women then have to decide what to do with the only two surviving men in the World!