Person: Lynda Hall

Henry V

 Cry God For Harry, England and St George!

This tale of a young man finding his way to be King through a baptism of bloody war against the French is surely the most bold and stirring of Shakespeare’s histories. From his first forays at diplomacy to his nervous attempts to win the heart of a princess, Henry, a one-time rogue more used to the company of thieves than the ways of court, finds that his responsibilities outweigh the power he now wields. And that victory, even a glorious victory on the fields of Agincourt, comes at no small price…
‘Henry V’ sees Theatre Workshop Coulsdon return to grounds of Coulsdon Manor Hotel for their tenth season, following on from previous successes with ‘Wind in the Willows’, ‘Dick Barton and the Slaves of the Sultan’, ‘Much Ado about Nothing’, ‘The Canterbury Tales’ and ‘A Midsummer’s Night Dream’. This show will be no less colourful and entertaining.
With a BBQ and bar set under the gently setting sun and summer stars, this is open-air theatre at its finest.

The Wind In The Willows

Since 1908, this classic tale of inquisitive Mole, stolid Ratty, gruff Badger and ‘ever in trouble’ Toad has delighted children of all ages, and most adults too! This stage adaptation by Theatre Workshop Coulsdon follows their adventures from the river bank to the Wild Wood, via the open road to the deepest dungeon, with a thrilling climax at stately Toad Hall. It’s a path strewn with boats, trains, caravans and stolen cars, as our animal heroes overcome adversity and their own natures to emerge victorious. By turns charming and funny, this is a splendid way to while away a English summer’s evening.

The Snow Queen

Kai and Gerda have been friends all their lives. So when Kai is stolen away from their village by the dreaded Snow Queen, Gerda sets out to bring him back, despite the impossible odds. Across frozen lands where the Snow Queen and her dark companion Jack Frost are increasing their icy grip, brave Gerda makes her way north, encountering friends, foes and the fantastic. But nothing will stop her finding Kai. Nothing can break the bonds of true friendship.

Written by Lucy-Ann Martin, adapted from the classic fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen, this delightful and uplifting tale is a magical adventure for all ages.

Fall under the spell of the Snow Queen this winter….

Dick Barton and the Slaves of the Sultan

Good evening. This is the BBC Light Programme broadcasting from London. It’s 6.45 and time for the next thrilling episode of ‘Dick Barton and the Slaves of The Sultan’!”

When Dick Barton, Boy’s Own adventurer, all-English hero and teatime wireless star, is called upon by MI5 to track down a wealthy socialite missing off the Horn of Africa, little does he know the can of worms he’s about to open. Before you can say ‘I say, that’s not cricket!’ our hero is mixed up in a fiendish foreign plot to seize control of our upright and principled British armaments industry. Good heavens!

With his loyal working class sidekicks, Jock and Snowy, by his side, Barton sallies forth encountering a nefarious criminal syndicate called the X Faction; an hypnotic femme fatale; and a run-in with that other national treasure, Squadron Leader James ‘Biggles’ Bigglesworth of the Special Air Police.

Will Barton, side-parting and moral certainty intact, win the day through British pluck and determination? Will gorgeous heiress, Felicity Buff-Orpington, escape the steamy seraglio of Zanzibar; and if she does, will the pure un-distilled manliness of the Barton ideal wilt in the face of her manifold charms? Or will assorted foreign Johnnies and homegrown villains consign Barton to an improbable cliffhanger ending from which there can be no possible escape?!

There’s only one way to find out, tune in to the next exciting instalment of: ‘Dick Barton, Special Agent…’

 

 

Radio Days Transmission Two : The War Years

After the success of our first Radio Days showcase in 2015, set in the golden days of wireless broadcasting, we’re leaping aboard our dramatic time machine and going back still further.

Transmission Two : The War Years sees us clutching our gas masks and ration books, with one ear listening to the radio and the other waiting for the air raid siren. A collection of songs, sketches and playlets, from the deadly serious to the downright funny, and all inspired by the period, means an excellent evening of new yet nostalgic entertainment for everyone.

So on with your siren suits, use gravy browning and an eye pencil if you can’t afford nylons, and make your way with care through the black-out to Coulsdon Community Centre. And put that light out!

On the BBC Home Service tonight, the following schedule will be broadcast on 668 kHz (South) and 767 kHz (North).

Welcome to tonight’s show.  Like our previous ‘Radio Days’ presentation back in 2015, this is very much a project that attempts to achieve a number of different goals. On one level we will try to evoke some of the feeling of living and surviving through the turbulent times of the Second World War. There was danger, but there was also community as people worked, and played, together to get through the storm. And a sense of humour was one of the strongest defences against a sea of troubles, from rationing, shortages and petty bureaucracy to death and loss.

On another level, this is a grand experiment, harking back to the early days of Theatre Workshop Coulsdon. All of the pieces you’ll see on stage tonight were written or adapted by members of the group. For some it’s their first time attempt at creative writing. It’s a big leap. And we’re very proud of what they’ve achieved. Almost nothing had been written when we started our rehearsals and workshops in January.  Each short play has evolved over the last three months, some easily and with grace, some more awkwardly, in fits and starts. But they are ready now, and all represent time, effort and imagination on the part of not just the writer but all the people at Workshop who’ve contributed ideas. This has been very much a team effort.

And let’s not forget the music. We have some glorious songs and voices for you tonight, accompanied by our ‘BBC Very Light Orchestra’, three talented, creative and endlessly patient musicians.

So close your eyes and be taken back in time again. And enjoy.

Warning. We are expecting atmospheric disturbances during latter part of this broadcast, which may interrupt the programme. We do hope your enjoyment won’t be too badly affected.

The Adventures of Dick Turpin

When Clemency Turnip’s Coffee House is closed down for ‘low morals’ and dealing in illicit liquor, her son Jack and serving-girl Polly Flinders find themselves out on the mean streets of 18th Century London and surviving on their wits. For Polly, it’s a path that may see her find her real parents. For Jack it’s a road to fame and notoriety as the land’s most celebrated highwayman!

Set in the colourful time of ‘Poldark’, ‘Tom Jones’ and Hogarth’s ‘Rake’s Progress’, this all-new pantomime adventure comes complete with outrageous Dame, girls dressed as boys, an audience participation song and every opportunity to boo the villains and cheer the heroes.

Will Turnip’s Coffee House be re-opened? Will moody and smouldering Woss Poldork regain the rights to his Cornish treacle mine? Will merchant banker Sir Beastlie Fugg get his deserved come-uppance? Will true love find its way?

 

A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2016)

Return to the Forest

It’s 20 years since we last put on a production of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, and here, a few of the company reflect on the play and its part in both TWC’s history and theirs…

Dan (Director)

I was 16 when I played Flute in TWC’s 1996 production. I remember coming on stage at Bewl Water and looking up at this huge sea of faces : more than 650 people had come to  see our last night. It was amazing. Later on I went to drama school, worked as an actor (and now as an agent). How strange then, but also strangely wonderful,  to be back directing the play for a new generation. Most of the current cast weren’t in our previous productions, and it’s honestly a privilege to introduce this boisterous, joyful masterpiece — often said to be the nation’s favourite play — to a new  group of young TWC actors. It’s 400 years old, and still incredibly touching, incredibly funny. Evidently the English sense of humour hasn’t changed all that much.

Rupert (Flute)

This is only my second play with TWC (my second play anywhere for that matter), and  I wasn’t sure how I’d take to Shakespearean dialogue. I didn’t even know he wrote comedies. But once I’d got the meaning sorted, it was hilarious! Full of life. A complete revelation really. The characters and their motivations are easily recognisable, even 400 years on. As for taking on Flute, well, it’s a big responsibility.  I mean, I’ve seen a recording of a baby-faced Dan playing Flute 20 years ago. I can tell I’m walking in the footsteps of giants. :^) Luckily TWC are not only a talented group, but a positive bunch of people too. Joining them has been almost life-changing. And I’m proud to be a member.

Lucy-Ann (Helena)

I grew up surrounded by Theatre Workshop, and I remember watching the 1996 production when I was just six! The fairies were magical, the mechanicals hilarious, and the lovers meant to be together. You’d have seen me then in the front row with eyes as big as saucers, longing to be involved. Now I find myself a part of the legendary love triangle/quadrangle/tangle. The fairies have all the magic, mischief and poetry, but we have the most fun. The play revolves around the lovers,. The two friends are pushed to their limits and beyond, and come out the stronger for it. The two suitors, who seem to start with the upper hand, become pawns in the greatest game of all; the desperate, crazy, selfish, blind, obsessive yet wonderful thing that is love. I love them. I love it all.

 Richard (Bottom)

I directed both the 1989 and 1996 productions of ‘Dream’ and played Oberon each time too.  Playing Bottom this time is truly going from the sublime to the ridiculous. Obnoxious yet strangely endearing, he’s one of the most famous comic characters in English theatre. I love this play because it’s such a  joyful depiction of truly English idiocy. It might pretend to be Athens, but in this play Shakespeare is showing  the English at their best and worst.  Bumbling working men with hearts of gold and brains of straw, young toffs behaving badly and yet finding themselves in the end. And the fairy kingdom, glimpsed in the shadows of the wild wood. Magical.

The Merry Ballad of Robin Hood

Gracious princesses, noble lords, benevolent kings and daring outlaws…

…do not appear anywhere in this show. But we do have a pantomime cow, a girl dressed as a boy and a man in a dress, because this is panto, but not as you know it!

The King of England has a problem. He’s late for the Crusades; but his real problem is that he needs to find someone to look after his wilful daughter, the Princess Marian, while he’s away knocking holes in the Holy Land.

The Princess Marian has a problem. Her father the king keeps threatening to marry her off to one of his useless Lords; but her real problem is that she’s just been dumped in Nottingham, a damp, run-down back-water run by the mean-spirited Sheriff.

The Sheriff of Nottingham has a problem. Actually he has lots of problems, but the biggest one is that he’s broke. All of his money has been stolen by a gang of thieves and robbers calling themselves the Merry Men, led by Robin Hood.

Robin Hood has a problem. No-one understands him. His interior designer is obsessed with leopard print and his Merry Men are entirely too merry; but his real problem is that he’s a man with ambition stuck in a mouldy, smelly, flea-pit of a forest.

The Bursar has a problem. But who cares?

How will all this be resolved, and how can we fit it all into just two acts along with a custard pie fight and a quiver full of songs? There’s only one way to find out…

In an all-new pantomime written by Sean Young, we finally discover the truth about the most famous outlaw in history, Robin Hood, as well as his arch-enemy the Sheriff of Nottingham and his ‘true love’, Maid Marian. Short on arrows, big on custard pies, with more strolling minstrels than you can shake a quarterstaff at, this comic re-telling of the legend ‘bardly’ goes where no panto has gone before!

The Producers

 

The Producers was Mel Brooks’ first ever movie back in 1968. Starring Zero Mostel as Max and Gene Wilder as Leo, it became both a cult and a commercial success, and Brooks even picked up an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. An improbable hit as a movie, it was an even less likely one as a Broadway musical, which Brooks did in 2001. A byword for tongue-in-cheek bad taste, it became the most successful Broadway show of all time, winning a record breaking 12 Tony awards and running for more than 2,500 performances over six years. And then art imitated art, as a movie of the musical based on a movie came out in 2005, starring Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick and Uma Thurman.

Born into a German Jewish family who fled the Nazis in the 1930’s, Mel Brooks was uniquely qualified to poke merciless fun at the Third Reich. Frankly, it’s impossible to believe that anyone without his background could have got away with it. Then again, the whole premise of a couple of Jewish con-men staging a sure-fire Broadway flop based on a camp musical about Adolf Hitler is so absurd, it would be difficult for anyone to take genuine offence. Besides, Brooks has many targets for his satire in The Producers – not least the whole shallow pretentious ‘bubble’ of Broadway itself. (Which is rather ironic, as it turns out, given the huge success of the show.)

The Producers is an extraordinary musical. Set in New York in 1959, the one-time ‘King of Broadway’, Max Bialystock, sees his latest show ‘Funny Boy’ close after just one night. Down and out, dependent on playing the aging lothario to wealthy but very elderly spinsters and widows, Max is thrown a lifeline back to success and the high life in the unlikely form of timorous accountant, Leo Bloom. Bloom discovers that a flop show can make more money than a hit, and so the two set out to lie, cheat and schmooze their way to a million bucks by staging a sure-fire Broadway flop – the worst taste musical ever written: ‘Springtime For Hitler’. The rest is showbiz history. Bursting with laugh-out-loud jokes and outrageously funny musical numbers, The Producers is pure, unadulterated joy.

Now it’s fair to say that Theatre Workshop Coulsdon are not, first and foremost, a musical group. But we do like projects that are a bit unexpected. So we’ve rescued ‘The Producers’ from the cold dead clutches of of the light-operatic am-dram circuit, and given it the down-and-dirty TWC makeover it deserves. We aren’t dancers, we aren’t singers. We don’t have the required 37-piece orchestra. But we do have a bunch of talented musicians and chutzpah to spare, and what could be more in keeping with the spirit of Mel Brooks than that? We hope you enjoy the show!

 

The Whispering Wood

Welcome to the Whispering Wood.

In our performance tonight, it’s a clearing where two bands of roving actors meet, and find themselves competing to tell the best tale. In real life, it reflects an age-old English tradition of travelling theatre that we’ve supported for the last twenty years, entertaining people from Coulsdon and beyond with our open air productions. This isn’t the first time we’ve performed folk and fairy-tale based plays, having previously stage ‘Grimm Tales’ in 2003 and ‘More Grimm Tales’ in 2006. But many of tonight’s stories will probably be less familiar to you. Our author, Lucy-Ann Martin, has always been fascinated by folk tales, and she spent a year reading several hundred of them from cultures all over the globe, while travelling the world herself. She then collected her favourites and ended up with more than sixty possible tales to included in a performance. We’ve whittled these down to the final dozen or so stories that we’ll perform for you this evening. They come from all over the planet. Some are many hundreds of years old, some are far more recent, but what is amazing is just how universal the themes are.

Storytelling is a skill and a challenge we relish, and the perfect way (we thought!) to make sure the production was truly innovative was to arrange the telling of the tales as being part of a competition. The Great North Players taking on the Little Sackville Players, each trying their utmost to amuse and entertain you and ultimately gain your favour. A vote for whichever group of players did best will take place at the end of the evening, and you, the audience, will decide the outcome!

First a few thanks though. To Jeannie Lewis, who has for the second year running led the choice and arrangement of all the live music you’ll hear tonight. She and her husband Keith will be playing live at every performance, along with Simeon Dawes and Ryan Newby, just as musicians would have done in times long past. Thanks too for Jenny Moorcroft who designed the programme for us. And finally thanks to you, the audience, for coming and supporting us. Every play is a contract between the audience and the actors, this one a little more explicitly than most, perhaps. And we sincerely hope you enjoy it!