Download abigail`s party - Edward Alderton Theatre

2008 - 2009 EAT Season
Have A Safe Journey Home! - Please visit again.
4 - 11 October 2008
The Graduate
by Terry Johnson
Director: Phil Newton
22-29 November 2008
Classic Ghost Stories for Christmas
by M R James and Charles Dickens
Director: Mark Campbell
31 January - 7 February 2009
Spider’s Web
by Agatha Christie
Director: Wendy Marsh
Edward Alderton Theatre
Non - Professional
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21 - 28 March 2009
Oedipus The King
by Sophocles
Translated and Directed by Clive Madel
BY MIKE LEIGH
9 - 16 May 2009
Glengarry Glen Ross
by David Mamet
Director: Peter Griffin
12 - 19 July 2008
2 - 11 July 2009
It Ain’t Half Hot Mum
By David Perry and Jimmy Croft
Director: Roz Betts
Keep up to date with the all the news from our theatre at
www.edwardalderton.org
Programme 50p
Theatre Information
Our Next Production
For The Edward Alderton Theatre
Chairman...................................................Ian Saxton
Artistic Director..................................... Mark Campbell
Technical Director.................................... Jerry McKeon
Publicity.............................................. Mark Campbell
Secretary......................................... Maureen Hardwen
Treasurer.......................................... Jenny Devonshire
Membership Secretary......................... Maureen Hardwen
Box Office...........................................Stephanie David
Bar Manager................................................. Paul Lay
Properties......................................... Jenny Devonshire
House Manager................................ Chris Manning-Perry
Social Nights are held every Wednesday from 9.00pm except when
there is a show on.
Advanced Bookings
Bookings may be made at the Theatre Box Office during performances
or by telephoning 020 8301 5584. No extra charge is made for a
permanent booking. Choose your favourite seat and become a regular.
Postal bookings can be made by sending a cheque and booking form
(available on our website http://www.edwardalderton.org) to
Edward Alderton Theatre,
c
/o 28a Belvedere Road, Bexleyheath, Kent, DA7 4NX.
In The Interval
The theatre bar serves a range of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks
before and after the show and during the interval. Coffee and a
limited range of confectionery are served in the foyer located at
the box office during the interval.
PLEASE NOTE:
The theatre is a STRICTLY non-smoking building and the entire
location is non smoking; if you wish to smoke, you will need to
walk to the pavement in Brampton Road.
The taking of photographs and use of ANY recording equipment
in the theatre is strictly forbidden during a performance.
MOBILE PHONES SHOULD BE SWITCHED
OFF.
Please remember that sounds carry in this
theatre, especially whispering and scrunching
sweet wrappers. This is most distracting to
both audience and performers. Thank you.
Matt Clowry - Tony
Matt was last seen as Conrade in Much Ado
About Nothing (April 2008), following straight on from playing the sinister
Roat in Wait Until Dark (February 2008). Other appearances at the EAT
include Young Bernard and Compton-Miller in Keyboard Skills (2006), the
First Priest in Murder in the Cathedral (2006) and Inspector Hearne in
Witness for the Prosecution (2005). He works as a project manager for
Capita Business Services, the UK’s leading outsourcing company.
Linda Gay - Susan
Samantha Griggs - Angela
This is Samantha’s first appearance
at the EAT. Recently she has been working for the Birmingham Stage
Company as a storyteller for the Treasure Island and Danny - Champion of
the World tours and has appeared in Dick Whittington (Riverside Players,
2007), The Road, (Theatre Royal, 2006) and Cinderella (Chaplins Tours,
2005-6). When she isn’t working as an actress or singer, she is a selfemployed landscape gardener.
Sarah Hills - Beverly Sarah
recently appeared at the EAT as
Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing (2008). Previous rôles include
Adderperle in The Wiz (2006), Caroline in Keyboard Skills (2006), Magrit
in The Steamie (2005) and Ginger in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
(2004). During the day, she is an examinations administrator for the
University of Greenwich.
Ian Long - Laurence
Ian has performed at the Edinburgh Festival
and appeared regularly on the video loop at the Deal Time-Ball Tower as
the Ship’s Navigator, but this is his first appearance at the EAT. A teacher
at Boxgrove Primary School in Abbey Wood, he is also a musician and
songwriter and is currently lead vocalist and bass guitarist for 4 O’Clock
Planes.
Would patrons please respect the comfort and wishes of others.
Please do not smoke in the theatre; do not take food, drink or sweets
into the auditorium; ensure that all mobile phones and pagers are
switched off during the performances. Thank you.
Open Auditions... Open Auditions...
Sunday 12 October 2008
12.00: Oedipus the King
1.30: Glengarry Glen Ross
3.00: It Ain’t Half Hot Mum
For more details, click on www.edwardalderton.org/auditions.htm
Mark Campbell
Director
Abigail’s Party was last performed at the Edward Alderton Theatre from
12-19 October 1985, directed by Brian Senner. The cast consisted of Vera
Robinson (Beverly), Dennis Howlett (Laurence), Rebecca Wyles (Angela),
Paul Lay (Tony) and Pam Sage (Susan).
A Word from the Director
About the Performers
Linda’s last rôle at the EAT was as the 1920s
flapper girl Polly Perkins in There Goes the Bride (October 2007). Before
that she was Andy in Stepping Out (2007), the Scarecrow in The Wiz
(2006) and Penny in When Did You Last See Your Trousers? (2005). She is
a criminal caseworker for the Home Office.
When we last performed Abigail’s Party at the Alderton way back in
1985 (shortly after the Brixton race riots and just before Microsoft
released a revolutionary software package called Windows 1.0), we
described it as a ‘comic drama’. Another phrase you might want
to use is ‘black comedy’. Or even ‘tragi-comedy’. Each term is
inadequate, though, in explaining the unique appeal of this timeless
- yet quintessentially 1970s - play.
Like TV sitcoms The Office and Curb Your Enthusiasm, the
play’s success lies in its hideously accurate depiction of the ‘comedy
of embarrassment’. Desperate attempts to conjure up banal small
talk at an awkward social gathering expose the miniscule aspirations
of this quintet of disparate characters. Beverly is a graceless social
climber, frustrated and repressed by her loveless marriage to estate
agent bore Laurence. Ex-footballer Tony rues the day he married
the socially inept Angela and takes out his frustrations in aggression
towards her (a fact which Beverly seems to find rather alluring).
Middle-aged mother Susan, whose daughter Abigail is having a
rowdy party down the road, hovers on the edge of the group, clearly
regretting her daughter’s teenage freedom and wishing she were
anywhere but here.
A comedy of social moirés, of the clash of the working and
middle classes, Abigail’s Party delights in sophisticated wordplay
and subtle (and not-so-subtle) characterizations. Starting out as an
improvised piece devised by its original cast of Alison Steadman,
Tim Stern, John Salthouse, Janine Duvitsky and Thelma Whiteley,
under the guiding hand of Mike Leigh, it was first performed at
the Hampstead Theatre in April 1977 and later made into a BBC
television play (with a few minor alterations) whereupon it became
an overnight sensation.
I am really proud of my cast, who have worked very hard
in nailing down their parts and have bonded together brilliantly as
a team. Although our inspiration has always been the iconic BBC
play (how could it not be?), the actors have brought their own
personalities to the rôles and I hope you will find much that is fresh
and original, as well as reassuringly familiar.
Oh, and olives will be available during the interval. For those
who like them.
Abigail’s Party
Directed by Mark Campbell
The Crew
The Cast
Beverly.......................... Sarah Hills
Tony............................ Matt Clowry
Angela........................... Sam Griggs
Susan.............................. Linda Gay
The action takes place in the sitting room of Beverly
and Laurence Moss, in their home in North London.
It is an early evening in 1977.
There will be one interval of 20 minutes
Assistant Stage Manager............ Yvonne Golding
Lighting Design and Rigging..Jerry McKeon
.................................. and Christine McKeon
Lighting Operation........................Nicola Clark
Sound Design................................... Ian Long
Sound Operation..........................Nicola Clark
Set Design.............................. Mark Campbell
Set Construction.. John Vinnels and Ron Andrews
Set Decoration and Painting...Mark Campbell and ...............................................Nicola Clark
Properties.................... Liz Gillett, Sarah Hills,
.......................... Ian Long and Mark Campbell
Costumes.................. Liz Gillett and Sarah Hills
Please note:
There is smoking of cigarettes on stage during this
production.
This is permitted under the current legislation.
With thanks to Erith Playhouse for the hire of the
furniture
The Crew
The Cast
Laurence........................... Ian Long
Stage Manager............................... Liz Gillett