Whilst the show itself was a great success with awards for leading actor Maxwell Sly and positive feedback from audiences, the logistics of getting to a theatre festival on the Isle of Man was something of a nightmare!
We suffered missed ferries, cancelled ferries, broken down ferries and endless traffic. Don’t want to bore with details but when we tell you that we arrived at the Gaiety theatre for our technical and dress rehearsal day (which was meant to have begun at 9am) at 5pm, two hours before the performance, you get the general idea of what we went through!
The production then played in its home town and in a historical area of Swindon, the railway museum STEAM. This led to a great atmosphere and a very appreciative audience only slightly marred by bell ringing practice in an adjourning church that went on throughout the performance!
So, after a large scale project we stripped back to a two hander and David Mamet’s controversial and challenging play, ‘Oleanna’. The play was cast with Whole Hog veteran Becky Cann and ‘new boy’ Mike Sly with Fenella Harrop directing. Before serious rehearsals could begin we get details come through that the performance licence is unavailable in the UK due to a proposed West End revival.
“When troubles come they come not single spies but in battalions”
Back to the drawing board!
After a crisis meeting, we have decided we are going to be staging a double of one act plays that we have already performed at different times.
NINE was staged in 2013 and sees the reunited cast of Becky and Fenella who produced a really powerful performance which is sure to be repeated
ONLY IN THE DARK! was a festival entry in 2014 and sees Maxwell Sly return to play Ernie once again with new cast members Mike Sly as Vic and Grace Scott as the enigmatic Gnod.
Both plays will play in Repertory for a week at the Alma Tavern Theatre in Bristol from 24th29th August.