STRATHCLYDE THEATRE GROUP IS A CHARITABLE BODY, REGISTERED IN SCOTLAND (SC042388)

OCTOBER 2011 NEWSLETTER

SKY ARTS STAGESTRUCK COMPETITION!!!
A group of actors from STG travelled to Northampton on October 8th to compete in the first round of the Sky Arts Stagestruck competition. The venue was The Derngate Theatre, recently voted regional theatre of the year by The Stage Magazine. The team from STG included cast members Barry Ward, Charnie Demir, Alison May, David Stephenson, Stuart Bishop, James Keenan, Euan Galbraith, along with Alan Dempster as stage manager and director Bruce Downie. We had to present a scene from The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov and we were competing against 3 other groups from around the UK Regent Rep from Bournemouth, Edinburgh Grads and Bingley Little Theatre from Yorkshire.
he judges for the competition were T producer Bill Kenwright, actress Miriam Margolyes and theatre critic Quentin Letts.
The cast of The Cherry Orchard, outside The Royal and Derngate Theatre in Northampton

STG were the last group to perform and then the judges retired to deliberate and reach a decision. We all waited in the dressing room nervously for about an hour and then all four groups were called back onto stage together. The TV director shuffled the groups around for several minutes, then Bill Kenwright came on stage to make the announcement. He praised each group in turn, then told the audience and the cameras, that the judges decided unanimously that one group would qualify for the next round, he turned and pointed to us and said Strathclyde! After a moment of hesitation, wondering if he really meant us, we celebrated.

The cast and crew in dressing room number 7

Another group also qualified that day Regent Rep - who will join us in the semifinal. Four other groups were competing the following day, Sunday 9th October, presenting a scene from Ibsens Enemy of The People. Crossmichael Drama Club from Castle Douglas in Dumfriesshire and Tell Tale Theatre from Liverpool won through and will be the other semi-finalists. All four groups now have to present two scenes from King Lear. The performance venue will be The Courtyard Theatre in Stratford home of the Royal Shakespeare Company. In addition, cast members get another workshop with our mentor, actress Dame Harriet Walter and a workshop with the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford on the 30th of October. This is a fabulous opportunity for actors in STG and will help raise the profile of the group enormously. If you can, please come and support us in Stratford on Sunday November 13th.

Team STG celebrating in ONeills bar in Northampton a few hours after the competition.

***Casting for Stagestruck Round 2***

A casting notice for King Lear was sent to members a few days ago. The first workshop will have taken place by the time you read this newsletter. But to find out if there is still an opportunity to get involved, please get in touch with the director bruce.downie@hotmail.com
The Courtyard Theatre in Stratford. The venue for Round 2 of Stagestruck.

THE CRUCIBLE
by Arthur Miller. Directed for STG by Deborah Mair.

Cottiers Theatre, 93-95 Hyndland Street Glasgow G11 5PU Performance dates - Friday November 11th- Saturday November 19th at 7.30pm (doors at 7pm) and additional matinee performances on Saturday 12th and 19th at 2.30pm (doors at 2pm) Tickets for STGs first production as a touring company are selling VERY quickly and many nights are already sold out. To reserve your ticket, please email stgtickets@hotmail.co.uk and you can pay for your ticket on the door on the night of the show. As an STG member you are entitled to a discount on your ticket (9 instead of the 10 / 12 normal admission) so let them know when you book that you are a member and on the night, dont forget to print off and bring along your membership card (which can be downloaded by logging onto the website).

CALL FOR FRONT OF HOUSE

We will be running the front of house at Cottiers as we did at the Ramshorn Theatre. If you would like to help, please email STG at stgfrontofhouse@hotmail.co.uk and let us know which night you can do. Front of House duties are very straightforward and allow you to see the show for free but places are limited so please let us know as soon as possible.

FUTURE PRODUCTIONS COMMITTEE

The Future Productions Committee has been working hard to ensure theres a full programme of events for the 2011 12 season. As you know, our first production is The Crucible by Arthur Miller at The Cottiers Theatre in November. Its taking time to arrange other shows and confirm venues, but we hope to have another production before Christmas, a smaller festive event and were still hoping to have at least 3 or 4 productions in the first half of next year. Shows under consideration include Romance by David Mamet and Abigails Party by Mike Leigh, The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood and Agamemnon by Aeschylus. We will soon have definite dates to announce for Still Game by Greg Hemphill, and Shakespeares Coriolanus, part of the RSCs Open Stages season. The Future Production Committee welcome proposals for new productions at any time. If theres a show youd like us to consider, if theres a show youd like to direct, or if you have an idea for any other kind of event please get in touch via strathclydetheatregroup@hotmail.co.uk

STRATHCLYDE THEATRE GROUP - CLUB NIGHTS

Our next Club night will be on Thursday 27th October from 7.30pm at the Basement Club of the Brunswick Hotel. STG Club Nights include an element of relaxed and informal performance, but this is also an opportunity for members and friends of STG to meet, socialise, network and generally catch up on everything thats happening. If you are a member of STG and would like to propose a performance piece for Octobers Club Night (or a future Club Night) please contact Erica Kate ONeill at ericafirefly@hotmail.com . This is a platform to show off anything youre working on, to try out a monologue/duologue/sketch/scene basically anything! Each month we showcase a few short performances before giving the evening over to socialising and networking. For this month we would particularly welcome anything with a Halloween or horror theme (some of the cast of The Crucible may also perform a small snippet linked to the production). In addition, and despite the fact that they will be busy working towards the next round of the Stagestruck competition, were hoping to persuade Bruce Downie and co to perform their quarter final winning scene from the Cherry Orchard.

MEMBERSHIP OF STG
To check the status of your membership (and to print off your membership notification) you simply need to log back on to the website www.strathclydetheatregroup.co.uk When you first registered, your valid to date is set at 01/08/2011 but this will be updated to 2012 as soon as your subscription payment has been verified. For those who have paid their subs, but whose membership still hasnt been changed to 2012, please bear with us. We had some problems with our online banking registration and werent able to access our account as regularly as we needed to. That has now been rectified, so if you paid your subs but have not yet had your membership valid to date rolled over to 2012, please get in touch at strathclydetheatregroup@hotmail.co.uk

HOW TO GET MORE INVOLVED IN STG ACTIVITIES

Were obviously still finding our feet as a new independent company, but a range of activities are already emerging that will need managed on an on-going basis. In particular, we need people to help out with marketing and advertising, we need people to come forward to suggest ideas for, and become involved in, fundraising activities and we will need a wider pool of people to draw on for ticket sales activities. Despite all the wonderful opportunities opening up for STG at the moment, the Group is being held together by a very small group of people and when their energy levels dip (as they must) we need to ensure there are plenty of people around to take up the slack. STG was never a group simply about amateur dramatics or acting we have always emphasised the central importance of backstage and front of house activities, without which no member would be able to tread the boards. However, unlike before, we now need to diversify and learn new skills in a variety of different areas or STG will not survive. If you are passionate about the Group and you have time to spare (daytime, evening or weekend) please get in touch and let us know what you think you could do for your STG. Remember, we no longer have access to the support and direction of paid University staff like Susan and Sylvia everything we do now has to come from us, as a group. Putting on shows in the future will only be possible if we come together now and work as a collective and if we do, STG is poised to go from strength to strength.

CONTACTING STRATHCLYDE THEATRE GROUP

To contact STG, please send an e- mail to strathclydetheatregroup@hotmail.co.uk