Amateur Dramatics

Mamma Mia! Can you help Charlton’s newest drama group put on the Abba musical?

Darryl Chamberlain1 Comment
Charlton Assembly Rooms
Charlton Assembly Rooms (photo: Neil Clasper)

The Charlton Assembly Rooms is the new home of SE7’s newest drama group – The Charlton Village Players.

Founded by Gwen Zammit – who campaigned to save the Assembly Rooms in the 1970s – the group has been set up to raise money for community projects.

Its debut production will be Mamma Mia! – with all profits going to the fund to restore Charlton House’s roof.

But they need lots of volunteers when the show takes place in November. They need people to help as stage workers (they have a stage manager), putting up the lighting, make-up, costumes, arranging chairs, providing refreshments, making bookings, collecting tickets at the door, showing customers to their seats, and more besides.

Once the volunteers are in place, auditions will take place so rehearsals can begin.

Can you help? Email Gwen on gwenzammit[at]yahoo.co.uk.

Just down the hill, another amateur dramatics group, the Alexandra Players are back in action this week, with tickets for An Evening with the Alexandra Players on sale now.

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An Evening with the Alexandra Players: Drama returns to Charlton after lockdown

Neil Clasper

News in from local amateur dramatics group THE ALEXANDRA PLAYERS as they return to the stage this week:

Come and support your fabulous local amateur dramatics group on their first show post-lockdown!

From Wednesday 28th – Saturday 31st July 2021, we will be bringing to you 4 fabulous evenings of entertainment. Tickets £10 and will include a drink for your refreshment and a programme. Curtain up at 7.45pm (Doors open at 7.15pm).

CAST INCLUDES ALL YOUR REGULAR FAVOURITES
Keith Hartley, Sue McGeehan, Jackie Hartley, Alex Parker, Adam Alexander, Roy Moore, Mark Higgins, Emma Hickey, Liz Moss, Deborah Pike, Janet Sweet and Louise Gaul

Although Covid restrictions have been eased, for your comfort and safety – the hall will be at half capacity (only 40 tickets will be available for each performance) and we will unfortunately be unable to accept cash or sell tickets for this production on the door. Seats in the hall will be arranged to accommodate bubbles and so tickets must be bought online and in advance so that we know exactly how many people will be in attendance.

The box office is now open – call 07889 782 819 to book your tickets.

PLEASE SUPPORT THE CHARLTON CHAMPION

We tell the SE7 stories you won’t read elsewhere. And we’ll do the others better than anyone else. We can’t do it without your help.
– Please tell us about your news and events
– Become a monthly supporter at presspatron.com/charltonchampion
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The Alexandra Players present Harvey by Mary Chase

Neil Clasper

Alexandra Players poster for Harvey

News in from Charlton’s amateur theatre group, The Alexandra Players, of their latest production:

We are thrilled to announce that to continue our successful run of bringing Broadway/West End theatre shows to the borough: our next production will be HARVEY by Mary Chase.

Mary Chase introduced HARVEY to the world in 1944. It was a huge success and in 1945, it received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The play ran for 5 years on Broadway and was also enjoyed by audiences in the West End when the production came to the Prince of Wales Theatre, London in 1949.2019 marks the play’s 75th anniversary.

Many will recount the unbeatable portrayal of Elwood. P Dowd in the movie by American Actor, James Stewart – one of the most honoured and popular stars in film history.  The actor even revisited the part, some years after the 1949 theatrical production in London and the movie in 1950 – by playing the character once again in the West-End revival that returned to London in 1975.

For those unfamiliar with the film or play, it tells the tale of Elwood P. Dowd – a gentle but wealthy drunk who starts having visions of a giant rabbit named Harvey. Elwood lives with his sister Veta-Louise and her daughter, Myrtle Mae. Veta worries that Elwood has gone insane and in the process of trying to have Elwood committed, admits that she too occasionally sees Harvey herself. The director of the Sanatorium – Dr. Chumley, tries to reconcile his duty to help Elwood with his own growing experiences with Harvey.

Directed by Louise Gaul – HARVEY features many familiar faces from The Alexandra Players.

HARVEY is the last production in The Alexandra Players programme for 2019 and will be performed at The Alexandra Hall on Bramshot Avenue.
The play opens on Wednesday 23rd October for 4 nights only and the box office opened on Sunday 15th September 2019.
Tickets cost £10 and £8 for Concessions.
You can book your tickets right now via the WHAT’S ON page on our website, by sending us an email – alexandraplayers@gmail.com – or by calling/texting your request to us on 07867 627 987

PLEASE SUPPORT THE CHARLTON CHAMPION

We tell the SE7 stories you won’t read elsewhere. We can’t do it without your help.
– Please tell us about your news and events
– NEW! Become a monthly supporter at presspatron.com/charltonchampion
– Advertise your business with us from just £9.80/per week
– Donate to our running costs at paypal.me/charltonchampion

‘Oh What A Lovely War’: The Alexandra Players return with October half-term show

Neil Clasper
Alexandra Players Oh What A Lovely War Poster
News in from Charlton’s amateur dramatics group about their upcoming production:
The Alexandra Players are delighted to present “Oh What A Lovely War” in support of The British Legion’s #ThankYou100 campaign. Through the sale of poppies, we hope to raise money for the charity and provide our audiences with 4 nights of acting and entertainment in October.
Oh What A Lovely War
A chronicle of the First World War, told through songs and documents in the form of a seaside pierrot entertainment of the period, was devised and presented by Joan Littlewood’s Theatre Workshop at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East, London, in 1963. It was the result of close co-operation between writer, actors and director, where the whole team participated in detailed research into the period and in the creative task of bringing their material to life in theatrical terms. It won the acclaim of audiences and critics and the Grand Prix of the Theatre des Nations festival in Paris in 1963 and has become a classic of the modern theatre.
8pm, Wednesday 24th – Saturday 27th October 2018 (Doors open at 7.30pm)
Tickets:  Seats £9 Concessions £8
Venue: The Alexandra Hall, Bramshot Avenue, Charlton, SE7 7HY
 To book tickets: 07867 627 987 | alexandraplayers[at]gmail.com | www.alexandraplayers.org.uk

A Murder Is Announced: The Alexandra Players bring Miss Marple to Charlton

Neil Clasper

Alexandra Players poster - a murder is announced

The Alexandra Players are back at Bramshot Hall at the end of the month with their latest production, Agatha Christie’s A Murder Is Announced:

“An announcement in the local paper states the time and place of a murder to occur. When the victim falls, Miss Marple is on hand to provide the final solution”. 

8pm, Wednesday 30th May – Saturday 2nd June 2018. Doors open at 7.30pm. 

Seats £9 Concessions £8.

Book online, by text, phone or email:

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The Alexandra Players bring Sir Alan Ayckbourn’s ‘Season’s Greetings’ to Charlton

Neil Clasper

The Alexandra Players return to the Alexandra Hall on Bramshot Avenue at the end of this month with a production of Season’s Greetings, written by Sir Alan Ayckbourn. The play, directed by Juliette Harrison, runs from Wednesday 25th to Saturday 28th October. Tickets will be available on the door, or you can book or reserve tickets online, by email, text or phone on 07867 627987.

‘Black Comedy’ and ‘Who Calls’: The Alexandra Players celebrate 60 years of amateur dramatics in Charlton

Neil Clasper

News in from Charlton’s Alexandra Players – celebrating their 60th year in 2017 – of a new production of two one-act plays…

Wednesday 31st May – Saturday 3rd June 2017
8pm (Doors open 7.30pm)
Seats £9 Concessions £8

BLACK COMEDY | Written By Peter Shaffer | Directed By Keith Hartley
CAST | Hereward Cruttwell Reade, Lizzy Todd, Janet Sweet, Roy Moore, Mark Higgins, Alex Parker & Andrew Spence

Lovesick and desperate, sculptor Brindlsey Miller has embellished his apartment with furniture and objects d’arte “borrowed” from the absent antique collector next door hoping to impress his fiancee’s pompous father and a wealthy art dealer, Schuppanzigh. The fussy neighbour, Harold Gorringe returns just as a blown fuse plunges the apartment into darkness and Brindsley is revealed, teetering on the verge of very ripe farce. Unexpected guests, aging spinsters, errant phone cords and other snares impede his frantic attempts to return the purloined items before light is restored.

WHO CALLS? | Written By David Campton | Directed By Janet Denne
CAST | Juliette Harrison, Clare Sweetapple, Sue McGeehan, Rose Bayley, Katie Melani & Jackie Hartley

In the kitchen of a large Victorian house, four servants sit solemnly in the evening gloom. Upstairs, a midwife attends to the laying-out of their mistress, who has died suddenly, sitting in front of a mirror, adorned with all her jewellery. Mrs Abernethy, the housekeeper, and Lane, the Mistress’s personal maid, are supposed to have listed and locked away all this jewellery, but when Twilley, the maid of all work, finds a diamond ring on the floor, Cook realises that they have appropriated some of the jewellery for themselves and demands a share. Reluctantly, they agree, but then the bell in the Mistress’s room rings. The servants stare at the line of bells in disbelief and mountain apprehension – the midwife has gone, her duty done, and all the servants are in the kitchen – so who calls?

You can book or reserve your tickets online, by email, text or phone
www.alexandraplayers.org.uk
alexandraplayers@gmail.com
07867 627987