Blog Posts - englishtheatrecompany

Summer Revue final performance at Château Herrebouc

20/8/2017

The English Theatre Company is fortunate enough to own its own staging, lighting and sound systems so we have a ready made pop-up theatre. This enables us to stage events at many different venues. One such was the delightful Château Herrebouc near Saint-Jean-Poutge.
In their ancient wine chai with its stone pillars and massive chestnut beams and vast vats of wine we created a 70-seat theatre with a backdrop, Last Thursday, 17th August, we staged our final performance of a Summer Revue at the château. The performance lasted an hour and included many classic comedy sketches as well as several song and dance routines. The audience was treated to organic Herrebouc wine before the performance and a supper in the courtyard afterwards — again accompanied by wines from the domaine.
A good time was had by all!

Singing in the Rain . . .

1/7/2017

The first of our three Summer Revue performances is tomorrow at Sauveterre as part of the Café Matin Hog Roast (Sorry, sold out long ago). Hopefully if weather permits the whole event will be under the shade of the plane trees by Sauveterre's Salle des Fêtes. If not, it will be indoors. Part of the Company were rehearsing earlier — in the rain. Our other two venues will be confirmed shortly and Friends of the English Theatre Company will be emailed with details as soon as they are known.

Beyond the final curtain

30/5/2017

Our final performance of Absurd Person Singular was on Sunday 28th May in sweltering heat. As the final Act took place on Christmas Eve in a freezing cold kitchen all the actors were wearing wooly jumpers, hats, coats and scarves. Under the combined heat of 10,000 watts of stage lighting it was like a sauna, but as they say, if you can't stand the heat stay out of the kitchen.
Our troupe of actors enjoyed their time in the three different kitchens and were all sorry to come to the end of our successful run. We move on now to a Summer Revue on July 2nd (Sorry, Sold Out) and will be announcing additional venues soon.
In the meantime, our abiding memory of Absurd Person Singular will be of Maggie Crane playing the part of Jane Hopcroft locked out of her own kitchen in the pouring rain.

Absurd Person hits the road

9/5/2017

Our first major production, Absurd Person Singular, opened at La Salle de la Comédie in Lectoure on Saturday 6th May and played to two very enthusiastic audiences. There were gasps from the audience at the apparent electrocution scene and roars of laughter when one of the players was 'accidentally' drenched.
As people filed down the stairs after the performances they were all smiles and made many lovely comments.
Many thanks to those that contacted us after the show with comments and praise:
Enjoyed the play immensely. Last saw it in London and had forgotten how funny it is. Great cast too! (SM. Lectoure)
Chapeau! Set, costumes, stage crew and cast. Well done! (AN. St. Arailles)
Hilarious! Brilliant production. (MW. Fleurance)
Fabulously funny play, well done folks it was such a brilliant evening. (JL. Larroque St Sernin)
Outstanding performances from all your cast. (TL. Nérac)
Brilliant night in Lectoure — Absurd Person Singular, very funny, very talented actors. I can highly recommend it. (MS Caillavet)
We were there on Sunday and thoroughly enjoyed it. Make sure you don't miss it on 27th & 28th! (EB. La Sauvetat)

Absurd Person Singular is ready to roll

26/4/2017

In the last few days we have received our brand new sound equipment — professional standard theatre speakers, along with a multi-channel mixing desk and dmx cabling. Our English Theatre Company polo shirts are due any day and the programme has gone to print.

Rehearsals are at that last-minute polishing stage and the set is all but ready. Today's rehearsal was the first time we used water for the 'accidental' drenching of one of the characters. Another of the characters also has to get soaked so we had much fun at their expense.

If our audiences enjoy the show half as much as the cast and crew have enjoyed the rehearsals then everyone is in for a treat.

We still have some tickets available for Lectoure on 6th and 7th May, but Maubourguet is all but sold out for both nights 27th and 28th May.

If you have not yet booked you had better get your skates on!

Tickets available via info@engliishtheatrecompany32.fr or call our Box Office hotline on 05 62 67 12 99.

Below: The cast of Absurd Person Singular are ready to entertain you.

The final performances of our springtime Radio Plays

4/4/2017

Once again our two radio plays were performed to a packed house — this time in Condom.
Our stage crew turned up at the salle de réunion at the Hotel Continental just after lunch on Saturday 1st April and assembled our travelling stage, set up our own lighting system and wired the room for sound. By 5pm all 55 seats were set out in front of the stage, the lighting check and sound checks had been completed and there was just time for a warm-up run-through of Dad's Army before our guests arrived.
The programme started with A King's Speech by Mark Burgess, once again the performance touched the audience and there were many moist eyes as the house lights went up at the end.
We all then crossed to the hotel's restaurant for a meal. Afterwards it was back to the salle de réunion for Dad's Army. The wine had been flowing over dinner so as the familiar theme tune started up the entire audience sang along — they even knew the words to the lesser-known verses. Once we could quieten the audience down we launched into Dad's Army. The chosen episode, Mum's Army, had first been broadcast in 1970 and it was one of the most poignant episodes of the entire series. The audience laughed in all the right places and there was a big sympathetic "aaaaahhh" at the end when Captain Mainwaring waved goodbye from a railway platform at Warmington-on-Sea as his new-found lady-friend disappeared into the distance on the London train.
The audience left with smiles on their faces, the crew dismantled the stage, put away the lights, packed up the sound gear and we all returned home with fond memories of the English Theatre Company's first production.Next up, Absurd Person Singular at Lectoure on 6th & 7th May.

An interview with Mark Burgess, author of 'A King's Speech'

16/3/2017

ETC: What inspired you to write A King's Speech?
MB: I've written many plays for BBC Radio 4 and hope to write many more. As such, I am always trying to think of suitable topics that could make for an entertaining 45 minute drama. I invariably write about about real historical people at crucial moments in their lives and like to treat the play as an intimate snapshot of that life. Initially I had the idea to do something about a famous political speech, to dramatise the construction and writing of it, be it by the politician or their speechwriter. However, as a lifelong monarchist I'd always been very aware of the stammering issues suffered by King George VI and was surprised no one had written a play specifically about it before. So, I combined my interests in both the Royal Family and the spoken word and chose to write what became 'A King's Speech'. On paper the play is essentially about one man tirelessly preparing to deliver a speech, but, of course, it's about so much more than just that.

ETC: What research materials did you draw on?
MB: There is, of course, a wealth of biographical detail about George VI and I was also able to look at YouTube footage of him. However, very little had been written about Lionel Logue at that time so I had to take the known facts of his life and let my imagination do the rest. Online research is invaluable but one must make every effort to cross-reference and double-check all information presented as 'fact'.

ETC: When our company staged A King's Speech in front of live audiences most of the players and much of the audience were moved to tears. As a writer what brings you the most satisfaction making people laugh or cry?
MB: I'm so touched that the play moved audiences and actors alike. This would not have happened had the ETC actors not been as convincing in their rôles as they obviously were. In general terms, and if I had to choose, I probably prefer to make people laugh. Perhaps I can be allowed to say that as an actor I prefer to make people laugh and as a writer I'd rather they experienced the opposite emotion. As a side issue, I've always believed a good comedic actor has the ability to play tragedy well but it doesn't always work as successfully the other way round. I'm never quite sure about actors who can't do comedy!

ETC: As well as being a prolific playwright you have played many rôles on stage. Does the fact you are an actor help with writing a play?
MB: Yes. Without question. Obviously I write for an audience but before that it has to be for the actors. Having performed in many very different plays I know exactly what actors ideally want from a part. So even if I'm writing for a character who's not on stage much I'll still invest the part with something the actor can get their teeth into; a laugh line or important piece of plot development etc.

ETC: Finally, and on a completely different subject, I know you are a Chelsea supporter. How much are you enjoying their current success?
MB: I started supporting Chelsea during the FA Cup run that ultimately ended with their victory in 1970. Bonetti, Harris, Osgood, Hollins and Cooke. Sexton managing. I'd never have imagined it would be another 27 years before we'd win it again! Delighted with how things are going at present under Conte and am hopeful that Chelsea, as Premiership Champions, will be playing Brighton next season having lived in the city for nearly 35 years. All time favourite CFC players include Bonetti, Gullit, Hoddle, Zola, Vialli, Dixon, Petrescu, Nevin, Desailly, Osgood, Wise and Terry.

Absurd Person Singular to be staged in Maubourguet

23/2/2017

We are delighted to announce we now have dates for two more performances of Absurd Person Singular.
As well as May 6th and 7th in Lectoure, we now have the delightful theatre Les Sept Chandelles in Maubourguet booked for performances on May 27th and May 28th. Our box office is now open for all performances.
Pictured is our cast in rehearsal.

Absurd Person Singular

16/2/2017

We had great fun at rehearsal today. Working with such a superb script is a joy and Alan Ayckbourn manages to weave so many hilarious moves through his clever words, particularly in Act II, that the cast were in stitches.

It is so much fun ! And if the cast are enjoying it this much, we're pretty sure the audiences will love it too.

The Box Office is not open yet, but there is a way to make advance bookings — click on our Friends page.

We look forward to seeing you in Lectoure in early May !

With the author's help

14/2/2017

The radio play rehearsals are fun. I'm enjoying hearing people use different voices to play multiple characters. And now we're beginning to give the radio scripts some movement by choreographing the actors to move between the two microphones to show that scenes happen in different places.

Creating the scripts for the actors to use has been interesting. There is a proper format for radio plays that's different to a normal stage play or television drama. A radio script is usually printed in large type with plenty of space between the lines, so that there's lots of white space on the page to make it easy for the actors to read.

The Dad's Army script was the television version and therefore printed in much smaller type so it had to be scaled up for easier 'live' us by the actors.

By contrast the script for A King's Speech was easy as it came in standard radio play format. I had so much help from Mark Burgess, who wrote the original script for the BBC Radio Four. Mark sent me ... by special next-day delivery! ... the exact script as used by the BBC, all ready to go in radio format. Thank you, Mark, the actors really appreciated that.

Dave Barney