November 1997:
"The Business of Murder" by Richard Harris
Cast:
Paul Day, David Morgan and Tricia Tomlinson-Schmid
Directed by Patricia Peggs
Synopsis:
This is a psychological thriller on the theme of revenge. Dee, a successful TV playwright, arrives at Stone's flat, having accepted an invitation to discuss a script his wife has written. She is rather surprised when Detective Superintendent Hallett, with whom she is having an affair, also arrives, apparently to investigate a matter concerning Stone's son and his involvement with a drugs' ring.Stone's intentions become clear as he slowly reveals the precise nature of the trio's relationship. It seems that, in their own way, all three are very much concerned with the business of murder.
Paul Day, David Morgan and Tricia Tomlinson-Schmid
Directed by Patricia Peggs
Synopsis:
This is a psychological thriller on the theme of revenge. Dee, a successful TV playwright, arrives at Stone's flat, having accepted an invitation to discuss a script his wife has written. She is rather surprised when Detective Superintendent Hallett, with whom she is having an affair, also arrives, apparently to investigate a matter concerning Stone's son and his involvement with a drugs' ring.Stone's intentions become clear as he slowly reveals the precise nature of the trio's relationship. It seems that, in their own way, all three are very much concerned with the business of murder.
September 1997:
Theater STOK Production of 2 One-Act Plays
"Parentcraft" by Stephen Smith
Cast:
Pam Willerton, Alydia Seidell, Martin Russell, Susi Bott and Ursula Reist
Directed by Richard Baker.
Synopsis: The play takes place in an ante-natal class in contemporary provincial England. Four mothers-to-be (and one father-to-be) arrive to attend class. However the midwife is too busy to address the group, so the five characters are left to chat amongst themselves. An often hilarious conversation proceeds and unpalatable secrets about each character are in turn revealed.
"Too Long an Autumn" by Jimmie Chinn
Cast:
Annie Fuchs, Michael Rutman, Annabel Garneau, Carole Schwitter, John Gysin, Sheila von Arx and Terry Menard
Directed by David Morgan.
Synopsis:
Long Autumn, appropriately named, is a retirement home for theatricals in the autumn of their lives, where euphemism reigns supreme together with a firm belief that elderly equals senile. Into their midst is flung Maisie May, a former music-hall star, too much of a burden for her strait-laced son and daughter-in-law, who do not find Maisie amusing. Maisie and Long Autumn are just beginning to get on each other's nerves, when a breezy impresario arrives....
Cast:
Pam Willerton, Alydia Seidell, Martin Russell, Susi Bott and Ursula Reist
Directed by Richard Baker.
Synopsis: The play takes place in an ante-natal class in contemporary provincial England. Four mothers-to-be (and one father-to-be) arrive to attend class. However the midwife is too busy to address the group, so the five characters are left to chat amongst themselves. An often hilarious conversation proceeds and unpalatable secrets about each character are in turn revealed.
"Too Long an Autumn" by Jimmie Chinn
Cast:
Annie Fuchs, Michael Rutman, Annabel Garneau, Carole Schwitter, John Gysin, Sheila von Arx and Terry Menard
Directed by David Morgan.
Synopsis:
Long Autumn, appropriately named, is a retirement home for theatricals in the autumn of their lives, where euphemism reigns supreme together with a firm belief that elderly equals senile. Into their midst is flung Maisie May, a former music-hall star, too much of a burden for her strait-laced son and daughter-in-law, who do not find Maisie amusing. Maisie and Long Autumn are just beginning to get on each other's nerves, when a breezy impresario arrives....
May 1997:
"Time of My Life" by Alan Ayckbourn
Cast:
Annabel and Denis Garneau, Joan and Alan Bridgman, Sylvia Lynch and David Hera, Bill Johnston
Directed by Annie Fuchs
Synopsis:
In the opening scene, Gerry Stratton, a self-made businessman, has organised a small family dinner with his sons Glyn and Adam at his favourite restaurant, to celebrate his wife Laura's fifty-fourth birthday. Glyn, who has been brought up to take over the family business, is with his long-suffering wife Stephanie. Their marriage seems to be on firmer ground than it once was. Adam, Glyn's younger brother, who is the apple of his mother's eye and a sensitive boy, has brought along his new girlfriend, Maureen, an outrageous hairdresser and they are both eager to impress.The title "Time of My Life" is a reference to the way Ayckbourn manipulates time in the play. The ensuing scenes between Glyn and Stephanie take place after the dinner party and go forward in time, whereas the scenes between Adam and Maureen take place before the dinner party and go backward in time.
The dinner party seems to depict a happy domestic scene but as the play progresses we are gradually made aware of the family skeletons ...... As in all of Ayckbourn's plays, the comedy has an underlying seriousness. The Times described the play as " .... funny, very funny, and not at all funny: quintessentially Ayckbourn".
Annabel and Denis Garneau, Joan and Alan Bridgman, Sylvia Lynch and David Hera, Bill Johnston
Directed by Annie Fuchs
Synopsis:
In the opening scene, Gerry Stratton, a self-made businessman, has organised a small family dinner with his sons Glyn and Adam at his favourite restaurant, to celebrate his wife Laura's fifty-fourth birthday. Glyn, who has been brought up to take over the family business, is with his long-suffering wife Stephanie. Their marriage seems to be on firmer ground than it once was. Adam, Glyn's younger brother, who is the apple of his mother's eye and a sensitive boy, has brought along his new girlfriend, Maureen, an outrageous hairdresser and they are both eager to impress.The title "Time of My Life" is a reference to the way Ayckbourn manipulates time in the play. The ensuing scenes between Glyn and Stephanie take place after the dinner party and go forward in time, whereas the scenes between Adam and Maureen take place before the dinner party and go backward in time.
The dinner party seems to depict a happy domestic scene but as the play progresses we are gradually made aware of the family skeletons ...... As in all of Ayckbourn's plays, the comedy has an underlying seriousness. The Times described the play as " .... funny, very funny, and not at all funny: quintessentially Ayckbourn".
November 1996:
"Much Ado About Nothing" by William Shakespeare
Cast:
Chris Eusebio, Barbara Evans, David Morgan, Terry Menard, Ales Král and Paul Day
Directed by Clive Greaves and John Evans
Synopsis:
One of Shakespeare's best known romantic comedies; fast-paced, full of wit and word-play, intrigue and envy, "Much Ado about Nothing" has, in Beatrice and Benedick, charcters who delight with the thrust and parry of their lines. They are balanced by the brooding malice of Don John and his plot to wreck the happiness of the young lovers, Claudio and Hero, and the comic ineptitude of Dogberry and his companions.The whole action takes place in Sicily, in an atmosphere of sunshine and revelry, and the play was described by Swinburne (the poet) in 1880 thus: "For absolute power of composition, for faultless balance and blameless rectitude of design, there is unquestionably no creation of his hand that will bear comparison with Much Ado about Nothing". The play has been popularised by the film version (directed by Kenneth Branagh) and this Comedy Club production in traditional style, with original music and staged to bring the action close to the audience, made the play very approachable for all.
Chris Eusebio, Barbara Evans, David Morgan, Terry Menard, Ales Král and Paul Day
Directed by Clive Greaves and John Evans
Synopsis:
One of Shakespeare's best known romantic comedies; fast-paced, full of wit and word-play, intrigue and envy, "Much Ado about Nothing" has, in Beatrice and Benedick, charcters who delight with the thrust and parry of their lines. They are balanced by the brooding malice of Don John and his plot to wreck the happiness of the young lovers, Claudio and Hero, and the comic ineptitude of Dogberry and his companions.The whole action takes place in Sicily, in an atmosphere of sunshine and revelry, and the play was described by Swinburne (the poet) in 1880 thus: "For absolute power of composition, for faultless balance and blameless rectitude of design, there is unquestionably no creation of his hand that will bear comparison with Much Ado about Nothing". The play has been popularised by the film version (directed by Kenneth Branagh) and this Comedy Club production in traditional style, with original music and staged to bring the action close to the audience, made the play very approachable for all.
May-June 1996:
"Lettice and Lovage" by Peter Shaffer
Cast:
Patricia Peggs, Valery Niggli, Sheila von Arx and Richard Baker
Directed by Lynda Klomann
Synopsis:
Daughter of an actress who toured France with an all female company playing Shakespeare's history play, Lettice Douffet has inherited her mother's theatricality and eccentricity. Employed as a guide round a shabby stately home, she enlivens its history with the own overimaginative fantasies, until she is caught in the act and promptly sacked.
Back in her basement flat in London, she is visited by the stiff and formal Preservation Trust official who fired her. An unlikely friendship develops as the two women discover that they both hate modern architecture, and stern, sensible Lotte is drawn into Lettice's world of historical romance.
Patricia Peggs, Valery Niggli, Sheila von Arx and Richard Baker
Directed by Lynda Klomann
Synopsis:
Daughter of an actress who toured France with an all female company playing Shakespeare's history play, Lettice Douffet has inherited her mother's theatricality and eccentricity. Employed as a guide round a shabby stately home, she enlivens its history with the own overimaginative fantasies, until she is caught in the act and promptly sacked.
Back in her basement flat in London, she is visited by the stiff and formal Preservation Trust official who fired her. An unlikely friendship develops as the two women discover that they both hate modern architecture, and stern, sensible Lotte is drawn into Lettice's world of historical romance.
