The 39 Steps: Rehearsals are nearly at the finish line

Way back in the far distant past, way further back than a mere whisky-addled old Scotsman can remember, the solution to “what does the English Theatre Company do next?” was starting to bubble to the surface.
After leaving this brew to simmer quietly and mature the resultant distillation was obtained, approved and bottled. It was then sold in the New Year to prospective cast members who were invited to turn up in mid-march for auditions to “The 39 Steps” — one of the longest running comedies in London’s West End.
Now then, auditions are strange happenings. After being told what we were going to be doing next and what roles needed filling we were supposed to be able to choose our possible character from the cast list.
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September Play Reading


An enthusiastic Ian had explained to the 5 volunteers, that we were going to perform a play-within-a-play in the style of ‘The Play That Goes Wrong’. None of us realized how true that was going to be! We were cast to play as the hapless but devoted members of the Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen’s Guild Dramatic Society who ambitiously would each take on several roles to perform ‘Murder at Checkmate Manor’ where everything ends up going haywire.

Jenny was cast as Felicity who played the part of Pawn and Colonel King. Unfortunately after a bad fall, she had to drop out.… Read the rest

Latest news

Why not pour yourself a cold drink and escape this sweltering weather for a moment to sit in the cool and read the latest ETC news starting with a great blog from Chris……

Party Pieces A now traditional summer get-together, eagerly looked forward to by us all; members, family and friends alike. A beautiful, sunny and warm afternoon saw us all lounging on Phil’s lovely patio with the Pyrenees reflected in the shimmering surface of his immaculate swimming pool. We’d almost rehearsed our little individual sketches but, forgoing our usual professional approach to line learning, none of us were really bothered if we knew the lines or not.… Read the rest

Cissy’s Swan Song

I act normal, look normal (for me) and am doing all the things I normally do, but I feel very different inside. Preparing for Quartet has taken up so much of my energy and time and to suddenly be the other side of this extraordinary experience is odd, to say the least.

I feel relieved I can lay down the heavy weight of my lines. There is suddenly space inside my head for thoughts, time on my hands to read books, a comfy sofa to lounge on to catch up with Netflix and yet….
I miss Cissy!

By the end of the run I really ‘got’ her and liked her.… Read the rest

The day after the night before

Once a performance is completed it is time to tear down the set, clean the theatre from top to bottom and return the Salle des Fêtes to its regular, unadorned, clean and tidy state.
This process is called the strike, and it is an important part of the theatrical process. In professional theatre, the strike is handled by specific crew members, but in amateur theatre like the ETC everyone is called on to help!
It’s natural that after the final performance the actors will be eager to get to the bar and bathe in the glory of a great show. So for the ETC we tend to do the strike the day after the performance.… Read the rest

Opening night nerves

Two days before our first performance of Quartet I forgot to go to choir. One day before, I forgot it was my sister’s birthday. It’s safe to say that I was a bundle of nerves. Scratch that, I was a sack, a trailer load of nerves! Ridiculous, I know. We have been rehearsing three times a week for weeks now and I, in the safety of my own space, am word perfect. The words might not all be in the right places, but they are there, in my head, embedded in my long-term memory.

I arrived at the theatre in Ste-Dode and admired the set, which is very pretty actually.… Read the rest

Sir Ronald Harwood author of Quartet

One of the great delights of acting, is bringing to life the written word. Allowing it to breathe, to move and to fulfil its destiny. The author is of course the start of it all.

So let’s take a peek at Ronald Harwood, or should I say Sir Ronald Harwood, the author of Quartet. He was born Ronald Horwitz in Capetown, South Africa in 1934 and came to Britain in 1951 to work in the theatre. He wanted to become an actor from a very young age and this steadfast ambition led him to study at Rada in London. He was married to Natasha Riehle, an assistant stage manager, in 1959.… Read the rest

Quartet in rehearsal by the English Theatre Company

If you asked someone who saw the 2012 film Quartet if they remembered it, you would see them pause for a moment and then they would say something like ‘Oh yes, that film about the retired opera singers! Then they would add: ‘yes, that one with Billy Connolly in!’ or they might remember it had Pauline Collins in, or Maggie Smith, but either way, they would remember the film fondly; and rightly so!

When I watched Quartet, I couldn’t work out how a film with a huge cast could be shoe -horned into a play with only four people, but it really does work!… Read the rest

Quartet

Cecily, Reggie and Wifred, all famous opera singers in their day, are now spending their golden years in a comfortable retirement home for musicians.
Marmalade loving Reggie takes life very seriously. He is proud of the fact he is the only one who has paid for his lodgings. Cecily an ardent listener of music, totters through the French windows to spy on the gardener whenever he takes off his shirt. Wilfred is a roué with a one-track mind; more like a well fertilised dirt track. The three of them rub along pretty well, sharing their musical memories, until this comfortable existence is thrown into confusion by the arrival of Jean, another opera singer, once married to Reggie.… Read the rest

Chris’s Life Backstage

12/12/2023

The big day has come. We’re all backstage in the dark, in full dress just waiting, waiting, waiting, quietly revising our lines, whilst our audience arrives to enjoy their pre-performance drinks. Oh – how we could do with one right now! And then the stage lights come on. All goes quiet. Our Director goes on to make his opening announcements. But, wait a wee minute, he’s reading them from a sheet of paper. The cheek of it! He’s been bullying us into learning our lines and acting our parts for the last three months and he’s actually reading his announcement from a sheet of paper!… Read the rest