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Ready to Play?!

‘The Play’s the thing’ said Hamlet. Annie followed this quote by several others which I can’t remember. We all pulled up a chair and sat expectantly, looking at her like baby birds waiting for a worm. ‘You’ve all indicated that you would like to be on the stage’ she said, and looked around at us all; experienced; not so experienced and new- all that potential in one space. It would be reasonable to expect that we were all attending an Actor’s workshop, a crash course in stage craft, right?
Well, no, actually. ‘This is not an acting workshop’ said Annie. If our subtitles were on you would have seen a series of question marks above everyone’s heads. 
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The Perfect Murder

And so, another ETC performance has been put to bed. A Perfect Murder by Jeffrey Archer was my fourth outing as an actor and I feel a bit as if I am
starting to know what I’m doing. Radio Plays are things of wonder; you get to have your script…on stage! What could go wrong??? Well, clutching your script, like a well worn comfort blanket, is no guarantee that hilarious ‘bloopers’ won’t happen. ‘Hello Ian’ said Tim, as he confidently strode on stage. Errr, Ian, for the purposes of this play was now John, a cheating husband and all round cad, as unlike our lovely Ian as its hard to imagine!
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An audience view of The Perfect Murder

Most of the blogs you may read here are from an insider’s view, that of a set engineer, actor or backstage crew. But this time the blog comes from a member of the audience, the paying public if you wish. I went to the ETC’s radio play performance of The Perfect Murder at the delightful Salle des Fêtes at Cazaux Villecomtal. If you turn up before the door opening time there appears to be a strict protocol. You’re totally ignored and the door is kept locked whilst, seemingly, the entire ETC is scurrying around inside on last minute tasks, revising lines or just simply panicking.

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The Perfect Murder Radio Play and Sunday Roast

A brutal death, misdirection, a bunch of roses…this production really has it all!  I sat there transfixed as I attended my first practice. Deliberately not googling who did it in this 'whodunnit' meant I was as in the dark as the audience will be on Sunday. I tell you, I was feeling such a  build up of menace! 

I’ve not been to a radio play before, let alone been in one and I’m really looking forward to our first  performance on Sunday. I am also looking forward to the Roast dinner that comes half way  through the play and overhearing people’s theories as I deliver the crumble. 

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The year has turned and Spring is in the air.

The magnolias, mimosas and daffies are in flower and plans are afoot for the ETC’s next
production. This grumpy old Crofter hasn’t even recovered yet from The 39 Steps and he
only had a very small role to play. Chapeau to the four main actors. Impressive
performances by them all.
But let’s reminisce for a moment.
The props and set for that production were seemingly endless meaning that backstage
was an almost organised, almost silent, dimly lit chaos, full of backstage crew and
incredibly cramped. After my first appearance on-stage where I eventually stomped off
saying “Ah’ll see tae ma coos” (Translated into English as “I will attend to the well-being
and nutritional requirements of my prizewinning herd of pedigree Highland cattle”) I located
my two square feet of changing space and attempted a swift change into my next set of
clothes.
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ETC’s greatest challenge (so far…)

At the beginning of 2024, a brave man suggested we put on Patrick Barlow’s comic
adaptation of The 39 Steps. Many thought it was too ambitious but our minds were brought
round to taking on the challenge. It is a very complex production with seemingly thousands
of props, of varying sizes, and a host of sound and lighting cues. In other words, not
suitable for village halls. So theatres were sought and found – Le Lalano at Lalanne-Trie
(near Trie-sur-Baïse) and the Salle de la Comédie at Lectoure (not very near to ETC’s
base).
Performances were scheduled for November and the cast were given scripts in February.
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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

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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

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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