2025 AT A GLANCE
Please note that this picture is subject to change. Check The Details section below for the most up-to-date information.
Upcoming Events
9-12 Apr 2025: Spring Production "The Railway Children"
Fun for the whole family and we're offering a matinee too although no real steam trains.
30 Apr 2025: Character workshop
We'll be inviting Lyn back again to run another amazing workshop. Min attendees 8, Max 12
7 May 2025: Spring Social
An evening of fun and jollity at one of the local hostelries. We'll be there with the £5 notes again...
21 May 2025: Play Reading
Play and venue to be decided. Same plan as ever; head to someone's house to read a play, drink some wine and have some chat
2-5 Jul 2025: Summer Production
9 Jul 2025: Play Reading
Play and venue to be decided. Same plan as ever; head to someone's house to read a play, drink some wine and have some chat
10 August 2025: Annual BBQ
Here’s the way it works on Sunday 10 Aug. Ian very kindly lends us his house and garden and he also BBQs for us. Brilliant. Ian supplies green salad, potatoes, a fruit compote and another fruit dish and there may well be a cake too. We ask everyone to bring some starters/nibbles or maybe a salad? Thanks to the group subsidising the event, tickets for this fun day cost £2.50 each and they come in meat and vegetarian options. It’s always really good fun in the sun. Please buy tickets early so we know how many to cater for. Once they are available head to "tickets" above and buy your “BBQ Tickets”. Partners and friends welcome
13 Aug 2025: Play Reading
Play and venue to be decided. Same plan as ever; head to someone's house to read a play, drink some wine and have some chat
8-11 Oct 2025: Autumn Production
We'll need to update the calendar above but plan to do that soon
12 Nov 2025: Play Reading
Play and venue to be decided. Same plan as ever; head to someone's house to read a play, drink some wine and have some chat
9-13 Dec 2025: Panto time
Fun for the whole family and we're offering a matinee too although no real steam trains.
30 Apr 2025: Character workshop
We'll be inviting Lyn back again to run another amazing workshop. Min attendees 8, Max 12
7 May 2025: Spring Social
An evening of fun and jollity at one of the local hostelries. We'll be there with the £5 notes again...
21 May 2025: Play Reading
Play and venue to be decided. Same plan as ever; head to someone's house to read a play, drink some wine and have some chat
2-5 Jul 2025: Summer Production
9 Jul 2025: Play Reading
Play and venue to be decided. Same plan as ever; head to someone's house to read a play, drink some wine and have some chat
10 August 2025: Annual BBQ
Here’s the way it works on Sunday 10 Aug. Ian very kindly lends us his house and garden and he also BBQs for us. Brilliant. Ian supplies green salad, potatoes, a fruit compote and another fruit dish and there may well be a cake too. We ask everyone to bring some starters/nibbles or maybe a salad? Thanks to the group subsidising the event, tickets for this fun day cost £2.50 each and they come in meat and vegetarian options. It’s always really good fun in the sun. Please buy tickets early so we know how many to cater for. Once they are available head to "tickets" above and buy your “BBQ Tickets”. Partners and friends welcome
13 Aug 2025: Play Reading
Play and venue to be decided. Same plan as ever; head to someone's house to read a play, drink some wine and have some chat
8-11 Oct 2025: Autumn Production
We'll need to update the calendar above but plan to do that soon
12 Nov 2025: Play Reading
Play and venue to be decided. Same plan as ever; head to someone's house to read a play, drink some wine and have some chat
9-13 Dec 2025: Panto time
PAST EVENTS
19 Mar 2025: Play Reading
We'll be reading a few "Bite Sized Theatre" plays at Imogen's (21 Cambridge Road North, W4 4AA). We will choose plays we want to produce for the Summer show. Same plan as ever; head to someone's house to read, drink and be merry. Please remember to bring something for the table be it wine and/or nibbles.
12 Feb 2025: Voice workshop
At the hall from 7.30pm, £10 pp (up to 16 places only). Tickets available via the link up above; first come first serve.
LIN SAGOVSKY is a professional actor, voice artist and writer. Having trained at Manchester University and the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, and with years of experience in taking workshops. As an actor, amongst many roles, she’s appeared in Eastenders and The Crown, and has recently played two megalomaniac aliens, a featherbrained teacher, and a Time Lord in a Doctor Who audio drama.
FREEING YOUR VOICE:- An ability to project is only one aspect of many vocal attributes the actor needs in order to bring a performance to life with emotional credibility and narrative clarity. This workshop provides a whistle-stop tour of some of the others - breath, resonance, placing, articulation, range, pitch - and the way all those elements come together to underpin an individual interpretation of the lines.
We play with practical exercises - for the individual, pairs, and small groups - all of which help to provide this vital foundation, culminating in a group exercise that celebrates the joy of using the voice and its power in creating an environment and a story!
The paramount aim is always to make these classes fun as well as instructive!. We’ve got Lyn booked for a second workshop, in May, on Character. More nearer the time.
26 Jan 2025: Annual Dinner
And it is all off the Hole in the Wall for another great time. 26 orf us had a wonderful evening here. Paul and Seda took good care of us. Pity about the walk home in the rain though. Big thank you to Christine and Chris for sorting the evening out for for us.
22 Jan 2025: AGM
A review of all that was 2024 and a brief look at plans for 2025. Your new committee is:
Chris Hulatt - chair / Guy Fairbank - vice / Moira Reid - treasurer / Jo Harry - secretary / Arabella Harcourt-Cooze / David Burles / Vicki Belcher / Gareth Sammer
9 & 13 Jan 2025: Spring Auditions
It's all aboard for the Railway Children. Auditions at the hall from 8pm. No preparation necessary and plenty of parts to go round
10-14 Dec 2024: Panto time "Cinderella"
The last of our 75th anniversary shows and for the first time in 10 years - a new director, but still the same world-famous panto offering. Yes, Cinderella returns in a freshly re-written form complete with a magic transformation and that slipper, or quite a few slippers as it transpired. This sold out faster than a greased weasel. Time to look forward to next year's offering.
9 Oct 2024: Play Reading
We'll be reading "The Railway Children" and think we're all off to Imogen's gaff. Everyone is invited to the social occasion that these are. Turn up from 7.30pm for an 8pm kick off. Bring the tipple of your choice and maybe some nibbles too. As and when we know where we're going details and the play script will appear on this page. Friends welcome and SCRIPT here. Another big file folks so make sure you're on wifi.....
2-5 Oct 2024: Autumn Production "Harvey"
This Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy centres around Elwood P. Dowd, a good-natured, mild-mannered eccentric whose best friend is Harvey - an invisible, six-foot-tall, white rabbit. First staged in the UK in 1949, the same year St. Michael’s Players came into being, this charming play forms part of our 75th Anniversary celebrations.
Here are some words from director, Alastair Dewar: "Harvey has always been one of my very favourite films and its message to value people for who they are is still as relevant today as when it was written."
Cast:
Myrtle - Dina Fahmy
Veta - Vicki Belcher
Mrs Chauvenet - Sue Darrieulat
Eleanor (Elwood) - Allison DeFrees
Nurse Kelly - Alice Klapwyck
Dr Sanderson - Alex Jupp
Wilson - Darren Cheers
Dr Chumley - Chris Hulatt
Mrs Chumley - Alison Du Cane
Judge Gaffney - Gareth Sammer
Taxi Driver - Chris Jones
Harvey - Himself
16-19 Sep 2024: Panto Auditions
Yes, here it comes again. This is where the path to stardom in our world-famous panto starts. Turn up at the hall and head to the back room, making sure not to disturb the Harvey rehearsal ongoing in the main hall. No prep needed - just a happy disposition and an OMG what is this? attitude. And the audition script is HERE
4 Sep 2024: Workshop "Owning the Stage"
At the hall, Lyn Sagovsky will be running a workshop on "Owning the Stage/Relationship with space and others". Start at 7.30pm sharp
Thre is room of a minimum of 8 and a maximum of 16 (even numbers are best). First come first served. A fun-filled and amazing evening touching on entrances, posture its relation to your role (dominant, weak, etc), and involving the audience. A copy of the workshop given earlier this year for them what missed it. £5 per person as before. Please pay £5 into our account with your name as reference (ST MICHAEL'S PLAYERS CHISWICK, 49234503, 23-05-80)
14 Aug 2024: Play Reading
This time we'll be reading "The Dresser" at Kay's House and everyone is invited to the social occasion that these events are. Turn up from 7.30pm for an 8pm kick off. Bring the tipple of your choice and maybe some nibbles too. Here's a link to the SCRIPT but please note it is a large file if you have a limited mobile data plan!
11 Aug 2024: Summer BBQ
Here’s the way it works on Sunday 11 Aug. Ian very kindly lends us his house and garden and he also BBQs for us. Brilliant. Ian supplies green salad, potatoes, a fruit compote and another fruit dish and there may well be a cake too. We ask everyone to bring some starters/nibbles or maybe a salad? Thanks to the group subsidising the event, tickets for this fun day cost £2.50 each and they come in meat and vegetarian options. It’s always really good fun in the sun. Please buy tickets early so we know how many to cater for. Once they are available head to "tickets" above and buy your “BBQ Tickets”. Partners and friends welcome
11 and 15 Jul 20124: Autumn Auditions
Auditions for our Autumn show. It's "Harvey" which hails from 1949 just like us. Auditions at the hall as per normal and lots of roles 6M and 6F and we'll want a full team behind the scenes too. Here is the SCRIPT. This is a large file, so be prepared! And HERE is a list of the pieces to be used in the auditions
10 Jul 2024: Play Reading: Cinderella
We meet the 2024 Panto script at Tessa's house. Everyone is invited, as always, to the social occasion that these events are. Turn up from 7.30pm for an 8pm kick off. Bring the tipple of your choice and maybe some nibbles too. While this is not an audition, it sure as heck helps! Tons of fun in the sun. And here is the SCRIPT
3-6 Jul 2024: Summer Production "The Truth"
Big news....this will be the first licensing for an amateur production of "The Truth" ever.....well done Allison for arranging that! This was our play reading in March and much fun that was too. Auditions on 22 and 25 April.
Two couples. Friendship, suspicion, deceit. And the truth. A devastatingly funny farce set in contemporary Paris, THE TRUTH moves swiftly from hotel to apartment to office to tennis-club changing room as the characters reveal layer upon layer of deceit. How far will they go to hide the truth?
Due to the running time of 90 minutes there will be no interval, but our notoriously well-priced bar will be open both before and after each performance. Following the show on Thursday July 4th there will be a Q&A with Christopher Hampton and the cast, when we encourage you to grab yourself a drink and tell us the truth about what you thought of the performance. Or don't. The choice is yours.
Cast:
Michel: David Burles
Laurence: Arabella Harcourt-Cooze
Paul: Guy Fairbank
Alice: Elizabeth Ollier
22 May 2024: Play Reading
Alastair will lead us through "Accidental Death of an Anarchist" at Alison's house. From 7.30pm for an 8pm kick off. Bring the tipple of your choice and maybe some nibbles too. Please feel free to bring any friends and potential members. Click the play title for a copy of the script and bring something to read it on/from
Synopsis: An Anarchist has fallen to his death from a police station window. The question is: did he jump or was he thrown? As the police attempt to avoid yet another scandal, a mysterious imposter is arrested and brought in for questioning. Seizing the chance to put on a show, he leads the officers in an ever more ridiculous reconstruction of their official account, hilariously exposing the cover-ups, corruption, and profound idiocy at the heart of the police. Recently revived in the west and the Lyric Hammersmith, Dario Fo’s farce was first performed in 1970 and is based on the 1969 Piazza Fontana bombing and on the death of Giuseppe Pinelli while being interrogated by the police.
22 and 24 April: 2024 Auditions for "The Truth"
Two couples. Friendship, suspicion, deceit. And the truth. In this outrageously funny French comedy of manners translated into English by Christopher Hampton (Les Liaisons Dangereuses, The Father), THE TRUTH is a playful farce that asks us to consider the benefits of lying and the drawbacks of honesty.
About the play: Michel and his wife Laurence are happily married. Michel’s best friend Paul is also happily married, to Alice. But Michel and Alice are having an affair, and Laurence seems to know that something’s going on. How far will Michel go to hide the truth? Why is Alice so keen to reveal it? What does Laurence actually know, or not know? And is Paul just pretending to be bad at tennis?
The play is an homage to Pinter’s BETRAYAL, and plays with the idea of who knows what or, even more complicated, who is pretending to know, or not to know, what. The set will move from hotel to apartment to tennis-club changing room as the characters reveal layer upon layer of deceit.
THE TRUTH savagely holds up a mirror to the Golden Rule: if we treat others how we wish to be treated, what happens when we treat others in ways we cannot handled being treated?
CAST: 2 men, 2 women
Show dates from 3-6 July
Only 4 parts, I'm afraid but we'll still need all the usual help backstage, particularly Assistant Director, Set, Costumes and Stage Management
8 May 2024: Spring Social
We all descend on the Duck and Ball aka cricket Pavilion. That's on Riverside Drive. There is a Marquee if the bar is very busy (unlikely but hard to predict at this stage) . Also a further 10% off drinks for us. Turn up from 7.30pm and socialise. There is also food available if the fancy takes you. 25 turned up and a wonderful time was had by all.
17-20 April 2024: Spring Production: "The Government Inspector" by Nikolai Gogol, adapted by Philip Goulding
A mayor and his officials are alarmed to hear rumours of the arrival of a government inspector, travelling ‘incognito’. Is it the penniless rake and his servant who are lodging in a local inn? Despite being unable to even pay their bill, this unlikely couple suddenly find themselves being treated like royalty by the sycophantic mayor and his cronies. They not only enjoy the finest food and wine available, but also the feverishly competitive adoration of the mayor's wife and daughter. When the truth is revealed the Mayor and his officials are publicly humiliated…
This new version of Gogol's classic comedy about mistaken identity and small town corruption has been adapted by Philip Goulding and is set in a provincial British town in the 1860s.
3 Apr 2024: Play Reading
It's off to Arabella's this time where we'll be reading "The Truth" which is also our choice for the summer play, meaning this will be an early chance to meet the script. As usual, everyone is invited to the social occasion that these are. Turn up from 7.30pm for an 8pm kick off. Bring the tipple of your choice and maybe some nibbles too. Friends are more than welcome. If you need help obtaining a copy of the script, please contact Chris
20 Mar 2024: Workshop "Owning the Stage"
At the hall, Lyn Sagovsky will be running a workshop on "Owning the Stage/Relationship with space and others". Start at 7.30pm sharp
Thre is room of a minimum of 8 and a maximum of 16 (even numbers are best). First come first served. A fun-filled and amazing evening touching on entrances, posture its relation to your role (dominant, weak, etc), and involving the audience.
28 Feb 2024: Play Reading
All round to Rachel's this time to read "The Visit" by Friedrich Durrenmatt. As usual, everyone is invited to another social occasion. Turn up from 7.30pm for an 8pm kick off. Bring the tipple of your choice and maybe some nibbles too. Oh and friends most welcome too. And here's a link to the script
28 Jan 2024: Annual Dinner
A fine relaxing time at RICE, a local persian restaurant. The group chips in towards the meal and we each sort out our drinks. Tickets available through the website.
24 Jan 2024: AGM
We review how 2023 went and look forward to 2024. Plus a new chair! Excitement abounds. Plus all sorts of fun discussing items like whether to drink red or white! 8pm at the Centre
17 Jan 2024: Play Reading
More of the same thing. Lots of socialising while we do our best to read a play and stay sober. We're reading "The Roses of Eyam" all about the black plague and how one village did the decent thing (no spoilers yet). We're at Bryony's from 7.30pm aiming to start at 8pm. Link to script is HERE. Please bring your tipple of choice, and nibbles if you want
4 and 10 Jan 2024: Auditions for "The Government Inspector" or "A Little Local Difficulty"
4 Jan at at Guy’s,
10 Jan at the Centre
By Nikolai Gogol, adapted by Philip Goulding / Directed by Guy Fairbank / Performance dates: Wednesday 17 - Saturday 20 April 2024 at 7:45pm
A mayor and his officials are alarmed to hear rumours of the arrival of a government inspector, travelling ‘incognito’. Is it the penniless rake and his servant who are lodging in a local inn? Despite being unable to even pay their bill, this unlikely couple suddenly find themselves being treated like royalty by the sycophantic mayor and his cronies. They not only enjoy the finest food and wine available, but also the feverishly competitive adoration of the mayor's wife and daughter. When the truth is revealed the Mayor and his officials are publicly humiliated…
This new version of Gogol's classic comedy about mistaken identity and small town corruption has been adapted by Philip Goulding and is set in a provincial British town in the 1860s.
Casting is quite flexible, with 7-10 parts available, and some doubling-up - even a bit of gender swapping!
Mondays and Thursdays at 8pm, from Monday 12 February
Occasional Sunday rehearsals from 4-8pm, TBC
5-9 Dec 2023: Mother Goose
Chris' swan song! You know what it is...the most world famous world famous panto in the world. Packing them in for another must see, don't you dare miss it all-round amazing show.
The evil troll Smorg (from Actonia - boo hiss) and Fairy Aurora (from Chiswickia - hurrah) wager Mother Goose is corruptible. However, once Heidi, the goose starts laying golden eggs, the money rolls in and that attracts local ne'er do well, Baron Ivor von Trakmeind and his hopeless sidekick Gonk who hatch all sorts of cunning ruses to bag Heidi. Smorg, meanwhile is offering Mother Goose untold beauty with only one dip in the Bog of Beauty. But only if she'll sign Heidi over and thereby also win the wager with Aurora.. What a cliffhanger. Who wins? Who loses? Where do the eggs end up? Only one way to find out.
As ever, a fun-filled festivity for the family. You know - just like last year, only better.
15 Nov 2023: Play Reading
More of the same thing. Lots of socialising while we do our best to read a play and stay sober. We will be reading “The Girl on The Train”. Rachel has kindly volunteered to host. 7.30 for 8pm. Please bring your tipple of choice, and nibbles if you want. The script is HERE.
The play is based on Paula Hawkins’ novel and the Dreamworks film, adapted for the stage by Rachel Wagstaff and Duncan Abel.
“Rachel Watson longs for a different life. Her only escape is the perfect couple she watches through the train window every day, happy and in love. Or so it appears. When she learns that the woman she’s been secretly watching has suddenly disappeared, she finds herself a witness and even a suspect…….”
4-7 Oct 2023: Autumn Play
"Daisy Pulls It Off" by Denise Deegan.
"Energetic Daisy Meredith, a girl from a poor background, is forced to face and overcome snobbish prejudice and schoolgirl pranks from the wealthier girls. She and her best friend, zany Trixie Martin, search for the missing treasure that could save the fortunes of the exclusive Grangewood School for Young Ladies" so says Wikipedia and who are we to argue?
St Michael's Players entreat you to join them on this most wizard of japes. You'll accompany Daisy at her new school and experience the friendship, competition, jealousy, adventure and high drama including a scary cliff edge. 5 shows so there's no reason to miss it.
16 Aug 2023: Play Reading
More of the same thing. Lots of socialising while we do our best to read “The Government Inspector” or A Little Local Difficulty, adapted by Philip Goulding from Nikolai Gogol’s classic comedy, which Guy Fairbank is keen to direct in 2024. The script can be obtained by emailing Guy OR see the group whatsapp chat.
A Mayor and his officials are alarmed to hear rumours of the arrival of a government inspector, travelling "incognito". It is brought to their attention that an apparently penniless rake and his servant are lodging at a local inn. Despite being unable to even pay their bill, this unlikely couple suddenly find themselves being treated like royalty by the sycophantic mayor and his cronies. The "Government Inspector" eventually rides away a good deal richer, having sampled for free the best hospitality the town could muster, including not just the finest food and wine, but also the feverishly competitive adoration of the mayor's wife and daughter. When the truth is revealed the Mayor and his officials are publicly humiliated. Finally, as if all of this wasn't devastating enough, a messenger appears to announce the arrival of a real Government Inspector.
A play for 8 actors (4F 4M) but 10 possible (5F 5M)
Venue: Rachel has kindly offered to host. Bring whatever you want to drink, and perhaps some nibbles. 7.30pm for 8pm start. NB. Rachel has lodgers who need their beauty sleep, so anyone wanting to party on, will have to find somewhere else to do it!
13 Aug 2023: Annual BBQ
Here’s the way it works on Sunday 13 Aug. Ian very kindly lends us his house and garden and he also BBQs for us. Brilliant. Ian supplies green salad, potatoes, a fruit compote and another fruit dish and Bryony is baking a cake for us. Could we please ask everyone else for some starters/nibbles and other salads? Thanks to the group subsidising the event, tickets for this fun day cost £2.50 each and they come in meat and vegetarian options. It’s always really good fun in the sun. Please buy tickets early so we know how many to cater for. Head to "tickets" above and buy your “BBQ Tickets”. Partners and friends welcome
13 Jul 2023 Autumn play Auditions
OH JUBILATE! Hot on the heels of our internationally-ground-breaking-RSC-leading production of Romeo et Juliet, here come the auditions for Daisy Pulls It Off. Auditions at the Hall, 8pm as usual. And here is the script to download.
Anyone who was at the play reading knows that it will be a riot to perform (and I hope rehearse!) There are around 18 characters but lots of doubling/tripling so prob 8-10 cast members, can stretch that if people want cameos. Lots of ‘group’ activities too.
If you can’t make Mon/Thurs let me know and I’ll work around you. Also any questions just call 07941 374406.
Rehearsals start July 31, show 4-7 Oct.
12 Jul 2023: Play Reading
Another panto reading and it’s Mother Goose this time. All round to Chris’ for a panto reading at the height of summer. This time you’ll have to bring your own gin and tonic though. That is where the front door should be working and a link allowing you to download the script is HERE
10 Jul 2023 Autumn play Auditions
OH JUBILATE! Hot on the heels of our internationally-ground-breaking-RSC-leading production of Romeo et Juliet, here come the auditions for Daisy Pulls It Off. Auditions at the Hall, 8pm as usual. And here is the script to download.
Anyone who was at the play reading knows that it will be a riot to perform (and I hope rehearse!) There are around 18 characters but lots of doubling/tripling so prob 8-10 cast members, can stretch that if people want cameos. Lots of ‘group’ activities too.
If you can’t make Mon/Thurs let me know and I’ll work around you. Also any questions just call 07941 374406.
Rehearsals start July 31, show 4-7 Oct.
5-8 Jul 2023: Romeo and Juliet
“My grave is like to be my wedding bed.” – Juliet, impatiently awaiting the consumation of her marriage to Romeo
Romeo and Juliet, in their teens, raced against Time (the most frequently used noun in Shakespeare’s plays), but what could they really know of the perils of Time running out? They imagined Time was against them because they did not have the life experience to know better. But what happens when our two lovers meet when Time really is running its course, when they are in their last stages of life and have reached a point when old grudges no longer matter, when love can course freely through the veins because both lovers know that each day might be their last?
The original story of Romeo & Juliet from which Shakespeare took his inspiration covered the course of four months; Shakespeare shortened the timeframe to just four days, with explosive and tragic results. Old wounds, old jealousies, old enmity are all written out of meaning, leaving behind scar tissue that builds up from generation to generation, until the players are ossified against one another for reasons they can’t even remember.
What happens to our lovers, how they bend and burn for one another, and how their actions affect all of the younger generations, is the arc we shall seek to explore in this explosive, claustrophobic tale, set in the present in a retirement community in West London called Verona Walls, where personal affronts and barbed hurts have had far too long to fester.
24 May 2023: Play Reading
This time it's "Daisy Pulls it Off" which we're considering for the Autumn production. Arrive at 7.30pm for a prompt start at 8pm and bring some wine and nibbles too. As we're at Neil's place this time there's likely to be a spot of G&T for us to enjoy too. Get there early before it's gone. And here is the script to download and read
3 May 2023: Spring Social
Another evening in our own company at the City Barge. 23 folks turned up and a fine time was had by all
29 Mar - 1 Apr 2023: The Titfield Thunderbolt
A play by Philip Goulding, based on the original Ealing comedy screenplay by T.E.B. Clarke. Directed by Guy Fairbank
Adapted from the 1953 Ealing comedy, this delightful play tells the story of a group of villages, who, finding that their beloved branch railway line is about to be axed, decide to buy and run the railway themselves. As well as convincing the railway authorities that they're competent enough to work the line, they have to face problems from Vernon Crump, who’s set on providing a competitive bus service.
6 Mar 2023: Play Reading
At Neil's; We’ll be reading "Jitters", a comedy about a professional acting company getting ready for first preview. It could be our summmer show if it gets the collective thumbs up. Please arrive to be ready to start at 8pm sharp as it’s quite long. There'll be sushi and G&T…..if there’s an alternative tipple or snack you’d prefer then feel free to byosaob (bring your own snack and/or booze). And here's the script LINK
15 Feb 2023: Rhythm and Brainwaves Workshop
Sue Shorter has presented versions of this workshop to organisations such as the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the RSC. Described as a fun, immersive and upbeat session with engaging practical exercises (Senegal forest bird calls, anyone?) which will, among other things, enhance line-learning ability. A must for everyone.
29 Jan 2023: Annual Dinner
A fine relaxing time at Casareccio up near Acton Town tube station. Because it is our band drummer, Dominic's family restaurant. A full on italian buffet with plenty of choices. Time to socialise and mingle and think about 2023 in particular. Slightly subsidised by the group, why wouldn't you be there? Tickets now available via the tickets and membership link on this site. Might as well pay your membership too!
25 Jan 2023: AGM
We review how 2022 went and look forward to 2023. And then have fun discussing all sorts of things like whether to drink red or white! 8pm at the Hall
18 Jan 2023: Play Reading
And here's our social start to 2023. We'll be reading "Harvey" and here's the script. (That's a dropbox link). We're reading at Christine's house. Arrive from 7.30pm planning to start reading at 8pm and all being well ending somewhere round 10pm. Bring bottes, nibbles and a script or a device to read from. See you there. And yes we saw about 25 of us here. Good thing the kitchen could take us all.
10 and 12 Jan: Auditions for "The Titfield Thurnderbolt"
Note: That is Tuesday and Thursday
The casting is flexible: we can operate on a minimum of 5 (2F, 3M) with lots of doubling up but there are around 13 roles up for grabs. We’ll need help behind the scenes too, especially with props
- Lady Edna Chesterford F 40-60
- Clifton M/F ageless!
- Blakeworth M 40-60
- Dan Taylor M/F 50-70
- Vernon Crump M 40-60
- Harry Crump/Sgt Wilson M 20-30
- Joan Weech F 20-30
- Sam Weech M 40-60
- Mr Valentine M 40-70
- Miss Coggett F 20-40
- Ruddock M 30-50
- Mrs Bottomley F 40-70
- Clegg M/F 40-60.
Rehearsals will be on Tuesday and Thursday to fit in with our director's slightest whim (and he has a course to attend)
6-10 Dec 2022: Rapunzel
Another world-famous pantomime from St Michael's Players. Rapunzel has been kidnapped and trapped in a tower by the evil witch Gothel. Her parents, the king and queen of Chiswickia, have offered a reward for her rescue and Juan Forthemoney wants that money. Rapunzel's nanny and her super-scout son, Max, are also "helping". There's thrills and spills along the way until we reach our exciting climax. A fun-filled festivity for the family. Just like last year, only better.
12-15 Oct 2022: Animal Farm
George Orwell published Animal Farm five years before his untimely death at the age of 46, while Stalin was still in power, and before the Soviet invasion of Hungary and the break-up of the USSR. What would he have made of Putin and the Russian invasion of Ukraine? Probably, “Here we go again, only the names have changed. The same old murder of ideals and democracy.” His satire on the failures of the Soviet Union would, sadly, fit any number of 20th and 21st century tyrannies: the lust for power and the greed personified by the pig Napoleon, the betrayal of the workers exemplified by poor Boxer, the trusting Stakhanovite horse. Freedom of speech, the privacy of the ballot box etc remain as important -and as threatened - as they ever were.
Footnote: Alexey Stakhanov was a Soviet miner who, in the 1930s, allegedly regularly exceeded his daily quota of coal and was held up as a model worker.
14 Sep 2022: Play Reading
Another social evening reading "Jerusalem" by Jez Butterworth. (Yes that is the link) Arrive at 7.30pm with booze and some suitably high calorie snacks/nibbles and a printed script if you can please. Or have a downloaded copy to hand. See you at Imogen's house. What a play! Could we possibly stage this?
8 and 12 Sep 2022: Panto Auditions
No preparation needed. Just turn up at the hall on the days and head to the back room where we'll read through a few sections to see who fits where. There are parts for everyone. Audition Notice has all the dates, characters and so on and Audition Script is what we'll work from at the audition. It is not the final script. Please print yourself a script to bring to the audition.
22-27 Aug 2022: The Birds (Edinburgh)
The group's second journey North and a fine time was had by all. Here's the skinny:
"The cast and crew have returned from a phenomenally successful run at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival. We played to full houses for all six performances, enjoyed glowing reviews (see the Archive section of the website) and great feedback.
The play had of course been successfully road-tested in Chiswick. However, it needed to be cut from about 75 minutes to exactly 50, to meet the Fringe venue requirements. The cast and crew worked feverishly to reimagine the play, then all that was needed was to get to Edinburgh. This turned out to be rather challenging. There was a national rail strike on most people’s planned day of travel, and a tube strike for those hoping to go a day earlier. Somehow, by planes, trains and automobiles - even by long-distance coach for the bravest - everyone congregated at the Symposium Hall, our venue right in the beart of the Fringe, on the Sunday for the tech.
And then it was Monday. With a 4pm slot, we had time beforehand for flyering, ie. accosting passers-by, the main marketing method at the Fringe. Almost every seat for the week was eventually full; we enjoyed an average 90% occupancy across the six days, against the Fringe average of 7%. The reasons for this are likely to be a known story, a strong poster image, and a title near the beginning of the alphabet!
The high quality of the acting and backstage work, the original music and sound effects (both live and recorded), and the increased tautness of the shortened script, all made for a truly memorable performance. Congratulations to Paul Smith on the choice of play and his direction."
14 Aug 2022: Annual BBQ
A super days fun in the sun. Great to see Mark and Michelle who were the surprise visitors to Ian's garden. Big thanks to Ian, Anna and Isabelle for all the organising and work pulling the whole thing together. So nice to be back socialising again. Here’s the way it works on Sunday 14 Aug. Ian very kindly lends us his house and garden and he also BBQs for us. Brilliant. Ian supplies green salad, potatoes, a fruit compote and another fruit dish and Bryony is baking a cake for us. Could we please ask everyone else for some starters/nibbles and other salads? Thanks to the group subsidising the event, tickets for this fun day cost £2.50 each and they come in meat and vegetarian options. It’s always really good fun in the sun. Please buy tickets early so we know how many to cater for. Head to www.stmichaelsplayers.org and choose the “BBQ Tickets” option.
6 July 2022: The War of the Worlds: Screening
Thanks to everyone who came along and supported our spring production, The War of the Worlds, by Howard E. Koch, a radio play dramatising the extraordinary trick Orson Welles played on American public in 1938. Whilst being huge fun to put together, we faced a few challenges with this one, not least that having chosen a play, by mid-February we were still without a director, until the marvellous Allison de Frees kindly agreed to take it on despite a long list of other demands on her time, not having worked with us before, and not knowing the play. At this point actual war broke out in Ukraine and the decision was quickly and unanimously made to divert all profits to support those affected.
Allison arrived with a blast of creative enthusiasm, energy and commitment to start recreating Columbia Broadcasting Studios in 1938, complete with ingenious sound effects, in-cast back stories, and a split-level set to represent two separate spaces. With over 30 characters to find, most of the cast had several parts and were quickly switching from one to another, and helping with sound effects when needed. Who knew that blowing into an empty tin could be so effective? Chris Hulatt and Moira did a fantastic job of acquiring and painting a vast amount of egg boxes to create the effect of sound proofed walls and Ian Trowbridge performed his usual marvellous magic with sound and lighting. All was going well until halfway through rehearsals poor Allison was struck down with illness and sent to hospital. Paul Smith valiantly stepped into the director’s seat, at which point two of the cast developed Covid so some creative cast re-shuffling had to happen until all were, luckily, well enough to return for the final furlong and all went smoothly. For photos of the show see the archive page on the St Michael's Players website. Thanks to everyone’s generosity, donations from the audience and profits from the show meant we were able to send £1162 to DEC in support of the Ukraine appeal.
On Wednesday 6th July everyone is invited to the Pavilion for a viewing of “The War of the Worlds”. Previously we have had get-togethers to bask in the glorious recordings of Under Milk Wood and Salad Days and, for cast members and non-cast members alike, both those evenings were absolute belters. The marvellous and multi-talented Utku has both recorded and edited the show and so a massive thank you to him. Final details will be circulated by email closer to the time as to when to get there. There is good grub on offer at very reasonable prices for those tempted. Get it in the diary – 6 th July – not to be missed! Here’s the link to the Pavilion - link to pavilion
29 Jun 2022: Play Reading "Prescription for Murder" by Norman Robbins
Richard is a busy GP living in a quiet Devon town with his much younger but constantly ill wife, Barbara. Then there is his ex-girlfriend, who lives too nearby for comfort, and a visitor whose statements and questions start to raise suspicions. And then…..
But you’ll have to come to the reading at Jo’s to find out!
Details:
Weds 29th June, 7:30pm for an 8pm start
You know the drill... wine and nibbles... see you there!
22-25 Jun 2022: The Birds
Our Summer production and a dry run for our Edinburgh Fringe entry. This is Conor MacPherson's interpretation of the Daphne du Maurier novel of the same name.
9 and 13 Jun 2022: Animal Farm auditions
The Autumn production will be Peter Hall's adaptation of Animal Farm by George Orwell. Written in 1943, it still resonates today. Performance dates are 12-15 October, with rehearsals likely to start in early August (not W/B 22/8 when some of us will be in Edinburgh). Auditions will be held on 9 and 13 June 8pm at the hall. If you are interested but cannot make either date, please let Bryony know asap. If you are coming on either date, please go straight through to the back room; The Birds will be in rehearsal on the stage, so please be as quiet as you can.
The play has a number of major and minor roles, and also quite a few 'chorus' roles. Depending on the number of people interested, many parts can be doubled.
Major
Boxer a huge cart horse
Clover a stout motherly mare
Muriel a white goat
Benjamin an old donkey
Mollie a foolish, pretty white mare
Snowball a young vivacious boar
Napoleon a young boar of deep character
Squealer a small fat porker
Minor
Narrator
Mr Jones the farmer
Old Major a large old pig
The Cat
Moses a tame raven
Minimus a pig with a gift for composing songs and poems
The rest
3 young pigs
4 sheep
3 cows
2 hens
a bull
2 pigeons
Mr Whymper
Mr Pilkington
dogs, farmers, other men and animals
NB. The descriptions are Hall's, not mine, and need not necessarily be taken as the last word.
Bryony (Director), 07504 280 953
18 May 2022: Play Reading: Gaslight
All round to Deesh for this one. South of the river folks - are we ready for that much excitement?
4 May 2022: Spring Social
The City Barge; turn up from 7.30pm and mingle. 21 of us turned up for this.
20 April 2022: Auditions for "The Birds"
The Birds, by Conor McPherson, is a tense psychodrama set in the aftermath of an ecological disaster. Birds have turned on humans, few of whom remain. Society has broken down, food is scarce and each person must look out for themselves… In this gripping thriller, based on Daphne du Maurier’s short story (as was Hitchcock’s film), we find two people in an abandoned house, thrown together and figuring out how to survive. But a younger woman turns up and soon the couple’s delicate balance is upset. To further disturb things, a mysterious neighbour also arrives, with unknown intentions.
The play has a cast of four:
Anyone auditioning will need to commit to both runs, as well as all their own costs in Edinburgh, which can be significant. We will be trying to find accommodation for cast and crew but you should think in terms of about £60/night for board, plus travel, food and cost of tickets to see other shows. You will get a performer’s pass that gives you free standby access to any other shows in theSpace venues.
You will also need to commit to daily publicity duties whilst in Edinburgh (unless we sell out before we get there). This involves handing out leaflets for several hours before each performance (which runs from 1600-1700).
Any questions, just ask Paul!
19 Apr 2022: Play Reading: Rapunzel
It's Rapunzel, our 2022 panto script by Ben Crocker once again; he's so good. Pop round to Chris' with a bottle and/or nibbles and let's read to our hearts content. Allison and David can dial in on GMeet and a lot of fun was had, especially by Skye!.
30 Mar-2 Apr 2022: The War of the Worlds
H.G.Wells classic tale as imagined by Orson Welles and re-worked for the 21st century by St Michael's Players. A radio play format to get 2022 under way and give us a mix the classic, old and new. There's lots for everyone to do, please step up and let's get a handle on those pesky martians. All profits and donations to the Ukraine Support - just waiting for the final payments to come in and we'll know how much we raised.
16 Mar 2022: Play Reading
Another social evening which was going to be in person and still can be. However the Covid thing is clinging on for grim death and while Paul (our host) is now through it, Del isn't so she'll be in the garden while we all enjoy her house! We'll read "The Birds" by Conor MacPherson once more as that's our Fringe entrant. Seriously though - those who fear not the C-19 can head over for an in-the-flesh reading and everyone else can attend online. Script here
16 Feb 2022: Play Reading
Another social evening both in person or online. We'll be in person at Bryony's and online in a zoom call (details emailed to members). In either case, please contribute some liquid refreshment and nibbles. We'll read "Animal Farm" as attached HERE (food in troughs please)
30 Jan 2022: Annual Dinner
Back to some local hostelry for our annual dinner. Here's hoping we're back to socialising again. Subsidised by the group and a fun evening for all. Open to all - more details in the newsletter when we know them
26 Jan 2022: AGM
A chance to review 2021, our 72nd year where we got back on stage and sneaked the panto in, just in time. Probably online again at time of writing.
19 Jan 2022: Play Reading
Another social evening either in person or online, depending on how this Covid thing develops . Either way it will involve friends, wine and nibbles. It was "The War of the Worlds" and that's what the Spring play will be. Excellent. No idea where we held it or who attended. Must have been good fun then. As always. I recall we tried Google duo which was not very successful. Onwards.
7-11 Dec 2021: Aladdin
And we are planning this year's world famous panto to be just like it used to be.... but better. Six shows so we won't have to turn anyone away; and another of Ben Crocker's amazing scripts. Without question it will be the usual madcap adventure with chaos and mayhem and lashings of fun. Save the dates as you'll want to see this more than once.
6-9 Oct 2021: Life and Beth
The first Covid casualty re-invigorated to lead us back to the theatre (we hope)
Recently-widowed Beth is looking forward to a quiet Christmas, but her son Martin and sister-in-law Connie have other ideas. Martin tries to manage Beth like his father did, and Connie dives into the red wine. The cat has gone missing, Martin’s girlfriend is willfully mute, and the vicar inadvertently conjures up the ghost of her late husband. Hardly a recipe for a happy Christmas. “I chose this play because I was drawn to the quiet humour, and to Beth’s discovery of her own strength and the charms of independence. The provenance of the ghost (ghosts?) and the fate of Wagstaff have proved fruitful grounds for discussion.” – Bryony Wilman, Director
22 Sep 2021: Under Milk Wood Screening
The committee is very excited to be staging a screening of our very own production of "Under Milk Wood" at The Chiswick Pavilion.
The Pavilion is booked from 7:30pm for an 8pm start. This will be a lovely opportunity for a get together, while seeing many of our faces on the Big Screen! Drinks available to buy and lovely views! Please RSVP to Alastair at [email protected] if you're able to make it. See you at the Chiswick Pavilion, Riverside Dr, Chiswick, London W4 2SP on Wednesday 22nd September
16 Sep 2021: Panto Audition
See the 13 Sep entry for all the details, or just turn up and join in, meet everyone and have some fun - after all that's what it's all about
15 Sep 2021: Play Reading
Rearranged from the 8th September due to host Deesh's work commitments. Deesh is kindly lending his Kew abode to our play reading once again and asks that you please RSVP if you're able to make it. The play will be "Night of the Iguana" by Tennessee Williams. Usual 7:30pm for an 8pm start. Hoping to see lots of friendly faces there! Words from Deesh: One parking spot available for cars. Any bicyclists should arrive well l before 8pm as I won't be able to let them in once the reading starts
13 Sep 2021: Panto Audition
At the Centre in the backroom. No prep needed. Just turn up and express an interest as there's lots for everyone to do in this year's Aladdin. I will add a link to an online registration form, just as soon as I work out how to make one.
15 Aug 2021: BBQ
And this year we're invading Ian's marvellous garden. Tickets now available from the ticket kiosk. Can't wait
5 Aug 2021: Play Reading (in person!)
Finally, finally, we can meet up and socialise together and what better way than with a play reading and I don't need to post the play on this page either. All round to Deesh's pad with drinks and nibbles. We'll be reading "Come Blow Your Horn" by Neil Simon
10 Jun 2021: Spring Social
Somewhat later than Spring, although given the coldness of this year and the rather inconvenient Covid restrictions (not long now, folks) a little wait has not been a bad thing. Usual deal, turn up and the first drink of something round £5 is on the group. After that, each to their own. And we're at the City Barge again (hurrah)
9 Jun 2021: Play Reading
Another fun evening reading plays on a screen with our friends. It's that super fun play "Noises Off" (should have used mute). Just dial in with the link in the newsletter. Drinks and nibbles provided by your own good self, so no complaints please. The script has arrived and is HERE
12 May 2021: Play Reading
Another play reading and we'll try another panto and this time for real. Please think about ideas for the songs and where we can add some topical jokes and references. Can we change Cairo to Chiswickia? The script will appear here soon, and very fine it is too. Here it is
16 Apr 2021: Under Milk Wood
And one more, let's hope it is the last online play we have to do.... This will be broadcast live and online by St Michael's Players, directed by Alastair and featuring a myriad of characters and costume changes.
10 Mar 2021: Play Reading
We think we're going to be on stage this year and so this one is for real. Join us for Snow White and join us for a laugh, a snigger and a guffaw. Join the meeting online with your wine and nibbles a-plenty. Backdrops and special effects more than welcome. Script here and remember that a fast show is a good show.
24 Feb 2021: Play Reading
Another play reading and this one is in Utku's capable hands. We have "Community Spirit" to read. Armed only with wine, nibbles and your comfiest armchair. Here's the script for you to download
19 Feb 2021: The Importance of being Earnest
Another live, online play from St Michael's Players with Deesh directing to keep us occupied through the cold, dark February nights while covid still runs amok and the vaccine approaches. Come on vaccine, we're rooting for you.
21 Jan 2021: AGM
A chance to review 2020, our 71st year where covid all but wiped out stage theatre. Shouldn't take long!
We'll be reading a few "Bite Sized Theatre" plays at Imogen's (21 Cambridge Road North, W4 4AA). We will choose plays we want to produce for the Summer show. Same plan as ever; head to someone's house to read, drink and be merry. Please remember to bring something for the table be it wine and/or nibbles.
12 Feb 2025: Voice workshop
At the hall from 7.30pm, £10 pp (up to 16 places only). Tickets available via the link up above; first come first serve.
LIN SAGOVSKY is a professional actor, voice artist and writer. Having trained at Manchester University and the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, and with years of experience in taking workshops. As an actor, amongst many roles, she’s appeared in Eastenders and The Crown, and has recently played two megalomaniac aliens, a featherbrained teacher, and a Time Lord in a Doctor Who audio drama.
FREEING YOUR VOICE:- An ability to project is only one aspect of many vocal attributes the actor needs in order to bring a performance to life with emotional credibility and narrative clarity. This workshop provides a whistle-stop tour of some of the others - breath, resonance, placing, articulation, range, pitch - and the way all those elements come together to underpin an individual interpretation of the lines.
We play with practical exercises - for the individual, pairs, and small groups - all of which help to provide this vital foundation, culminating in a group exercise that celebrates the joy of using the voice and its power in creating an environment and a story!
The paramount aim is always to make these classes fun as well as instructive!. We’ve got Lyn booked for a second workshop, in May, on Character. More nearer the time.
26 Jan 2025: Annual Dinner
And it is all off the Hole in the Wall for another great time. 26 orf us had a wonderful evening here. Paul and Seda took good care of us. Pity about the walk home in the rain though. Big thank you to Christine and Chris for sorting the evening out for for us.
22 Jan 2025: AGM
A review of all that was 2024 and a brief look at plans for 2025. Your new committee is:
Chris Hulatt - chair / Guy Fairbank - vice / Moira Reid - treasurer / Jo Harry - secretary / Arabella Harcourt-Cooze / David Burles / Vicki Belcher / Gareth Sammer
9 & 13 Jan 2025: Spring Auditions
It's all aboard for the Railway Children. Auditions at the hall from 8pm. No preparation necessary and plenty of parts to go round
10-14 Dec 2024: Panto time "Cinderella"
The last of our 75th anniversary shows and for the first time in 10 years - a new director, but still the same world-famous panto offering. Yes, Cinderella returns in a freshly re-written form complete with a magic transformation and that slipper, or quite a few slippers as it transpired. This sold out faster than a greased weasel. Time to look forward to next year's offering.
9 Oct 2024: Play Reading
We'll be reading "The Railway Children" and think we're all off to Imogen's gaff. Everyone is invited to the social occasion that these are. Turn up from 7.30pm for an 8pm kick off. Bring the tipple of your choice and maybe some nibbles too. As and when we know where we're going details and the play script will appear on this page. Friends welcome and SCRIPT here. Another big file folks so make sure you're on wifi.....
2-5 Oct 2024: Autumn Production "Harvey"
This Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy centres around Elwood P. Dowd, a good-natured, mild-mannered eccentric whose best friend is Harvey - an invisible, six-foot-tall, white rabbit. First staged in the UK in 1949, the same year St. Michael’s Players came into being, this charming play forms part of our 75th Anniversary celebrations.
Here are some words from director, Alastair Dewar: "Harvey has always been one of my very favourite films and its message to value people for who they are is still as relevant today as when it was written."
Cast:
Myrtle - Dina Fahmy
Veta - Vicki Belcher
Mrs Chauvenet - Sue Darrieulat
Eleanor (Elwood) - Allison DeFrees
Nurse Kelly - Alice Klapwyck
Dr Sanderson - Alex Jupp
Wilson - Darren Cheers
Dr Chumley - Chris Hulatt
Mrs Chumley - Alison Du Cane
Judge Gaffney - Gareth Sammer
Taxi Driver - Chris Jones
Harvey - Himself
16-19 Sep 2024: Panto Auditions
Yes, here it comes again. This is where the path to stardom in our world-famous panto starts. Turn up at the hall and head to the back room, making sure not to disturb the Harvey rehearsal ongoing in the main hall. No prep needed - just a happy disposition and an OMG what is this? attitude. And the audition script is HERE
4 Sep 2024: Workshop "Owning the Stage"
At the hall, Lyn Sagovsky will be running a workshop on "Owning the Stage/Relationship with space and others". Start at 7.30pm sharp
Thre is room of a minimum of 8 and a maximum of 16 (even numbers are best). First come first served. A fun-filled and amazing evening touching on entrances, posture its relation to your role (dominant, weak, etc), and involving the audience. A copy of the workshop given earlier this year for them what missed it. £5 per person as before. Please pay £5 into our account with your name as reference (ST MICHAEL'S PLAYERS CHISWICK, 49234503, 23-05-80)
14 Aug 2024: Play Reading
This time we'll be reading "The Dresser" at Kay's House and everyone is invited to the social occasion that these events are. Turn up from 7.30pm for an 8pm kick off. Bring the tipple of your choice and maybe some nibbles too. Here's a link to the SCRIPT but please note it is a large file if you have a limited mobile data plan!
11 Aug 2024: Summer BBQ
Here’s the way it works on Sunday 11 Aug. Ian very kindly lends us his house and garden and he also BBQs for us. Brilliant. Ian supplies green salad, potatoes, a fruit compote and another fruit dish and there may well be a cake too. We ask everyone to bring some starters/nibbles or maybe a salad? Thanks to the group subsidising the event, tickets for this fun day cost £2.50 each and they come in meat and vegetarian options. It’s always really good fun in the sun. Please buy tickets early so we know how many to cater for. Once they are available head to "tickets" above and buy your “BBQ Tickets”. Partners and friends welcome
11 and 15 Jul 20124: Autumn Auditions
Auditions for our Autumn show. It's "Harvey" which hails from 1949 just like us. Auditions at the hall as per normal and lots of roles 6M and 6F and we'll want a full team behind the scenes too. Here is the SCRIPT. This is a large file, so be prepared! And HERE is a list of the pieces to be used in the auditions
10 Jul 2024: Play Reading: Cinderella
We meet the 2024 Panto script at Tessa's house. Everyone is invited, as always, to the social occasion that these events are. Turn up from 7.30pm for an 8pm kick off. Bring the tipple of your choice and maybe some nibbles too. While this is not an audition, it sure as heck helps! Tons of fun in the sun. And here is the SCRIPT
3-6 Jul 2024: Summer Production "The Truth"
Big news....this will be the first licensing for an amateur production of "The Truth" ever.....well done Allison for arranging that! This was our play reading in March and much fun that was too. Auditions on 22 and 25 April.
Two couples. Friendship, suspicion, deceit. And the truth. A devastatingly funny farce set in contemporary Paris, THE TRUTH moves swiftly from hotel to apartment to office to tennis-club changing room as the characters reveal layer upon layer of deceit. How far will they go to hide the truth?
Due to the running time of 90 minutes there will be no interval, but our notoriously well-priced bar will be open both before and after each performance. Following the show on Thursday July 4th there will be a Q&A with Christopher Hampton and the cast, when we encourage you to grab yourself a drink and tell us the truth about what you thought of the performance. Or don't. The choice is yours.
Cast:
Michel: David Burles
Laurence: Arabella Harcourt-Cooze
Paul: Guy Fairbank
Alice: Elizabeth Ollier
22 May 2024: Play Reading
Alastair will lead us through "Accidental Death of an Anarchist" at Alison's house. From 7.30pm for an 8pm kick off. Bring the tipple of your choice and maybe some nibbles too. Please feel free to bring any friends and potential members. Click the play title for a copy of the script and bring something to read it on/from
Synopsis: An Anarchist has fallen to his death from a police station window. The question is: did he jump or was he thrown? As the police attempt to avoid yet another scandal, a mysterious imposter is arrested and brought in for questioning. Seizing the chance to put on a show, he leads the officers in an ever more ridiculous reconstruction of their official account, hilariously exposing the cover-ups, corruption, and profound idiocy at the heart of the police. Recently revived in the west and the Lyric Hammersmith, Dario Fo’s farce was first performed in 1970 and is based on the 1969 Piazza Fontana bombing and on the death of Giuseppe Pinelli while being interrogated by the police.
22 and 24 April: 2024 Auditions for "The Truth"
Two couples. Friendship, suspicion, deceit. And the truth. In this outrageously funny French comedy of manners translated into English by Christopher Hampton (Les Liaisons Dangereuses, The Father), THE TRUTH is a playful farce that asks us to consider the benefits of lying and the drawbacks of honesty.
About the play: Michel and his wife Laurence are happily married. Michel’s best friend Paul is also happily married, to Alice. But Michel and Alice are having an affair, and Laurence seems to know that something’s going on. How far will Michel go to hide the truth? Why is Alice so keen to reveal it? What does Laurence actually know, or not know? And is Paul just pretending to be bad at tennis?
The play is an homage to Pinter’s BETRAYAL, and plays with the idea of who knows what or, even more complicated, who is pretending to know, or not to know, what. The set will move from hotel to apartment to tennis-club changing room as the characters reveal layer upon layer of deceit.
THE TRUTH savagely holds up a mirror to the Golden Rule: if we treat others how we wish to be treated, what happens when we treat others in ways we cannot handled being treated?
CAST: 2 men, 2 women
Show dates from 3-6 July
Only 4 parts, I'm afraid but we'll still need all the usual help backstage, particularly Assistant Director, Set, Costumes and Stage Management
8 May 2024: Spring Social
We all descend on the Duck and Ball aka cricket Pavilion. That's on Riverside Drive. There is a Marquee if the bar is very busy (unlikely but hard to predict at this stage) . Also a further 10% off drinks for us. Turn up from 7.30pm and socialise. There is also food available if the fancy takes you. 25 turned up and a wonderful time was had by all.
17-20 April 2024: Spring Production: "The Government Inspector" by Nikolai Gogol, adapted by Philip Goulding
A mayor and his officials are alarmed to hear rumours of the arrival of a government inspector, travelling ‘incognito’. Is it the penniless rake and his servant who are lodging in a local inn? Despite being unable to even pay their bill, this unlikely couple suddenly find themselves being treated like royalty by the sycophantic mayor and his cronies. They not only enjoy the finest food and wine available, but also the feverishly competitive adoration of the mayor's wife and daughter. When the truth is revealed the Mayor and his officials are publicly humiliated…
This new version of Gogol's classic comedy about mistaken identity and small town corruption has been adapted by Philip Goulding and is set in a provincial British town in the 1860s.
3 Apr 2024: Play Reading
It's off to Arabella's this time where we'll be reading "The Truth" which is also our choice for the summer play, meaning this will be an early chance to meet the script. As usual, everyone is invited to the social occasion that these are. Turn up from 7.30pm for an 8pm kick off. Bring the tipple of your choice and maybe some nibbles too. Friends are more than welcome. If you need help obtaining a copy of the script, please contact Chris
20 Mar 2024: Workshop "Owning the Stage"
At the hall, Lyn Sagovsky will be running a workshop on "Owning the Stage/Relationship with space and others". Start at 7.30pm sharp
Thre is room of a minimum of 8 and a maximum of 16 (even numbers are best). First come first served. A fun-filled and amazing evening touching on entrances, posture its relation to your role (dominant, weak, etc), and involving the audience.
28 Feb 2024: Play Reading
All round to Rachel's this time to read "The Visit" by Friedrich Durrenmatt. As usual, everyone is invited to another social occasion. Turn up from 7.30pm for an 8pm kick off. Bring the tipple of your choice and maybe some nibbles too. Oh and friends most welcome too. And here's a link to the script
28 Jan 2024: Annual Dinner
A fine relaxing time at RICE, a local persian restaurant. The group chips in towards the meal and we each sort out our drinks. Tickets available through the website.
24 Jan 2024: AGM
We review how 2023 went and look forward to 2024. Plus a new chair! Excitement abounds. Plus all sorts of fun discussing items like whether to drink red or white! 8pm at the Centre
17 Jan 2024: Play Reading
More of the same thing. Lots of socialising while we do our best to read a play and stay sober. We're reading "The Roses of Eyam" all about the black plague and how one village did the decent thing (no spoilers yet). We're at Bryony's from 7.30pm aiming to start at 8pm. Link to script is HERE. Please bring your tipple of choice, and nibbles if you want
4 and 10 Jan 2024: Auditions for "The Government Inspector" or "A Little Local Difficulty"
4 Jan at at Guy’s,
10 Jan at the Centre
By Nikolai Gogol, adapted by Philip Goulding / Directed by Guy Fairbank / Performance dates: Wednesday 17 - Saturday 20 April 2024 at 7:45pm
A mayor and his officials are alarmed to hear rumours of the arrival of a government inspector, travelling ‘incognito’. Is it the penniless rake and his servant who are lodging in a local inn? Despite being unable to even pay their bill, this unlikely couple suddenly find themselves being treated like royalty by the sycophantic mayor and his cronies. They not only enjoy the finest food and wine available, but also the feverishly competitive adoration of the mayor's wife and daughter. When the truth is revealed the Mayor and his officials are publicly humiliated…
This new version of Gogol's classic comedy about mistaken identity and small town corruption has been adapted by Philip Goulding and is set in a provincial British town in the 1860s.
Casting is quite flexible, with 7-10 parts available, and some doubling-up - even a bit of gender swapping!
- Phyllis Stein / Mrs Robson (F)
- Rose Quigley (F)
- Mayor Wyndham-Pitts (M)
- Postmaster Prior / Joseph (M/F)
- Mr Robson / Haden (M)
- Policeman / Young Willy Wilson / Sergeant’s Widow (M/F)
- Albert Markham / Tanner (M)
- Anna Wyndham-Pitts / Smithee's Wife (F)
- Maria Wyndham-Pitts / Official Messenger (F)
- John Petty (M)
Mondays and Thursdays at 8pm, from Monday 12 February
Occasional Sunday rehearsals from 4-8pm, TBC
5-9 Dec 2023: Mother Goose
Chris' swan song! You know what it is...the most world famous world famous panto in the world. Packing them in for another must see, don't you dare miss it all-round amazing show.
The evil troll Smorg (from Actonia - boo hiss) and Fairy Aurora (from Chiswickia - hurrah) wager Mother Goose is corruptible. However, once Heidi, the goose starts laying golden eggs, the money rolls in and that attracts local ne'er do well, Baron Ivor von Trakmeind and his hopeless sidekick Gonk who hatch all sorts of cunning ruses to bag Heidi. Smorg, meanwhile is offering Mother Goose untold beauty with only one dip in the Bog of Beauty. But only if she'll sign Heidi over and thereby also win the wager with Aurora.. What a cliffhanger. Who wins? Who loses? Where do the eggs end up? Only one way to find out.
As ever, a fun-filled festivity for the family. You know - just like last year, only better.
15 Nov 2023: Play Reading
More of the same thing. Lots of socialising while we do our best to read a play and stay sober. We will be reading “The Girl on The Train”. Rachel has kindly volunteered to host. 7.30 for 8pm. Please bring your tipple of choice, and nibbles if you want. The script is HERE.
The play is based on Paula Hawkins’ novel and the Dreamworks film, adapted for the stage by Rachel Wagstaff and Duncan Abel.
“Rachel Watson longs for a different life. Her only escape is the perfect couple she watches through the train window every day, happy and in love. Or so it appears. When she learns that the woman she’s been secretly watching has suddenly disappeared, she finds herself a witness and even a suspect…….”
4-7 Oct 2023: Autumn Play
"Daisy Pulls It Off" by Denise Deegan.
"Energetic Daisy Meredith, a girl from a poor background, is forced to face and overcome snobbish prejudice and schoolgirl pranks from the wealthier girls. She and her best friend, zany Trixie Martin, search for the missing treasure that could save the fortunes of the exclusive Grangewood School for Young Ladies" so says Wikipedia and who are we to argue?
St Michael's Players entreat you to join them on this most wizard of japes. You'll accompany Daisy at her new school and experience the friendship, competition, jealousy, adventure and high drama including a scary cliff edge. 5 shows so there's no reason to miss it.
16 Aug 2023: Play Reading
More of the same thing. Lots of socialising while we do our best to read “The Government Inspector” or A Little Local Difficulty, adapted by Philip Goulding from Nikolai Gogol’s classic comedy, which Guy Fairbank is keen to direct in 2024. The script can be obtained by emailing Guy OR see the group whatsapp chat.
A Mayor and his officials are alarmed to hear rumours of the arrival of a government inspector, travelling "incognito". It is brought to their attention that an apparently penniless rake and his servant are lodging at a local inn. Despite being unable to even pay their bill, this unlikely couple suddenly find themselves being treated like royalty by the sycophantic mayor and his cronies. The "Government Inspector" eventually rides away a good deal richer, having sampled for free the best hospitality the town could muster, including not just the finest food and wine, but also the feverishly competitive adoration of the mayor's wife and daughter. When the truth is revealed the Mayor and his officials are publicly humiliated. Finally, as if all of this wasn't devastating enough, a messenger appears to announce the arrival of a real Government Inspector.
A play for 8 actors (4F 4M) but 10 possible (5F 5M)
Venue: Rachel has kindly offered to host. Bring whatever you want to drink, and perhaps some nibbles. 7.30pm for 8pm start. NB. Rachel has lodgers who need their beauty sleep, so anyone wanting to party on, will have to find somewhere else to do it!
13 Aug 2023: Annual BBQ
Here’s the way it works on Sunday 13 Aug. Ian very kindly lends us his house and garden and he also BBQs for us. Brilliant. Ian supplies green salad, potatoes, a fruit compote and another fruit dish and Bryony is baking a cake for us. Could we please ask everyone else for some starters/nibbles and other salads? Thanks to the group subsidising the event, tickets for this fun day cost £2.50 each and they come in meat and vegetarian options. It’s always really good fun in the sun. Please buy tickets early so we know how many to cater for. Head to "tickets" above and buy your “BBQ Tickets”. Partners and friends welcome
13 Jul 2023 Autumn play Auditions
OH JUBILATE! Hot on the heels of our internationally-ground-breaking-RSC-leading production of Romeo et Juliet, here come the auditions for Daisy Pulls It Off. Auditions at the Hall, 8pm as usual. And here is the script to download.
Anyone who was at the play reading knows that it will be a riot to perform (and I hope rehearse!) There are around 18 characters but lots of doubling/tripling so prob 8-10 cast members, can stretch that if people want cameos. Lots of ‘group’ activities too.
If you can’t make Mon/Thurs let me know and I’ll work around you. Also any questions just call 07941 374406.
Rehearsals start July 31, show 4-7 Oct.
12 Jul 2023: Play Reading
Another panto reading and it’s Mother Goose this time. All round to Chris’ for a panto reading at the height of summer. This time you’ll have to bring your own gin and tonic though. That is where the front door should be working and a link allowing you to download the script is HERE
10 Jul 2023 Autumn play Auditions
OH JUBILATE! Hot on the heels of our internationally-ground-breaking-RSC-leading production of Romeo et Juliet, here come the auditions for Daisy Pulls It Off. Auditions at the Hall, 8pm as usual. And here is the script to download.
Anyone who was at the play reading knows that it will be a riot to perform (and I hope rehearse!) There are around 18 characters but lots of doubling/tripling so prob 8-10 cast members, can stretch that if people want cameos. Lots of ‘group’ activities too.
If you can’t make Mon/Thurs let me know and I’ll work around you. Also any questions just call 07941 374406.
Rehearsals start July 31, show 4-7 Oct.
5-8 Jul 2023: Romeo and Juliet
“My grave is like to be my wedding bed.” – Juliet, impatiently awaiting the consumation of her marriage to Romeo
Romeo and Juliet, in their teens, raced against Time (the most frequently used noun in Shakespeare’s plays), but what could they really know of the perils of Time running out? They imagined Time was against them because they did not have the life experience to know better. But what happens when our two lovers meet when Time really is running its course, when they are in their last stages of life and have reached a point when old grudges no longer matter, when love can course freely through the veins because both lovers know that each day might be their last?
The original story of Romeo & Juliet from which Shakespeare took his inspiration covered the course of four months; Shakespeare shortened the timeframe to just four days, with explosive and tragic results. Old wounds, old jealousies, old enmity are all written out of meaning, leaving behind scar tissue that builds up from generation to generation, until the players are ossified against one another for reasons they can’t even remember.
What happens to our lovers, how they bend and burn for one another, and how their actions affect all of the younger generations, is the arc we shall seek to explore in this explosive, claustrophobic tale, set in the present in a retirement community in West London called Verona Walls, where personal affronts and barbed hurts have had far too long to fester.
24 May 2023: Play Reading
This time it's "Daisy Pulls it Off" which we're considering for the Autumn production. Arrive at 7.30pm for a prompt start at 8pm and bring some wine and nibbles too. As we're at Neil's place this time there's likely to be a spot of G&T for us to enjoy too. Get there early before it's gone. And here is the script to download and read
3 May 2023: Spring Social
Another evening in our own company at the City Barge. 23 folks turned up and a fine time was had by all
29 Mar - 1 Apr 2023: The Titfield Thunderbolt
A play by Philip Goulding, based on the original Ealing comedy screenplay by T.E.B. Clarke. Directed by Guy Fairbank
Adapted from the 1953 Ealing comedy, this delightful play tells the story of a group of villages, who, finding that their beloved branch railway line is about to be axed, decide to buy and run the railway themselves. As well as convincing the railway authorities that they're competent enough to work the line, they have to face problems from Vernon Crump, who’s set on providing a competitive bus service.
6 Mar 2023: Play Reading
At Neil's; We’ll be reading "Jitters", a comedy about a professional acting company getting ready for first preview. It could be our summmer show if it gets the collective thumbs up. Please arrive to be ready to start at 8pm sharp as it’s quite long. There'll be sushi and G&T…..if there’s an alternative tipple or snack you’d prefer then feel free to byosaob (bring your own snack and/or booze). And here's the script LINK
15 Feb 2023: Rhythm and Brainwaves Workshop
Sue Shorter has presented versions of this workshop to organisations such as the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the RSC. Described as a fun, immersive and upbeat session with engaging practical exercises (Senegal forest bird calls, anyone?) which will, among other things, enhance line-learning ability. A must for everyone.
29 Jan 2023: Annual Dinner
A fine relaxing time at Casareccio up near Acton Town tube station. Because it is our band drummer, Dominic's family restaurant. A full on italian buffet with plenty of choices. Time to socialise and mingle and think about 2023 in particular. Slightly subsidised by the group, why wouldn't you be there? Tickets now available via the tickets and membership link on this site. Might as well pay your membership too!
25 Jan 2023: AGM
We review how 2022 went and look forward to 2023. And then have fun discussing all sorts of things like whether to drink red or white! 8pm at the Hall
18 Jan 2023: Play Reading
And here's our social start to 2023. We'll be reading "Harvey" and here's the script. (That's a dropbox link). We're reading at Christine's house. Arrive from 7.30pm planning to start reading at 8pm and all being well ending somewhere round 10pm. Bring bottes, nibbles and a script or a device to read from. See you there. And yes we saw about 25 of us here. Good thing the kitchen could take us all.
10 and 12 Jan: Auditions for "The Titfield Thurnderbolt"
Note: That is Tuesday and Thursday
The casting is flexible: we can operate on a minimum of 5 (2F, 3M) with lots of doubling up but there are around 13 roles up for grabs. We’ll need help behind the scenes too, especially with props
- Lady Edna Chesterford F 40-60
- Clifton M/F ageless!
- Blakeworth M 40-60
- Dan Taylor M/F 50-70
- Vernon Crump M 40-60
- Harry Crump/Sgt Wilson M 20-30
- Joan Weech F 20-30
- Sam Weech M 40-60
- Mr Valentine M 40-70
- Miss Coggett F 20-40
- Ruddock M 30-50
- Mrs Bottomley F 40-70
- Clegg M/F 40-60.
Rehearsals will be on Tuesday and Thursday to fit in with our director's slightest whim (and he has a course to attend)
6-10 Dec 2022: Rapunzel
Another world-famous pantomime from St Michael's Players. Rapunzel has been kidnapped and trapped in a tower by the evil witch Gothel. Her parents, the king and queen of Chiswickia, have offered a reward for her rescue and Juan Forthemoney wants that money. Rapunzel's nanny and her super-scout son, Max, are also "helping". There's thrills and spills along the way until we reach our exciting climax. A fun-filled festivity for the family. Just like last year, only better.
12-15 Oct 2022: Animal Farm
George Orwell published Animal Farm five years before his untimely death at the age of 46, while Stalin was still in power, and before the Soviet invasion of Hungary and the break-up of the USSR. What would he have made of Putin and the Russian invasion of Ukraine? Probably, “Here we go again, only the names have changed. The same old murder of ideals and democracy.” His satire on the failures of the Soviet Union would, sadly, fit any number of 20th and 21st century tyrannies: the lust for power and the greed personified by the pig Napoleon, the betrayal of the workers exemplified by poor Boxer, the trusting Stakhanovite horse. Freedom of speech, the privacy of the ballot box etc remain as important -and as threatened - as they ever were.
Footnote: Alexey Stakhanov was a Soviet miner who, in the 1930s, allegedly regularly exceeded his daily quota of coal and was held up as a model worker.
14 Sep 2022: Play Reading
Another social evening reading "Jerusalem" by Jez Butterworth. (Yes that is the link) Arrive at 7.30pm with booze and some suitably high calorie snacks/nibbles and a printed script if you can please. Or have a downloaded copy to hand. See you at Imogen's house. What a play! Could we possibly stage this?
8 and 12 Sep 2022: Panto Auditions
No preparation needed. Just turn up at the hall on the days and head to the back room where we'll read through a few sections to see who fits where. There are parts for everyone. Audition Notice has all the dates, characters and so on and Audition Script is what we'll work from at the audition. It is not the final script. Please print yourself a script to bring to the audition.
22-27 Aug 2022: The Birds (Edinburgh)
The group's second journey North and a fine time was had by all. Here's the skinny:
"The cast and crew have returned from a phenomenally successful run at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival. We played to full houses for all six performances, enjoyed glowing reviews (see the Archive section of the website) and great feedback.
The play had of course been successfully road-tested in Chiswick. However, it needed to be cut from about 75 minutes to exactly 50, to meet the Fringe venue requirements. The cast and crew worked feverishly to reimagine the play, then all that was needed was to get to Edinburgh. This turned out to be rather challenging. There was a national rail strike on most people’s planned day of travel, and a tube strike for those hoping to go a day earlier. Somehow, by planes, trains and automobiles - even by long-distance coach for the bravest - everyone congregated at the Symposium Hall, our venue right in the beart of the Fringe, on the Sunday for the tech.
And then it was Monday. With a 4pm slot, we had time beforehand for flyering, ie. accosting passers-by, the main marketing method at the Fringe. Almost every seat for the week was eventually full; we enjoyed an average 90% occupancy across the six days, against the Fringe average of 7%. The reasons for this are likely to be a known story, a strong poster image, and a title near the beginning of the alphabet!
The high quality of the acting and backstage work, the original music and sound effects (both live and recorded), and the increased tautness of the shortened script, all made for a truly memorable performance. Congratulations to Paul Smith on the choice of play and his direction."
14 Aug 2022: Annual BBQ
A super days fun in the sun. Great to see Mark and Michelle who were the surprise visitors to Ian's garden. Big thanks to Ian, Anna and Isabelle for all the organising and work pulling the whole thing together. So nice to be back socialising again. Here’s the way it works on Sunday 14 Aug. Ian very kindly lends us his house and garden and he also BBQs for us. Brilliant. Ian supplies green salad, potatoes, a fruit compote and another fruit dish and Bryony is baking a cake for us. Could we please ask everyone else for some starters/nibbles and other salads? Thanks to the group subsidising the event, tickets for this fun day cost £2.50 each and they come in meat and vegetarian options. It’s always really good fun in the sun. Please buy tickets early so we know how many to cater for. Head to www.stmichaelsplayers.org and choose the “BBQ Tickets” option.
6 July 2022: The War of the Worlds: Screening
Thanks to everyone who came along and supported our spring production, The War of the Worlds, by Howard E. Koch, a radio play dramatising the extraordinary trick Orson Welles played on American public in 1938. Whilst being huge fun to put together, we faced a few challenges with this one, not least that having chosen a play, by mid-February we were still without a director, until the marvellous Allison de Frees kindly agreed to take it on despite a long list of other demands on her time, not having worked with us before, and not knowing the play. At this point actual war broke out in Ukraine and the decision was quickly and unanimously made to divert all profits to support those affected.
Allison arrived with a blast of creative enthusiasm, energy and commitment to start recreating Columbia Broadcasting Studios in 1938, complete with ingenious sound effects, in-cast back stories, and a split-level set to represent two separate spaces. With over 30 characters to find, most of the cast had several parts and were quickly switching from one to another, and helping with sound effects when needed. Who knew that blowing into an empty tin could be so effective? Chris Hulatt and Moira did a fantastic job of acquiring and painting a vast amount of egg boxes to create the effect of sound proofed walls and Ian Trowbridge performed his usual marvellous magic with sound and lighting. All was going well until halfway through rehearsals poor Allison was struck down with illness and sent to hospital. Paul Smith valiantly stepped into the director’s seat, at which point two of the cast developed Covid so some creative cast re-shuffling had to happen until all were, luckily, well enough to return for the final furlong and all went smoothly. For photos of the show see the archive page on the St Michael's Players website. Thanks to everyone’s generosity, donations from the audience and profits from the show meant we were able to send £1162 to DEC in support of the Ukraine appeal.
On Wednesday 6th July everyone is invited to the Pavilion for a viewing of “The War of the Worlds”. Previously we have had get-togethers to bask in the glorious recordings of Under Milk Wood and Salad Days and, for cast members and non-cast members alike, both those evenings were absolute belters. The marvellous and multi-talented Utku has both recorded and edited the show and so a massive thank you to him. Final details will be circulated by email closer to the time as to when to get there. There is good grub on offer at very reasonable prices for those tempted. Get it in the diary – 6 th July – not to be missed! Here’s the link to the Pavilion - link to pavilion
29 Jun 2022: Play Reading "Prescription for Murder" by Norman Robbins
Richard is a busy GP living in a quiet Devon town with his much younger but constantly ill wife, Barbara. Then there is his ex-girlfriend, who lives too nearby for comfort, and a visitor whose statements and questions start to raise suspicions. And then…..
But you’ll have to come to the reading at Jo’s to find out!
Details:
Weds 29th June, 7:30pm for an 8pm start
You know the drill... wine and nibbles... see you there!
22-25 Jun 2022: The Birds
Our Summer production and a dry run for our Edinburgh Fringe entry. This is Conor MacPherson's interpretation of the Daphne du Maurier novel of the same name.
9 and 13 Jun 2022: Animal Farm auditions
The Autumn production will be Peter Hall's adaptation of Animal Farm by George Orwell. Written in 1943, it still resonates today. Performance dates are 12-15 October, with rehearsals likely to start in early August (not W/B 22/8 when some of us will be in Edinburgh). Auditions will be held on 9 and 13 June 8pm at the hall. If you are interested but cannot make either date, please let Bryony know asap. If you are coming on either date, please go straight through to the back room; The Birds will be in rehearsal on the stage, so please be as quiet as you can.
The play has a number of major and minor roles, and also quite a few 'chorus' roles. Depending on the number of people interested, many parts can be doubled.
Major
Boxer a huge cart horse
Clover a stout motherly mare
Muriel a white goat
Benjamin an old donkey
Mollie a foolish, pretty white mare
Snowball a young vivacious boar
Napoleon a young boar of deep character
Squealer a small fat porker
Minor
Narrator
Mr Jones the farmer
Old Major a large old pig
The Cat
Moses a tame raven
Minimus a pig with a gift for composing songs and poems
The rest
3 young pigs
4 sheep
3 cows
2 hens
a bull
2 pigeons
Mr Whymper
Mr Pilkington
dogs, farmers, other men and animals
NB. The descriptions are Hall's, not mine, and need not necessarily be taken as the last word.
Bryony (Director), 07504 280 953
18 May 2022: Play Reading: Gaslight
All round to Deesh for this one. South of the river folks - are we ready for that much excitement?
4 May 2022: Spring Social
The City Barge; turn up from 7.30pm and mingle. 21 of us turned up for this.
20 April 2022: Auditions for "The Birds"
The Birds, by Conor McPherson, is a tense psychodrama set in the aftermath of an ecological disaster. Birds have turned on humans, few of whom remain. Society has broken down, food is scarce and each person must look out for themselves… In this gripping thriller, based on Daphne du Maurier’s short story (as was Hitchcock’s film), we find two people in an abandoned house, thrown together and figuring out how to survive. But a younger woman turns up and soon the couple’s delicate balance is upset. To further disturb things, a mysterious neighbour also arrives, with unknown intentions.
The play has a cast of four:
- DIANE, middle age
- NAT, middle age
- JULIA, younger
- TIERNEY, middle age
- Chiswick June 22-25th (tech 19th, dress 20th).
- Edinburgh August 22-27th (tech 21st).
Anyone auditioning will need to commit to both runs, as well as all their own costs in Edinburgh, which can be significant. We will be trying to find accommodation for cast and crew but you should think in terms of about £60/night for board, plus travel, food and cost of tickets to see other shows. You will get a performer’s pass that gives you free standby access to any other shows in theSpace venues.
You will also need to commit to daily publicity duties whilst in Edinburgh (unless we sell out before we get there). This involves handing out leaflets for several hours before each performance (which runs from 1600-1700).
Any questions, just ask Paul!
19 Apr 2022: Play Reading: Rapunzel
It's Rapunzel, our 2022 panto script by Ben Crocker once again; he's so good. Pop round to Chris' with a bottle and/or nibbles and let's read to our hearts content. Allison and David can dial in on GMeet and a lot of fun was had, especially by Skye!.
30 Mar-2 Apr 2022: The War of the Worlds
H.G.Wells classic tale as imagined by Orson Welles and re-worked for the 21st century by St Michael's Players. A radio play format to get 2022 under way and give us a mix the classic, old and new. There's lots for everyone to do, please step up and let's get a handle on those pesky martians. All profits and donations to the Ukraine Support - just waiting for the final payments to come in and we'll know how much we raised.
16 Mar 2022: Play Reading
Another social evening which was going to be in person and still can be. However the Covid thing is clinging on for grim death and while Paul (our host) is now through it, Del isn't so she'll be in the garden while we all enjoy her house! We'll read "The Birds" by Conor MacPherson once more as that's our Fringe entrant. Seriously though - those who fear not the C-19 can head over for an in-the-flesh reading and everyone else can attend online. Script here
16 Feb 2022: Play Reading
Another social evening both in person or online. We'll be in person at Bryony's and online in a zoom call (details emailed to members). In either case, please contribute some liquid refreshment and nibbles. We'll read "Animal Farm" as attached HERE (food in troughs please)
30 Jan 2022: Annual Dinner
Back to some local hostelry for our annual dinner. Here's hoping we're back to socialising again. Subsidised by the group and a fun evening for all. Open to all - more details in the newsletter when we know them
26 Jan 2022: AGM
A chance to review 2021, our 72nd year where we got back on stage and sneaked the panto in, just in time. Probably online again at time of writing.
19 Jan 2022: Play Reading
Another social evening either in person or online, depending on how this Covid thing develops . Either way it will involve friends, wine and nibbles. It was "The War of the Worlds" and that's what the Spring play will be. Excellent. No idea where we held it or who attended. Must have been good fun then. As always. I recall we tried Google duo which was not very successful. Onwards.
7-11 Dec 2021: Aladdin
And we are planning this year's world famous panto to be just like it used to be.... but better. Six shows so we won't have to turn anyone away; and another of Ben Crocker's amazing scripts. Without question it will be the usual madcap adventure with chaos and mayhem and lashings of fun. Save the dates as you'll want to see this more than once.
6-9 Oct 2021: Life and Beth
The first Covid casualty re-invigorated to lead us back to the theatre (we hope)
Recently-widowed Beth is looking forward to a quiet Christmas, but her son Martin and sister-in-law Connie have other ideas. Martin tries to manage Beth like his father did, and Connie dives into the red wine. The cat has gone missing, Martin’s girlfriend is willfully mute, and the vicar inadvertently conjures up the ghost of her late husband. Hardly a recipe for a happy Christmas. “I chose this play because I was drawn to the quiet humour, and to Beth’s discovery of her own strength and the charms of independence. The provenance of the ghost (ghosts?) and the fate of Wagstaff have proved fruitful grounds for discussion.” – Bryony Wilman, Director
22 Sep 2021: Under Milk Wood Screening
The committee is very excited to be staging a screening of our very own production of "Under Milk Wood" at The Chiswick Pavilion.
The Pavilion is booked from 7:30pm for an 8pm start. This will be a lovely opportunity for a get together, while seeing many of our faces on the Big Screen! Drinks available to buy and lovely views! Please RSVP to Alastair at [email protected] if you're able to make it. See you at the Chiswick Pavilion, Riverside Dr, Chiswick, London W4 2SP on Wednesday 22nd September
16 Sep 2021: Panto Audition
See the 13 Sep entry for all the details, or just turn up and join in, meet everyone and have some fun - after all that's what it's all about
15 Sep 2021: Play Reading
Rearranged from the 8th September due to host Deesh's work commitments. Deesh is kindly lending his Kew abode to our play reading once again and asks that you please RSVP if you're able to make it. The play will be "Night of the Iguana" by Tennessee Williams. Usual 7:30pm for an 8pm start. Hoping to see lots of friendly faces there! Words from Deesh: One parking spot available for cars. Any bicyclists should arrive well l before 8pm as I won't be able to let them in once the reading starts
13 Sep 2021: Panto Audition
At the Centre in the backroom. No prep needed. Just turn up and express an interest as there's lots for everyone to do in this year's Aladdin. I will add a link to an online registration form, just as soon as I work out how to make one.
15 Aug 2021: BBQ
And this year we're invading Ian's marvellous garden. Tickets now available from the ticket kiosk. Can't wait
5 Aug 2021: Play Reading (in person!)
Finally, finally, we can meet up and socialise together and what better way than with a play reading and I don't need to post the play on this page either. All round to Deesh's pad with drinks and nibbles. We'll be reading "Come Blow Your Horn" by Neil Simon
10 Jun 2021: Spring Social
Somewhat later than Spring, although given the coldness of this year and the rather inconvenient Covid restrictions (not long now, folks) a little wait has not been a bad thing. Usual deal, turn up and the first drink of something round £5 is on the group. After that, each to their own. And we're at the City Barge again (hurrah)
9 Jun 2021: Play Reading
Another fun evening reading plays on a screen with our friends. It's that super fun play "Noises Off" (should have used mute). Just dial in with the link in the newsletter. Drinks and nibbles provided by your own good self, so no complaints please. The script has arrived and is HERE
12 May 2021: Play Reading
Another play reading and we'll try another panto and this time for real. Please think about ideas for the songs and where we can add some topical jokes and references. Can we change Cairo to Chiswickia? The script will appear here soon, and very fine it is too. Here it is
16 Apr 2021: Under Milk Wood
And one more, let's hope it is the last online play we have to do.... This will be broadcast live and online by St Michael's Players, directed by Alastair and featuring a myriad of characters and costume changes.
10 Mar 2021: Play Reading
We think we're going to be on stage this year and so this one is for real. Join us for Snow White and join us for a laugh, a snigger and a guffaw. Join the meeting online with your wine and nibbles a-plenty. Backdrops and special effects more than welcome. Script here and remember that a fast show is a good show.
24 Feb 2021: Play Reading
Another play reading and this one is in Utku's capable hands. We have "Community Spirit" to read. Armed only with wine, nibbles and your comfiest armchair. Here's the script for you to download
19 Feb 2021: The Importance of being Earnest
Another live, online play from St Michael's Players with Deesh directing to keep us occupied through the cold, dark February nights while covid still runs amok and the vaccine approaches. Come on vaccine, we're rooting for you.
21 Jan 2021: AGM
A chance to review 2020, our 71st year where covid all but wiped out stage theatre. Shouldn't take long!
