Operatic group is web savvy
Jan 21 2009 By John Slim
FOR any theatre group that has a website, the convenience and up-to-the-minute air that it enjoys as a result have to be balanced against the more important need for somebody to keep it up to date.
I repeatedly sneak into cyberspace to check on what may be in store, only to find that it’s being kept a dark secret, while I am nevertheless free to look forward to something that happened last year.
No such accusation can be levelled at Great Witley Operatic Society. The group has for many years been making an annual appearance at Worcester’s Swan Theatre, usually with something from Gilbert & Sullivan, but this year it has had to look elsewhere because of renovations that the Swan is undergoing.
As a result, its HMS Pinafore will be at the Norbury Theatre, Droitwich, from tomorrow until February 7, and then at the Rose Theatre, Kidderminster, from Thursday to Saturday the following week – all fully detailed on its website.
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Acocks Green-based Stage 27 is about to go on a tiny tour with The Grimm Tales, which it is taking to three community venues.
The tales it has selected include Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood. The first two venues are Firs & Bromford Community Centre (January 28) and Pype Hayes Community Centre (January 30), with the final performance at its headquarters, Acocks Green Methodist Church (January 31).
This is rarely performed in the Midlands – but oddly it will also be presented by Class Act Drama at Highbury Theatre Centre, Sutton Coldfield, in April.
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With its successful pantomime Hickory Dickory Dock behind it, Sutton Coldfield’s Highbury Theatre gets its serious season under way on February 3. Or perhaps it’s not so serious: the production will be Nobody’s Perfect, the Simon Williams romp about a man who writes novels but finds that he has to adopt a woman’s name to get them published.
The writer, played by Duncan McLaurie, has to rely on his father, played by Rob Phillips, and his daughter – 17-year-old Emily Ward, making her first appearance with the senior company – not to blow his cover.
Sutton Arts Theatre open with Ronald Harwood’s engrossing play, The Dresser, two days later. Both productions run to February 14.
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WHAT’S ON
The Country Wife, Lichfield Players, Lichfield Garrick (to Saturday).
Mother Goose, Norbury Theatre, Droitwich (Jan 22-25).
Of Mice and Men, Crescent Theatre, Birmingham (Jan 23-Feb 7).
The Grimm Tales, Stage 27, Firs & Bromford Community Centre (Jan 28); Pype Hayes Community Centre (Jan 30); & Acocks Green Methodist Church (Jan 31)..
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, aged 13¾, Fellowship Players, Grange Playhouse, Walsall (Jan 29-Feb 7).
Strictly Murder, Hall Green Little Theatre (Jan 30-Feb 7)
