Home Past Productions
1st to 4th September - An evening of one act plays by David Tristram
Next month Bawtry Theatre will be presenting two, one act plays, by David
Tristram: ' Last Tango in Little Bawtry' and 'Last Panto in Little
Bawtry'
The action in the two plays takes place thirteen years apart. In
both plots the Little Bawtry Amateur Dramatic Society is on the ropes.
They need to come up with a production that is going to sell enough tickets
to save the day. In both instances, long serving chairman and artistic
director Gordon writes a play that employs, as a marketing scheme, some
rather colorful inuendo with hilarious results.
The Cast of Last Tango includes, Eleanor Dixon as Margaret, Natalie Young
as Joyce, Graham Vernon as Gordon and Will Wheatley as Bernard. Jean Waring
takes up the role of Margaret in the second play, with Paula Hadley as
Joyce, Keith Waring as Gordon and Steve Kellett playing Bernard.
The play opens for a four night run on Wednesday, 1
September.
15th to 22nd May - Blithe Spirit, a comic play by Noel Coward.
The play concerns socialite and novelist Charles Condomine (played by
Phil Healing) who invites
the eccentric medium and clairvoyant, Madame Arcati (Jane Wheatley) to his house to conduct
a seance, hoping to gather material for his next book. The scheme backfires
when he is haunted by the ghost of his annoying and temperamental first
wife, Elvira (Helen Shepherd), following the séance. Elvira makes continual attempts to
disrupt Charles's marriage to his second wife, Ruth (played by Rebecca
Fowler), who cannot see or hear
the ghost.
The seven strong cast is completed by Natalie Young in the role of Edith, Tony Abbott as Doctor Bradman, and Liz Atkinson as Mrs Bradman.
Performances start at 7:30 pm.
Tickets are available from the SPAR on Station Rd, Bawtry, priced £7 (£6 for concessions) and £12 for the buffet evening performance on Saturday 22nd.
14th to 17th July - 'Sam Fletcher', by Tony Jones and Rob Southwick
A Young Players Production
This new play with music is something completely different for the Phoenix
Young Players. It is a drama portraying the hardships of being a poor child
in Victorian England. Although it has it's funny moments it is definitely
not a comedy.
Twelve year old Sam Fletcher, as a result of a series of disasters, none of
which are his fault, finds himself a disabled orphan in a Workhouse. From a
contented family life he is transferred to 'Hell'. But in the end one person
redirects his life and changes it completely.
We meet many characters of all ages as we progress through Sam's life until
he is grown up and married. The play is directed by resident drama coach
Sarah Cowan.
Tickets will be available in June.
6th to 13th February 2010 - The Farndale Murder Mystery,
Or, to give it its full title, 'The Farndale Avenue Housing
Estate Townswomen's Guild Dramatic Society Murder Mystery
'
This play, by David McGillvray and Walter Zerlin Jnr, revolves around, as the name suggests, a townswomen's guild putting on an amateur dramatic production of a murder mystery.
Those of you who enjoyed our Farndale Avenue production of Macbeth in 2004 will know what to expect when they enter the world of Mrs Reece and her Townswomen's Guild.
Be prepared for an onslaught of utter incompetence which the ladies
provide while presenting 'Murder at Checkmate Manor.'
As one would expect from such a script, the set and scenery are poorly
constructed and there are far more parts than there are actors available
(The Guild’s chairwoman Mrs. Phoebe Reece (played by Paula Hadley), has
given herself six juicy roles which include Regine the sexy French maid and
a male solicitor). Add to this the fact that one of the ladies is injured
hours before the show goes on, meaning that the stage manager Gordon Pugh,
(played by Steve Kellett) has to stand in, and you have the recipe for a
delicious farce.
Lady Doreen, mistress of the ancestral home where the dastardly deed is committed, is played by Judith Barton in the role of Audrey - who also has to handle the parts of Mrs King (the Colonel's wife), lady Bishop's cousin Joan and spinster aunt Violet.
The parts of Pawn the aged butler (where would a murder mystery play be without one?) and Colonel King, are played by Alison Legg in the role of Felicity. And Trudy Panting, in the role of Thelma, takes the parts of Lady Bishop's daughter Daphne and another spinster aunt Rose.
David McGillivray and Walter Zerlin Jr. have written 10 Farndale plays starting in 1976, with the ladies version of "Macbeth." This murder mystery effort, the third of the series, world premiered in 1980.
24th to 27th February 2010 - "From Hillbilly to Rockabilly'.
An original show written by Rob Southwick and performed for the first time by the Phoenix Young Players . It tells the story of American popular music from the famous Carter Family to Elvis Presley.
A cast of forty young people aged 12 - 18 years narrates the story and sings twenty songs from that era. All the music is live and they are supported by a live stage band.
Start time 7:30pm. Tickets, £6 (£5 concessions), will be available from
23rd January at 'Petology' adjacent to the Theatre on
14th to 21st November 2009 - 'Blue Remembered Hills'
by Dennis
Potter. 
Directed by Malcolm Culverwell, the play revolves around a group of seven seven year olds playing in a
remote country setting on a summer's afternoon in the 1940s. It reflects on
the human capability for brutality, especially in children. Blue Remembered
Hills was originally a television play which was
broadcast in 1979.
Although the characters are children they are played by adult actors.
The cast includes; Keith Waring, Phil Healing, Kindall Goble, Rebecca Fowler, Natalie Young, Graham Hadley and Bob Geeson.
16th, 17th, 18th July - 7.30 pm - 'Seaside Snapshots', a 'Romeo and Juliet' type musical set on the beach at Scarborough in the 1960's,
produced by the Phoenix Young Players. Ronnie and Julie fall for each other but their parents definitely don't. Events eventually bring their parents together and all ends happily - unlike in the original.
The musical includes many sixties hits, such as 'On the Boardwalk, 'Stand by me', Dancing on the Beach', 'My Generation' and 'Blue Suede Shoes', many of which are performed live by the talented cast, aged eleven to seventeen.
Performances start 7:30pm.
Tickets £6 (£5 concessions) available from 15th June from the 'Spar' near the Phoenix Theatre or by telephoning Tony Jones on 01302 532335.
11th - 16th May - 'Take Away The Lady' by Jimmy Chinn
Intriguing glimpses into a cupboard full of family skeletons together with some serious, and not so serious, detective work, combine in this unusual suspense play, to keep everyone guessing until the very last page.
Returning home from prison, after serving 15 years for allegedly murdering his mother, Matthew, finds his three sisters, his wife and father waiting for him. Still protesting his innocence Matthew's arrival prompts the question of who did kill mother - scornful Celia, dotty Emma, cold Lavinia, flighty Gilda or even gentle father?
Performances start at 7:30 pm.
Tickets are available from the SPAR on Station Rd, Bawtry, priced £6 (£5 for concessions) and £12 for the buffet evening performance on Saturday 16th.
2nd - 7th March - 'Improbable Fiction' by Alan Aykbourn
It is nearly Christmas and Arnold is holding a meeting of the Pendon
Writers' Circle. All the members are frustrated writers. Jess wants to write
Victorian bodice rippers; Nerdy Clem writes conspiracy, alien hunting, Sci-fi
stories liberally spattered with malapropisms; nervy Vivvi churns out 1930's
detective stories; Grace writes for children; Brevis collaborates on
musicals; only Arnold has published..... instruction manuals. The other
character is Ilsa, a young girl who looks after Arnold's disabled mother
while the meeting is going on. They discuss a collaboration of all their
different genres, but can't quite agree on what the subject should be. They
all leave, but with a clap of thunder and the lights failing they all return
wearing Victorian outfits, having become the characters in Jess's fiction.
In Act 2 a number of mysteries are interwoven all centred around Ilsa and
the writers become the characters in all their would be books.
The cast includes Jon Whiteley as Arnold, Jane Wheatley as Jess, Rebecca Fowler as Ilsa, Eleanor Geeson as Vivvi, Gill Parker as Grace, Keith Waring as Brevis and Phil Healing as Clem.
Performances start at 7:30 pm.
Tickets are available from the SPAR on Station Rd, Bawtry, priced £6 (£5 for concessions) and £12 for the buffet evening performance on Saturday 7th.
8th - 15th November - 'Situation Comedy' by Johnnie Mortimer and Brian Cooke
Set in a
Performances start at 7:30 pm.
Tickets are available from the SPAR on Station Rd, Bawtry, priced £6 (£5 for concessions) and £12 for the buffet evening performance on Saturday 15th Nov.
19th - 21st June - 'Joe's Last Journey' performed by the Phoenix Young
Players.
Performances start at 7.30pm. Ticket prices are £6 for adults and £5
for under 18's and seniors.
Tickets can be reserved by telephoning Tony Jones on 01302 532335.
The play tells the story of a young lad living in England in the 1960's.
Circumstances force him to run away to the United States where he tries to
make a new life but things always seem to go wrong. He returns to England
but discovers something terrible which forces him to run away yet again,
this time to stay.
Finally he returns to England in 2008 to die but first he must tell his
story to his family and ask for a very special funeral.
17th to 24th May - Snake in the Grass by Alan Ayckbourn.
An atmospheric play with a cast of three women, directed by Edward Burroughs.
Annabel hears that her father has died and hastens back from Australia. She is confronted by a total stranger who seems to be trying to blackmail her. Just how and why did her father die? Time to confront her sister Miriam. The result is nothing like what she expects. It's nothing like what the audience will expect either!
Performances start at 7:30 pm.
Tickets are available from the SPAR on Station Rd, Bawtry, priced £6 (£5 for concessions) and £12 for the buffet evening performance on Saturday 24th May.
This production is kindly sponsored by Atkinson Smith Insurance Brokers, Doncaster.
8th – 15th March 2008
Out of Order
A Comedy by Ray Cooney
at the Phoenix Theatre, Station rd, Bawtry
Directed by Steve Kellett
When Richard Willey, a Government Junior Minister, plans to spend the evening with Jane Worthington, one of the opposition’s typists, things go disastrously wrong, beginning with the discovery of a ‘body’ trapped in the hotel’s only unreliable sash window.
Desperately trying to get out of an extremely sticky situation, Richard calls for his PPS, George Pigden who, through Richard’s lies, sinks further and further into trouble.
Things go from bad to worse with the arrival of Ronnie, Jane’s distraught young husband and with the addition of an unscrupulous waiter, Mrs Willey and Nurse Foster things really come to a head.
Performances start at 7:30 pm. Tickets, priced £6 (£5 for concessions) and £12 for the buffet evening performance on Saturday 15th March, are available from the Spar mini-market, Station Rd, Bawtry.
This production is sponsored by Jones & Co. Solicitors of 48 High Street, Bawtry.
Out of Order received the 1991 Olivier Award for Comedy of the Year.
3rd to 10th November 2007
Life Goes On by Adrian Hodges
A thoughtful and engaging comedy which opens in the hours following the
funeral of George Marlowe, who left this life unexpectedly whilst repairing
his wife's hairdryer. The caterers have mixed up the wake with a child's
birthday party and matters go downhill along with the green jelly!
George's younger brother, Michael, a would-be writer hoping to interest a
Hollywood star in his latest filmscript, attempts to seduce Debbie, youngest
sister of his partner Helen and of Joyce who is George's widow. During the
evening Michael leaps from assignations with all three sisters, until the
arrival of George's ghost puts paid to his intentions. George has been
allowed back to tie up the loose ends of his life, including dealing with
Michael's philandering. George manages in different ways to bring harmony
and a new sense of direction to each member of the family, proving that
despite everything, life goes on.
The cast includes Steve Kellett, Tony Abbott, Sandra Tuson, Pat Abbott,
Trudy Panting and Judith Barton.
This production is sponsored by W.E. Pinder & Son, Funeral Directors, of 19 Thorn Rd Bawtry.
27th to 29th November 2007 7:30pm
Trash by Tony Jones and Rob Southwick
An original musical performed by 25 members of the Phoenix Young Players with songs in a variety of styles from Blues to Folk and Rock.
A group of children live on a rubbish dump, sent there by a harsh society which has rejected them.
They have formed their own structured society, kept together by a set of rules and customs. The children know about each other's mistakes but are not judgemental.
They are focused on a dream that one day, with the help of a machine called the 'Flyer', they will reach a mysterious place called 'Disney' where they will be accepted and happy.
Into this group comes a new member. She rejects the rules, ridicules their customs and destabilises established relationships. This leads to a tragedy which affects them all.
The 'Flyer' is ready and they prepare to leave but....
Tickets £6.00 (£5 concessions) available by calling 01302 532335
12th to 19th May 2007
The Kidnap Game by Tudor Gates
Directed by Raj Madaan this thriller takes place in the office of wealthy arms dealer Paul Kendon (played by Steve Bickerstaffe) whose daughter has been kidnapped by Philip Hall (played by Neil Newell). The only help Kendon has is from his Chief of Security Harry Daines (Bob Geeson) and inspector Joy Heart (Melissa Thiele).
Performances start 7:30pm.
Tickets, priced £6 (£5 concessions) and £12 for buffet evenings on 18th and 19th May. Available from Dickies Newsagents, Station Rd, Bawtry from April 21st.
24th February to 3rd March 2007
Good Grief by Keith Waterhouse
A bitter sweet drama about a recently widowed woman, June, played by Sue Stevenson. Directed by Judith Barton, other cast members include Steve Kellett, Raj Madaan and Charlotte Felton.
The evening's performance will start at 7:30pm. Tickets, priced £6 (£5 concessions) and £12 for buffet evenings on 2nd and 3rd March, available from Dickies Newsagents, Station Rd, Bawtry.
This production is sponsored by Bawtry Health and Fitness Studio, 4 Church Walk, Bawtry. www.bawtryhealthandfitness.co.uk
11th to 18th November 2006
The Murder Room by Jack Sharkey
Set in a rather grand but faded country cottage on the outskirts of Harrogate in the late 1920's/early 1930's, this play is a spoof on a period mystery,
by the same writer as the 'Adams Family'.Directed by Pat Abbott, the cast includes Bob Geeson, Sue Sevenson, Steve Bickerstaffe, Tony Jones, Lynn Clark and Sandra Blackman.
The play has all the usual hilarity and confusion associated with farce.
Each evening's performance will start at 7:30pm.
Tickets, priced £6 (£5 concessions) and £12 for buffet evenings on 17th and 18th available from Dickies Newsagents, Station Rd, Bawtry.
22nd to 27th May 2006
'Audacity' by Simon Mawdsley.
Directed by Sue Stevenson this lighthearted thriller is about three men,
Philip, John and Dave, who are all strapped for cash for one reason or
another and decide to rob a department store. The wives of
Dave and John become suspicious and investigate what their men are up
to. Nothing turns out quite as expected.
The cast includes Steve Kellett (Philip), Keith Waring (John), Steve
Bickerstaffe (Dave), Melissa Thiele (Gemma) and Sandra Blackman (Gillian).
Each evenings performance will start at 7:30pm. Tickets from Dickies
Newsagents, Station Rd, Bawtry, priced £5 (£4 concessions) £10 for buffet
nights on May 26th and 27th.
This production is kindly sponsored by 'Time For Diamonds' Market Place,
Bawtry.
11to 18th March 2006
Respecting Your Piers a comedy by Peter Quilter.
Directed by Steve Kellett, this comedy is about five women who are forced to settle their differences after they inherit equal shares in a dilapidated pleasure pier. A character driven comedy that is also gentle and touching.
Each evenings performance will start at 7:30pm. Tickets from Dickies Newsagents, Station Rd, Bawtry, priced £5 (£4 concessions) £10 for buffet nights on March 17th and 18th
The Opposite Sex, an adult comedy by David Tristram. Directed by Edward Burroughs.
The play involves four people; Mark, Vicky, Judith and Eric, who only have one thing in common. And when they find out what it is all hell's going to break loose.
Featuring Graham Vernon, Jon Whiteley, Melissa Thiele and Laren Mounde.
Bawtry Phoenix Theatre joined up with Everton Village Players and Retford Little Theatre for a four night drama festival in Everton. The event, entitled 'Three's Company' - took place from 26th to 29th October at Everton Village Hall- seeing three one-act plays performed.
'Caught on the Boundary' - the premiere of a new play penned by our own writing team - led by Steve Kellett (who wrote the hugely successful We're Gonna Win the Cup). The play is a light murder mystery with a cricketing theme.
'A Question of Attribution' by Alan Bennett will be performed by Retford Little Theatre. 'An inquiry in which the circumstances are imaginary but the pictures are real. Anthony Blunt, surveyor of the Queen's pictures tries to solve the riddle of an enigmatic painting and is himself the subject of a more official investigation'.
'Say Something Happened' by Alan Bennett is the contribution from Everton Village Players. 'The Social Services department of the council is preparing a register of the elderly in the area and eager but green June Potter (recently transferred from transport) is dispatched to gather information while obtaining some hands-on experience. Mam and Dad are in their sixties and therefore must be in need of registering - but Mam and Dad, perfectly 'alert', able bodies and street-wise, have no intention of being registered. Thrown by Mam's no-nonsense approach the increasingly desperate June resorts to Mr Farquarson's detailed notes on Conduct of Interviews while Mam sorts her out'. - A highly comic, ironic look at patronizing bureaucracy.