Author: Tim Knott

Previously, we were looking for a director for our Spring production. Since then Calvin Jordan-Rabbitts has been in touch, and after a couple of meetings and readings he has agreed to direct ‘Caught in the Net’ as our Spring production. This will take place in late April or early May according to the availability of St. Augustine’s.

The play is a farce about John Smith, a London Taxi driver, who has been living a double life for many years. He has a wife in Wimbledon and another in Streatham and uses his job to flit between his two families. Gavin Smith, son of John and Barbara Smith, ends up meeting Vicki Smith, daughter of John and Mary Smith, online. They fall in love, and they discover that their fathers have the same name and occupation. They decide that they must meet, and their dad, John finds out and must prevent them getting together. He enlists the aid of his pal, the not-so-bright Stanley Gardner, who brings along his father. The result is confusion, lying, and all sorts of craziness.

This is a very fast-paced farcical comedy and involves a lot of comings and goings with a lot of great timing for the action. The stage covers both John’s flat in Wimbledon and his residence in Streatham as a split set with action sometimes happening in both areas at the same time.

The auditions will be on Thursday 9^th January and Monday 13^th January, starting at 7.30pm at The Park Club in Trowbridge.

The parts are as follows:

John Smith – Male Lead 40s–50s – Husband of Barbara and Mary, father of Gavin and Vicki

Gavin Smith – Teenager – Son of John and Barbara Smith

Vicki Smith   – Teenager – Daughter of John and Mary Smith

Barbara Smith – 40s-50s – Wife of John Smith

Mary Smith – 40s-50s – The other Wife of John Smith

Stanley Gardner – 30s-50s – John and Barbara’s lodger and John’s best friend

Mr. Gardner – 60s-70s – Stanley’s senile father

We will send out audition pieces in the New Year – so let us know if you are interested. Don’t worry, you won’t need to learn the lines for the audition.

Contact us at

Trowbridge_players@hotmail.com

Or Facebook

I’d like to wish you all a very Happy New Year for 2025 with this great production to look forward to.

Tim Knott – Chairman

Thanks everyone for coming along to the auditions, the cast list is:

Nanny                                     Pete Grant

Wilbert                                   Dave Bailey

Lord Chamberlain                Mike Holden

Princess                                  Carisma Dolphin

Fairy Sapphire                       Chloe Johnson

Fairy Mouldina                      Sue Morgan

King                                         Alan Rutland

Queen                                     Alice Gosney

Prince                                     Jacob Pickford

Groom                                    Harry Parker

Thank you to those who have said they will join the ensemble.

I’ll be in touch with a date for a  script read through and then with rehearsal details. I’m looking at rehearsal evenings of Monday and Thursday so avoiding the Friday evening socials before Christmas.

Angela

Time is moving on, and we have now taken the decision to produce Sleeping Beauty as our pantomime for 2024. We will be performing at The Civic Centre in January. This is obviously a venue that we have not used for many years (approx. 15) and it has changed significantly regarding performance space. We will need lots of help and support with the production. More details once the show is cast. 

Performance dates will be Friday 12^th , Saturday 13^th and Sunday 14^th January. Friday pm, Saturday matinee, Saturday pm, Sunday matinee – 4 performances in all. Move in will be mid-week, move out on Sunday after the matinee.

Auditions 

When – Monday July 17^th and Friday July 21^st 2023.
Time – 7:00pm – 9:45pm (the first 30 minutes is for admin and time to study audition pieces) 
Where – The Park Club, Trowbridge Park 
Characters: 
Princess Beauty – Principle Girl           
Wilbert – Palace footman – (Buttons character – banter with audience etc)
Nanny – Dame  (Flamboyant – chats with Audience)
Lord Chamberlain – to King and Queen – Officious/Pompous
Fairy Sapphire – Good Fairy      
Fairy Mouldina – Bad Fairy (Boo Hiss!) – The Villan of the piece
King Fredrick – Father to Princess Beauty  – (a bit doddery)
Queen Olivia – Mother to Princess Beauty – (firm but fair)
Prince Ferdinand – Principle Boy                    
Groom – friend of the Prince     (could be played by boy or girl)

Various chorus/villagers etc          

If you are interested in taking part but are unable to attend the auditions, please contact Angela – angela.giddings@blueyonder.co.uk  

Hello All, 

You will have notice that we have not been doing a great deal since lockdown. We have performed one play and an evening of One-Acts at Steeple Ashton Village Hall and Trowbridge Town Hall. If you don’t know, we had our main venue The Arc Theatre withdrawn from Amateur groups as a cost cutting measure by Wiltshire College and have been looking for suitable venues to perform in ever since. Now the Town Hall is closing for a couple of years the choice of venues in Trowbridge will become even slimmer. In the meantime, our funds have dwindled as we have been paying out for Costume and Scenery stores with very little income coming in. If we don’t bring some funds in then I’m afraid that Trowbridge Players will be no more in the space of a few months. 

There is one thing that can save us – Panto. 

Our last panto was Aladdin back in January 2020 – just before Corona Virus arrived. So, we are planning to perform a Pantomime at The Civic Centre in January 2024. We will not be putting on an Autumn production so we can concentrate on Panto. 

We are planning 4 performances: – Friday PM, Saturday Matinee, Saturday PM and Sunday Matinee. 

Angela has offered to direct but we need several more things. So, we have a venue and a director but require a Script, a cast and a team. We need everyone who is interested in saving the society to come together to help. We will need singers, dancers, actors – but also backstage crew, front of house people, costumes, choreographer and many other forms of help. We also need a show co-ordinator, who can organise rehearsals, emails to cast etc so Angela can concentrate on the Panto itself. 

We will be reading scripts for the next few Mondays at The Park Club.

So, we are calling out to all members and friends of the society, past and present, to help keep us going. We have been in existence since 1969 and I hope that we have many more years to run. 

Please reply to Trowbridge_Players@hotmail.com to let us know that you care and will support the society in our hour of need. We need all of your help to make this a success. 

Kind Regards, 

Tim Knott – Chairman 

Our next reading will be Ray Cooney’s hilarious farce

John Smith is a London cab driver with a secret. He has two wives, one in Wimbledon and one in Streatham. Gavin Smith, son of John and Barbara Smith, ends up meeting Vicki Smith, daughter of John and Mary Smith, online. They fall in love, and they discover that their fathers have the same name and occupation. They decide that they have to meet, and their dad, John finds out. He enlists the aid of his pal, the not-so-bright Stanley Gardner, who brings along his father. The result is confusion, lying, and all sorts of craziness.

John Smith – Taxi Driver – Bigamist – 30-50
Gavin Smith – John’s son by Barbara – Teenager
Vicki Smith – John’s daughter by Mary – Teenager
Mary Smith – John’s wife – 30-50
Barbara Smith – John’s other wife – 30-50
Stanley Gardner – John’s friend – 30-50
Mr. Gardner – Stanley’s Father – 60-80

The villagers of Chipping Cleghorn are summoned by a newspaper notice to the house of Letitia Blacklock, anticipating a murder game. But things become too real when someone is shot dead. The Police are baffled and is it up to Miss Marple to solve the mystery.

We will be reading this play as a possible production for the middle of May. The reading will be at The Park Club on Monday 16th January at 7.30pm.

The characters are as follows:-

Miss Marple 50 – 80 Gentle, inquisitive, adorable.
Letitia Blacklock 60 – 80 “Letty” owns the house, very kind to her lodgers and Bunny.
Dora Bunner 60 – 80 “Bunny” School friend of Letty and of her sister Charlotte .
Mrs Swettenham 60 – 80 Lives in the village, mother of Edmund, widow.
Julia Simmons 25 – 35 “Sister” of Patrick, distant cousin of Letty, lodger, student.
Phillipa Haymes 25 – 35 Working in the area as a gardener, lodger, widow, has a child.
Mitzi 25 – 35 Eastern European, cook, very suspicious of police.
Patrick Simmons 25 – 35 “Brother” of Julia, student (after war service), lodger.
Edmund Simmons 25 – 35 Son of Mrs Swettenham lives in village, “left wing” writer.
Rudi Scherz Swiss, Any age 1 speech – could double as policeman.
Inspector Craddock 40 – 70 Warms to Miss Marple during the course of the play.
Sergeant Mellors 20 – 40 Not many lines to learn but a big presence nevertheless