Latest news from CADS
December 2019 newsletter
(December 19, 2019)Seasons Greetings!
CADS wishes all its followers a very merry Christmas, and to celebrate the season would love to see you at a pre-Christmas drinks evening at the Old Bull tomorrow, Friday 20 December. This isn't in any way a formal meeting, just an excuse to meet up with members (or introduce yourself if you're not already part of the group) and have a bit of festive do! We'll be in the bar from about 8.00 p.m. so please drop in and raise a glass with us..
Drama awards
As if you hadn't got enough to think about at this time of year, it's also the time to think about our annual drama awards. These are presented each January to people in Royston and the surrounding villages who've made an outstanding contribution to the performing arts. This could be in clubs or schools, in acting, dance, music, backstage and so on. It's open to anyone to nominate somebody to receive one of these awards and the final decision is taken by the committee.
There are two awards given each year, both named in honour of former members of CADS; the Fred Sillence Award is open to anyone over the age of 18, and the Lizzie Houghton Award to anyone under that age. The winners each get a trophy and a cash prize! If you'd like to put someone forward for an award, please e-mail [email protected] before Tuesday 31 December, stating their name and (in the case of the Lizzie Houghton Award) their age, your own name, and - briefly - your reasons for nominating them. Your contact details would also be helpful.
"Extras" wanted
As previously mentioned, we're submitting a new one-act play to various drama festivals in 2020 - the first is at Sawston in March - which is an adaptation by local author Roy Maddox of a radio play by Stephen Wyatt called Strangers on a Film. It imagines a series of meetings in 1950 between film director Alfred Hitchcock and novelist Raymond Chandler. Hitchcock had approached Chandler with a request to write a screenplay for his next film which was to be based on a novel called Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith. It turned out that the two men had completely different ideas about how this should be done - Chandler wanted to be as true as possible to the characters and ideas in the original novel, Hitchcock just wanted to make an entertaining piece of cinema and had little regard for literary merit!
The play is essentially a two-hander and the main parts have already been assigned, but we also require a team of non-speaking "extras" on stage who will help move furniture, deliver parcels, serve food and drink, and act out some of the scenes of the film. Exact number isn't crucial but ideally we'd be looking for around seven or eight people. If you'd be interested in taking part, we're holding a meeting at 8.00 on Tuesday 14 January at 10 Dacre Green, Royston SG8 7LH and will explain more (and give you a copy of the script) at that meeting. If you can't make it that evening but would still like to be considered, please e-mail [email protected] and let us know.
Evening meetings
Our programme of evening meetings continues, with new events being added all the time. These take place at roughly six-weekly intervals and each is hosted by a different person. They happen at the Coombes Community Centre in Royston and run from 7.00 to 9.00 p.m. unless otherwise stated.
Meetings planned for 2020 include:
- Wednesday 8 January - illustrated talk: "Theatre on film", hosted by Michael Young
- Wednesday 19 February - drama quiz, hosted by Pauline and Phil Rowe
and we're hoping to run a workshop on musical theatre in April with the help of our friends at Limitless Academy of Performing Arts (more details in the New Year). There's no need to book for any of these meetings - just turn up on the night - and they're completely FREE! If you're lucky, we might even manage to provide some refreshments...
Committee
Our next meeting is on Thursday 9 January 2020 so if there's anything you'd like us to consider or discuss, please feel free to contact any of us at any time via the Contact page of this website!