| Waking Beauty
Things are hotting up for the 2023 Royston Town Pantomime, which will be directed this time by David Atkins, with Louise Atkins as Musical Director. They've chosen to do Sleeping Beauty in a version by Warren McWilliams. It's a new look at the old tale, but with all the ingredients of a traditional pantomime - good fairies, bad fairies, good jokes, bad jokes and, of course, plenty of song, dance and audience participation.
Auditions for the show, which will be performed during the last two weekends in January 2023, take place on Monday 3 October - auditions for juniors (12+) at 7.00 p.m. and for adults at 8.00 p.m. - but there will be a preliminary read-through of the script at 7.00 p.m. on the preceding Monday, 26 September, to allow people to decide whether there’s a part they’d like to try for. The read-through will be restricted to those considering the main roles (adults and students at Year 13 or above), but the auditions themselves are, as always with panto, open to anyone over the age of 12. The venue for both meetings hasn’t yet been confirmed but will probably be the Drama Studio at King James Academy Royston. Full details will be released nearer the time via this newsletter, on the website and on social media at www.facebook.com/groups/cadsroyston
As we'd planned to do this year before COVID forced us to cancel, we're putting on an extra matinee in 2023 to ensure that as many boys and girls as possible (not forgetting Mums and Dads and everyone else) get a chance to see the show. Watch this website or the newsletter for further details as soon as we have them.
Meanwhile, we could always do with some help with a lot of the backstage work, including costumes, make-up, props, set building, lighting and sound operation. If you have a talent for any of these activities, or would like to learn more about stagecraft from our resident experts, we'd love to hear from you. You can contact us at any time via this website or by e-mailing cads[email protected]
Kim goes online The recent visit by professional actor (and former CADS member) Kim Ensor was very well received, though slightly disappointingly attended. (We suspect the forty-degree heat that day may have dissuaded a lot of people!) Kim herself says she thoroughly enjoyed the evening and hopes to come back at some stage to do some more practical workshops... musical theatre was mentioned.
For the benefit of those who couldn't make it last month, the resourceful Martin Maynard filmed the event and we have now posted the whole talk to YouTube so that you can catch up with it online. Just click on https://youtu.be/EcnSl-iq7Js
A stroll through history We were asked recently if we might consider some sort of evening's entertainment at the newly refurbished Royston Museum, possibly around the time of this year's Royston Arts Festival. One suggestion is that we might reproduce the now notorious Royston History Walk as a sort of static performance. For those who weren't there, this was a walking tour of the town centre, conducted by Kathy Young and David Atkins, as part of the then newly revived Arts Festival that Kathy and Cath Boughton had organised.
The tour turned out to be a massive hit with the local population and ended up with well over a hundred people being steered through Royston's history, complete with members of CADS and their families acting as some of the town's "characters".
Kathy says she still has the script for the walk and thinks it could easily be adapted into a performance, with the "characters" dotted around the museum (on the balcony, for instance). The issue is, who would be prepared to take this on? Kathy herself is away for the weeks leading up to the festival and so far no one else has come forward. If you think you might like to "direct" this event - and that would be largely a question of assigning roles, co-ordinating the performers and deciding where to position them within the museum - then we'd really need to know pretty soon so that we can let the museum know in turn.
Please contact us in the usual way via the website or by e-mailing cads.secretary@gmail,com
Wedding bells Zoe Reader has extended to all CADS members and other interested parties an invitation to her forthcoming wedding. She and Julian are to be married at 2.00 p.m. on Saturday 3 September at St Mary’s Church, Therfield, and would be delighted to see friends and supporters there. Just turn up on the (big) day!
What shall we do next? We're always open to suggestions for evening meetings - in the past these have included talks by visiting speakers, workshops on various aspects of theatre, film shows and quizzes, but we'd welcome suggestions from you about what you'd like to see in future. Theatre visits have been a popular suggestion, and we're working on that, but if there's anything else you think we could be doing, do please get in touch in the usual way (via this website or by e-mailing cads[email protected]).
These meeting are always completely FREE and open to anyone, whether or not you've been connected with CADS in the past. Indeed, they're an ideal way to make yourself known to the group without committing yourself to anything, so do come along to whatever we arrange next.... again, watch this space!
Committee Our next meeting is on 29 September, so if there's anything you'd like us to consider or discuss then, please feel free to contact any of us at any time via the Contact page of this website! |