Latest news from CADS
September 2023 news
(September 24, 2023)Get your Boots on
There's (just about) still time to book tickets for our two short comedies - Nick Warburton's Don't Blame it on the Boots live on stage and Seven Movies by Roy Maddox on screen - which open on Friday 29 September. The shows begin at 7.30 on Friday 29 and Saturday 30 at King James Academy Royston, Senior Site, and seating will be unallocated with cabaret-style tables and chairs (so get there early for the best seats!).Tickets are £8 each and are available now from our box office partners Positickets or via the CADS Box Office on 07856 599039
Yay! Panto's back!
We're really delighted to announce that there will be a pantomime in 2024, despite some doubts earlier in the year. We put out advertisements for a director and were lucky enough to secure the services of Duncan Moore, who's fairly new to Royston but who has a wealth of experience in London and elsewhere directing amateur and fringe groups in everything from Shakespeare to Sweeney Todd! The choice of panto is a version of The Little Mermaid by Warren McWilliams who wrote last year's wonderful (and hugely successful) Sleeping Beauty and who's also relatively local.
Auditions for the show are happening on Monday 2 October in the Drama Studio at King James Academy Royston (Senior Site) - auditions for juniors (12+) are at 7.00 p.m. and those for principals (adults and Year 11+) at 8.00 p.m. If you're unfamiliar with the school, there'll be signs showing you how to find the Drama Studio. You don't need to prepare anything in advance - just turn up on the night. Note that juniors must be accompanied by an adult such as a parent or guardian.
More information about the show including a full list of characters can be found here.
The show itself will be performed as usual over the last two weekends in January 2024 but before then we'll need to build the set - we've set aside two weekends for this on 20-22 October and 27-29 October and would welcome anyone who's happy to help with construction, painting and so on. We're still to appoint a Technical Director, but this will be announced shortly.
We could also do with anyone who can assist with the following roles:
- set design
- lighting (design and operation)
- sound (design and operation)
- stage management
- stage crew
- costumes
- props
- make-up
If you'd like to get involved in any of these areas, please contact the Producer by e-mailing [email protected]. We hope to set up a production meeting fairly soon after the auditions, so it would be useful to know who might be on board. If you're new to any of these areas, there's always help and guidance available...
Radio days
Following our successful first radio play, Strangers on a Film, which went out in August on Royston Radio, we're looking to do another. Emma Daintrey is reviving her adaptation of Ben Lewis's Romance is Dead, which we performed in 2018, with the original cast from that show. (We've even still got the original sound effects and the original music, which was specially written for the 2018 performances!) We're hoping to record the play over the next month or so with a view to it going on air in November and we'll be sure to let you know when it's scheduled for broadcast
By the way, in case you don't know, Royston Radio is an internet-based local station based at the Coombes Community Centre in Burns Road. There are already a couple of CADS connections - Emma Shaw and Pete Eather (and occasionally Oliver) have a regular Saturday show called "Em and Pete's Mixed Beats" and Carl Filby, whom most of you will know through the Royston Arts Festival, presents a folk music programme on Sunday evenings. You can hear the station online at www.roystonradio.com/listen or you might prefer to download the app by searching for "Royston Radio" in your app store.
After that, Michael Young has indicated that he'd like to direct a recording of a new Nick Warburton one-act play for the station at some point but, with the panto season fast approaching, that might not happen until the New Year. If it does, there'll almost certainly need to be an audition for it, so watch this space or the website for more news.
And Fonz Chamberlain, who runs Royston Radio, is reported to be writing a sketch show for the station for which he'd welcome some CADS input. We haven't yet seen any of the scriopts for this but, if you'd like to be considered, please contact [email protected]
Hogan's the hero
Finally, huge congratulations from all of us to the prolific and talented Claire Hogan, whose one-act comedy Fake or Fortune? - written specially for the centenary of the Settlement Players in Letchworth - won third place at this year's Cambridge Festival of Drama, as well as winning Best New Play. A number of us were lucky enough to see the show at the Settlement the week before and thoroughly enjoyed it. Claire's trademark wit and her brilliant characterisation made it an enormously entertaining evening and we're delighted that her work has been recognised in the festival. Watch out for more from Claire!
Committee
Our next meeting is on 10 October 2023; 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!