“What a difference a year makes!” said Bob Almquist,
Chairman of Davenham and Sandiway Players in his Chairman’s report at last
Thursday’s Annual General Meeting. “Just twelve months ago, almost to the day,
Paulette Anderson (Hon Sec) and he returned from the 2011 Cheshire Theatre
Guild awards night with not even a nomination for any of the drama festival
categories and had to admit, were a little downhearted.” However, at last
week’s 2012 AGM, Bob was able to report that the pace of performing arts at the
Players Theatre had accelerated and that the 2012 season was one of the most
successful ever. Over the season, visiting companies had staged eight
productions at Davenham theatre – almost one a month. Only a few years ago,
there would have been barely one or two.
Then there was the immensely successful series of
professional Jazz concerts organised and financed by a small group of local
enthusiasts who took over responsibility from the DAN (Development of Arts in
Northwich) after withdrawal of a grant from a regional arts funder. The
entrepreneurs put their own money at risk to fund the first three concerts,
starting at the end of 2011, with no certainty of success. However, after the
first couple of evenings, it was clear that effective marketing had worked and
that the concerts would pay for themselves hopefully long into the future.
Indeed, most of the evenings are sell-outs with waiting list for ticket
returns. The jazz bands say that Davenham is an ideal venue for their type of
music and audiences love the atmosphere and the real ale supplied by sponsors
Tatton Brewery of Knutsford. Jazz returns in September – email jazz@davenham.co.uk for details.
Bob then asked the question “With all this going on at
Davenham, was there any time for Davenham’s own drama productions?” Yes, there
was. In November, Barbara Crellin directed Martin McDonagh’s dark comedy ‘Cripple
of Inishmaan’ which attracted sell-out audiences following a successful
preview night with an invited audience of local business people, councillors
and the Northwich Mayor. In January, Paulette Anderson directed ‘Laugh Out
Loud - Again’ – a miscellany of comedy readings and sketches involving a
wide range of our membership. The most recent production was ‘The Farndale
Macbeth’ (abbreviated title) directed by Graham Hough. This play is one of
a series by David McGillivray and Walter Zerlin Jnr that dramatize attempts by
the (imaginary) Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen’s Guild Dramatic
Society’s to stage serious plays. In this script, the ladies try their hand at
‘The Scottish Play’ at a drama festival competition. Macbeth is played by a
lady, Lady Macbeth by a man and one of the three witches is unlucky enough to
have to have to complete the play in a wheelchair! Everything that can go wrong
does go wrong, but the drama adjudicator makes the best of it at the end and
the Farndale ladies go away with their heads held high. Congratulations to
Graham Hough on a production enjoyed by all the cast and by the sell-out
audiences!
The chairman handed over to Barbara Crellin, director of the
November production, to describe what happened at the 2012 Cheshire Theatre
Guild annual Drama Festival awards evening, held the day previous to the
Davenham AGM. Hopes of awards were not high following the 2011 experience. But
things were to change very soon. After seeing three excerpts of recent
productions staged by Cheshire amateurs, the audience eagerly awaited the drama
adjudicator Colin Snell, who had judged almost thirty plays by amateur groups
all over Cheshire during the season. You have to compare this evening with the
Olivier or Academy awards night – there is the same level of excitement, but
with considerably less glitz and champagne !
The adjudicator announced the nominations for Best
Supporting Actor and one of our members was in the list. Next thing we knew
Jamie Morris had won the Geoffrey Croxford Cup for his portrayal of Bartley in
‘The Cripple of Inishmaan’ and went proudly onto the stage to
collect his award – well done Jamie ! A little later, the nominations for Best
Presentation came up and Davenham were nominated for the set built for ‘The
Cripple of Inishmaan’. Davenham won again and Barbara collected the
Bramhall Cup on behalf of set designer Sheila Hetherington and Set Builder
Arthur Jones.
Was there more to come? – indeed there was! Colin Snell
announced the award for Best Actor. Ed Green had been nominated for the part of
JohnnyPateenMike in his Davenham Players debut, ‘The Cripple of
Inishmaan’ – and Ed won the trophy! Unfortunately Ed could not be there
because he was appearing on stage that night in Hertfordshire, so Barbara
collected the David Lane cup on Ed’s behalf. The excitement was now building
for the final few awards, including Best Director, for which Barbara had been
nominated and Best Production for which ‘The Cripple of Inishmaan’
had been nominated. Barbara did not win Best Director award, but a nomination
still recognizes success and she was pleased to have been in ‘Best of Class’. Any
disappointment was short-lived because the penultimate award of the evening
went to ‘The Cripple of Inishmaan’ for runner-up in Best Overall
Production and Barbara was overjoyed to collect the John F Blackburn award.
So, the Davenham committee could report on a year of hard
work and recognition of a successful season’s activities. If you are interested
in finding out more about what’s happening at Davenham and maybe becoming
involved with our next season, you can phone our Hon Sec Paulette on 01606 79779,
our Chairman Bob on 01606 45186 or visit our website http://www.davenhamplayers.co.uk/
which has a Contact Us form or Blog http://dsp-davenham.blogspot.co.uk/
which has news of coming activities for your diary. We also have a Facebook
group page Davenham and Sandiway Players. In conclusion Bob said a warm
“Thank You” for all who had helped in last season’s productions and asked for
more help with next season, which looks like being even busier than last.
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