Sponsored by Kibworth DIY
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens adapted by Karen Louise Hebden.
"A show that's as warming as a glass of mulled wine on a winters day!"
This
new stage adaptation of Dickens most famous story is more faithful to
the original than any other published version. It also makes skilful
and moving use of traditional carols to underscore the action
Directed by Martyn Wyburn
Producer, Co-Director and Musical Director - Jennie Palmer-Vines.
Assistant Producer - Carol Townend
Performances on 3rd 4th and 5th December 2009 Matinee 5th December.
Cast List
Ebeneezer Scrooge - Mark Wood
Jacob Marley/Businessman - Andrew Dawes
Bob Cratchit/Young Marley/Bailiff - Stuart Weston
Mrs Cratchit - Sue Wyburn
Nephew Fred/Dick Wilkins/Businessman - Jonathan Surridge
Mrs Fred - Hilary Surridge
Tiny Tim - James Milsom
Mr Thompkins/Young Scrooge - Andy Milsom
Mrs Thompkins/Charwoman - Jo Elliott
Ghost of Christmas Past - Nicky Mawer
Belle/Miss Dora - Rachael Merry
Master Ebenezer - Tim Stokes
Fanny Scrooge - Helena Milsom
Mr Fezziwig/Charity Man/Old Joe - Bill Carpenter
Mrs Fezziwig/Charity Woman - Betty Burbidge
Ghost of Christmas Present - Ian Salmon
Belinda Cratchit - Anna Wyburn
Peter Cratchit - Tim Stokes
Martha Cratchit - Clare Pooley
Ellen Cratchit - Anna Davies
Ignorance - Samuel Surridge
Want/Miss Fezziwig - Phoebe Surridge
Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come/Bailiff - Mick Chauhan
Mrs Dilber - Ingrid Cooke
Topper - Jamie Wyburn
Carol Singer - Frances Pooley
Carol Singer/Turkey Boy/Master Fezziwig - Tom Wyburn
Ensemble - Helen Leech
Ensemble - Sasha Tabberer
1st - 4th July 2009
Pictures on "Flickr" can be seen here - other photos follow pictures link above.
"Fur Coat and No Knickers" - A comedy by Mike Harding.
The play centres on the wedding of Deirdre Ollerenshaw and Mark Greenhalgh. The fun begins on Marks Stag Night, which almost end in disaster when a very drunk mark is found chained to a lamppost with a blow up rubber doll purloined from a night club! As mark is the son of councillor Greenhalgh though, the police let him off. The wedding day itself turns out to be rather a disaster too, with half the guests (including the priest) suffering from blinding hangovers.......Kibworth Theatre Company presents
Fur coat and no Knickers
By Mike Harding
Review by Vivien Window Harborough Mail
The award-winning Kibworth Theatre Company may be small but it certainly punches above its weight. Last year the group won awards at Leicestershire Drama Festival for "Steel Magnolias". This year their chairman Mark Wood, "thought he would choose something easy" to direct. So he chose a play with nine scenes,(it was originally staged on a revolving set), and a cast of 14, many of whom are young men! In amateur theatre young men are scarce as hen's teeth and Mark ended up playing Hamish, the "hooray Henry" himself. (A nice interpretation, too.) The rest of the cast did not quite have to resort to plastic surgery but the greasepaint was well used! Martyn Wyburn even used it to age up to the naughty 85 year-old grandfather - his hilarious performance actually needed no makeup.
The script of this "no-holds-barred" 1970s play is utterly politically incorrect. If you enjoyed Alf Garnett, then it's for you. Deidre and Mark are getting married. She is from a working-class background and his parents are nouveau riche, and the play is as packed with stereotypes of every awful wedding guest you have no wish to meet, as a wedding cake is packed with currants.
The fun begins on Mark's stag night, which ends in disaster as the drunken groom is compromisingly handcuffed to a blow-up doll. The wedding day dawns and half the guests, and the priest, are nursing blinding hangovers. This makes for a nightmare wedding, especially as Father Molloy can hardly stand. Mike Dack stole the show as the confused and drunken Irish priest.
As you can imagine it all finishes with a brawl ("Every good wedding needs a fight") with half the cast in their underwear- including the lovely bride, (Sarah Wood) and groom, (Mark Grey).
This was a play that required a lot of hard work from those backstage and good acting from all 14 in the cast- and it got it! Well done KTC
Vivien Window
NODA review
FUR COAT NO KNICKERS
Presented by: KIBWORTH THEATRE COMPANY
Producer/Director: Mark Wood
Designer: Andrew McGowan
On possibly the hottest night of the year we all melted together! Once again Kibworth made clever use of the space available, making it work for them rather than against. Nevertheless there were some unavoidable breaks between scenes, which were unsettling for the audience, encouraging them to chat. The group as a whole had worked hard to get the most out of their characters and some great examples were Liz Wood’s Edith Ollerenshawe and Trish Kenyon’s Muriel Greenhalgh. Playing the best drunk I think I’ve ever seen and really getting into the part was Mike Dack as Father Finbar Molloy. Never an easy thing to convincingly pull off, he took it to just the right level to keep it real.
A tiny “Attention to Detail” gripe though was the lack of liquid in mugs etc and tucking into a slice of white bread instead of fish, chips and peas. Also care has to be taken when pretending to smoke cigarettes, as they can be the biggest give away.
Looking forward to A Christmas Carol.
Directed and produced by Mark Wood
Cast List
Edith Ollerenshaw - Liz Wood
Charge
hand at an umbrella works – when me tempers up I’ve got a voice like
somebody shovelling coke! You’ve got to be aggressive with my lot or
the place would be a pigsty. Dress: in the house, blue nylon coverall,
and a cigarette. Outside, I think C and A is very good value. Treated
myself and bought my wedding outfit from Lewis’s. Guilty secret,: cant
remember what happened once on a day trip to Llandudno, after seventeen
snowballs and a scampi in the basket, with a bingo caller, under the
great Orme in the moonlight, so not really sure who our Peters Father
is. Still, life goes on dunnit? –
Kevin Ollerenshaw – her son - Malcolm Shaw
Typical
Jack the lad. All mouth and trousers. Obsessed with birds booze and
football. Bought up on Star Trek, Grandstand and practical mechanic.
Had forty jobs since leaving school. Works in a spares department at a
motor firm. Dress – always smart, finished off with a gold medallion
and identity bracelet. Guilty secret – I once kissed a bloke on a works
do when I was drunk – and I quite liked it! Age –
Deirdre Ollerenshaw – her daughter – and bride to be - Sarah Wood
Getting
married tomorrow – Secretary to a local estate agent – smart dresser, I
go for tight sweaters, pencil thin skirts slit up to the thigh – well
you have to keep up with the fashion don’t you? I am what you might
call “aspiring”. Read Cosmo and Woman – I once found a copy of Forum on
a bus – those things don’t really go on do they?? Hobbies – buying
clothes from Chelsea Girl, Bungalows and Newquay. Guilty secret, I once
went all the way with a fairground lad, well all my friends had done
it, I didn’t like it, it was all a bit too physical, I’ve never liked
anything physical, I hated PE at school!
Harry Ollerenshaw – Her Husband - Stuart Weston
Foreman
of the sole cutting division at the local slipper works. Proud to be
British, and don’t give a bugger who knows it. Fought in Africa for you
lot, but wonders why he bothered. Helped to defeat Hitler, but I admire
the way he ran his country with discipline and order! Dresses as a man
of authority at the slipper works should. Hobbies – the motorbike
first, the mysteries of the Catholic Church, and the complexities of
the Littlewoods eight draw system.
Guilty secret once had a knee
tremble with the for-lady of the furry Pom Pom store. Went to
confession right away, got ten Hail Mary’s, ten Our Fathers, and
seventeen Glory Bees to run consecutively.
Nip – (Her Father) - Martyn Wyburn
Going
a bit deaf but not daft! – Still working though I should have retired a
long time ago, for a dairy Farmer at Moorend. When not working im int
pub, I like a drink, and when I’ve had a few I fancy’t women an all tha
knows! I have a “ripe” vocabulary. Hobbies – playing dominoes, work and
religion. Religion – Odd fellows, T’Brown Cow, and T’Friendship. Got
banned from T’Friendship for pouring beer in’t juke box – bloody modern
music – drives you crazy.
Peter Ollerenshaw – Andrew Dawes
Chief
reporter for The Grimesdale Alternative Free Press and Bugle – Part
time drop out and amateur Marxist. Armchair anarchist and professional
moaner. Failed university then went on to teacher training college.
Left after a year. Supposed to be writing a novel. Have had two poems
published in the tribune. Long hair and smokes dope. Hobbies: Argument,
Sci Fi, Head Music and part time vegetarianism. World revolves around
pub library and girlfriend and major novel I am writing. Dress –
Corduroys, Kickers, Check shirt and Navy type Kerouac style jacket.
Mark Greenhalgh – Deirdre’s fiancé - Mark Gray
As
bright as the inside of a cows bum! – I work in my Fathers garage as a
“director”. I’m as thick as two short planks, but I’m good looking and
rich! I drive a Jensen and go power boat racing on the reservoirs above
Grimesdale Crags.Ive tried to develop a non regional accent. Play Rugby
and consider myself one of the lads when I want to be. Dress; very
smart casuals, most of the time. Very Jaeger. Religion – C of E, but
I’m turning for Deirdre!
Father Finbar Malloy – The Parish priest - Mike Dack
A
priest who is rather too fond of the hard stuff. Gets progressively
drunker and drunker throughout, until in the final scene is seen
walking onto the stage dressed only in his underwear with the rubber
doll under his arm – Irish accent, words becoming mangled and
mispronounced the drunker he gets
Hamish – The best man
Best man to Mark, not as pompous or full of himself as mark, more one of the lads. –
Jimmy – Peters friend - Jonathon Surridge
An
earnest young man! – Peters friend and sympathetic to his views – very
small speaking part. Age and dress as others. Jimmy also plays a waiter
and a bouncer.
Muriel Greenhalgh – Mother of the Groom - Trish Kenyon
Mother
of the handsome groom and as you can see I have been rather a looker
myself in my time. Chairwoman of the Townswomen’s Guild and on the
board of several local charities. Because of my position in the
community, I am into do-gooding in a big way. I don’t like to be
reminded of the fact that I was born and brought up in Jubilee Terrace
– The next street to The Ollerenshawes! Well if people knew that they
might think I wasn’t used to the best...and I am! Rover cars, Capo Di
Mont, Waterford Crystal and holidays abroad. Dress – Rotary club chic,
Mink Stoles for Masonic evenings, underwear from Marks and Sparks – a
bit like the Queen really. Pet hate – common people, religion –
Margaret Thatcher – Guilty secrets – Forty Seven American airmen, seven
refuse disposal operatives, six Cosmos tour couriers and one door to
door brush salesmen – but who’s counting?
Ronald Greenhalgh – Father of the Groom - Peter Lakin
Storekeeper,
Preston barracks 1939 to 1945 – made nearly £1000 selling army blankets
and webbing back to the suppliers and working the black market in the
north. A self made man and proud of it. Business is business. Religion
– The masons, the golf club and money! I started off with one car on a
bomb site, now I have a business worth a million. Used to like the
ladies, but more concerned with the sensuality of the bank vaults now.
Guilty secrets – none – but I don’t sleep too well at nights.
Peter Lakin also plays a bouncer and a man in The Catholic Club.
Kirstene - Shannon Bigley
Wendy - Anna Wyburn
Yvette - Sophie Weston
Steel Magnolias - 21/22 - 27/28 November 2008
"Shortlisted for the Best Play category at the annual regional NODA awards 2009"
STEEL MAGNOLIAS – CAST LIST
ANNELLE DUPUY-DESOTO Sophie Stanley
SHELBY EATENTON-LATCHERIE Emily Mawer
TRUVY JONES Sue Wyburn
M’LYNN EATENTON Nicky Mawer
CLAIREE BELCHER Carol Townend
OUISER BOUDREAUX Ingrid Cooke
Director - Jennie Palmer-Vines
Co Director - Martyn Wyburn
Lighting/Sound/Set design - David Moore
SYNOPSIS
The play focuses on the loves, lives and losses of six women in a small town in Louisiana deep in the Southern States of America and is set between the years 1987 to 1989. The women are all of different ages, fortunes and temperaments but are united by a feisty self-confidence, irrepressible humour and steely fortitude in the face of life’s setbacks.
The play charts the course of the lives of the six women over a period of two and a half years. There are four distinct scenes which convey the essence of their interwoven lives and how their different ages and temperaments gives each a different appreciation of events and life’s changing fortunes. The play shows the development of Shelby as a bride to be, her marriage and the impact of her decision to have a baby. The plot is nurtured to its sad climax by the protagonists who meet at the local beauty salon for their regular treatments.
The play starts at a slow, almost painfully slow, pace that any one who has visited the Southern States of America will instantly recognise and builds to a well paced and emotionally charged final scene. The intimacy between the characters has to be shown in such a way that the final scene achieved its full emotional impact.
Review by NODA Rep Zoe Clarke
District 6 - Leicestershire & Rutland (Review by Zoe Clarke)
Steel Magnolias
Presented by: Kibworth TC
Director: Jennie Palmer-Vines
Co-Director: Martyn Wyburn
What a refreshing change it made to be greeted with such a warm welcome. Programmes (excellent and informative and ready for submission) and complimentary drinks. It certainly started the evening off well. I really look forward to visiting this group, as there is such a sense of community and support. A challenging and emotional piece, the biggest hurdle is the southern drawl but this was achieved by all. Working well with the limitations the venue raises, the passage of time was well depicted with clever use of authentic props and set dressing. All the cast gave outstanding performances (some of which were at short notice) but shining out were real-life mother and daughter, Nicky & Emily Mawer playing M'Lynn & Shelby respectively. M'Lynn's closing speech was some of the best acting I've seen in a while, guaranteeing that not a dry eye in the house was to be found. Well done to all.
Review from Harborough Mail.
"Steel Magnolias" is a play set in 1980's Louisiana USA, in a hairdressing salon, "Truvy's Beauty Spot". So there are 3 difficulties for the company to contend with:- correct accents (which can make or break a play); setting it for the period; and teaching actresses how to style hair like hairdressers. Not an easy option, then, for the Kibworth Theatre Company to choose, but they pulled it off brilliantly!
The experienced director, Jennie Palmer Vines, has an eye for detail and had acquired real 1980's hairdressing equipment. The salon screamed 1980s, down to the photos of the awful hairdos of the time and overfussy deco.
The women who played the six friends supporting each other with warmth, humour and fortitude, through loves and losses, over two years, got accents and acting just right. Sue Wyburn as salon owner Truvy, and Sophie Stanley as her new assistant, Annelle, had to remember lines while washing and styling hair -quite a feat. Their four clients were the young, impulsive - and sadly doomed - Shelby, played with maturity by 15 year old Emily Mawer, and her strong and tragic mother M'Lynn, played by Emily's real life mother Nicky Mawer, in a fine and heart breaking performance. Also Clairee, an elegant widow,(Carol Townend perfect in the role), and the sharp tongued Ouiser, who has "been in a bad mood for 40 years", (Ingrid Cooke out-acting Shirley Maclaine in the movie).Special praise to the two young actresses, Emily and Sophie, who are very new to the stage.
This play is billed as a comedy but, be prepared, it is much more. Despite the humour being very American, I laughed throughout, but it was sometimes through tears!
Vivien Window
June 19th, 20th, 21st - 2008 - Kibworth Grammar School Hall
"Our Day out"
A Musical by Willy Russell
A DVD of the full show is available and can be purchased from Kibworth DIY. When these are all sold please send us an email to enquire about further copies.
Some video of the show is also available on the pictures part of the site.
Reviews
Kibworth Theatre Company
"Our Day Out"
By Willy Russell
Thursday 19th June 2008
The newly formed Kibworth Theatre Company’s third production, Willy Russell's "Our Day Out", was a brave choice. This play demands 20 or so young teenagers and seven adults to be able to sing and to hold a Liverpudlian accent. You know what they say about working with children and animals, and the company even had a live rabbit and a chicken on stage. However they pulled it off- magnificently! The whole cast, children and adults, obviously had a ball, too.
This story, set in 1976, tells of a group of disadvantaged Liverpudlian children from a “progress” class who go on a bus trip to Conway. These kids have nothing to look forward to. Even the factories, their best hope of future work, have closed, and their home lives are poor. However they are lively and funny and try to run rings around their teachers. They get into scrapes everywhere they go, descending on a sweetshop like locusts, trying to rescue animals from a zoo - their zoo song "Who's Watching Who?" makes you think- and having a “cracking” time at a fair. Eventually even the girls who find everything "boring" are won over. As is the bullying Mr Briggs (Mark Wood), who thinks all children are "animals". Well, almost won over. Willy Russell never descends into sentimentality, so the ending is poignant. Even Mrs Kay, (a warm performance by Jo Elliott,) couldn't really convert him.
With 27 in the cast this was obviously a company production, and I hesitate to single out any one performance, but sad little Carol really touched my heart, (as well as Briggsy's). As Fran Root sang "Why can't it always be this way?” she epitomised unhappy children everywhere.
Congratulations to directors Martin Wyburn and Jenny Palmer-Vines and to Kibworth Theatre Company. I predict a successful future for you.
Vivien Window
The play centers around a school trip to Conwy Castle in Wales. Mrs. Kay teaches a remedial class for illiterate children, called the "Progress Class." The whole class, along with Digga and Reilly, the slightly older class bullies who used to be in the Progress Class, are taken on a coach trip. Although planned originally as a trip to the castle, they also end up going to the zoo, beach and fairgrounds. Mrs Kay and her helpers, Susan and Colin, are all very kind, but have little hope for the children. Mr Briggs the Deputy Headteacher, is a stark contrast to Mrs Kay, thinking that the children are spoilt and that they don't work hard enough.
The story is partly a celebration of the highs and lows of growing up, being teenagers and free from school. But by the end it becomes darker and unexpected. These no-hopers from the Liverpool backstreets are reminded of their depressing current situation and even bleaker future leading to the stark realization that a day out is about as much as they can expect.
Director - Martyn Wyburn
Musical Director - Jennie Palmer-Vine
Cast List
Mrs Kay:Jo Elliot
Susan:Sophie Stanley
Colin:Stuart Weston
Bus Driver:Andrew Dawes
Lolipop man: Mike Dack
Zoo Keeper: Mike Dack
Mr Briggs: Mark Wood
The Headmaster:Mike Dack
Shopkeeper :Nicky Mawer
Zookeeeper assistant:Martyn Wyburn
Kids
Carol: Fran Root
Reilly: Class bully - Sam Henderson Woodford
Digga: Craig Gaffney
The Bored girls:
Miriam Brittendon - Charlotte Highcock
Linda: - Emilly Mawer
Karen(Jackie): - Millie Whicher
Andrews - Jamie Wyburn
Ronson - Daniel Illiffe
Kevin - Tim Stokes
Jimmy - Luke Mathers
Maurice - Jack Suffolk
Milton - Johny Milsom
Kid - P5 - Hannah Suffolk
Kid - P10 - Rosemary Ager
Kid P22 - Megan Cornick
Girl P17 - Helena Milsom
Ensemble
Amie Langton,Abigail Palmer,Helen Leach,Lee Egerton
Musicians
Keyboard - Jennie Palmer Vines
Lead Guitar - Matthew Iliffe
Bass guitar - Chris Milsom
Mersey beats
It is set in 1976 where a group of Scouse youngsters are on a bus trip to see Conway Castle in Wales.
On the way they get into various scrapes at differing locations such as a sweet shop, the zoo, the beach and a fairground. Director Martyn Wyburn said: “This is our third show and our largest-scale production to date. It has proved very challenging but I’m sure it will be well worth the effort for the end result as we have recruited a lot of talented actors for the show – both young and slightly older!
“Our Day Out is a show for the whole family to enjoy as it is very funny in parts but also very moving and poignant. It also has some lovely songs.”
Tickets cost £6 (£4 concessions) and are available from show sponsor Kibworth DIY in Fleckney Road, via the website www.kibworth.org.uk or by phoning 07730 955159.
The premiere starts at 8.15pm, the others at 7.30pm.
The group, which has been rehearsing at Kibworth Scout Hut in Fleckney Road, was formed last year.
October 11th, 12th and 13th - 2007 - Kibworth Grammar School Hall
Outside Edge - A comedy by Richard Harris
Cricket--the sport of gentlemen--takes on new dimensions in this cheeky British comedy about the foibles and follies of married life. Kevin and Maggie Costello live for the moment, constantly expressing their affection for each other in outrageous ways. Roger and Mim Dervish, on the other hand, lead a quiet life, reserving their passions for the seemingly more subdued activities of cricket and tea cakes. But when the Costellos and Dervishes meet at a cricket match, the collision of opposing personalities serves as a prelude to a series of hilarious, unpredictable adventures.
Roger 40's The club captain, obsessed by cricket and pays little attention to anything else that may be going on around him. - Stuart Weston
November 24th and 25th - 2006 - Kibworth Grammar School Hall.
"Breezeblock Park" a comedy written by Willy Russell.
Directors after show comments (published in kibworth Chronicle Dec 06)
On behalf of the cast and crew of Breezeblock Park I would like to thank all those who helped make our inaugural production such a success. This includes our advertisers; Firenze, Kibworth DIY, David Taylor and Julian’s Hairstylists who sponsored the programme. Our ticket outlets; The Spar, Kibworth DIY (again) and The Mercury News Shop. Also Retro Styling, who helped enormously with the costumes, Bill Turner and the Grammar School Hall and last but by no means least the residents of Kibworth themselves who turned out in such large numbers to support us. The feedback from the production has been very positive indeed and the success of the play far outweighed our expectations, we look forward to entertaining you for many years to come. We are currently in the process of finalising the details of our next production and details will be available shortly. In the meantime please visit our website www.kibworth.org.uk or contact any member of the group.
Martyn Wyburn – Director Breezeblock Park
A comedy about the sadness and madness of happy family life, Willy Russell’s Breezeblock Park is at once painfully funny and sharply moving. The play is set on a Liverpool housing estate at Christmas.
- Christmas Eve and a close-knit Liverpool family gather for the festivities. But lurking beneath the glitzy gift wrap, tired tinsel and fairy lights lie concealed jealousies, petty squabbles and a secret. As the drinks flow, feather’s fly and a daughter’s news threatens to tear the family apart.
- Direction and production by Martyn Wyburn.
Cast details
Betty - Nicky Mawer
Ted - Stuart Weston
Tommy - Mark Wood
Syd - Andrew Dawes
Sandra - Charlotte Plews
Jane - Millie Wycher
Tim - Phil King
Reeny - Liz Wood
Vera - Eunice Hayes
17 Fleckney Rd Kibworth, Leicester, LE8 0HF 0116 279 6959