by Kath Gill
I would just like to say a huge thank you to everyone who was involved with planning, organising and implementing our brilliantly successful first ever outdoor production and for holding the annual barbecue at the same time! The cast and crew may have received the audience’s applause for an excellent performance – but none of it would have been possible without an enormous amount of time put in by a small band of committed people who spared no effort in ensuring that it was such a great success – getting the chairs out, erecting gazebos, organising the food and bar, manning the barbecues – all done with the minimum of fuss and the maximum of efficiency. To carry on the wartime theme – so much was owed by so many to so few!
On behalf of the many – Thank you.
It has struck me lately how easy it becomes to take our achievements for granted. For better or for worse, the Lane End Players is a largely self-contained group; there are very few actors who flit between different drama groups, and very nearly none of our directors do. The virtues, or lack thereof, of this situation are for discussion another time, but it does have the constant side effect of stripping us of our points of reference. Compared to many other groups, the Lane End Players a prolific, ambitious, exacting and well-supported bastion of amateur drama. Including the members-only Mini Festival, we put on five productions every year. That’s double what many groups do, and five times more than some. The variety of our shows is commendable, with opportunities for singers, dancers, writers, actors who want more lines than Hamlet, actors who want no more lines than Sooty, and a startling array of backstagers. We have an excellent relationship with our venue, allowing us extensive use for rehearsals and the ability to install and store a truly bewildering array of lighting and sound equipment that far exceeds the expectations of people coming to a “Village Hall”. This is in part because of the group’s heritage, a continuity of achievement that stretches back more than fifty years. Anyone who has been involved with smaller, less well established drama groups will realised the truly privileged position the members of the Lane End Players are in. But this is not simply chest-beating; our strong position allows us ambition, and moreso than in any other group I’ve had contact with over my two decades of amateur drama, the Players are constantly looking to improve, to try new things and to push our actors and tech teams to their absolute limit to bring a varied programme of high quality entertainment to our audiences. The past few years have brought us the tremendous acting and lighting challenge of ‘Much Ado About Nothing’, the still-talked-of flying sequence from ‘Peter Pan’, the unbelievably gorgeous (and hot) lighting from ‘Forever Young’, along with fantastic music supplied by members of the BOF Band, the haunting original soundtrack especially written for ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ and the exacting stagecraft behind the magical scenes in ‘Cinderella’. And the ambition continues, with plans for a film project (‘Truth or Dare’ — premiere coming this October!) and a massive collaborative effort involving many local groups to bring the truly epic eight-hour production of Nicolas Nickleby to the Home Counties for our Olympic year.
And yet, in a way, it isn’t really fair to pick out examples, because the ambition and imagination of our talented and dedicated membership infuses every project we undertake. Our Mini Festival this year is not only a challenging play in itself, with adults having to play convincing child characters, but is also the setting of a first — this will be the first time that a performance has been wedded to the summer barbecue.
Every step forward is a step worth taking, and the ability to experiment and re-imagine our productions, continually trying new ideas, is something that we should never take for granted.
It ain't what you do, it's the way you show it off to everybody.
by Tom Everitt
From man sized padded bras to moth eaten wedding dresses, the Lane End Players dressing room is a cave of fashion wonders (and blunders). Hats and coats, trousers and dresses, hundreds of props and even the odd dead mouse can be found in this treasure trove of LEP history. Many of these fine costumes are the handy work of some of the members of the group who can seem to take an old pair or curtains or a second hand bed sheet (which I hope they wash first) and turn into waistcoats, jackets or even on occasion thalidomide geese costumes. Certain costumes have really endured the tests of time such as a king’s jacket which has been worn in everything from musicals to pantomimes and from summer shows to mini festivals; it seems to be the costume equivalent of a certain chaise longue which seemed to find its way into every play, which I believe has now been slashed and cut and made into, you’ve guessed it, chorus waistcoats.
As I think back to some of the wonderful, bizarre or sometimes just plain, shite costumes we’ve had on stage over recent years it brings back great memories (and some we’d just like to forget). Who could forget the caveman costumes worn in a summer show a few years ago that left very little to the imagination (I still wake up at night in a cold sweat thinking about some of excess skin and other body parts flopping around to the tune of ‘It ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it’). This years Ugly Sister costumes were fantastic and were actually applauded by the audience as they were flaunted across the stage. Big productions like musicals or Shakespeare plays have given us the chance to wear amazing costumes but a word of advice to anyone wearing a short Shakespearean fairy costume, please put on some damn underwear!
Walking through the door of the dressing room may seem like walking into a collection of rejected jumble sale items or through the gate of Steptoe’s yard but dig around (and the state it’s sometimes in you may literally need a shovel) you never know what wonders you may find. I’m sure as time goes on the costumes will keep on coming and if recent years are anything to go by, will continue to get better and better. Fingers crossed!!
Our host Pete makes some amusing witticism while holding a gold-sprayed plastic hairbrush
by Tom Everitt
With the Brit Awards behind us and the Oscars just around the corner, I am reminded of a night that will be remembered for years to come. An evening of laughter, merriment and nostalgia as we looked back through the history of the LEP. I am of course talking about the DAFTAs!
Take a batch of plastic plant pots and some children’s hairbrushes, mix in can of gold spray paint, a red carpet and enough alcohol to rival even George Best’s biggest binge and you have the recipe for an LEP event that will go down in history!!
This was an evening that could easily rival the Academy Awards or BAFTAs, with some ‘minor’ differences. At these big Hollywood events the superstars arrive in style in stretch limousines wearing some of the finest outfits from Milan and Paris with the paparazzi shouting ‘you look wonderful, who are you wearing’. Unlike the DAFTAs where we turned up in Tiger Taxi Ford Escorts wearing the finest fashion from such designers as George Asda and Giovanni Primark!
The host Peter Stokes was on top form from beginning to end. Who could forget the memorable catchphrase ‘Who’s Afta a DAFTA’ and the countless one-liners that would rival even the most gifted of Christmas cracker joke writers.
As the evening went on and the tables began filling with empty bottles and cans, the comedy gold got better and better. Who could forget Sheila’s hilarious toilet paper speech notes and the ‘drunken’ silliness of the couple from Royston Vasey, ha ha ha, good times!!
The evening consisted of lighting effects, filming and big screen videos. There were moments when I though I had actually walked into one of Darren’s dreams.
Many awards were given out for all sorts of different things like Lou who won ‘Best Drunk’, I thought there were more worthy winners but then I realized it was best Drunk Acting (not just being drunk while on stage). The evening came to an end once everyone (who counts) had won an award and the last drops of wine and beer had been guzzled. Although many of us woke up the next day having trouble remembering what had happened the night before (in particular a certain drummer who woke up on his bathroom floor), we all had a fantastic evening and although it has been said many times I want to say another well done and thank you to the organizers for a thoroughly enjoyable evening. I can’t wait for the next one…
Hello and welcome to the new Lane End Players blog. Here you will here the latest news and gain insights into the planning and rehearsal processes behind our productions. This is also the first place you will hear about upcoming readings, auditions and events for group members and new additions.
If you are a member of the group who would like to contribute to the LEP Blog, please feel free to contact James at webmaster@laneendplayers.com.