It's been 7 years in the making but we finally did it. I learned about Laura Jury and the The South Devon Players Theatre & Film Company, Brixham shortly after I arrived in the UK. I was instantly impressed by the drive, tenacity, and sheer determination of this female theatrical powerhouse. Laura has made a way out of literally no way to build and brand her theatre company. As a mixed-race, woman of colour, she has beaten back the odds of owning a theatre company in an area of England that is certainly not known for it's diversity, inclusion, or tolerance of "others". With little to no money, and very little public funds, Laura has raised money for her company in creative ways like having car boot sales, selling on Ebay, sweets sales, and anything her creative mind can think of to finance her projects. I have sat back and watched and admired her progression, her work, her work ethic over the years, in awe of all that she has been able to accomplish. It is definitely a labour of love, but by no means should one mistake this for being a low-rent production company. The costumes alone will show you that. The talented performers in her group will show you that too. Many members of the company are neurodivergent, autistic, and other challenges, which none of it deflects from their incredible on-stage performances. So, after 7 years, Laura and I combined forces as I was able to host her latest production, "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at The Birmingham Black Box. She and her company drove 3.5 hours to get to Birmingham, ran a full tech/dress rehearsal, set the stage, and then performed the 3 hour show before driving the 3.5 hour return journey! The synergy was palpable as these performers gave it their absolute all in front of a delightfully enthusiastic audience. There are already talks about our next collaborative effort and I'm very excited about the prospects. Let me tell you all, it's not easy being a Black woman/woman of colour in business, especially in theatre. But somehow, we're doing it and we're making lots of progress in the area of inclusion for all people to participate in the arts. I feel so privileged to call Laura my friend, she has helped me in ways I can't disclose here, but she's been a rock in my life's progression. Stay tuned to see what we come up with next! Sending lots of love to this outstanding group. |
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Press Release
Brixham-based theatre company Secures U.S. Streaming Deal as ticket sales plunge from water parasite outbreak Issued May 22nd 2024 Members of the press and media are cordially invited to get in contact for any additional information, or to be invited to rehearsals and see behind the scenes of our work. [email protected] For Immediate Release: Brixham-based South Devon Players Theatre & Film Company signs US TV streaming deal, but hometown ticket sales for A Midsummer Night's Dream collapse due to water crisis, threatening survival of the theatre company. The South Devon Players, a not-for-profit theatre company based in Brixham, UK, are thrilled to announce that after months of discussion have resulted in ongoing streaming TV deal in the USA The MTS Network, based in Arlington, Texas, USA, is a growing network for independent filmed content, and following a chance meeting on an online networking forum; and the Players supplying sample clips of of past theatre shows filmed at Brixham Theatre, the MTS Network are now streaming the Players' 2023 production of William Shakespeare's Macbeth filmed at Brixham Theatre, for 12 months, and will be also hosting streams of future productions by the South Devon Players, all filmed at Brixham Theatre. The South Devon Players launch their next tour, of Shakspeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, in Brixham in June 2024, before touring across Devon - and up to the Midlands and a new theatre in Birmingham. As always, the tours begin in the Players' hometown, at Brixham Theatre, with A Midsummer Night's Dream on June 7th and 8th, where audiences can always be assured of a friendly warm welcome from the theatre staff as well as the theatre company team, and are guaranteed of a lively, family-friendly show suitable for all ages, of William Shakespeare's famous romantic comedy, A Midsummer Night's Dream. performed by 20 professional local actors and stage crew, with the full original text. The comedy follows two pairs of lovers from Athens, who find themselves in a magical forest at the summer solstice, where they encounter the faerie folk, who cause untold mischief. This is performed by an intergenerational cast with actors ranging in age from 12 to 60. The Players are reliant on ticket sales for survival, and this crisis with the Cryptosporidium outbreak in Brixham, has meant that tourism and visitors to the town have reduced dramatically; the town is much quieter than usual, and that ticket sales for the three performances in Brixham have collapsed by 90%, although all shows outside the area are selling as normal. We would love to invite audiences to come to the show, and to reassure everyone that both we, and the venue (Brixham Theatre) as well as all other local businesses are safe, welcoming and all correct precautions in place. Brixham is very much open for business, and it is safe! The South Devon Players is a not-for-profit organisation mostly funded by ticket sales, and selling second hand things on ebay , founded in 2006 to create professional theatre opportunities for local actors and creatives at any stage of their careers but who are unable to move away to the cities. With national and international arts awards, an inclusive and intergenerational team, and a lot of support for other local community events & organisations, alongside touring extending across the UK (and the streaming to the USA); and developing formal training for actors, the South Devon Players prove time and time again that local people are fully capable of delivering world-class professional theatre, from small towns to cities; and now to the USA. The Players have excellent links and ongoing relationships with Equity & other national creative industry organisations, casting agents, and have launched the careers of at least 30 local people into the creative industries. The Players are committed to promoting Brixham, and Torbay, as a place of excellence for the performing arts, and welcoming anyone who wishes to be a part of this aim. END of press release Googledrive of rehearsal images, show posters etc https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ZJwji3H1SYkfjsRMthoV1JGs0cmLIvyy?usp=drive_link Show tour dates information: https://www.southdevonplayers.com/box-office.html Contact: Laura Jury 07855 090589, [email protected] Mail: care of our rehearsal venue at Chestnut Community Centre, 1-3 Poplar Close, Brixham, Devon TQ5 0SA We have recieved a number of script submissions over the past week or so, and need to clarify on a few things, especially as some of our team have actually been left traumatised by some of the content sent in.
While we do occaisonally have script call-outs, they do need to be within the genre of work that we normally produce. At the moment we have scripts in place for our major shows up to the close of 2026. Script call-outs, as things stand, are for smaller projects to support local community or arts events. Please note that at this time, we do not have any open script call-outs. If you wish to send something for future consideration, please note that: For a script to be considered it must be all of the following: - Family friendly and suitable for all ages to view. - Either: an adaptation of classical literature, OR bringing to life a peice of well-researched history, with a setting from ancient times up to 1930s. - Allow for inclusive casting of different ages, and ethnicities - Have a strong engaging plotline - Be easily marketable to a wide audience base; with clear title, setting, content notes, and familiar "hooks" so that people will want to come and see the show. Unfortuantly we are not based in an area where "experimental" or obscure work draws audiences. - Not infringe on a third party's copyright. We will NOT consider scripts like the many of the ones which have been recieved, which are a modern day setting, have a modern political or religous bias, appear to infringe on someone elses copyright (eg by the use of copyrighted pop songs in the play), or which have the purpose to promote or glorify sexual abuse/ grooming (which may be reported to relevant authorities in extreme cases). Behind the scenes it has been another week of working towards building things up for the future! Great work on a short video by Lisa, Rich & Michael, pitching for roleplay training around safeguarding which could be fabulous paid external work for a whole bunch of our regular actors & crew (photo 1) and in rehearsals for a Midsummer Night's Dream (the rest of the photos !). Theres been a bit of seasonal illness which has meant theres been a fair bit of standing in and reading in for A Midsummer Nights Dream, rehearsals (thank you so much to everyone for supporting each other - it is an absolute dream to see) and in everything people's focus and dedication has been second to none. Also a huge thank you to Michael for turning the video edit around in less than 24 hours. As of this Sunday, we will be rehearsing A Midsummer Night's Dream as much as possible in costume as things are finished
Thank you to all our of team for another amazing week of creativity, career building, and sheer joy #acting #actorslife #theatre #theatrelife #brixhamtheatre #brixhamdevon #SouthDevonPlayers #behindthescenes #torbay #britishtheatre #joy #teamworkmakesthedreamwork #videography We have had an absolutely incredible day today at Brixham Theatre bringing a full uncut performance to TSAT - Brixham College students, of our production of Macbeth, this concluding our show tour since November;
Hearing from one of the teachers that this is the first ever experience of live theatre for many of the students, and then seeing (and hearing from the school staff) that the students really engaged with and enjoyed the show was one of the best things in the world. Also, a huge thank you to the Brixham Theatre staff for making it run smoothly and welcoming the students and teachers- and also to the students for being so lovely! It’s been a huge success for everyone and an absolute joy for our team <3 Great news!
One of the reasons we exist is to provide opportunities for people to launch or further their careers as professional performers. A key part of that for any actor is qualifying for Spotlight. This is an exclusive directory of professional actors in the U.K., the vast majority of legitimate agents require you to be registered with Spotlight in order to be able to represent you for the big film/ tv/ theatre castings (as well as more modest ones!) . If you don’t have an agent but you are an accepted Spotlight member you can also submit yourself for suitable castings. Getting onto Spotlight is tricky- you need to be able to evidence at least two completed paid acting roles as named characters in theatre, film or tv (no commercials, short films, student films, amateur-unpaid- theatre or extra work is accepted) It’s been absolutely awesome that this winter , involvements in our shows has enabled another several brilliant local Torbay people to break that glass ceiling due to their brilliant performances in our shows . ![]() Last Friday we were one of three Torbay organisations pitching at Local Spark: Torbay Community Supported Enterprise’s Dragons Den event - with Lisa Highton, Laura Jury and Rich Sandford, for help with new portable lights , marketing & outreach with our shows and education work, networking, touring transport etc. Many many thanks to all those who offered consultancy, introductions to places & people who may be able to help us grow, and all sorts of useful help. They will all get followed up with alacrity over the next two or three weeks. Also a huge thank you to Helen Ambler, Community Builder for Brixham for the photo of Laura pitching - and to everyone there for making it a truly excellent, positive, supportive space. Thank you again to everyone After a brilliant run of shows at Brixham Theatre we are now going on to our sold out show at the Barnfield in Exeter, before coming to Torquay, Kingskerswell, Ashburton and Stokenham. It is brilliant to also have multiple schools coming along and being involved, and to have great audience feedback from the shows. If you want to get tickets to any of our shows, (obviously Exeter is sold out but the rest have tickets available) please pop over to our Box Office page for dates and booking information.
Hello all! We have two lovely videos to bring you. First of all is our lovely Sean, in rehearsals as the Porter last night and absolutely rocking the role. Then, our lovely Michael, put together a video trailer filmed down at Battery gardens the other day. Yesterday our Macbeth cast took excerpts of the production into a local primary school. It was an absolutely amazing lovely day. It is always great to work with such interested, engaged youngsters, and bring theatre, arts and literature to life.
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