The South Devon Players Theatre & Film Company News

Feedback from our performance in Birmingham from the theatre manager

22/7/2024

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.

Dragons Den...

4/12/2023

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

A look at Macbeth and our lovely team on video

19/10/2023

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.

first release from the character photoshoot for Macbeth

4/10/2023

Last Saturday we had a great photoshoot promoting the show at Brixham Battery Gardens, around the old WW2 bunkers, and we also got to use a jeep belonging to the parents of one of our young actors! Photos, and video trailers will be released over the next while to whet your appetite, but to start off with, here are some pictures created to test out graphics and effects for the rest of the release. Original photos by Michael Betts, Laura Jury & Simon Slade. ...

Welcoming lovely Sue.

16/9/2023

A big challenge which we have had since the day we started is support accessing writing grant applications and networking etc.

With being one person doing all that, and the theatre company admin, while also being autistic and of a minority, Laura has found it largely inaccessible both in terms of time and in terms of people/ organizations/ funders making negative judgements on “someone different from them”, and her own social anxiety and c-ptsd. This has of course had a huge knock on to what we have been able to achieve for the amazing local people we work with. Appeals for reliable help on this, for 17 years, fell on deaf ears.

Now the lovely Sue Slade from Paignton, also mother to two autistic teenagers who often become involved in our shows, has come on board as Laura’s access support for applying to grants, networking and building up those things, and being that contact whom outside bodies for funding, networking and the arts, may feel more comfortable accepting..
Already on Day 1; two applications have gone off with another two in the drafting stage.

Macbeth rehearsals in progress :)

14/8/2023

An absolutely fantastic Sunday rehearsing Acts 4 & 5 of our touring theatre production of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth - still early days yet but the characterisations and hard work from the cast and crew are second to none with hair-raising action scenes, and drama that will have you on the edge of your seat!
(Tour info at https://www.southdevonplayers.com/box-office.html)

Updates from Les Miserables (2023)

27/6/2023

. So, it has been a really long time since we got to update this page. Our tour of Les Miserables through May and June gained fabulous audience feedback at all venues, excluding Plymouth which we had to cancel due to a bereavement on our team and an outbreak of Covid among the venue staff.
Soon after the start of the run, the director's mother passed away suddenly, and other cast members also had illnesses and family emergencies, so it was quite a trial of fire to keep the show running - however, thanks to an amazing, supportive team of people, we kept it running.
It has been an absolute honour to work with such an amazing team of people. We hope very much to work with many more times in the future and all of whom I would highly recommend as amazing and competent theatre actors and crew.
Phenomenal audience feedback for the show, building a real fan following for our work there too.

We are having quite a short turn around before we come back in for Macbeth,

Coronation weekend

9/5/2023

A huge thank you to a bunch of our lovely actors who braved the heavy rain to join in with Brixham Future's Coronation parade to promote our performances of Les Miserables - and got lots of interested responses! And then a huge thank you to the Crafty Cwtch cafe for being a great base for drying off and getting a hot cuppa. #theatre #acting #actorslife #brixhamtheatre #britishtheatre #actors #lesmiserables #lesmis #devontheatre #DevonActors #torbay #Coronation2023

A huge thank you to our long time friends and supporters The Naked Sheep Hayle. This amazing family owned company in Cornwall makes handmade clothing and homewares from natural wools, sold all over the country. They are now supplying beautiful handmade tea cosies for sale at our friends cafe (Crafty Cwtch, 66 Middle Street, Brixham. , to raise funds for us here at The South Devon Players Theatre & Film Company, Brixham. Thank you sooo much Allie and Janet

Les Miserables cast photoshoot

25/4/2023

In April, we had a cast photoshoot for our Les Miserables team, which most of our cast and crew were able to attend. If you want a look at the actors bringing this super show to you in May and June; here you are!
With enormous thanks to our friends at the Crafty Cwtch cafe on Middle Street, Brixham. for being the fab base camp for our actors photoshoot on nearby streets,

Photos by Laura Jury and Sacha Spencer.

Visit our Box office page (click here) to book and find out more details of the show :) we would love to see you at any of the venues

Les Miserables: The Memoirs of Jean Valjean is a 3 hour stage drama (not the musical!) bringing Victor Hugos's famous novel to life.
This is a show suitable for all ages, and is a classic tale of redemption, compassion and revolution; set between 1815 and 1832 in France.

Great showcase/ workshop, concluding the 2022-23 winter theatre school

17/3/2023

We had a great conclusion to the theatre school as the final session of the six month drama classes, in which most of our students and a couple of guests from our production or Les Miserables performed a monologue, which was filmed for their portfolios.

The theatre school will return again next winter subject to funding to cover the costs, with various other workshops etc before then we hope. Well done to all the amazing people involved tonight and a huge thank you to Brixham Theatre for hosting the classes!