The South Devon Players Theatre & Film Company News

Romeo and Juliet photoshoot

22/4/2025

Meet some of our lovely Romeo & Juliet actors from our promo photoshoot last Saturday - many thanks to Crafty Cwtch cafe for being a great base camp, Brixham Police being very lovely when we let them know we would be filming and photographing around the town back streets. These arent all of the characters; this is the group who were able to make the photoshoot.
Public touring across Devon and up to Birmingham this summer, then stremaing online
Tickets & dates all at
https://www.southdevonplayers.com/box-office.html
Caught between violently feuding families, two young lovers seek to marry, with tragic consequences, but leading to the end of the feud.
This performance is part of a national tour and international streaming programme, involving public performances, full performances in schools, plus educational and literary talks & workshops for a variety of colleges, libraries and community groups, and a package of online content for students.
Content advisories: Suitable for audiences age 12+. Younger audience members are welcome but please be aware of the content. Please be aware that this production contains violent scenes, narcotic references & depiction of suicide.
If you have any questions about any aspect of our production, please contact us on [email protected] at any time.
www.southdevonplayers.com
Www.facebook.com/sdevonplayers

Tickets on sale for Romeo & Juliet at all venues

18/4/2025

We now have tickets on sale for all public performances of Romeo & Juliet - you can book at our Box Office page.

The public venue tour consists of
BBRIXHAM: June 14th (matinee & evening)
TORQUAY: June 28th (evening)
KINGSKERSWELL/ NEWTON ABBOT: July 5th (evening)
STOKENHAM/ KINGSBRIDGE: July 12th (evening)
BUDLEIGH SALTERTON: July 19th (evening)
TOPSHAM/ EXETER: July 26th (evening)
BIRMINGHAM: August 2nd (evening)
PLYMOUTH: August 9th (evening)

The Three Musketeers - the tour begins!

11/11/2024

Well, the tour of Three Musketeers is under way (for all the upcoming venues between now and January see https://www.southdevonplayers.com/box-office.html )
As director, I love getting these "candid" sidestage photos of my incredible cast and crew in action. There is a truth to them, performing in the space, in mid-action, which you can never replicate with posed photos and pretty backdrops . Plus, with our more ambitious projects that sometimes we have people assuming we will never achieve, it is great to show the work in action.
This is a great team - theres an age range of about 50 years in the cast and crew, and a huge range of experience from people who have performed professionally for decades, through to people taking their very first step on stage over the last weekend. That is how we roll
It is impossible to choose just a couple of pictures of this team; so here is a gallery of sidestage photos taken at Brixham Theatre.
Our tour now goes on to Knowle Village Hall near #BudleighSalterton, Lipson Co-operative Academy's Muse Theatre in #plymouth, Stokenham Village Hall near #kingsbridge, Exeter Northcott's Barnfield Theatre in #exeter, Unleashed Theatre Company's Royal Lyceum Theatre in #torquay and Kingskerswell Village Hall near #newtonabbot.
- Laura (Director)

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.

Bringing Macbeth to a local school and an amazing day

23/2/2024

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

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.

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

Beowulf the tour

11/12/2022

And this weekend, our tour of Beowulf concluded with an excellent performance at Torquay's Royal Lyceum theatre.
Now, the plans for over Christmas and the New Year, include sorting out our props and costumes from Beowulf (putting them away) and getting our props and costumes etc, for Les Misérables.

It has been a fantastic show run - after a shaky start and some recasts, it came to have fabulous feedback, with a small but an amazing cast, most of whom plan to return to the stage with us in future shows and projects, and fabulous permanent relationships forged with new venues.