Well we have had a fabulous day of productivity. A great rehearsal for the Great Gale of Brixham 1866, and our youngsters in the team got to do some product modelling of children's books for a local author. (check out her books at cazgreenham.com)
 On the evening of November 2nd, 2019, the South Devon Players won our fourth award. We were one of the organistions who won the Brix Award, a local award by the community organisation Brixham Yes at their community hub The Edge. The Brix Awards celebrate the contribution of local organisations and individuals, to the local community, and making Brixham a positive, and vibrant place to live. The South Devon Players founder, Laura Jury, and our stage manager, Sammy Hickman, attended this Musical Theatre themed event in costume, and were thrilled to win this award. This is the fourth award won by the Players. While our other awards have been local (2010 Torbay Together's Arts In The Community), national (2017 Epic Award for England; All-England winner), and international (2019 Long Island Theatre Festival - Theatre Partner Award), all of them mean so much to us and our lovely team members. We are a highly ambitious professional theatre company, making opportunities for local people, and sharing our work as widely as possible, but we also value our contribution to the local community highly, and it was a huge honour to be recognised for it. It is often hard to be taken seriously as a regional theatre company, and things like this are a huge morale boost to everyone involved with us. We are very happy today after this great news. Our lovely golden brick from the Brix Awards will join our other collection of awards. <3  We are delighted, and excited, to announce our Friends scheme.
With times for the arts being tough, especially finding the funds to survive, we are hugely grateful to a number of Southwest people who have come together to form the South Devon Players Supporters Trust who will be assisting the Players with fundraising and help like "front of house" etc when needed, to help us keep running. Funds raised will support the costs of rehearsal space, materials for props/ costumes, critical techincal equipment, through grant applications as well as our traditional fundraising through table top sales & raffles, sponsored activities, etc. As we get the Players onto a safe steady finanical footing, we hope that this will also extend into being able to provide busfares for those performers on low incomes who cannot afford the bus to rehearsals, and the provision of formal performance and career training for local performers; something that is now completely lacking outside of youth theatre, in Torbay after the closure of the drama courses at the local college. It is a huge change for us, and so incredibly welcomed to have the support of this amazing Supporters team. There are many things being ironed out still, and we will soon be announcing a membership scheme for people wishing to join the Supporters. The trustees of the Supporters are people who are not formally connected to the South Devon Players, or the company directors, in any way, as cast, crew, or administration of The South Devon Players; but who simply wish to see the Players survive, continue our work, and grow, after themselves experiencing our shows, and work, as audience. We also wish to make it clear right from the outset, that membership of the Supporters has no bearing on any selection for involvement in shows or projects; and that The South Devon Players Theatre & Film Company, and The South Devon Players Supporters Trust, are both strictly against "pay to play" situations. Becoming a member of the Supporters Trust will not gain anyone preferential treatment in being cast. We are just checking in to update you on the shows. Tickets are now on sale for our performaces in Brixham, Ivybridge, Bristol and Exeter - and we would llove to see you there. We are working on booking more venues around the UK, so there may be more to come. You can find the booking links at https://www.southdevonplayers.com/box-office.htmlwww.southdevonplayers.com/box-office.html     Great news!  TICKET LINK: https://ivybridgewatermark.ticketsolve.com/shows/1173593965
Performing William Shakespeare's original unabridged text, the award-winning South Devon Players Theatre & Film Company, homegrown in Brixham, bring this drama to life in an all-new production. This classic tale of ambition, destiny and murder takes place in the near future, dramatized across a post-WW3 landscape, performed by a strong team of local professional actors. This show was performed in Jan/ Feb 2019 around Devon, to five star reviews and is currently nominated for a theatre award in New York. Winners of the 2017 Epic Award for England, an annual national award for groundbreaking innovation and creativity in the arts, the South Devon Players specialise in high-quality productions based on classical texts, and researched history, developing and showcasing the talent of actors and other creatives from around South Devon. Ivybridge performance will take place on Friday September 13th 2019 - 7.30pm, at The Watermark, Leonards Road, Ivybridge, Devon PL21 0SZ TEL: 01752 892220 Tickets £10 (£8 child/ concession) CONTENT - Moderate bloodshed - No strong sexual content - No strong language On Saturday and Sunday we had the cast photoshoot for the vast majority of the cast, and these photos will be going out this week (some already have) attached to press releases marketing the show! Many thanks to Brixham Theatre , one of our show venues, for letting us shoot on the stage in the morning! Photos by Andrew Barnes and Laura Jury. Shows are Friday May 31st, and June 1st at Brixham Theatre, and then June 7th at the Barnfield Theatre in Exeter. Our box office page HERE has links to all the relevant tickets! Book today!                             Brixham based theatre company's Shakespeare production nominated for theatre award in New York. Following a hugely successful production of William Shakespeare's Macbeth this winter, the South Devon Players have been nominated for a theatre award in New York, specifically the Long Island Lighthouse Theatre Awards, in the Theatre Partner Award category, specifically for productions outside the Long Island Nassau County area. As a company who (by force of circumstance, with the difficulty of finding funding in the local theatre sector) work on profit share from ticket sales to our cast and crew, we fall somewhere between the voluntary and full salary sectors, and therefore are eligible for this award. The VTAA , who sponsor this award are mainly US based (but open internationally) and are the "Equity for voluntary and low paid theatre" of which we have been an organisational member for several years. During January and February 2019, the South Devon Players performed a post-apocalyptic set production of William Shakespeare's Macbeth. Completely unabridged and unchanged from the original text, other than being set in a post World War 3 near-future, this production attracted such audience feedback as “The power of the final scene was such that the audience sat transfixed in silence, barely able to comprehend the beauty of what they’d just witnessed. “ “Easily on a par with the production of Macbeth we saw at the Globe” The show was almost called off, after the lead role needed to be recast with less than 10 days before opening night. French/Irish actor Christophe Lombardi stepped in, learned the role in a matter of days and travelled to the UK to take the role, alongside Ryanna-Mae Lloyd as Lady Macbeth, with a powerful team of actors; and techs. Despite this crisis, the show attracted fantastic audience feedback, from the shows at both Brixham Theatre & Torquay Museum, swiftly followed by invitations for more shows in the UK, and abroad. While work continues to get the team out to the venues abroad, the team are taking up the show invitations in the UK, at Ivybridge's Watermark theatre, and Exeter's Barnfield Theatre and are also booking additional dates at the end of the summer and during the autumn of 2019. At Brixham Theatre, the show was filmed by a local filmmaker, and the resultant film was submitted to the 2019 Long Island Community Theatre Awards. The South Devon Players were informed on April 24th 2014, that the production of Macbeth was nominated for; the outcome of the awards will be finally known on June 10th in the evening, New York time. The South Devon Players, founded in 2005/6 on the proceeds of a carboot sale, and funded in much the same way, are already winners of the national Epic Award 2017 for England, a national arts award celebrating creativity and innovation in grassroots arts, and international nominations for past productions. Based in Brixham, the Players pride themselves on supportive, friendly, and ambitious grassroots team of professional and aspiring professional actors at all stages of their careers, who primarily specialise in researched historical theatre productions and Classics, to provide an opportunity for local people to develop their skills in creating shows to a national standard, in order to develop internationally recognised professional skills, portfolios and credits. They always welcome new performers and creatives who would like to get involved. The Players are working hard to be able to offer more education, steady employment, and more regular shows at an international standard. Laura Jury (Director) studied performing arts at South Devon College, then a Bachelors degree in film & TV production from the University of Plymouth, before progressing to a Masters in teaching theatre from Exeter University With a history of performing since 1996, and directing since 2000, in between her training she has also pursued a career as a professional performer, and in 2006 founded the now multi award-winning South Devon Players Theatre & Film Company with three others, to create new projects in Torbay.
 Open auditions for our production of Les Miserables.
Based off the original novel by Victor Hugo, this show requires a full cast, aged from 10 - 70, male and female, for named speaking roles. It is a non-musical dramatic adaptation of the novel, for full scale stage performance. All roles except "grown up Cosette" open for casting, please scroll down for a list of all roles being cast. AUDITION INFORMATION PACK AVAILABLE FROM https://www.southdevonplayers.com/auditions.html Auditions are on Sunday Feb 10th 2019, at Chestnut Community centre, 1-3 Poplar Close, Brixham, Devon TQ5 0SA. Please arrive to begin at 1pm. (doors open from 12). . Castings will take the form of reading and characterising excerpts from the script. As with all our in-house shows, all persons appearing as cast and crew for this production will be entitled to remuneration as - equal profit share (ticket-take less venue hire cost) - portfolio photos and video for portfolio use - copies of all press in which the character is featured - programme credit (and anything else we find that we are able to offer) More information on our audition process is to be found at https://www.southdevonplayers.com/auditions.html THERE IS NO CHARGE TO AUDITION OR BE INVOLVED WITH US. SHOWS Brixham, Torquay, Plymouth, on Friday-Saturdays in June 2019 REHEARSALS Rehearsal dates: Wednesday evenings 7pm - 9.30pm, Sundays 12.30pm - 5pm, at Chestnut Community Centre, 1-3 Poplar Close, Brixham, Devon, TQ5 0SA, the same as the auditions. For this reason, priority will be given to performers who live in the South Devon region. Please note that you will be expected to attend regular rehearsals. NOTES Due to previous incidents we need to state that 1) All cast will need to be able to attend regular rehearsals, and to be able to learn characterisation, lines and blocking, 2) Actors will be required to wear costumes 3) All people in the production are expected to adhere to socially acceptable behaviour at all times. 4) Performances are on an open-book equal-profit share basis. 5) We welcome performers of all backgrounds. MORE ABOUT US www.southdevonplayers.com www.facebook.com/sdevonplayers www.twitter.com/sdevonplayers www.instagram.com/sdevonplayers1 ROLES BEING CAST: (Key: *= roles we may be able to combine, L= large roles) Roles spanning both acts Jean Valjean (middle-aged or older male) L Javert (middle-aged or older male) L Thenadier(male) Madame Thenadier (female) L Roles in Act 1 Brevet (male, convict) Fantine (female, single mother) L Factory Boss (male or female) L Bambataois (male roustabout and fop) * Little Cosette (female child around 12/ 13 years -Fantine’s daughter) * Bishop (male) * Mlle Baptistine (female, Bishop’s housekeeper) * Innkeeper in Digne (Male or female) * Petit Gervais (child, age 9 - 13, ideally male, otherwise female) * Factory girl 1 (female) * Factory girl 2 (female) * Sister Simplice (female, nun who takes care of Fantine after her rescue) “Gendarme” (male, policeman) * Estella (female, prostitute) * Bernardo (Male, sailor)* Sailor (male, sailor) * Landlord (Ideally male, otherwise female, who tells Jean to leave his inn) * Prosecutor (Male, at the trial of Champmanthieu) * Champmanthieu (male, needs to be a similar build to Jean, as mistaken for Jean) * Crowds: Factory workers (female) * Prostitutes (female) * ACT 2 Marius (male. Law student, revolutionary) L Enjolras (male, student, revolutionary, very dedicated to his cause) L Grantaire (male, student, revolutionary but more interested in a few drinks) L Mlle Gillenormand (female, Marius’s aunt) L Coufeyrac (male, law student, friend of Marius) L Eponine (female, almost destitute, in love with Marius, but her interest is not returned) L Gavroche (child, street urchin with an attitude age 8 - 13 – male) Jean Prouvaire (male, student, revolutionary, much quieter spoken than the others) * Madame Mabeuf (female – male in the book, but changed to female for ease of casting, elderly bookshop owner whose shop went out of business) * Le Cabuc (Ideally male. revolutionary and a generally not very nice person! )* Toussaint (female, Jean and Cosettes housekeeper. ) Madame St Just (female, homeowner killed by Le Cabuc) * |
Updated by our managing director,
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