We were very sad to hear today, of the passing of someone who was a fantastic member of our team, Don Percival. A super actor, and for a while, the company treasurer, many years ago, before he moved from Brixham to a new life in Cambodia. We heard that he passed away peacefully last night. 
Don was not only a great member of the team, but an adventurous spirit. Aside from being an actor, he was also an amazing scuba-diver, and in  his youth a rguby player.  We explored the moors and discovered all new prehistoric carvings on a Cornish together. Don will be very sadly missed. 

Shows & Performance dates: 

Brixham - As you may have seen, most theatres have closed for the time being (our home venue Brixham Theatre is closed until May, as things stand). We have resceduled our performances of A Midsummer Night's Dream there for August (details now updated on our Box Office page). 

Brixham Brixfest - our excerpt performance of acts 2 & 3 of A Midsummer Night's Dream at Brixfest in May, is cancelled, as Brixfest, an annual festival celebrating local arts, culture and business itself is cancelled. We will be working with them to perform in 2021 - discussions have already commenced

Plymouth - We are planning to reschedule oour performance st Stoke Damerel Church in Plymouth also to August, but we are currently awaiting a reply from the churchwarden to discuss new dates. When this occurs, all tickets bought for the current date will be honoured, or can be refunded (no quibble), if the new date does not suit.

Bristol - We have discussed with Bristol Shakespeare Festival, who are working on the best case scenario to run still in July. Both the festival and the venue are very happy to have us, and so as things stand, this date will go ahead. If we are forced to postpone, we will postpone until later in August/ September, and then perform "under our own steam". 

We are also exploring the possibility of online broadcasts and readings/ performances. 

Rehearsals: 
The vast majority of our rehearsals have now moved online, to protect the health of our actiors and crew;  using the video-conferencing programm / app, Zoom. Cast and crew should stay in regular contact via email or Facebook with the team, as we send the conference links out to everyone on a twice-weekly basis, and send out updates about online work opportunities for actors for our team. 

​Castings for Jack the Ripper
Our audition date in late July, remains as-is. We hope that the worst of the crisis will be over by then, but if it is not, we will be looking at alternate ways to cast the show and send out scripts etc to cast. Please keep an eye on our news, social media and the auditions page for any updates. People who have emailed us will be updated as well. 


Making online work
In this current crisis, most work for actors and crew has dried up - even big TV series and film shoots have cancelled. This leaves the nations entertainers unable to pay rent or the bills. We are doing our best to help our team with creating various online work opportunities. All we can do is but try, and do our best, rather than giving up. 
Our first opportunity for our team is offering online tutoring for adults and children; chiefly in drama and English, but also in other subjects as well, by an expert team of creatives. We are in the process of setting up, but expect to have it done open for business by Sunday March 21st 2020. You can find it at ONLINE TUTORING SERVICE.  In the interim, if you would like to be contacted as soon as this service is live,  please email us on southdevonplayers@gmail.com. 
You or your loved ones will be able to access expert tutoring, and also support some of our nations entertainers and creatives, during this hard time. 

The South Devon Players Theatre & Film Company, in conjunction with the South Devon Players Supporters Trust are launching the next part of our fundraising drive, with the corporate sponsorship pack.  This is to raise funds for ongoing productions; expenditure includes rehearsal hall hire, costumes, props, printing of scripts & publicity materials, insurances, wages to cast & crew, provision of educational workshops & training. This supports the cultural work of our company, leading to the creation of educational experiences in theatre, literature and history, for our audiences & cast, as well as the development of both theatre-industry specific skills, and wider transferable skills for general employment and day-to-day life, for those working with us. 

For more information; or to chat about this project, please contact southdevonplayers@gmail.com, or call Laura on 07855 090589

Our wonderful Supporters Trust, formed of long-standing friends and fans of our work, are busy creating ways for members of the public to help support the work of our company. 
As a result, we are launching public memberships, where for a small annual fee, every penny of which is used to directly fund production costs (rehearsal space, costumes, props, show posters, etc). members of the public can gain exclusive benefits. 
We should be be very clear here. Buying a "Friends of" membership does not confer any preferential treatment should the member wish to apply to join our cast or crew (we are strictly against pay-to-play) and make this statement to avoid any misunderstandings. 

We are thrilled to announce that from the start of November, we will have a regular fundraising stall at Brixham Pannier Market, as arranged for our us by our lovely supporter Maggie Donaldson, every penny raised goes directly into funding our theatre rehearsal space hire at Chestnut Community Centre, and anything over, into the costumes, props, equipment and insurances needed for our shows.​  This allows for bigger and better shows, which in turn provide more opportunities for local actors, more work opportunities, and, though the use of local rehearsal venues, also goes on to support wider community facilities here in Brixham. 

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 

In fantastic news we are back at our main  rehearsal venue of Chestnut Community Centre tonight! After the building flooded with the boiler upstairs that burst, we have been rehearsing at Brixham Theatre who very kindly saved us from some major problems, by allowing us to rehearse at the theatre instead, to keep our tour of Macbeth running (without finding somewhere for the final dress/ tech rehearsals, we could not have run the major part of our tour). A HUGE thank you to Brixham Theatre.
Tonight, the centre walls are still in need of repainting, but the building is now dry. clean and safe (including the electrics) so we are very excited to be returning to our home tonight for our first rehearsal of The Great Gale of Brixham 1866.

REHEARSAL & AUDITION VENUE EMERGENCY CHANGE
Very important message. (feel free to share as needed). 
Yesterday two of our team arrivinig to prepare for rehearsals, discovered a huge flood at our usual rehearsal base at Chestnut Community Centre.
(we are talking several inches of water on the floor and water pouring through the ceiling) . After alerting the Centre committee, and moving our costumes and tech equipment to safety (we think most of our gear is unscathed or repairable other than two lights. Wet costumes are being dried.), we can now report that the Centre is structurally okay but cannot be used for activities for some time while the building is dried with industrial dehumidifiers and the building electrics checked/ repaired as needed.

Therefore, for the interim, all our rehearsals, and auditions will take place at the The Edge Bolton St, Brixham TQ5 9DH
Please note that the timings will remain the same (wednesdays 6.30pm for 7 start to 9.30pm; Sundays 12pm for 1pm start to 4/ 5pm)

We are in the upstairs room and this will be signposted from the front gate.
Please note: The room has toilet and kitchenette similar to Chestnut but no storage, so things will have to be lugged up and down each rehearsal. It is up stairs, sadly there is no wheelchair access. We could not obtain a venue that has the kind of accessibility we can offer at Chestnut. 
Also unlike Chestnut, we have no parking at the Edge. The nearest bus is the Number 12 coming into Brixham town centre about 5 mins away (or the 18 has a stop right outside the door) . 
The nearest long stay carpark is at Freshwater Cove, about 10 mins walk away, or with pre-planning Laura Jury one of our admins can offer a parking place outside her house about 10 mins walk up the hill from the Edge.
We will of course be returning to our home at Chestnut Community Centre absolutely as soon it is feasible, and we will be assisting with the redecoration there as well. This could be in a fortnight, or a month, or longer.
For the sake of simplicity, the auditions for The Great Gale of Brixham, that we are holding on Sept 15th, will move to the Edge.
We would also like to thank two awesome people for making it possible to be able to afford to move to the Edge, and to the Edge for being able to host us. while it is going to be a very "hand to mouth" time to keep rehearsal space funded, as it does cost more than Chestnut, we are safe for a couple of weeks, while our team work on raising enough to keep us going.
For anyone needing to find us and not knowing what the Edge looks like, here it is. :

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.