For more information and to book: ​https://www.southdevonplayers.com/box-office.html

Internationally award-winning Brixham theatre company brings Shakespeare's classic Midsummer Night's Dream to life, defying lockdown in an international, online performance, with actors performing from their homes.
“The course of true love never did run smooth ”
A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act 1 scene 1



Shakespeare's classic comedy, is brought to life in a lockdown production, by a theatre company based in Brixham, South Devon.
Already in rehearsals for the live shows, with a national tour being booked for the live shows, when the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown, caused postponement and cancellation of live shows for several months, for every theatre in the UK. Of course, many theatres, both venues and production companies had no choice but to close, and work for professional actors temporarily collapsed.
The South Devon Players decided to resist the trend, and as well as postponing (not cancelling!) the usual shows to such time as when it is safe for theatre venues to reopen, the Players decided to create online performances, in which the actors come together to perform online from the safety of their own homes. This in itself has not been easy, as many people in the team, have had to learn new technology & software, and find ways to make it work on household electronics, with the cast and crew working from their lockdown locations mainly in south Devon but also sheltering in place spread across the UK, as well as the Republic of Ireland, and Los Angeles in California.
The first of these online performances, is a full length, costumed production of William Shakespeare's classic romantic comedy; A Midsummer Night's Dream. Keeping as close as is possible to the originally planned steampunk styling of the live shows, the members of the team are dilligently rehearsing and learning software online, creating costumes and makeup styles, to create this show, and develop an entirely new way to present theatre using modern technology during this time.
Following this first performance, the Players are also planning further online shows, performing Shakspeare and other classic dramas, in the same way.
The South Devon Players Theatre and Film Company, are developing a proud history of Shakespeare productions, as part of their focus on historical and classical dramas. In 2019, their production of Macbeth, was booked for a second tour and won an international theatre award in New York for its professionalism and creativity. Laura Jury, the director of that production of Macbeth, & many of the Player's shows, and founder of the theatre company, has returned to lead this new project. Laura has also recently been selected to appear in an online Shakespeare project by the Globe Theatre in London. The South Devon Players were founded in the winter of 2005-6, on the proceeds of a carboot sale, to create professional opportunities for local actors, and has flourished ever since; previously winning national and regional arts awards, including the national Epic Award 2017 for England, a national arts award celebrating creativity and innovation in grassroots arts. Based in Brixham, the Players primarily specialise in researched historical theatre productions and old “Classics”.



William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream will be broadcast on the evening of May 30th 2020, as a ticketed event online, with tickets costing £5 each. All details on how to book tickets, and receive the online viewing links, are available at the company's website www.southdevonplayers.com.
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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. 

Our company founder, Laura Jury, recently entered a Shakespeare project run by the Globe Theatre.
Her "angry drunk" Hamlet monologue was one of those picked for the Globe Theatre's Shakespeare Solo / Shakespeare from quarantine project - and there she is in the header image (middle of the far left column, holding the vodka bottle). :)
Considering that the Globe is pretty much as prestigious as you can get when it comes to Shakespeare...that is quite a feat. 
​
You can view the link below at: 
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/video/2020/apr/23/all-the-worlds-a-stage-shakespeare-performed-around-the-world-in-quarantine-video

Laura's original audition video can be viewed here. 

 Apologies for the quiet as we have worked on rearranging auditions, looking at new ways of working, and looking at ways to respond to Covid-19. 
To clarify; that is now done. We have agreed on ways to keep our auditions for Jack The Ripper open as sheduled, as well as opening auditions for an online "lockdown" performance of Macbeth. 

The big change is that for the time of lockdown (and, if there are any especial demographics that need to isolate for longer), we will be accepting online self-tape auditions. These will have the same requirements as our usual "in-person" auditions - and should the lockdown be safely lifted before the Jack the Ripper auditions in July, then we will revert to our normal "in-person" castings. 

We also decided to create a lockdown "online" project, which is a full performance of Macbeth - yes, that show we won international awards for last year and had to tour twice because public demand was so huge. Most of the cast are returning, though we do have a handful of roles open to cast, so if you would like to join us, the details are all below.  The great thing about the online Macbeth project? It doesnt matter where you are, as long as you have a digital device running Zoom, and are a strong reliable actor. 
(As Jack the Ripper will be live performances at venues (once lockdown is over!) our usual restriction of your needing to be based in South Devon, applies to Jack The Ripper though!) 

The usual arrangements of profitshare (until such time as we can find funding or sponsors for full wages, behind the scenes, our admin team are working daily on this!) plus portfolio material (recordings, photos etc) all hold as unchanged. 

​All our current casting and audition information is over at our AUDITION PAGE

If lockdown continues, there are also a number of other smaller projects that can be done online, that are in the works - and we would love to stay in touch with you; so, if you would like to  keep informed on upcoming castings and projects, do please either follow our FACEBOOK PAGE or join our PUBLIC FACEBOOK GROUP

This evening launches the first of our projects to try to generate remote online work for at least some of our wonderful self-employed actors and creatives, who have lost their usual work in theatre, film, and TV during the corona-virus crisis. 
We are a nationally, and internationally, awardwinning team, now making our expertise available to help those who are now studying from home. Our members who have current DBS clearance, are available to teach both adults and children, while the rest of us are available to teach adults. This can be done via Zoom, Skype, Messenger or email. 
There is a fee for this service, because this is an attempt to generate work for actors and creatives who, as self-employed, have lost part or all of their incomes but not been eligible for some of the government bailouts for those who have been in regular employment.
EVERY PENNY they earn is directly forwarded to them - this is helping real, dedicated people pay their bills and buy food at these times. 

We have a wide variety of subjects, from basic to degree level: 
- Drama/ theatre
- Media
- English (including English as a foreign language)
- French
- Physics
- Teaching (teacher training - may be of use to homeschooling parents) 
- Mathematics
- Expressive arts
- History

We may take on some more tutors with additonal subjects/ agegroups  - if seeking a tutor for a subject/ level that is not listed on our Online Tutoring Service, please contact us and enquire.
southdevonplayers@gmail.com southdevonplayers@gmail.com

DISCOVER OUR ONLINE TUTORING SERVICE HERE

CORONAVIRUS POST

At rehearsals Laura arrives early and disinfects main surfaces and door handles, etc. We ask all our team to follow current NHS safety advice. If we have a suspected case we may stop usual rehearsals until an all-clear is given or a clear quarantine period is over, in which case we will rehearse lines by video conference.

Anyone needing to self isolate (or who is indeed off with the illness ) will not be penalised in any way and will retain their full contracted share of show earnings. We do require, in either case, that they do not attend rehearsals until all clear.

​Equity's guidelines are at 
https://www.equity.org.uk/news/2020/march/coronavirus-advice-to-equity-members