The South Devon Players Theatre & Film Company News

Tickets for our Brixham performances of 1307 now on sale.

16/4/2018

A researched historical medieval theatre production
telling of the fall of the Knights Templar, & the surrounding legends and accusations of heresy. Performed by a professional, nationally-award-winning theatre team.

BRIXHAM VENUE
Brixham Theatre
New Road, Brixham TQ5 8TA

BRIXHAM SHOW DATES:
June 22nd; Curtain up at 7.30pm,
June 23rd Curtain up at, 2.30pm and 7.30pm

PRICES
Tickets £8 (full) £7 ( conc)

BOOKING
http://tickets.brixhamtheatre.uk or call 01803 415987
_________________________________________
Historically a monastic order of crusading knights in the middle ages, the Knights Templar began from humble origins, but soon became a powerful, international organisation, answerable only to the Pope, and institutionally extremely wealthy. As the medieval crusades failed, so did the Templars, and in 1307, among accusations of heresy, and treason, the senior members of the Order were arrested. Legend tells that their wealth, seen by eyewitnesses only months before, had vanished. With the accusations of heresy upheld, the Order was disbanded, and the last Grandmaster, Jacques de Molay, burned at the stake in 1314.

Legends remain. What became of the Templars treasure? Were they really heretics, or victims of a political trap? Legends tell of them protecting various secrets, including those that could destroy the church - some of those legends relate to the Holy Grail; the cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper, or lost gospels, or even that Jesus himself had descendants who lived on through the ages.

Based tightly on the history, and some of the theories, the film follows Hughes and Angelo, formally of Jacques de Molays inner council, from the fall of Acre, to Paris, and then as they go on the run to the Bristol preceptory, tonwards to Templecombe in Somerset and then to Trebeigh in Cornwall .

Linking these three historical southwest Templar holdings and the existing mysteries surrounding the Templars into the tale, the final secret is revealed....

This production also features an exhibition of the painstaking research behind the scriptwriting, of the inquisition against the Templars, and of their historical links to the Southwest
The show also features especially composed music by Grace Hancock from Exeter.
__________________________________
CONTACT US FOR MORE INFORMATION OR FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA

www.southdevonplayers.com
Facebook & Twitter: @sdevonplayers
Instagram: @sdevonplayers1
email: southdevonplayers@gmail.com

A Casting Call for a female role in our next show

10/3/2018

CASTING CALL *** CASTING CALL **** CASTING CALL
(theatre/ film combi project - equal profitshare - South Devon in the UK)

This is a recasting as the lady in the role has sadly needed to pull out due to emergency family commitments

PRODUCTION NAME_________
1307

ROLE_____________
Margery is a confident young girl in medieval Bristol, in 1307, aged 18-25. Daughter of a local workman, she is in a very innocent "young love" relationship with a young Knight Templar, Arthur -, though they both know it cannot go anywhere due to his vows and commitments. Caught up in the intrigue surrounding the end of the Knights Templar and the accusations of heresy, she ends up on the run with Arthur and others.

This is a medium size role, the actress will also be asked to appear in crowd scenes in other parts of the production; eg the fall of Acre and the arrests at the Paris Temple.
This is not a combat role, although Margery is involved in a tavern brawl scene as a non-combatant.
There is no nudity or physical intimacy required.

Script, costume, etc all supplied.

* Nb, we do require that the successful performer is based in the South Devon area, because of the logistics of attending rehearsals and performances.

REHEARSALS____________
Wednesdays 6.30pm - 9.30PM & Sundays 12.30pm - 4.30/5pm in Brixham, South Devon. Rehearsals are already underway so someone who can join us promptly, is preferred. Good attendance is required.

THEATRE SHOWS___________
Fridays-Sundays (currently being booked) Mid June- Mid July, around South Devon at various venues. Photoshoot and location based video trailer to promote the theatre show taking place at the end of April, in Torbay. One of these will also be filmed as an entry to a theatre festival competition in New York, USA.

FILM___________
There will be a short spinoff film based on the latter part of the script, filmed later in the summer, in South Devon, dates to be agreed with cast and camera/sound crew.

REMUNERATION_____________
- Equal share of profits; that is ticket sales less venue hire, alongside the other cast and crew. The film, as a short, will be equal profit share from any festival prize money or any distribution. We do not have funding in order to manage more, sorry.
- Character and promo photographs
- Copies of any and all publicity featuring your character
- film footage from video trailer plus film footage of theatre production, and film footage from short film.
- Lots of free teas and coffees in rehearsals and shows

TO APPLY_________________
You can PM me here on facebook (I am the director), or email us direct on southdevonplayers@gmail.com.
Shortlisted applicants will be asked to come and meet us at one of our rehearsals, do a brief audition, and will be informed if successful or not as soon as possible. (within 24 hours).

SHOW SYNOPSIS__________________
1307 is titled from the historical date of the main event around which the show centres.
In October 1307, an inquisition was called against the powerful, and international organisation, which had grown up from a religious order of warrior monks, during the medieval Crusades, who are now famed in legend as the Knights Templar., or more properly “The Poor Knights of the Temple of Solomon”. Accused of heresy, and confessing under torture, their Grandmaster , was burned at the stake in 1314.
In the centuries since, myths, legends, theories and questions grew and remain. Were the Knights Templar heretics? They certainly had secrets, with guarded secret initiations; but what was their secret? Were they simply fanatical medieval Christian crusaders who had grown too powerful for their own good, around whom a mythos had grown? Were they guardians of an ancient Holy secret that the church in Rome needed to destroy?
1307 is based on those legends, and one line of theory. Beginning in the fall of Acre, on of the last Crusader ports, in a dramatic siege in 1291, in what is now modern-day Israel, and continuing to medieval Paris, and thence to England, and linking to legends in the Southwest of England, surrounding the Knights Templar. This drama follows a Templar knight, and his secret.
This is a heavily researched historical drama, about what might have been.

ABOUT US ______________
We are a collaborative team of local professional and aspiring professional actors in South Devon, creating our own productions. We have run for 11 years now, winning national arts awards for our work. It is a friendly, positive team.

Facebook: The South Devon Players Theatre & Film Company, Brixham
Main Site: www.southdevonplayers.com
Twitter: sdevonplayers
Instagram: sdevonplayers1

Example of previous work - full film currently in editing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiu9ZwwrQ8k

And 1307 rehearsals commence - Week 1

20/2/2018

And so, with all but a couple of roles cast, we get underway with our new spring production! The first week is always an odd one. A new team of people getting used to one another, some still having to arrange their scheduling, but wow. In this first week, some of the cast are already coming off-script! Its a real race to the top with this show.
Lots is happening with 1307. With the full length theatre show and radio dramas both being performed, the former also for streaming to a New York theatre festival, and then a shortened version of the script being adapted for a short film, this cast have a lot of hard work ahead, but as competently shown, they can very much rise to the challenge!

Next open auditions for medieval drama. If you want to join us, here is your chance to apply!

18/1/2018

Open auditions for our coming project 1307.

This drama, centering on theories and legends surrounding the inquisition against the medieval Knights Templar.

We are working from the same script; to perform a full length theatre show, as well as recording a radio drama, and dramatising part of the script into a 10 min film.

*** DOWNLOAD AUDITION PACK FROM OUR MAIN WEBSITE: http://www.southdevonplayers.com/auditions.html ****

Auditions are on Sunday Feb 4th 2018, at Chestnut Community centre, 1-3 Poplar Close, Brixham, Devon TQ5 0SA. Please arrive to begin at 1pm.

*This project takes three forms with the same script and cast:

1- Full length scripted theatre drama for stage
This is to be performed in and around Torbay, and Plymouth, in 2018. We are also looking into the possibilities of performing in Bristol, where part of the drama is set.

2- Full length scripted and dramatised radio drama for local radio
Recording to take place on at local radio station for subsequent broadcast. This will then pass back to us for online distribution, to create (we hope!) profit shares for everyone. This will be a single day, or two half-days of audio recording in Paignton, Devon

3- Short 10-min film (adapted from the above script)
We are using part of the script, from the 1307 dawn raid on the Paris Temple, onwards, to create a short film, This will be filmed on location in Devon and Cornwall, with one short additional scene in Bristol. Actors doing the theatre show and radio play have priority on these roles, but if not able to appear in the film, we will be open to casting differently for this.

Nb: with this project, we do need the full length cast to be the same for radio and theatre. Ideally we would like to cast the same actors in the same roles for the short film, but are open to changes if someone is unavailable for filming.

****Synopsis of production****
In October 1307, an inquisition was called against the powerful, and international organisation, which had grown up from a religious order of warrior monks, during the medieval Crusades, who are now famed in legend as the Knights Templar., or more properly “The Poor Knights of the Temple of Solomon”. Accused of heresy, and confessing under torture, their Grandmaster , was burned at the stake in 1314.
In the centuries since, myths, legends, theories and questions grew and remain. Were the Knights Templar heretics? They certainly had secrets, with guarded secret initiations; but what was their secret? Were they simply fanatical medieval Christian crusaders who had grown too powerful for their own good, around whom a mythos had grown? Were they guardians of an ancient Holy secret that the church in Rome needed to destroy?
1307 is based on those legends, and one line of theory. Beginning in the fall of Acre, on of the last Crusader ports, in a dramatic siege in 1291, in what is now modern-day Israel, and continuing to medieval Paris, and thence to England, and linking to legends in the Southwest of England, surrounding the Knights Templar, this drama follows a Templar knight, Hughes, and his secret.
This is a heavily researched historical drama, about what might have been.

In light of modern-day politics and issues, we want to make it abundantly clear that this production has no intended racial or religious bias, nor will any such inference be tolerated from anyone linked to the production. Characters opinions, allegiances, religious and political beliefs are those of the characters only, and where possible, are the known stances of the historical figures in person, as much as can be ascertained from historical research and records. There is good on all sides and bad on all sides. This production is not linked to any neo-Templar organisations.

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

Three Musketeers: The Panto - Behind the scenes!

7/12/2017

And here is a quick look behind the scenes at our rehearsals for The Three Musketeers: The Panto,
This all action pantomime will be performed in Brixham and Torquay in Mid-to late January - pop over to our Box Office page to book now!

Scenes, swordfights, and costumes are all underway now.

We hope to see you in January :)

Assassins Creed fight show

28/10/2017

A new "take" on showteam shows was trialled on Thursday. Some years back we had our Three Musketeers showteam, which is still something which can be resurrected. But in the meantime through a series of events - an afternoon of impromptu fight show between Laura and Anth, back in the summer, and then the fact that a number of our performers are Assassins Creed fans, the natural thing happened.

And the Assassins Creed-theme showteam was born, we decided to put together a fight show for the final Brixham Buccaneers Pirate Thursdays. This is a charity, volunteer-run annual series of family friendly events - mainly pirate, but they often want different entertainment, and we work with them a lot.

Lucius, Steve, Ray, Laura and Rich created the final performance. It went so well than we have been asked back for the Pirate Thursdays next summer!

A successful weekend of external bookings

2/10/2017

A busy weekend of external jobs is now past, with great feedback.

On Friday evening, Steve, Lucius, Laura and Rhia were booked to be the in-character entertainers at a medieval banquet for Hatherleigh Primary School raising funds for their woodland area. So, Lord and Lady Bloodraven, along side Lord Redvers man at arms and Lady Eleanor Belstone (yes, using all local names!) alongside some other actors created a rolling drama of a stolen jewel, a drunken Jester who took religion after some time spent in the stocks. Unusually for us, this was not a strict historical period, and more generic in its medieval theme, so we had a lot more latitude than we normally allow ourselves!

Feedback from one of the organisers who booked us:
"Thank you sooo much one and all. Well all of the guests adored "the actors". I do feel without you all there, it would not have been a success"

Then, on Saturday, we had our second engagement, six of our lovely team booked as 1960s hippies, for the Ageing Well 2017 festival at Lupton House near Brixham . A great day of handing out flowers to people arriving, filling the front of the house with bubbles, dancing, and welcoming the event guests.
Again, great feedback from the organizers
"You really made me feel I was back in the 60s thank you so much for your hard work on the day. I could feel the love in the air"

Launch of Brixham & Devon clothing & homewares

22/9/2017

We have launched our fundraising shop, featuring clothing, homewares, phone cases, much, stationary, and more, with beautiful designs from our hometown of Brixham. More items and designs will be added soon.
Order direct from our Redbubble shop, for these exclusive items. They are ont available in shops, and can only be obtained from our Redbubble online store.
All items are brand new (not secondhand) and are printed directly to your order.

All fund raised directly support our theatre and film projects, training local people in the arts, and developing local careers.

Direct link to our Redbubble shop

Order now, for beautiful local Christmas gifts, while supporting local arts and creativity.

The Three Musketeers pantomime dates announced for Brixham

16/9/2017

The Three Musketeers is an action packed, family pantomime, touring in Jan 2018. Based on the classic swashbuckling novel by Alexandre Dumas, this panto tells this classical tale set in the 17th Century French royal court, and how a young man from the country joins the royal guards, while foiling a plot to depose the King, with plenty of laughter, dance, song, - and epic sword fights from our trained fight team.

A professional theatre and film team bring this show to the stage for your delight this winter! from a nationally award-winning theatre and film company, of local actors and creatives

Online ticket booking:
http://www.southdevonplayers.com/box-office.html , or you can telephone/ text 07855 090589, to reserve.

Brixham Dates:
Jan 20th - 7pm
Jan 21st - 2pm and 7pm

Brixham Venue:
The Edge,
Bolton Street.
Brixham,
Devon.
TQ5 9DH

Brixham Prices:
Adults £7
Concs (saturday £5.50, Sunday £5.00)

For more info on us: __________________

www.southdevonplayers.com
Facebook & Twitter: @sdevonplayers
Instagram: sdevonplayers1
email southdevonplayers@gmail.com
Youtube: southdevonplayers

Steampunk Jack The Ripper in Plymouth & Torquay

24/7/2017

The final two shows we did were at new locations for us, Plymouth Athenuem Theatre, and Abbey Hall, in Torquay.

What a wonderful finale to the tour. With lovely venue owners, lovely cast and crew, good audience feedback and lots of laughter behind the scenes, it was a wonderful experience - while everyone is exhausted, everyone is also happy, and that is the best way to finish a show run. We are now in downtime, with just a few workshops etc, and finishing shooting our feature film Mordred, before we come back in late August with the next theatre show, The Three Musketeers!

So, with Steampunked Jack The Ripper behind us, our cast are working on towards more fantastic productions!

Sidestage photos by Laura at Plymouth

Photos by an audience member (William Kehoe) at Plymouths show.