The South Devon Players Theatre & Film Company News

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,

Additional roles available in Beowulf

19/6/2022

***CASTING ROLES OF OUR TOURING THEATRE PRODUCTION OF BEOWULF***
THEATRE CASTING CALL / PAYMENT: PROFITSHARE RISING TO EQUITY RATES IF ARTS COUNCIL APPROVE APPLICATION / BRIXHAM IN DEVON.
Please contact southevonplayers@gmail.com or message our page directly, ASAP to arrange an audition.
We had a fabulous audition day today, and cast some incredible people; however we still have some roles open. These are suitable for male or female actors , aged 16 to 75.

All levels of experience most welcome.
Actors must be based in the Devon area because of the need to attend rehearsals and performances in the South Devon region including Brixham, Plymouth, Exeter, and Torquay, as well as streaming globally online as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2023.
Action scenes are strictly choreographed by our fight trainer, and all training is included in rehearsal time.
The show is a family friendly adaptation of the epic poem of Beowulf.

The show director, Laura Jury, is one of four theatre directors nationally who is on Equity's Directors & Designers Committee, and the project is run to Equity "best practice" for fairness and everyones wellbeing.
Please note that the full cast / character & poster photoshoot / promo, taking place in August, will involve working with a live (tame) raven sat on wrist or shoulder, for all who are comfortable to do so. Please let us know if you are not comfortable working with a bird for the photoshoot, so that we can ensure you are still fully included.
As things stand at time of writing all actors will receive an equal share of money made from ticket sales for the performances (inclusive of streaming), as well as character photoshoots, copies of all press featuring you, videos for show/ demo-reels, and references. We are also putting in an Arts Council bid, to "up" the financial payments to Equity rates, and if that is approved then everyone is automatically upgraded.
For those newer to acting; all credits with us (whether profit-share or "proper" rate) count towards Spotlight registrations allowing newer actors to professionally register and then apply for agents and bigger castings. The payments (however much it is) can also count towards your Equity membership application.
Rehearsals for this show take place on Wednesdays 7pm - 9/ 9.30pm, and Sundays 1pm - 4 / 4.30pm at Chestnut Community Centre, 1-3 Poplar Close, Brixham, TQ5 0SA.
Performances take place on various Fridays/ Saturdays in November and early December 2022.
We are casting the following actors. (most actors in our show play more than one role. This is the expected lineup of roles for each actor, but this can be tweaked a little as well)
None of the roles involve nudity or bad language.

The roles:

FILLED Actor 1 Waegumund,(can be played male or female) Age 16 - 50., Waegumund one of Beowulf's most trusted warriors. Will appear frequently in the show, not a lot of lines. Will also take on some smaller one scene roles for other warrior/ lord characters, including Hunforth. Will have some action scenes.

OPEN ROLE Actor 2: (Can be male or female, age 45-75). Hrothgar - the Danish king

Quinn the Raven endorses Beowulf

18/6/2022

Quinn the Raven says come along to the Beowulf auditions at Chestnut Community Centre (auditions start at 1pm tomorrow- all comers welcome and everyone will be auditioned)

It’s also been arranged that when the show is cast and costumes, Beowulfs poster photoshoot will be with Quinn. (Yes there will be a cast photoshoot with Quinn!)

While Beowulf is an Anglo-Saxon poem, it has a strongly Norse setting as well

Norse mythology, the Icelandic Sagas, and Icelandic folklore usually show the raven as a wise, all-knowing messenger and often a bird of prophecy, protector, and helper
#raven #beowulf #theatre #brixhamtheatre #acting #performingarts #devontheatre #britishtheatre #auditions #cute #norse #castingcall #actors #actorslife #theatrelife

Ben hur show feedback at Stoke Damerel Church, Plymouth

18/5/2022

BBC Radio Interview

20/4/2022

This morning Laura Jury did an interview with BBC Radio Cornwall this morning about our performance of Ben Hur at St Petroc's Church, Bodmin its here, at approx 1hour 48mins in.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0bx9s05

#Benhur #theatre #cornwall #devon #britishtheatre #bbc #radio #interview #actors #actorslife #church #drama #performingarts #theatretickets #regionaltheatre #whatson #fivestar #theater

Ben Hur - fantastic Brixham feedback

10/4/2022

So proud of our brilliant team of actors and crew for creating this amazing production of Ben Hur on stage -. The feedback from the first three performances of Ben Hur at Brixham Theatre has been phenomenal, as well as lots of incredible verbal feedback, we have also had some amazing written feedback for everyone as shown below. We now go on to bring the show to St Thomas the Martyr Church in Bristol, Stoke Damerel Church in Plymouth, St Petroc's Church, Bodmin, and Penlee Park Open Air Theatre - as well as screening a filmed performance at Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Booking details at https://www.southdevonplayers.com/box-office.html

#brixham #brixhamtheatre #lovebrixham #BeautifulBrixham #Torbay #devon #theatre #theatrelife #whatson #events #mustsee #booknow #britishtheatre #regionaltheatre #benhur #paignton #torquay #dartmouth #theater #whatsondevon #creative #actors #actorslife #professionaltheatre

Ben Hur opens tomorrow!

7/4/2022

Technical rehearsal on sound/ lighting and partial backdrops, yesterday. Full set will be up tonight, ready for tomorrows and Saturdays performances of Ben Hur at Brixham Theatre

"BEN HUR" coming this week to Brixham Theatre
Book now!
Brixham Theatre
Bolton Cross
Brixham TQ5 8TA
April 8th 7.30pm
April 9th 2.30pm & 7.30pm
Tickets £10 (£8)
Bookings: https://www.brixhamtheatre.co.uk
Tel: 01803 415987
____________________
Based on the classic 19th Century novel by Lew Wallace,
Ben Hur is a meticulously crafted stage drama, packed with drama, action, and hope, set across the 1st Century Roman Empire. The story follows a young prince who is accused of attempted murder, sentenced to die as a galley slave, but survives, eventually returning to his homeland, to find that his mother and sister are missing. Despite exacting revenge against the Roman commander who destroyed his family, he finds no peace - until once again his life is changed by two slaves he freed, and a man from Nazareth...
As with all shows from The South Devon Players Theatre & Film Company, this production is suitable for teens and adults.
We produce a free online education pack on our website for students covering aspects of creating the production, a news blog, historical & cultural research, and more.
We also provide full accessibility information for each performance on our website: https://www.southdevonplayers.com/benhurbrixham.html
#brixham #brixhamtheatre #lovebrixham #BeautifulBrixham #Torbay #devon #theatre #theatrelife #whatson #events #mustsee #booknow #britishtheatre #regionaltheatre #benhur #paignton #torquay #dartmouth #theater #whatsondevon #creative #actors #actorslife #professionaltheatre

Education pack addition - Ben Hur: British Sign Language

26/1/2022

Part of our show education packs for students traditionally, is a video showing ten words from the show in BSL (British Sign Language.)
Sarah Gregori has kindly created this video for our Ben Hur education pack, and also added in the full alphabet in BSL as well.
This video is subtitled as well.
Feel free to share to anyone who may find it useful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9URt2-OlrE

Thank you so much

21/1/2022

Two amazing local organisations supporting our work this week- we are so grateful to both.
Enormous thank you to Brixham Town Council for approving a grant to pay for our rehearsal space for the next 12 months covering the rest of our rehearsals for Ben Hur, and then for our following show Beowulf, creating loads of creative opportunities for local people. This is an enormous help- thank you so much to the Council
Also an equally huge thank you to Brixham Sea Rangers for providing the wooden oars for our lovely galley slaves in our theatre production of Ben Hur following our shoutout on Facebook.
#theatre #regionaltheatre #thankyou #britishtheatre #brixham #torbay #acting #actorslife #supportarts #supportheatre #benhur #gratitude

Photoshoots and stray doggies!

16/1/2022

Fabulous early call for photoshoot at Chestnut Community Centre with the two lead actors in our stage production of Ben Hur. By this time next week the posters will be ready.
A huge thank you to Jenny for doing the photos and to Carol for sorting Judah Ben Hur’s outfit.
Third photo is Spirit- a large and beautiful elderly stray dog who joined us for a little while (now reunited with his humans)
#theatre #benhur #brixham #actor #actorslife #regionaltheatre #britishtheatre #torbay #acting #photoshoot #modellife #stage #performingarts #creative #dog #doggie