A major international star of stage and screen joins the Westacre Theatre cast when Dylan Thomas’ classic Under Milk Wood is intriguingly transformed into Under Lockdown in Milk Wood. Helping to reunite some of the original Welsh village characters during the pandemic will be a very special cameo appearance by Welsh actor Sir Jonathan Pryce CBE.
The award winning star was Thomas Cromwell in Wolf Hall, the High Sparrow in Game of Thrones, Prince Philip in the final two series of The Crown, and as Pope Francis in The Two Popes alongside Anthony Hopkins.
Modern, clever technology will bring Jonathan Pryce to the stage of your local community theatre. To discover his role in this brand new story, you will need to be part of the audience for one of three performances on 5th and 6th November.
Image courtesy of Kristen Brady
Thrilled at Jonathan Pryce’s appearance, Leah Spencer wrote and directed this play to commemorate her dear late friend Lesley Mardle who starred in countless stage productions at Westacre. Meaningfully, these included a much-acclaimed version of Under Milk Wood.
The money raised through ticket sales will support the invaluable work of Target Ovarian Cancer. So while you enjoy an original piece of dramatic work composed by a local author, you will also be helping a very worthwhile charity.
You can book your seats at www.westacretheatre.com or by calling 01760 755800.
Why do leaders around the world, once elevated to a position of authority, abuse their power often by rewriting the rules to suit their own agenda? So is it that power corrupts? Must some animals always be more equal than others?
George Orwell’s Animal Farm is the next in-house production from the Westacre Theatre Company. Presented in-the-round on the Summer House outdoors stage, this lively version of the satirical tale is very full of vim and verve and follows many memorable adaptations for stage (including for National Theatre), television, film and radio.
Once Orwell’s book was published in 1945 after considerable delays, it received the huge critical acclaim and wide recognition that it so rightly deserves. Among many accolades, it is listed in the Top 100 of Best English Language Novels (Time Magazine) and is ranked at No 46 in the Big Read Poll (BBC). In a 2016 survey, Animal Farm was chosen as the UK’s favourite book from school.
This is a deeply moving, modern classic at Westacre Theatre which reflects on three periods in time – before the outbreak of World War Two, the War itself and the post-War era. Set in the three cities of Hamburg, Manchester and London, it primarily follows three mothers and the vitally important decisions that a parent has to take in the best interests of their child.
There is German Jewish Helga who, in 1938, is faced with the unbelievably distressing choice of whether to keep her beloved 9-year old daughter Eva in Germany or prepare her for the rail journey to Britain all on her own by Kindertransport. This was well before mass travel so neither mother nor child knew what Eva should expect.
Arriving in England, feeling completely abandoned and speaking no English, Eva is safely scooped up by working-class Lil Miller from Manchester. One of many totally- selfless ordinary people, good-hearted Lil loves young Eva like she is her own.
Reunions with old friends are always good, aren’t they? In a strikingly simple two-act play in a single setting with six characters sitting around and talking, prolific playwright Alan Ayckbourn made Absent Friends one of his most significant dramas of the 1970s.
Best performed in a cosy venue where you cannot help but eavesdrop on the captivating conversation on-stage means the Westacre Theatre Studio provides the perfect auditorium. Directors Andy Naylor and Issy Huckle certainly ensure that after all these years this challenging work continues to maintain its considerable charm, while at the same time losing none of its amazing ability to disconcert us through its emotional truths.
We watch in real time as the innocent and well-meaning intentions of recently-bereaved bank worker Colin simply enlarge the emerging gulfs between his five friends. Having arranged a tea-party for him after his fiancee died tragically, they are held together through a toxic and emotive combination of business and cross-marital ties. For sure, the five are hugely worried about what to say to Colin in the awkward circumstances; but this really is just the tip of the iceberg.
Many months ago, when Westacre Theatre began planning its next in-house production, who could possibly have foreseen that during the final stages of their rehearsals every news bulletin would be covering in graphic detail the tragedy of families in Ukraine being split up and becoming helpless refugees in Europe. Kindertransport is the play under rehearsal and is considered to be the seminal play by Diane Samuels wrestling with the short and long term consequences of exactly that.
Just before the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, nine year-old Eva had waved goodbye to her mother Helga and finds herself alone on the platform at Liverpool Street Station. Abruptly uprooted from her home in Germany, she cannot speak any English and is badly confused. Tagged like a piece of luggage, she is handed over to strangers.
Faced with a completely different culture and a whole range of human responses, it turned out to be the total selflessness by thousands of ordinary British people that shone through when faced with the needs of helpless children.
The Westacre Theatre Company is back, treading the boards of their brand new open-air stage. Situated in scenic West Norfolk countryside alongside its landscaped lagoon, the new performance area, seating and sound system comes complete with an eye-catching canvas canopy.
The Westacre venue originally blossomed into life over 30 years ago with its legendary outdoor productions. So the older audience will no doubt reminisce about the return to open-air roots.
In resisting an airborne virus, superior ventilation brings significant advantages. But often open-air is true theatre at its most natural with the drama intensifying in the lengthening shadows. Outdoor performances frequently feel far more relaxed and can attract plenty of people who would not normally be tempted to venture inside their community theatre.