Hurst Players present Red Riding Hood panto this festive season

By Anne Hopper

It’s panto time – “O yes, it is”!! Couldn’t resist that, but perhaps I should have, especially this early in the season! Auditions for the adult cast took place in late August – when few people were thinking of entertainment over Christmas and New Year – but the fairly recent change to autumnal temperatures will soon see the recently appointed cast of children joining the grown-ups now busy learning their lines for The Players’ 2023 pantomime - Red Riding Hood.
The youngsters will ease in gently with an hour of rehearsal each week during November, under the skilled tuition of Annette Squire, joining the adult cast for full rehearsals from December onwards.

Meantime, The Players are busy organising the essential backstage team – we are always interested in welcoming people who would like to be involved, but who shy away from actually performing. If that’s you – why not see what the Players can offer you – and if you would like to know more, do get in touch with us. Once again, the Players’ “panto-supremo” Bob Sampson is both writer and director and he will be happy to respond to any enquiries about backstage work – or help with lighting and sounds for those who love fiddling with switches! Please contact him directly at: sampson.bob@gmail.com. Online bookings open on 25th November but if you prefer to buy your tickets personally come along to the Theatre Box Office on the High Street on any Saturday morning from 2nd December from 10am to 1pm. We’ll have up to date information on booking tickets on the Players website: https://hurstplayers.org.uk/ Please get in touch - but beware of the wolf!

Hurst Players bring Treasure Island in pantomime

By Anne Hopper

It’s almost panto time! Not quite yet, but at the end of December and into January 2023, the Hurst Players will present a very homegrown version of the classic tale Treasure Island. Loosely based on the famous novel by Robert Louis Stevenson (actually hanging by a thread!) it will be a traditional panto – a rollicking tale of buccaneers and buried treasure, written by Bob Sampson and directed by Richard Coney.

We’ll have Long John Silver and his band of renegades – a traditional Pantomime Dame – yes, really - and a Fairy Mermaid plus our variation on some of the characters from the book: Squire Trelawney, Billy Bones, Blind Pugh – now renamed Blind Poo - this is a panto! And not forgetting our hero ‘Jim Lad’ Hawkins.

Tickets - £11 for adults £8 for children under 12 will shortly be available online from hurstplayers.org.uk – and from December, in person at the Theatre Box Office on Saturday mornings.

Virtual panto planned by Hurstpierpoint Players

By Anne Hopper, Press and Publicity Officer

In June Hurstpierpoint Players turned their decorating skills from the inside of the Players Theatre to the outside - in July and August they ‘wrapped up’ the building as part of the “Missing Theatre Live” protest to draw the Government’s attention to the plight of all venues of entertainment.

In September the Players ‘Zoomed’ into their first-ever virtual Annual General Meeting – a legal requirement for any charity – and with the usual business dealt with efficiently in record time it fell to the President, Michael Squire, to make a special presentation to the Theatre’s retiring Treasurer, Josie Porter who has held the post for the past thirteen years. In thanking Josie on behalf of the Players Michael pointed out the increased responsibilities of the Treasurer during the decade-long fund-raising to ensure the Theatre’s future. With that future now assured the Membership wished Josie a well deserved retirement. Balancing the books from now on will be the responsibility of the Theatre’s newly elected Treasurer Richard Coney.

And after all the aforementioned smartening-up of the premises it was felt we should take further steps to make sure we were seen and recognised on the High Street - at the beginning of October a new sign designed by Bob Sampson was painted on the front elevation. We can’t yet say when productions will start again, nor when our friends from the Film Club can join us for a new season of films, but we’re pleased that the Theatre was able to provide a venue for preparation of some of the recent Hurst Festival events.

However, we are hopeful a virtual pantomime will be shot in and around Hurstpierpoint during November and edited ready for screening over Christmas. Auditions for a very special production of The Tales of Robin Hood were extremely well attended, all conducted under strict Covid regulations; clearly people are desperate to get back into the swing of performing live theatre.

With casting yet to be confirmed the plan is to use as many outdoor locations as possible so residents of Hurstpierpoint should not be surprised to see mediaeval villagers or various Merry Men involved in intense dialogue in some unexpected places. Of course, we rely on the current Covid situation here remaining the same and if so, rehearsals will begin early in November.

Shows must go on at the Players Theatre, Hurstpierpoint

Productions in the Players Theatre on the High Street will continue during the summer as it is proposed that the renovations will now take place in the autumn. It is hoped that the initial work will concentrate on new seating and heating system, making it an even more welcoming place to watch plays, productions and films.

The next production is Rope, by former Hassocks resident Patrick Hamilton, which is being presented by the Players Theatre 2nd-6th April. It’s a mysterious play, a why - rather than who – dunnit! The audience knows from the onset who is responsible for the gruesome murder. The contrasting collection of guests are assembled to enjoy a macabre supper party at the mercy of their hosts’ flawed personalities. Not a play for the kiddies!

Jo Kearns, the play’s director, explained: “Whilst I was suffering from serious illness a couple of years ago, the nurses encouraged me to plan for future events, and to place on a wish list ideas that had previously only been a figment of imagination. As I was keen to direct a play, ‘Rope’ became my directorial debut, which so far has been a challenging but highly enjoyable experience.”

Non-stop Shakespeare by Hurstpierpoint Players

12th-15th October 2017

By Bob Sampson

Hurstpierpoint Players are planning a repeat of the successful Non-stop Shakespeare as a fundraiser to refurbish the Players Theatre in Hurstpierpoint.

As happened in 1999, it is our intention to get all 37 plays read in this 70-hour marathon, and we are inviting our members, friends, schools, professional actors, neighbouring amateur dramatic groups, in fact anyone who is interested, to get involved.

There are also great opportunities for companies to sponsor plays or take advertising space in the souvenir programme. Email shakespeare@hurstplayers.org.uk for details of what’s on offer.

The readings will go on 24 hours a day from 7.30pm on Thursday 12th October until whatever time we finish on Sunday 15th.

If you don’t want to read, please put this in your diary anyway to come along and support those that do! 

We contacted the Shakespeare Centre Library looking for advice on how long we might have to allow if we were to read right through. They said: “You deserve a huge amount of money if you’re going to read through all of Shakespeare’s plays! Going on the productions done here by the RSC, and taking at least half an hour off their running time, it would take anywhere between 60 - 80 hours to go through all the plays, depending on your texts and the speed of your readers.”

The Theatre Museum was really helpful too. Word had it that they had done a complete reading of the plays in 1989. However, it turned out they had missed a few! So it was left to the Hurstpierpoint Players to take on the task in 1999. We have done it before, so now the date is set and the mammoth operation is under way once again.

The Players Theatre building was converted to a theatre in 1976 and it has been apparent for a while now that the theatre building is in need of some significant maintenance and refurbishment work. The seats for example were already 30 years old when they were installed and the heating system has become more erratic and noisy as the years have passed. The Theatre is used by Hurstpierpoint Players, Hurst Village Cinema and Centre Stage Children’s theatre as well as many other theatre and musical concerts. The intention of this refurbishment is to make the place more comfortable for the audiences and users of the theatre.

If you want to take part in this thrilling experience, or just find out more details, send an email to shakespeare@hurstplayers.org.uk