Finally back on stage for first time in more than two years
Walberton Players are back and looking forward to presenting The Cat and The Canary at Walberton Village Hall from Thursday, February 24-Saturday, February 26. Tickets £7 on 01243 552882 (before 8pm) or www. walbertonplayers.org
Emily Dadson will be directing the show, the first for the company since February half-term 2020, a month before the first lockdown.
“People are definitely excited to be back but there is still a degree of nervousness.”
But one of the reasons they chose the play was the fact that they could adapt it to the circumstances – whatever they might have been at the time they were able to bring it to the stage.
“It’s a play about a group of actors presenting a radio play, a play within the play. We don’t need a set and we didn’t need to spend money or time building a set. The cast will have their scripts and they will be very familiar with them but they haven’t had to spend hours and hours learning every word.
“They are not socially distanced on stage but they could be if they had to be though I don’t think that will need to happen. The only problem would be if a member of the cast tested positive and that’s what we are thinking about, how we would manage it and what we would do. I could come in with one or other the female parts if I had to and Peter Fuller will be on standby for the men. So really we have got slightly different challenges to what we would have normally but I do think it’s all very workable and we’re going to have lots of laughs. We are all very passionate about putting on shows.”
The main thing is that the company has survived the pandemic: “And actually we had quite a good time. We did play readings approximately once a month or every three weeks or five weeks and we did it by Zoom and it worked brilliantly. We had a lot of fun and we did a panto at Christmas everybody had to dress up.
“With the play readings sometimes I would email people in advance and tell them what their character would be or we would just draw names out of a hat on the day and you would be whatever came up, no matter whether male or female, old or young or however inappropriate, and we had a great time playing around with some of the classics.
“We kept the spirit of the company going. The people that came along on Zoom enjoyed it and being on Zoom it was great for some people particularly with small children. It also gave people some adult conversation to look forward to and a bit of fun and sometimes we stayed afterwards in a virtual pub. As I say, we’re all very passionate about the arts and about theatres.”
Now they are back on the stage – and their production of John Willard’s 1922 black comedy comes with good timing, marking its centenary year.
“It has been done in various versions over the years. It was done in the 1920s as a horror movie and then in the 1930s in America it was done as a horror comedy movie and then in the 1970s there was another version. Now we have got it as a radio play. The horror movie is the radio play and we are watching the actors doing it. They are reading the radio script but things happen while they are doing it live.
“All the sound effects will be done live. It’s set in a spooky old house so you have got creaky doors and footsteps and a ticking clock.
“I just enjoy seeing something come off the page. I’m a very collaborative director. I like to listen to people’s ideas and hear it all from the actors point of view. It is about trying to see what works and what doesn’t and sometimes that can be really hilarious. It is also just about encouraging people. We’ve got a lot of very experienced actors but we have some who are less experienced, and it is about trying to encourage them.”