THE PLAY PRODUCED

THEFT by Eric Chappell

Mary Baird discusses her production for The Festival Players, Loughborough.

8ackgmu"_d - - . I

The Festival Players was formed in 1954 when there was a death of amateur dramatic groups in the area. No\v vve are one of m(lny!

The original concept was to provide a high level of drama with the entertainment of the audience as the primary consideration. The group has put on four productions each year and the November production of THE F l was the 172nd. We are very lucky to be able to use Stanford Hall Theatre just outside Loughborough. At present the hall belongs to the Co-operative Union but the \vell equippe.d and evocatively decorated theiltre. was built in 1936 by Sir Juliiln Cahn who owned the hall at that timE'.

Plo

When the committee read the script of THEfT we all agreed that it was a "must" for this season. At last we had found a thoroughly modern, well written play with well drawn characte rs and the potentia I for a great deal of laughter.

John and Bacbar;) Miles come back to their house after a celebratory dinne.r for their 20th wedding anniversary to find that they have been burgled. Staying with them for the weekend are old school friends Trevor and Jenny Farrington. Whilst they are all out of the room searching for the burglar, out of the window seill pops Spriggs, forced to hide by their return as he tried to open the safe. When faced with his victims, Spriggs attempts to pass himself off as a policeman, complete with bright yellow rubber gloves. Spriggs has obviously had a good rummage around the house while they were out and throughout the play manages knowingly to destroy two seemingly happy marriages and one strong friendship.

The beauty of the play is that running throughout the comedy is the basic truth that there are many skeletohs hidden away in cupboards and that people's reactions, when confronted witb

Cast}".9

The November play is always difficult to cast as some of our members do double duty by appearing for a musical society the week after our production. v\le started by casting a very experienced actor in the role of John. From that w e had to ensure that Barbara, Trevor and Jenny were aU of a similar age. We cast a much younger actor as Spriggs. Even though the original production had starred George Cole, we felt that this need not restrict us, as Spriggs' age could conceivably be anywhere between 20 and SO!

Rehearsals

schedule of two rehearsals per week. The actress playing Barbara had a week's holiday booked at the beginning of the rehearsal period, I was going to be away for a week, and Spriggs worked shifts, so we had to make some adjustments to the prepared schedule. It was essential that lines were learnt as quickly as possible so we spent very little time blocking. As there was such a small cast the moves seemed to change and evolve as we went along. It was nice to be able to tell the actors not to worry if they bumped into each other as this only added to the natural confusion of the action.

We only had the chance to use the theatre for the technical and dress rehearsal, so doors, window seat and the exact position of entrances and exits had to be imagined in the

as possible. It's very easy to torg where you left the gun when ym were using two fingers of one hanG to signify itl

Characterisation grew as rehearsal" progressed. We felt that the pl<l\ needed a degree of farcical playing and thought that if we went over the top in rehearsal this could be toned down on the stage. John wa, a very dominant character - prone to loud shouting and over­excitement. Spriggs became a lovable rogue with an irrepressible command of the English language who played on the emotions of each member of the household. Barbara developed a delicate drunkenness and was the twist in the tail whilst Trevor and Jenny remained remarkably wimpish throughout.

The Stage Manager and I discussed the design whilst he stage­managed the September production! I knew that I wanted plenty of open space inside and outside the house and tried to persuade him to hire a garden backcloth. This idea was quickly quashed when we realised that the action takes place late on an October evening, so it would be dark anywayl We opted for a large glass area at the back with french doors and side windows. The idea was that the actors would be seen as they chased off into the garden but unfortunately with a black backcloth in front of the cyclorama there was not as much space as I had hoped. We decided not to have another window as I wanted the stage to suggest a room that was in the middle of the house, enabling me to make full us~ of exits stage left and right. The window seat was set in a slight recess stage right and a hole was cut in the canvas of the flat behind it to enable Spriggs to crawl in at a suitable point rather than being incarcerated for eleven pages of script! The stairs leading to the arched exit stage left were a godsend - enabling the actors to use the different levels to increase the dramatic impact of entrances and exits. '

The all-important safe was hidden in the bookcase to stage left of the windows. A most ingenious

challenge of temptation, can be rehearsal room. We started by handle was incorporated behind itWe only had seven weeks toquite unexpected. using as many of the acnlal props to enable it to swing open as called rehearse and early on agreed a

16 MARCH,".1

THE PLAY PRODUCED

-' the script. We pained marks 'he dial to signify the numbers

these were unfortlmately not Ie to the audience. Too late we

d that instead of painting the -lor of the safe black, it would

l ' been better painted grey to w up the door and interior.

Settings

. ravely kept to a minimum of _",iture, much to the horror of

who [ felt knew b ,tter than I There was one small easy

ir - low backed so that it did not .• ' the action behind it, a desk ld chair, iI sideboard and a low und table centre stage. Our Stage

-- ings expert then filled in all holes with plants, flowers and ps. [had grent trouble

""udding h<'r to leave emp ty 'h es in the bookcase to indica te

theft of the' Crown Derby and ft l At the start of the play w\' s ' t

... d esk drawers on the floor with m y of papers lying around. One - mark the drawers so the ;,ctors

We opened the curtain to a shaft of moonlight on the garden statue which, at the same time, allowed some light into the room. Trevor switched on the main lights as he entered thereby gently increasing the audience's awareness that the room was not as it should have been!

Costumes - - " ~- ­ -

Nice and easy. No changes, so costumes were decided on as characters formed during rehearsal. Barbara sophisticated and chic in black with sparkling jewellery, Jenny rather more casual and the two men in jackets and ties. Spriggs needed a vast amount of pockets for all the bits ilnd pieces that he had to carry and he needed easy access to those pockets, so we ended up with a combat jacket and jogging trousers. We had to buy a supply of white tee-shirts as we were not prepa red to wash the "port" stains out every night. We did suggest he wore than back to

w exactly which position they :upv in the desk! John was able lear the papers into the drawers

'early action thus leaving th " , ers s till out of the desk for -oa ra 's entrance. Tablecloths and ~ lettes from the sidebo3fd were

\\ n about the stage, cushion s th~ Hoor and the small chair

d over. 111is ga ve the actors n to clear ilway in the ea rly lfl .

Lighti 9

- was kept very simple with the ~ lighting throughout the play.

front on alternate nights for eco nomy but this idea was not appreciated!

Mu Ie

[ wanted a catchy tune relevilnt to the plot that would put the audience in a cheerful mood before the curtain went up. Inspiration ca me from the musical Oliver -"You've Got to Pick a Pocket or Two". Listen to the words and you will find that they are very topical as far as THEFT is concerned. We used this for curtain-up music, between the scenes and at the end of each Act.

''''1

Probably the most important prop was the glm. This was often passed from hand to hand, put down on tables and actually fired on stage. The shot came at the end of Act I so during the interval the Stage manager completely unloaded it to ensure that it was empty when held against Spriggs' chest at the end of the play. The gunshots off were fired by the Stage Manager from another gun. The "port" mixture was the usual greatly diluted blackcurrant that seemed to get redder every night of the performance l The tee-shirts came clean, so if anyone wants a set of five white tee-shirts, they know where to come!

Conclus~on ,

We found out from one of our patrons that Eric Chappell, the author of THEFT, has connections with the Loughborough area and does not live too far away. We

invited him to the Saturday night performance but unfortunately he was not well enough to join us. It was a great shame as we had a house bursting at the seams and the audience, judging by their laughter and applause, felt we had done his work justice.

would strongly recommend TH EFT fun to rehearse, challenging to play and rewarding in performance. .

TEL: 0171-837-5655 FAX: 0171-833-0609

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