A dramatic mix for… 2006

. Narnia comes to Painswick

The first full-length play from our newly formed youth wing, The YiPPies, was staged on Friday 17th and Saturday 18th March. The Magicians Nephew from C S Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia was directed by the ubiquitous Ms Wolowiec and featured a cast of some 20 youngsters, ranging from 7 to 17 years of age. Three good audiences enjoyed the enthusiasm and talent of those on stage and the hard work and dedication of the back stage and off stage team drawn from Painswick Players, parents of YiPPies and some talented young techies!

A Month of Sundays critically acclaimed

A Month of Sundays by Bob Larbey was performed to critical acclaim on 4th – 6th May 2006. Directed by Lesley Wolowiec and set in a rural rest home for senior citizens, A Month of Sundays was a beautifully touching, funny, happy, heart warming production, which – to quote the GDA adjudicator – made for ‘an enjoyable evening, mixing comedy and pathos. The audience left having laughed out loud, but with a thought-provoking message and this effect was undoubtedly due to the teamwork of the Painswick Players’. The production has also picked up no fewer than six nominations for ‘GLOSCARS’ – the GDA Annual Awards, including ‘Best Young Actor’ award for Ellie Jackson as Nurse Wilson.

more from A Month of Sundays

Painswick Players AGM

It was all change at the Painswick Players AGM held on 13^th September, when Jack Burgess handed over to Kevin Parker as Chairman and Jackie herbert was replaced as Secretary by Ann Dorman.

In his Chairman’s report, Jack read the GDA tribute to Ellie Jackson for her performance in A Month of Sundays in January, for which she won the award of ‘Best Newcomer’. A Month of Sundays received four other nominations in the GDA awards: Peter Minall for Best Actor, Lesley Wolowiec for Best Director, Ray Davis for Best Supporting Actor and the whole company for the Best Champagne Moment. Jack admitted responsibility for this last accolade since ‘twas he that kicked a plug out of its wall socket, thereby plunging the whole stage into darkness and enabling the cast to display there dramatic panache by carrying on magnificently until light was restored. This play, one of our best ever productions, full of pathos and humour is superbly written, was brilliantly performed but sadly very poorly supported by our audiences.

Overall 2006 has been an interesting year with some ‘ups and downs’. One of the greatest successes was the birth of our new junior section, ‘The Yippies’, for which entire thanks were expressed to Lesley Wolowiec who alone had conceived, initiated and developed the whole concept. They had already performed in two productions, a one Act play, “Puss in Slippers” in December 2005 which had great pace and sparkle (half of a Double Bill with Painswick Players), followed by “The Magician’s Nephew” in March ’06, a successful full production with a large cast.

Taking over as Chairman, Kevin Parker thanked all members of the Committee for their hard work over the past year, particularly to the officers, Jackie who is standing down after three years as secretary, and Andrew Leach who continues as Treasurer. Kevin then went on to express his thanks to Jack for all his work and commitment during his three years as Chairman and his involvement with re-launching PaDS (as it then was) ten years ago.

True to form, we zipped through the rest of the business (plus a couple of bottles of the legendary cheap red) in double quick time. The following committee emerged:

· Chairman – Kevin Parker

· Secretary – Ann Dorman

· Treasurer - Andrew Leach

· Gill Mohin

· Avril Dorey

· Valerie Dugan

· Mike Breeze

Centenary Music Hall a sell-out success

Our last production for 2006 was a terrific success, selling out over four performances (7th 8th 9th December) and being hailed as a Painswick event that brought the whole village community together. The Centenary Music Hall celebrated 100 years of the Painswick Centre (formerly ‘The Institute’), which has been our home base for over 80 years. Apart from an Edwardian Music Hall, the production incorporated a dramatised ‘re-enactment’ of the 1906 Opening Ceremony.

It was a massive production which tested our technical and human resources and those of the Painswick Centre itself. Director Alistair Anderson deserves the plaudits for his vision, nerve and sheer determination that the production should go with a bang, helped of course by an impressive display of pyrotechnics during the human cannon ball act!

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