Author: James Rowland

Come along this Thursday (7th April) at 19.30 to our HQ at the Omega Centre to hear all about our next Two production.

Roseliska and Victorian Music Hall in the Summer at Portchester Castle

The Beggar’s Opera in November at Hayling Island Station Theatre.

Whether you want to be onstage, help out with set, lighting, sound or costumes or are just interested to find out what we’re going to be doing. It’s open to all!

Email us with any questions about the evening

thesouthseashakespeareactors@hotmail.co.uk

Further to the Government’s recent announcement surrounding Covid-19 this evening, we have regrettably decided to postpone all performances of ‘The Two Gentlemen of Verona’ scheduled for this March.

Well no it won’t!  There’s only one dream that will do, and that is our production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which hits the stage from Wednesday 23rd November.  Click on the link for tickets.

In other news

• A big thanks to the Gnawing cast for a fantastic evening of rodent-related foolery.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much human flesh stuffed into such small costumes!  It was a great night and thoroughly enjoyed by all of us in the audience
• Straight after A Midsummer Night’s Dream we move on to our Spring 2020 production, Two Gentlemen of Verona.  Expo and audition dates are available through this link
• If  you’re an SSA member you’ll know that Friday 13th December will be lucky for some, and unlucky for others!  See the Facebook page for details………….

No, I couldn’t think of anything either……………………except the SSA of course!  Your favourite Shakespeare company is heading into a very busy period, so hop on board the Bard Bus (I apologise, that’s terrible) and hold on tight.  First it’s the gerbils, with Gnawing on 28th September at Titchfield Community Centre.  There will be 4 blokes and 1 woman in gerbil costumes, an open bar, a hilarious script, and it’s even got a warning for adult content – what more could you want!

Hot on the heels of something that Shakespeare most definitely wouldn’t have written comes one his most popular works – A Midsummer Night’s Dream.  Rehearsals are in full swing, and it promises to be a magical production.

As observant readers will have noted from my last post, our Spring 2020 play will be Two Gentlemen of Verona, so plenty of info to come on that.  What you won’t know is that the 2 gents will be followed by the SSA appearing at Portchester Castle!  In a recent announcement from that nice Mr Nick Downes, it was confirmed that we have secured a summer slot for an as-yet-undecided production in this beautiful location, which promises to be hugely exciting.

The next 12 months promise to be full of action, so keep visiting this site to keep up to date with everything we will be doing.

Blimey, busy, busy, busy………………………deep breaths, here we go!

1. Confirmation that Rob Bartlett’s Gnawing is being staged at Titchfield Community Centre on Saturday 28th September at 7.30pm.  It stars a bunch of SSA luminaries so you won’t want to miss it, click here for tickets.  It’s about gerbils you know……………………
2. Our Autumn production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream is on the tracks and heading full tilt for the station.  Casting is done, read-throughs are starting, and it won’t be long before rehearsals kick off.  The production is at the Station Theatre, Hayling Island, from Wednesday 20th to Saturday 23rd November, click here for more details and for tickets.
3. We are proud to announce that our Spring 202o production will be Two Gentlemen of Verona, directed by Jacquie Penrose.  It will be the first time we have staged this play since 1973, and if the production is anywhere near as interesting as Jacquie’s pitch it will be fabulous both to be in and to watch.  The play will be on from 25th to 28th March 2020 at the Square Tower, Portsmouth, but before that we have the expo, on Thursday 28th November 2019 at HQ.  This will be followed by auditions on Thursday 5th December at 7.30pm and Sunday 8th December at 2pm, both at HQ.
4. Finally – an update on our buildings.  We successfully vacated our wardrobe/storage building in Stamshaw a few weeks ago, and are now firmly ensconced in the “New Place”, a luxurious (well, big) garage space in Drayton.  Over the next few months we will be reshaping the interior to maximise the space, so a big thank you to the City Council for renting the property to us, and to all the members who helped with the move.

So it’s official!  Our Autumn 2019 production will be A Midsummer Night’s Dream, directed by Paula Bartlett and Aaron Holdaway.  The important dates for now – Tuesday 21st May at 8pm for the expo (straight after the AGM), auditions 1 on Tuesday 4th June at 7.30pm, and auditions 2 on Wednesday 12th June, also at 7.30pm.  All of this takes place at our HQ in Omega Street.

Talking of the AGM – it’s at 7.30pm on Tuesday 21st May at HQ, if you are a member, or interested in joining us, then please don’t miss it – and then stay on for the MSND expo!

Finally advance notice – Rob Bartlett has been busily scribbling away and the rodents will be returning. Yes, it’s time for Gnawing: The Gerbils Return (this may not be the official title!).  The provisional date for this magnum opus is Saturday 28th September, presented at Titchfield Community Centre.  More new as we get it………….

A lot has happened since January, and my only excuse for not writing sooner is that I’ve been busy acting (it takes a lot of effort you know), so, here goes………..

Firstly we must make note of the passing of Mike Wines, a member of the company over many years, and most recently seen in Murder in the Cathedral (2016) and Pericles (2017).    Here’s Mike in action in the former;

He will be greatly missed by all of us in the SSA.

January saw the Portsmouth News Guide Awards take place, and although none of our nominees (for SSA work or for work with other theatre groups) got first prize, the November 2018 production of The Tempest took a very creditable runners-up nod for Best Production.  Well done to Aaron, David, and the cast and crew.

We still need new premises to stash our costumes, props and scenery.  If you have any ideas, please get in contact via the email address or directly to any committee member.

Our production of SSA member Vin Adams’ original work, Besieged, took place earlier in March at the Square Tower.  If audience numbers and audience reaction are anything to go by, it was a huge success!  All 4 nights were sold out weeks in advance, and we managed to get both the Lord Mayor and the MP for Portsmouth South along to the production.  Huge congratulations to directors Nick Downes and Steve Blackham, to Vin as the writer, and to the cast and crew.  To stage a play about Portsmouth’s Civil War siege in one of the buildings at the heart of the story was very special.

That nice Mr Bartlett is putting on another Cabin Pressure members night at HQ on Friday 10th May.  If you’ve seen this before you’ll know it’s hilarious, and not only because of the script.  Make sure you don’t miss the usual cast of MJN Air idiots plus a few guest voices on the night.

Finally an early shout about the AGM – it will take place in May (date tbc) and is likely to be accompanied by the expo for our November production.  Full details of this important event will be shared soon.

 

Dear readers – for a good few years the SSA has been renting a hall in North End to house our scenery, props and costumes.  Unfortunately that arrangement is coming to an end in the next few months, and we really  need to find a new location as this stuff is very precious to us.  We don’t need a full building, or anything fancy like windows (!), just somewhere secure that we can get access to and that has enough room – it can be an unused room in a building, an outhouse etc.  Commercial rents for garages and similar are out of our league – we are a small charity – but we are happy to pay for the space and to keep it clean, tidy, and if required, to decorate it etc.  If you can help, or know of someone else who can, please email us on thesouthseashakespeareactors@hotmail.co.uk

Many Thanks