Players
Following the successful play reading at the end of March using the Zoom conference tool, we plan to run a regular Zoom-based ‘meet up’ each Tuesday and Thursday at 8.00pm (our normal meeting time). Just drop in and join in. Contribute ideas when you can. Each session we will look at a play, rehearse a webcast, do play readings and so on. I think the expectation is that we should continue to do this until the restrictions of movement are lifted. So this arrangement will take us up to the summer.
Each month we plan to ‘broadcast’ a rehearsed event to the wider external audience so that we keep our name visible to the community at large and offer those stuck at home some additional social contact. It will us all give something to work towards as well. These will be announced to the external audience, web site and so on. Players should be able to promote the event in the normal way to their network of friends and family.
2 April
First meeting will be Thursday 2 April, and this session will be led by Hilary. Please be ready to read a poem and discuss.
7 April
Led by Andrew: Reading a scripts from Shakespeare. Download from here: script
14 April
Led by Hilary. Please be ready to read a poem and discuss.
16 April
Led by Andrew: Rehearsal reading from Shakespeare. Download from here: script
21 April
Led by max: Rehearsal of Best Laid Plans
23 April
Led by Gloria: Scenes from ‘Allo ‘Allo. come with scripts if you have them. Some scanning may be needed for exerts.
25 April
Led by Max: Public webcast of ‘Best Laid Plans’. All welcome on this one and an external invitation email has gone out.
Best Laid Plans By Max Sasim
When Clarissa Howard has an extension built onto her Islington home, she little thinks that in addition to providing constant tea and attention to the builders in her usual overly polite manner, she will have to cope with her hubby being absent through work, her errant brother descending on her out of the blue and other unforeseen events occurring to disrupt proceedings. Not to mention family secrets raising their unwanted heads. Set in the late 1980s, Best Laid Plans is a comic play with a dark underbelly.
Cast
- Clarissa Howard – Jossy
- Aaron Fields – Steve
- Terry Mantel – Max
- Dougie Burns – Alan
- Ariadne Burns – Mandi
- Audrey Dunbar – Karen
- Richard Davies – Andy
- Billy Cleland – Brian
- Hermione Clarke – Alison
Update: we had 53 people tune in to the event. Well done everyone!
28 April
Led by Gloria: Scenes from ‘Allo ‘Allo. come with scripts if you have them. Some scanning may be needed for exerts.
30 April
Led by Andrew. A new play readings from HH Munro (Saki) ‘Tobermory’ and The Quest. Rehearsed reading then recording session for Marlow FM. Tobermory script The Quest script
How to prepare
You will need to set up a zoom account online – it is free to use. You use your regular email account and a password you supply.
Sign up for free
Once you have done that, I recommend that you download the app to your device. You can use a mobile phone, Windows PC or Apple Mac, iPAD. If you do not have time to do that beforehand, the app will download when you join the meeting. So it is quicker if you do it in advance.
For the actors, I also recommend using a a mobile phone headset if you have one (they have mic and ear piece), and plug that into the PC headphone socket. That will keep background noises down. If you are just ‘listening in’ rather than acting, then the PC speaker will do nicely and you can mute your mic once the meeting has started. In general the etiquette is that you keep yourself on mute unless you are speaking, for example if you are in the next scene and need to be ready. It all helps the audio quality.
Another thing you can do from the app is to go to ‘settings’ (shown as a cog wheel in top right) and upload a selfie pic to your ‘profile’. That means you can take yourself off live video and instead we see your static pic. That also helps with audio quality because it reduces the network bandwidth needed.
Meeting
First meeting Thursday 2 April. Then Tuesday and Thursday at the same time, depending on demand.
Doors open: 7.50pm
Meeting : 8.00pm- 9pm
How to join the meeting using one of the following ways:
zoom app meeting number: 510-741-7650
Dial in by phone only: 020 3966 3809, 5107417650#
Each meeting will have the SAME details as above, so we do not need to keep emailing people. The meeting is not limited to any time limits – we can run as long as we need. It should be very informal unless we are doing a rehearsed webcast performance, of course.
Web cast events (external and internal audiences)
25 April Best laid Plans by Max Sasim
23 May Bottom’s Dream: extracts from A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Wm Shakespeare, adapted by Andrew Stafford
20 June Murder Mystery by Gloria Kendrick
25 July Players Play reading
NT Live at Home web cast events
Each week National theatre are webcasting on youtube a previous production during the shutdown period. They make one title available per week, released on a Thursday night.
- 2 April One Man Two Governors
- 9 April Jane Wyre
- 16 April Treasure Island
- 23 April Twelfth Night
- Link to you tube
- Speak to you soon!
