We are now destined to be presenting “A Bunch of Amateurs” to our Marlow audiences on Thursday, Friday & Saturday 13-15th April, with the production week beginning on Monday 10th April (the bank holiday). That’s when we hit GMS with the set.
After the “Marlow Experience” it’s time for the “Marly Experience” in Marly-le-Roi our French twin-town – date of performance: Saturday 13th May, travelling across on Friday 12th May, returning on Sunday 14th May.
This will involve rehearsal/s between the two productions to prepare for the Marly stage. This/these rehearsal/s will be advised by our Director, Andrew. In addition we will picking up any props and costumes Thursday night (11th May) with production items (props), so we have to take these in our baggage.
We will be travelling by Eurostar, and you can take one suitcase each up to 85cm plus a small carry-on item (handbag, backpack for snacks etc). Cases are kept in the end of the carriages so they are with us all of the time.
Summary Eurostar travel:
London St Pancras – Paris Gare du Nord – 12/05/2023 @ 14:31 arr. 17:47.
Paris Gare du Nord – London St Pancras – 14/05/2023 @ 18:13 arr. 19:30.
Departure from St Pancras is at 14.31 on Friday 12th May – but be warned – we must arrive in plenty of time for French passport control which happens on the UK side. I recommend we all plan to arrive at St Pancras by 12.00, allowing plenty of time for hold ups etc. There have been reports of long queues at peak times, which the weekend will be of course.
Getting to St Pancras will be your responsibility. Personally I think I’ll take the GWR train into Paddington, switch to Elizabeth line, change at Farringdon to Circle line back one stop to St Pancras. Up to you.
We will be hosted by members of Les Baladins, our twin-town drama group. One person from the Marly team will meet us at Gard du Nord to take us on the RER metro to St Germain-en-Laye, which will take about 30 minutes. We will each need to purchase a ticket for the RER.
More details will be sent nearer the date regarding where we will be staying etc. We will set up Saturday morning, quick rehearsal from 16.00, perform on Saturday evening, then party etc. We leave Marly at approximately 15.00 on Sunday to travel back, catching the 18.13 train, arrive back at St Pancras at 19.30. From there make you way home and we meet up the following week to return props and costumes etc.
The cost will be £100.00 each, which is subsidised by the Players: the actual cost of the train tickets is £165 per person. The cast and crew is the life blood of the society and if we can afford some subsidy we should. Last time we all paid £175 for the coach and ferry.
I have set up a PayPal secure form to capture your requirements / preferences. Please pay £100 as soon as possible as the tickets have already been purchased. The PayPal page allows you to pay with any debit / credit card or PayPal account if you have one. You do not need a PayPal account to use the tool – it’s the same as we use for selling performance tickets.
Please check you have 3 months‘ validity on your passport from the day we leave. Check that passport now!
Review the Marly Jointing Instructions