Village Squire, 1976-03, Page 5schedule. There will be four separate
programs and each will be repeated at a later
date. The first show was Love and Marriage,
a series of short vignettes by such writers as
Harold Pinter. Ken Livingstone directed the
production.
Nola Willis directed the next production of
two short Tennesee Williams plays: This
Property is Condemned and Talk to Me Like
The Ram. John Lingard will direct the third
noonhour production, The Man With The
Flower in His Mouth and the final production
has not yet been chosen. As stated
previously, all these programs will be
repeated so those who have missed early
productions will be able to take them in later.
The Theatre became a very hectic place in
late February when the noon hour program
was accompanied by an evening program as
well. Ken Livingstone directs Butley by
Simon Gray as the first production. The witty
comedy is about life in the_ English
Department of a University. The play was
scheduled to run from February 27 to March
6.
Next comes the revival of Straitjackets a
musical comedy written by Kem Murch and
Erna Van Daele of London. That show was
first produced last year and in a way, it's a
prime mover behind the new theatre venture.
It was through an attempt to remount the
production for a tour that the gem o'f the idea
for Centre Stage arose. Nola Willis was
involved in the production and began working
on fundraising for the tour. Things went well,
s� well that the idea of starting a second
professional theatre in London arose. Heinar
Pillar, artistic director of Theatre London was
a big help in getting the new theatre going,
Nola says and suggested approaching the
City Centre people about the possibility of
setting up a theatre there. Things have been
hectic, but going well ever since.
Things haven't gone so well for all the
principals in this project in the past,
however. Ken Livingstone, for instance, had
critical success but financial failure with his
first attempt to create an alternative theatre
in London, the old New Space theatre on
Albert Street. .
Nola Willis and Kem Murch have a happier
background with London Free Stage, formed
last year as a temporary company to produce
Straitjackets the first time around. The
comedy which plays on the traditional roles
assigned to the sexes has 20 songs written by
Erna Van Daele.
That show was the first professional theatre
involvement for Kem. Nola who teaches
drama at University of Western Ontario had a
theatrical background before moving to
London and has directed plays at the
University at Talbot Theatre including
Tennessee William's The Glass Menagerie.
Straitjackets which brought the three
together in the new Centre Stage company,
will go on tour from March 29 to April 9,
making afternoon appearances at many
schools and playing evenings at such theatres
at the Opera House, Petrolia and Memorial
Hall, Blyth. (April 6-7).
A third production is planned for Centre
Stage itself to begin about April 23, but as of
the time this story was written the subject
was not decided.
The group has set itself a tall order in
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trying to produce both a noonhour and an
evening presentation. There are 16 persons
involved in all in front and behind the scenes.
Performers include Tom Arnott, Chris Deziel,
Don Fenton, Holly Holmes, Katthee Rajczak
and Sonja Smits. Simon White is Technical
Director and technicians are Brian Mizzen
and Stephen Woodcock. J ane Ohland is
assistant stage manager and Hannah
Woodcock is in charge of wardrobe. Erna Van
Daele is music director and Gerry Van de
Kamp is the music arranger, cum copier, cum
musician.
Centre stage itself may come as something
of a shock to those whose idea of theatre is the
typical Theatre London or Avon Theatre,
Stratford, layout. It's far from lavish, or
affluently impressive. Some 125 seats go up
in two tiers from either side of the stage.
Seating is on modified stacking chairs on the
wooden platforms that raise the seats above
the playing area.
Those accustomed to lavish surroundings
with subtle colours will find a theatre painted
instead in total flat black. The purpose of
alternate theatre, you see, isn't to impress
you with the surroundings, but with the
action on stage. Like most small theatres,
Centre Stage is designed with that in mind
and in any seat in the house you're so close to
the action you can see every expression on the
actors' faces. Intimacy is the key word here.
The theatre is second to none, however,
when it comes to technical equipment. The
equipment is all new, imfact some is so new
as to be unique.
It would seem there should be a place for
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