Monthly Archives: October 2015

BaCStage, Bluntisham, Friends, Old Day School, Social, Work

Happy Halloween

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Mwah, and if you will, hahaha!

Our Halloween was filled with scary monsters, cobwebs and a recurring nightmare – where are we going to put all our stuff?!

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The scary monster responsible for these cobwebs, along with several of its friends, had to be evicted from the outside shed to make more storage space.  They will no doubt gain revenge by making their way into the main ODS building and preying on the actors during winter rehearsals

On the Sunday after our last performance we take down the stage (known in the trade as ‘breaking the set’).  We remove all our stuff from the village hall and put it back into the ODS.  We like to get this done as quickly as possible so that we can all head off to the Green Man in Colne for lunch.  Subsequently, the interpretation of “back into the ODS” is taken to literal, not to mention minimal, extremes.  As long as everything is indoors, anywhere will do:

Lots of StuffWe have a lot of stuff.

A couple of weeks later, when we’ve all had time to go away and think about what we’ve done, we meet up at the ODS and have a big old tidy-up.  It helps if the weather gods are on our side when we do this, so that we can put everything out on the yard.  Today the weather gods must have been in a good mood as the weather was good enough for a BBQ, which tends not to happen when we want to have a BBQ.

Lots of stuff, outsideOnce everything is piled up outside, we can have a good sort through it.

All sorts of things

Meanwhile, indoors, there was an incident of leglessness:

Leglessness

Don’t worry, dear reader – Nick hadn’t been on the sauce.  It was a bit early in the day, even for him.  He was putting the legs back onto the ‘shrubbery’ stage block from ‘Brick Museum‘.  Once that was done we could put the stage back up.

The stage

Spot the deliberate mistake.

Could this be the special brick-built chamber where the heads of state will have their top-secret meeting?

Brick-built chamber

Err… no.  It is a handy place to stash some stuff though.  By lunchtime everything was back indoors, or in the shed.

Actors make great compost – we have proof:

Actors make compost

Now it’s time to dig out some old costumes and go trick-or-treating.

Dressing-up box

Don’t have nightmares!

 

 

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BaCStage, Bluntisham, comedy, drama, Entertainment, Friends, Play, Shows, Social, Theatre

New BaCStage 3-in-1 with triple acting action!

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Can you believe it’s been a week already?  A week since the last park bench was taken, a week since Shirley and Rita’s hiding place was found, and a week since Bluntisham’s most famous pair of frilly knickers made their latest (although probably not their last) public appearance.  This time last week we were completing our run of three one-act plays, A Talk in the Park, In Need of Care and Night at the (Brick) Museum.

Now, if you are the sort of obsessive BaCStage fan who visits this website every hour, hitting ‘refresh’ in the hope and expectation of getting new updates, you will already have seen the photo pages added recently for these plays.  Just in case you aren’t following our every move with an almost stalker-like intensity, allow me to point them out to you.  Click the links for photo fun:

A Talk in the Park, In Need of Care and Night at the (Brick) Museum

It’s been a while since we did three one-act plays.  The previous occasion was before my time, as annoying people on quiz shows say.  “The Beatles?  Hmm… before my time.  The Vikings?  Hmm… before my time.  The big bang that started the whole universe?  Hmm… before my time” (that’s enough of that – Ed).  Nonetheless, for several of us it was our first time, so to speak.  Although we all enjoyed it immensely, we weren’t sure how it would go down with the punters.  Our expert audience research group (which looked suspiciously like a bunch of actors reminiscing) were of the opinion that audiences prefer one long play to several short ones.  We were all pleased therefore (and a little relieved) that we got good audiences each night.  Saturday was the busiest, as it usually is – not being a school night.  Despite the twin televisual temptations of something called “Strictly” (I have no idea) and the Rugby World Cup, we still had a full house for our last night.  It was very thoughtful of England to dump themselves out of the RWC early to avoid a calendar clash with us.

So what’s next for BaCStage then?  Well… we’re having a well-earned rest for a couple of weeks, then we’ll be putting the stage back together at the ODS ready to rehearse our next production.  We don’t know what it’ll be yet, but the Village Hall is booked for next April so the clock’s ticking already.  Chances are, it’ll be one full-length play next time.  Watch this blog for details in the coming weeks and months.  If we really can’t decide on anything, we might just play Queen’s greatest hits and get Tom and Ross to re-enact the videos, as they did in the after-show party last weekend…

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And finally – the last we heard, Miss Harriet’s knickers had secured an audition for a part in the West End.  We wish them well…

BaCStage, Bluntisham, comedy, drama, Entertainment, Play, Rehearsals, Shows, Theatre

5… 4… 3… 2… 1…

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BaCStage are GO!  Anything could happen in the next half-week or so.

We have constructed all 5 stage sets – park, barn, house, brick museum and shrubbery – and worked out how to light them all.

The park has 4 real benches!  The brick museum has real bricks!  The barn has an actual barn door!  The shrubbery has (bits of) real shrubs!  The house has real chairs and an actual phone!  Heck.

All 3 plays have been well and truly rehearsed and the actors are raring to go.

We have had 2 full rehearsals in the Bluntisham Village Hall already.

There is just 1 more dress rehearsal, and then we’re good to go!

We’ve even made it into the Hunts Post.  Not bad as we haven’t even performed yet.

FlatFooted

At one point during set-up day it looked like the “flat foot gang” might live up to their name and delay proceedings.  We even thought they might rival the legendary hand rail team.  Fortunately a responsible adult with a clipboard stepped in and sorted them out, and now each flat is standing on its own two feet.

So what can our loyal punter expect from BaCStage this Autumn?

Our show begins with a sideways look at modern life in Alan Ayckbourn’s A Talk in the Park.  In this sharply observed comedy five strangers have each headed to the park to escape their troubles and find a bit of peace and quiet.  Each is more than happy to unburden themselves at great length to anyone who will – or won’t – listen.

After a short interval, our second play is In Need of Care by David E Rowley.  This poignant and thought-provoking drama tells the story of Shirley and Rita, two girls who have run away from school and spent the night hiding on a farm, in a barn.  Early next morning they are discovered by the farmer’s son and his friend, but will the boys help them or turn them in?

Then there will be an interval, featuring the customary BaCStage raffle.

We complete our program with Night at the (Brick) Museum, a boisterous comedy by Wendy Rolph.  Four siblings are home for the school holidays and looking forward to lashings of ginger beer, Mrs Grimm’s splendid cakes and spiffing adventures all round.  They get far more adventure than they bargained for thanks to a suspicious tutor, a mysterious spy and a local who is not quite what he seems.  The future of civilization as we know it is at stake and only Lucky the Labrador can save the day!  (we’d like to point out that all children and dogs in this play are in fact played by adults).

Tickets are on sale now at Bluntisham Service Station.  We’d love to see you there!

BaCStage, Bluntisham, comedy, drama, Entertainment, Play, Shows, Theatre

One week to go!

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There’s just a week until opening night – tickets on sale now!

“Oh my Lola! All I do is for you! I adore you!”

“Woof!”

“…don’t mention blue serge gym knickers – ugh!”

“When I go to work I’m going to get a car. I could take my mum out shopping and things”

“Who wants to take their mum out? A motor-bike is better. A motor-bike is smashing for taking birds out on”

Three Plays 15 - Poster A4
“There’s a leg…” “A leg?” “A human leg – sticking out of the straw”

“Pity really. I never could resist a man who uses binder twine on his trousers”

“I mean, we’ve all got troubles no doubt – but we all don’t sit on a bench and bore some poor innocent stranger to death”

“He’s talking again – to me! If he does it any more I’ll call the police…”

“Might as well talk to yourself!”