For those of you who are fans of the iconic, ABC TV multi series, “Mother and Son” here is your chance to see the fabu-lous Henri Szeps live at our own theatre.
In conjunction with The En-semble Theatre, NTC is proud to bring Henri Szeps to our theatre for his one man play “Wish I’d Said That”.
All the world’s a stage, but not everyone is a star. Joe Bleak-ley (Henri Szeps) is an actor who, despite being forced by his daughter into the Fog-gadieu Retirement Village, can’t quite retire. Determined to continue performing he has devised a show wherein he will get to deliver the greatest speeches of all the parts he hasn’t played.
Join Joe in his apartment as he
November 2010 Pre Summer Edition
Repartee
Special points of interest:
Book early for
“Wish I’d Said
That” 6th Nov.
Next NTC pro-
duction opens
Friday 26th No-
vember
Inside this issue:
Review
Sisters In Law by Emma Wood
2
2011 Season Launch
Christmas Club Night 2
Farewell Party to Old
theatre 3
Wrong Turn At Lungfish
New Theatre News 3
Short + Sweet
Workshop for actors 4
November Birthdays
Night Out
4
prepares for his world pre-miere performance at the retirement village’s monthly concert with excerpts from Shakespeare, Death of
A Salesman, Long Day’s Jour-ney Into Night, The Prisoner of Second Avenue and many more.
But behind the quotes, anec-dotes and jokes we learn of a father whose difficult rela-tionship with his daughter is a source of great pain. Writ-ten and performed by the Ensemble’s own Henri Szeps, this is an honest and insight-ful look at an actor’s life and a father’s regret.
For one day only, 2 perform-ances 2pm and 8pm Satur-day 6 November at NTC, book your seats Adults $40 Concession $30.
“ The
world
hates
change,
yet it is
the only
thing that
has
brought
progress ”
Henri Szeps at NTC
Henri Szeps in ―Wish I’d Said That‖
Review by Emma Wood—Sisters In Law
“ You
must be
the
change
you wish
to see in
the
world”
Page 2
Repartee
The outstanding box
office sales of Sisters in Law
have spoken loud and clear
over the last few weeks. The
planned shows have been so
overflowing with enthusiastic
patrons that an extra show
was scheduled to accommo-
date more enthusiastic view-
ers. So what is it about this
show that has resonated so
strongly with audiences?
Neither the play nor
the author are particularly
well known, neither were
many of the relationships rec-
ognisable templates that we
are used to, so the answer I
think lies in some of the terri-
fic qualities of the production
itself.
The play is a curious
mix of naturalism and artificial
theatrical devices such as cho-
rus elements and frequent
soliloquy's. I personally found
this to be a little bit jarring,
and yet the transitions be-
tween the very different
stages were artfully achieved
through lighting design, but
most importantly, the seam-
less transitions of the actors
from one style to another.
The actors were required at
different times to observe the
mythical fourth wall, then
drop it completely in order to
confide with intimacy and of-
ten great sorrow to the
audience, and then segue into
song and even dance routines
– the Bingo routine was par-
ticularly amusing and well exe-
cuted.
Janet Nelson clearly
brought her immense experi-
ence in directing to bear in this
show. She united a large num-
ber of actors of many different
ages and levels of experience
to uniformly bring to the stage
colourful, energetic and totally
committed performances.
I thought the uniform
ability of the cast to present a
very difficult accent and speech
pattern of working class
French Canada an astonishing
achievement. Even fairly com-
monly known accents such as
upper class English can be
brought to the stage with
mixed results by many casts,
but the work that had gone
into this French Canadian ac-
cent, tone and harsh manner of
delivery was outstanding. It
was a real shock to be seated
in the audience with such unfa-
miliar sounds at first – but the
consistency and commitment
of the actors made it work.
Compliments also
must go to the set designer
Robyn Greenwell who used
the small space creatively not
only to comfortably house fif-
teen actors, but also succeeded
in blending elements of reality
with representational touches
such as the zig zagging lines of
clothes hanging above the
heads of the audience to give
us a sense of a cramped but
colourful neighbourhood.
I thoroughly enjoyed
this show, and compliment all
who were involved in their
energetic and memorable inter-
pretation of a bold and unusual
play.
Friday 5th November
is our Season Launch for 2011.
This year as a special guest
we’ll have the pleasure of
Henri Szeps company. Be sure
to book with Viv to attend the
evening 6:30pm—8pm .
Christmas Club Night
this year, Wednesday 15th
December at 7pm, will be a
replica of 2009 with a Christ-
mas dinner evening at 2 Blend
Restaurant in Elders Street
Lambton.
You will need to book
and pre pay for the evening
with Viv at the theatre before
3rd Dec There are limited
spaces (50) so book early, cost
is $35 per person for a 2
course dinner and drinks may
be purchased at the restaurant.
Xmas Club Night
2011 Launch
“ Acting is
all about
honesty. If
you can
fake that,
you've got
it made.”
Page 3
Pre Summer Edition
New Theatre The good news is that we now
have a brand new electricity line run into
de Vitre Street for our extra power
needs. Providing the hook up goes to plan
we’ll be able to use the foyer for NTC’s
2011 Launch on 5th November. A big
thank you to the working bee-ers who
lent a hand with moving gear, Alan
Gordon, David Ebert, Michael Fiddian, Ray
Bell, Adelle Richards, Lee Loudon, Horst
Mohr, Gerald Lawson, Noel Grivas, Stew-
art McGowan, Howard Rawlinson & Bob
Wiles.
The tiered seating is well under-
way, the toilets are operating (the girls
from ―Sisters‖ are most grateful) and the
new landing and stair rail are in. We are
well on target for the 16th March opening
next year.
George Burns
There is going to be a big send off
party for the old theatre, and we want all
the NTC members & partners and those
who have been a part of our long history
to be there. It will be on the last night of
our last production at NTC ―Wrong
Turn at Lungfish‖ on Saturday 11th De-
cember. We encourage you to purchase
your ticket to see the play on this last
night and we’ll follow it with the farewell
bash at the theatre and possibly put Kam-
brook to bed as well!! Bring along some-
thing to drink and NTC will supply the
party food.
Please encourage your friends
and family to come to the show earlier in
the season rather than on this particular
night .
Send off and Party for the Old Theatre
Want to be part of history? Then
make sure you get along to NTC's final
production, Wrong Turn at Lungfish, in the
current theatre.
Wrong Turn at Lungfish is from the
creative minds of Garry Marshall (Laverne
& Shirley, The Odd Couple) and Lowell Ganz
(City Slickers, Splash). It is a play that is
funny, sad and thought-provoking.
Occupying a hospital room is Pe-
ter Ravenswaal, gruff and cynical. Other
than being blind you'd never guess he was
ill. His young nurse will probably be a good
nurse one day.
Anita Merendino comes to read to
Peter, supposedly to cheer him up. Her
boyfriend is Dominic, funny and charming
one minute and mean the next.
Wrong Turn at Lungfish directed by
Isobel Denholm, features Lindsay Carr,
Alison Cox, Phil McGrath and Amy Ed-
wards and plays Nov 26 - Dec 11.
Last Play in old theatre
Repartee submissions Please email to the Editor:
November Birthday Babies
90 de Vitre Street
Lambton NSW 2299
Phone 4952 4958
Fax 4952 4958
Newcastle Theatre Company
Happy November birthday to the follow-
ing members, Leonie Anderson-Smith,
Clifford Danglasan-March, Suellen Hall,
James Hall, Greg Hall, Craig Hallinan,
Jen Masson, Anika Means, Robyn Green-
well, Adelle Richards, Emma Wood, and
Diane Williams.
Committee Meetings 1st Monday of each month be-tween 7:30-9:30pm in the theatre foyer. All welcome .
Treat yourself to a great night out with a dinner and theatre deal. A superb 2
course dinner at our sponsor The Mark Hotel followed by exciting theatre,
―Wrong Turn at Lungfish‖, $50 pp, bookings & payment a week in advance.
Short + Sweet
NTC member Debra Help is directing one of the plays for Short+Sweet .
The season of 10 Plays is at the Civic Playhouse Nov 10th—13th ,7:30pm.
For further information visit the website :www.newcastle.nsw.gov.au/
news__and__events/cultural_development/short__sweet
“Humor is the
affectionate
communication
of insight”
7:30pm Monday Dec. 13th
Tutor Janet Nelson. A
physical workshop on Laban
Technique as taught by Ru-
dolph Laban & Jean Newlove.
Laban is to move-
ment, what Stanislavski is to
acting; he, Laban, devised the
first wholly successful system
for recording human move-
ment, a system which is in-
creasingly influential in the
training of actors to aid charac-
ter transformation.
Jean Newlove was La-
ban’s first assistant when he
came to England and she subse-
quently became movement
specialist to Joan Littlewood’s
Theatre Workshop and has
trained several generations of
performers.
Janet Nelson worked
with Jean Newlove as an ac-
tress for over three years and
uses the technique in the train-
ing of actors to develop spatial
awareness and the production
of a definitive expressive move-
ment quality for the character,
as demanded by the playwright.
NTC members confirm
your participation by booking
with Viv at the theatre by De-
cember 6th.
Actor’s Workshop
Night Out
with
2 Perform
ances only
90 de Vitre Street Lambton
Bookings 4952 4958
Adults $40 Concession $30
Saturday 6th November 2pm & 8pm
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