PROMPT CORNER 2003 SEASON
THIS year we are in the fantastic position of having been flooded with submissions 19 have been received. This has enabled us to fill the whole of the Prompt Corner season, and to work with the Theatre Committee to create what we hope is a balanced season offering a broad choice of plays for actors, backstage crew and audience alike.
Specifically to Prompt Corner, we have tried to ensure that we continue to promote new directors (both new to directing and new to SLT), as well as encouraging more established directors. To this end we are delighted to announce the inclusion of Copenhagen by Michael Frayn in February (see audition notices in this issue of scene and the SLT website for further information), which will give SLT the honour of being the first Amateur group to perform this piece.
Building on the success last year of Hamlet, this year the Youth Group will be getting to grips with another classic, The Importance of Being Earnest. We have enjoyed similarly successful plays written by members of the SLT over the last year or so (Milgrims Shroud, The Custard Cavalier) and with the creation of the Writers Circle, we felt it important to create a slot specifically to showcase and encourage new writing from within the SLT. September therefore offers the first New Writing slot, which will hopefully become, like the New Directors slot in the Bell Theatre, a regular and successful addition to the SLT calendar.
Finally we must extend our thanks to last year's Prompt Corner Administrator, Jack King, whos commitment, dedication and approach to Prompt Corner has not only ensured a great year in Prompt this year, but built the foundations for what should prove to be a very successful and vibrant future for Prompt Corner.
The season as a whole is as follows:
January
Dark
February
Copenhagen by Michael Frayn, director Anton Krause
Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg, working together like father and son, revolutionised atomic physics in the 1920s with their work on quantum mechanics and the uncertainty principle. When the Nazis came along, they found themselves on opposite sides in a World War, and in the midst of this conflict Heisenberg made a perilous trip to Copenhagen to visit his old friend and colleague. Why did he make the visit? In this fascinating piece of theatre we get the chance to hear our protagonists debate these issues in a fictitious meeting years after their deaths Joined by Margrethe, Bohr's wife, they play out all of the possibilities and try to work out, just as they worked out the functioning of the atom, how we can ever know why we do what we do.
March
Burst by C B Tempest, director Steve Ellis
Why should three young intelligent people descend into neo............Nazism?
Why did three graduates learn how to use guns?
Why fly to America to discover the heart of darkness?
Why?
April
The Youth Group presentThe Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, director Peter Fortune/Liam Campbell
Wilde's classic comedy of English manners employs all manner of improbable coincidence to satirise the ruling class that was soon to destroy him. It remains, however, a comic romance of unique theatricality re-imagined and invented by our very own Youth Group.
May
Oleanna by David Mamet, director James Newall
Mamet's master-craftsmanship is never more in evidence than in this absorbing play. The seemingly staid, mundane setting of an all-American college campus provides a perfect contrast for the confrontation that is about to explode between the play's only two characters; a male college lecturer and a female student- Dealing head-on with issues like sexual politics, gender warfare and even the socioeconomic divide, the central theme remains about power. Is she a frustrated female liberationist with extremely narrow ideas of where the bounds of propriety lie? Or is he an over.confident, patronising sexist dinosaur? The play challenges the perceptions of the audience, and very much leaves it to them to decide.
June
Carpe Jugulum by Stephen Briggs, director Nick Anderson
A fantastical romp, based on the novel of the same name by Terry Pratchett, concerning modern day forward.thinking vampires who are no longer afraid of holy water, garlic, religious symbols, or indeed anything else. Out of the casket and wanting a bite of the future, the vampires cast their shadow over the small mountain town of Lancre, where its up to the formidable Coven of Witches to come flying to the rescue
July
Catch 22 by John Heller, director Peter March (and James Sparling)
Adapted from the novel, first published in 1961, one of the great comic masterpieces of 20th century fiction comes to Prompt Corner. At the heart of this black comedy, is a satirical indictment of military madness and stupidity, and the desire of the ordinary man to survive it. It is the tale of the dangerously sane Captain Yossarian, who spends his time in Italy plotting to survive.
September
New Writing. director Bob Callender
The New Writing slot aims to promote and encourage new material from within the SLT. At this stage no play has been finalised, but an announcement will be made early in 2003.
October
Dance of Death by August Strindberg, director Jay Michaels
Strindbergs black comedy deals with the timeless themes of dreams, disappointment, fear of change and ultimately death. On a remote Swedish island fortress, Edgar, captain of the artillery, and Alice a former actress, are approaching their silver wedding anniversary 25 years of marital misery and mind........games are coming to a head. Alices cousin Kurt pays a visit and has the misfortune of getting caught in the middle, as over the following days both Edgar and Alice try to manipulate him to take sides. Will either of them deserve any of Kurts pity? Is this the end of Edgar and Alices marriage, or will only death prise them apart?
November
Not About Heroes by Stephen MacDonald, director Kat Boyce
In the middle of the First World War two very different soldiers were sent to a military psychological hospital to receive treatment for the trauma they had undergone. One, a war hero and aristocrat, had turned against the war and was publicly embarrassing the government by denouncing it. The other, a private deeply traumatised by his horrific experiences, was looking desperately for a hero who was not immune to the horror and pity of war. They were Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen, and this deeply moving two-hander dramatises the real events that resulted in some of the most breathtaking poetry ever written.
December
Stevie by Hugh Whitemore, director Elaine Heath
This beautifully written play charts the career and tragicomic life of the poetess, author and illustrator Stevie Smith. Using a rich blend of
naturalistic dialogue, reminiscences, comments and Stevie's own inimitable verse, it covers a period from the early 1900's through to Stevies death
from a brain tumor in 1971. The title role offers a tour de force for the right actress, and was originally played both onstage and on film by Glenda
Jackson.
Our thanks again to everyone who submitted, and apologies to those whose projects we were unable to include in the season.
Prompt Corner Administration, Will Howard, James Sparling
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