With a new novel to write by the end of March (the third in my Cotswold Curiosity Shop cosy mystery series), why have I found myself promising my local village drama group a brand new play by the beginning of March? I may be good at multitasking, but this is quite a commitment, even for me…
Firstly, flattery gets you everywhere. When the Hawkesbury Drama Group asked me to write them a murder mystery event, I felt honoured – especially when they told me that it shouldn’t be based on one of my mystery novels, as lots of their target audience will already have read them. Their further request to write two different endings, so that they could run the show on consecutive nights, proved an irresistible challenge.
Secondly, I have a great deal of respect for Hawkesbury Drama Group. They’ve been putting on highly entertaining plays and pantomimes for years, to packed houses of all ages. With tickets for professional productions so expensive these days, and with the nearest theatre fifteen miles away, Hawkesbury Drama Group brings the joy of live theatre to our doorstep at affordable admission prices. For many villagers, including those who don’t have access to their own transport, its productions are the only live shows they’ll see all year.
Hawkesbury Drama Group also runs drama workshops for adults and children. These have given many young people, my daughter included, the enthusiasm, experience and confidence, to go on to join productions both in the village and further afield.
Although I’ve never taken part in one of their shows, I enjoy doing “front of house” duties for most of their productions. In the picture above, I was chuffed to discover their hardworking production crew had created an actual box office. They also have great after-show parties for cast and crew!
In addition, the request taps into a love of theatre that goes back to my childhood – particularly amateur dramatics. In this I was encouraged by my mother, a talented amateur actress.
- One of my favourite books when I was a child was The Swish of the Curtain by Pamela Brown when she was a teenager, about a group of children who set up their own theatre company.
- I always loved taking part in school productions. I enjoyed being the Town Crier in the “Beavers in Blunderland” pantomime written for my secondary school in Chislehurst, Kent, then named Beaverwood School because it was in Beaverwood Road, and since renamed Chislehurst School for Girls. (Fun fact: in those days, the school houses had saints’ names, and I was in St Bride’s – to which I paid fond tribute by naming after it the school in my Gemma Lamb Cosy Mystery series.)
- On Saturday mornings, I was lucky to attend a children’s drama club at Rose Bruford College, which happened to be at the end of my road, Burnt Oak Lane, in Sidcup, in a beautiful park called The Glade. The club was run by drama students (often nursing hangovers from the previous Friday night). Whenever I go to see a professional play these days, I always check the actors’ bios to see whether any of them trained at Rose Bruford, and there’s always at least one. The college’s list of alumni is impressive, including Tom Baker, Matthew Baynton, and Gary Oldman.
- When my family moved to Germany aged 14, at Frankfurt International School I had great fun taking part in two school musical productions, Annie Get Your Gun and Guys and Dolls.
- After leaving university, I joined various amateur dramatic and amateur operatic groups. I played Charlotte Lucas in Pride and Prejudice in Tring. I was part of the chorus for several Gilbert and Sullivan productions in Tring and Winterbourne, including Princess Ida, Trial by Jury, HMS Pinafore, and Ruddigore.
I’ve been to many live productions over the years, both amateur and professional.
- For my tenth birthday, instead of a party, my parents took me and my friends to see Alice in Wonderland at Eltham Little Theatre (now the Bob Hope Theatre – the famous comedian was born and raised in Eltham). I was especially thrilled when the Knave of Hearts, roaming around the audience with a plate of stolen jam tarts, stopped to give me one. For a moment I was convinced he knew it was my birthday.
- On holiday in Southwold when I was about 11, my family went to the local amateur production of Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit, and I loved it so much I went back to see it again on my own the next night.
- At university in York, I witnessed a particularly memorable open-air production of Shakespeare’s The Tempest in the gardens of the medieval Merchant Venturer’s Hall. By an amazing coincidence, a genuine thunderstorm blew up at exactly the right point in the play. What are the chances?!
- I recently enjoyed a hilarious and highly musical murder mystery night, Murder at the Opera, by Cardiff Cotswold Opera, in St George’s Church, Nailsworth, featuring songs from high opera to Broadway musical.
- Next week, for my gazillionth birthday, my chosen treat is to see Rain or Shine Theatre Company‘s touring comedy Murder Most Wilde, very loosely based, they say, on Oscar Wilde‘s short story, Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime.
Where I live now, we’re lucky to be on the circuit of several touring theatrical companies. We’ve seen many open-air productions of Shakespeare and Restoration Comedy in stunning settings from the medieval courtyard of The New Inn in Gloucester, contemporaneous to Shakespeare himself, to the futuristic Swinhay House near North Nibley.
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Will my lifelong love of theatre equip me to write a convincing murder mystery play, in which the audience are invited to play detective? I’m going to have fun finding out!
Rehearsals for my new play start early February, with performances planned for 25th-26th April. If you’d like to attend, follow Hawkesbury Drama Group on Facebook here to find out when tickets go on sale.
IN OTHER NEWS
I’m also about to start reading Anna Britton’s debut novel, Shot in the Dark, to prepare for our “Afternoon In Conversation” event at Thornbury Library, Gloucestershire, on Saturday 22nd February. Tickets are now on sale here, at just £5 per head, to include refreshments. Please book in advance to help the wonderful library staff rustle up enough refreshments to go around!
