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The Week Ahead

Teresa Jennings appears in an open rehearsal of Ryan Flatley’s Seven Letters on Saturday 1st April at 3.30 pm: St James Parish Centre Weybridge. Tickets £10 (cash) on the door.

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Gavin Fleming’s latest play, The Barnes Slasher, has its premiere at the OSO from 28th March to 2nd April. AWLie discount available: ask Gavin or Paddy.

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Avena Mansergh-Wallace appears in the Apter Art production of The Only White by Gail Louw, directed by Anthony Shrubsall: Chelsea Theatre, 4th - 22nd April.

Does one life matter in the struggle against Apartheid?

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Nadia Ostacchini writes:

“The Jack Clemo Poetry Competition is now accepting entries on the theme of: Being Born In A Different Time and Background. You can channel your time travelling fantasies and harken back to times past, or go Back To The Future, to an era as yet only imagined in Science Fiction or the Movies. Closing date for submissions: 31st March. First prize £500. Entry fee £10 per poem.”

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Alexander Jonas plays Spike Milligan in Episode 5 of Funny Woman on Sky Max and NOW, starring Gemma Arterton and Rupert Everett. Series launches 9th February.

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Stefan Chanyaem is playing a Witch, Banquo and Macduff in an inventive retelling of Macbeth by Imitating the Dog, with live action fused with innovative video technology. It tours the North of England and Switzerland from February to May, opening at Cast Theatre, Doncaster 21-22 February and reaching as far South as Mercury Theatre, Colchester 18-20 April

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Stephanie Connell is understudying Sylvia, played by Diane Keen, in the National Theatre, Theatr Clwyd and Bill Kenwright production of Laura Wade’s Home, I’m Darling nationwide tour, 23rd January to 15th May.

Directed by RSC co-artistic director designate Tamara Harvey, and Hannah Noone. The cast include Jessica Ransom, Neil McDermott, Matthew Douglas, Cassie Bradley and Shanez Pattni.

See website for full details.

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Teresa Jennings plays Mary Rooney in a national tour of The Verdict until July 2023: eighteen main stages in England, Wales and Ireland.

“The Powerful Bestselling Courtroom Thriller that inspired a multi Academy Award-Nominated film”.

The nearest venue for AWLies is Churchill Theatre, Bromley: 13th to 17th June.

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Further Events in the Month Ahead

Mansel David reprises his role as Barry/Venetia in The Q, by Gavin Fleming, at the King’s Head, Islington: 10th to 16th April.

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Joseph Creaser appears in Interwoven’s TIE production of Kindness: A Legacy of the Holocaust at JW3 on Tuesday 18th April, then touring until 26th May.

Kindness is a play based on the testimony of Hungarian survivor Susan Pollack, aged only 13 when she was sent to the notorious Auschwitz-Birkenau in the summer of 1944.

“beautiful and empowering”, “extraordinary”, “breathtaking”

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Mansel David writes:

“I am reviving my Solo Performance Take Desire Away, adapted from the Poems and Letters of A.E. Housman: 7.30pm on 26th & 27th April 2023 at the OSO Barnes.”

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Future Plans

Paddy Gormley’s book, Language with Altitude, is to be published by Troubador on 28th April 2023.

The book launch will take place at 6.30pm on Tuesday 2nd May in the library at Southwark Cathedral, to include readings by AWLies Carolyn Pertwee, Sophie Morris-Sheppard, Michael Duran & Maurice Thorogood.

Places are limited by the size of the venue, so early booking is advisable.

Language with Altitude is a practical guide to reason, rhetoric, rhythm and rhyme, enabling you to channel the primeval power of language and write richly evocative words that capture readers’ attention, stir imagination and raise spirits. Language with altitude is not just for playwrights. It’s for everyone who needs to deliver engaging and compelling text: politicians, poets, presenters, performers, persuaders, professors, prose writers, philanderers, philosophers, philanthropists, prelates, priests … people in every walk of life.

Whether you’re a practised professional or a beginner writer, Language with Altitude will transport you to new heights of creative and analytical writing.

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Rare Fortune Productions presents the premiere of Nicolas Ridley’s play From This Day Forward, directed by Maurice Thorogood, at the OSO, Barnes, from 19th to 23rd July.

Set in an alternate reality, 3 couples meet in a state-run facility and have just a few hours to make a life-changing decision. But can happiness really be mandated by the government? And how can laws and regulations make sense of the chaos of love and attraction? As the night gives way to morning, they are forced to decide. Both fantastical but all too believable, From This Day Forward explores the nature of the married state and the rules that govern it. Will you guess which marriage survives?

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David Hampshire’s Funny Turns, first read at AWL and having already had two sold-out London productions, transfers to Grove Theatre, Eastbourne from 7th to 12th November. The play is directed by Maurice Thorogood. Cast includes David Forest, Mansel David, Crissy Mullen & David Hampshire.

Set in a theatrical boarding house in 1935. Struggling comedian Norman Tate passes his time rehearsing his average act with Sally, the daughter of his landlady Alice. When Norman’s ex-wife Nellie Price moves into his lodgings it sets in motion a chain of events which changes Norman’s life forever. A tale of humour, heartbreak and eventual redemption which demonstrates that life is indeed full of Funny Turns.

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Services

Viv Lake has done quite a bit of research into theatrical and family history and accumulated a lot of information which might prove useful to other AWL members who have been looking into family or theatrical history.

She has lists of information such as stage names and aliases, biogs, obituaries, where they are buried, census returns which mention performers, old theatrical companies and theatres, actor-managers, and photocopies or pdfs of very old playbills, as well as text from theatrical journals and newspapers, most of which are from the Georgian and Victorian eras, and earlier, in Great Britain and America.

If you’re interested in Viv doing just a basic search for free through her files, please speak to her at an AWL meeting, or email her via her AWL page.

Stephanie Connell is an award winning web designer who has been creating websites for the past seven years. Each website is handmade and specific to the client’s requirements and is therefore unique. She will guide you through the process and provide design and practical suggestions where necessary. She offers aftercare service which she feels is just as important as the creative process. A discount to AWL Members only.

AWL Members who have had their websites created recently: Carolyn Pertwee, David Hampshire, Julia Haythorn and Hedley England

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