In this issue:

From the President

And That’s A Wrap! – Gaslight

End of Year Showcase – Long Story Short

Our Next Play – The White Sheep of the Family

Upcoming Audition - The Spook

Vale – Liam Madden

Casting Call – Sound and Lights Operators and Designers

Artists Away

Reviews – Gaslight

“To enter a theatre for a performance is to be inducted into a magical space, to be ushered into the sacred arena of the imagination.”

— Simon Callow

From the President

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all members and past members! Welcome to this 2024 issue of Noises Off.

I am again delighted to report that the upward trend in our Pymble Players (PP) audiences continued throughout 2023. Our first play Rapture attracted 87% audience capacity, then Things I Know To Be True 91%, Table Manners 99%, and finally 100% with waiting list for our final play Gaslight. The year concluded with a sell-out of our showcase special event Long Story Short. Reviews of the superb Gaslight and our Long Story Short collaboration with Space Jump Theatre are featured later in this newsletter.

Some PP History

In the early 1970’s PP was using a community hall on Pacific Highway, Pymble as a theatre. This was limited to weekend use only which meant setting up Friday evening and striking the set Sunday evening. Due mainly to the efforts of Stanley and Barbara Coupe an arrangement was reached whereby in 1974 Pymble Players was licensed to use the Pymble Methodist Church (now Uniting Church) hall, which was no longer used for Sunday school. Stanley has since passed away and Barbara is our longest standing Life Member.

The hall was refitted to include new stage, dressing room, raked seating and bio box. It has been used for PP productions continually since 1974, so this is the 50th year in our beloved intimate theatre. Worthy of a celebration? Watch this space!

Season 2024

2024 marks 67 years of PP and we are proud and excited to embark on our latest season of fun, interesting, thought provoking and entertaining theatre. Each 2024 play brings to life a rich diversity of personalities and situations. Please click on the link here for more information.

Our first play is The White Sheep of the Family directed by Margaret Olive. This fun family romp about a family of well-to-do ne’er-do-wells opens on 21 February. See you there!

Best wishes to all.

Warren Blood
President

AND THAT’S A WRAP! – GASLIGHT

By Arrangement with ORIGIN™ Theatrical on behalf of Samuel French – A Concord Theatricals Company

1 November – 26 November 2023
Written by: Patrick Hamilton
Directed by: Joy Sweeney

Gaslight finally wrapped up at the end of November, and what a great sold-out season we had!

I was blessed with a wonderful team on stage. A small cast who worked beautifully together with terrific camaraderie and support. They were asked to take this play into a very different place and their eagerness to re-think traditional concepts plus their own creative energies made a special production.

The amazing support from the Pymble Players Committee must be mentioned. Nothing was too much trouble. The brilliant and innovative team of Geoff Jones and Casey Moon-Watton, on sound and lighting (both exceptional risk takers) took a 1938 classic and transformed it into a piece for our times.

Although we had a very much pared-back set, thanks go to Rob and Leah White, Ross Alexander, Ian Ackland, Wendy Walker, and the others who gave so much of their time.

All in all, it was a most satisfying production in which to be involved as well as receiving very positive feedback from the audiences.

Joy Sweeney, Director

Long Story Short wrapped up 2023 for Pymble Players with something a little different that was an outstanding success! Produced in collaboration with Space Jump Theatre Company, Long Story Short featured eight short plays directed by Brendon Dart, Louise Deibe, Diane Howden, Tracey Okeby Lucan, Kirsty Semaan, Leah White, and Rob White with a total of 18 actors in four performances from 1-3 December 2023.  

This special project had full houses for each performance and brought new actors, directors, and audience members to Pymble Players – 40% of tickets were purchased by audience who had never been to a PP production and three actors from Long Story Short, new to PP, are in the cast of The White Sheep of the Family. A win-win!

Trish Johnson, Space Jump Theatre Company says “It was fabulous working with you (Pymble Players) and the knowledge, experience and friendships made are invaluable. Your generosity of spirit, willingness to share PP facilities and resources, and importantly your belief in Long Story Short from the start will be something to remember and treasure forever. Thank you.”

An Amateur Production By Arrangement with ORiGiN™ Theatrical on behalf of Samuel French - A Concord Theatricals Company

21 February – 16 March 2024
Written by: L. du Garde Peach & Ian Hay
Directed by: Margaret Olive

The Winters are a reputable, well-to-do household, proudly sustaining a generations-old tradition – of thievery. All are quite contentedly living the larcenous good life. Then, a crisis of scandalous proportions crashes in on their existence. Peter, the brilliant young forger, and son of the clan, decides to go straight!

Will the white sheep of the family continue “his lapse into virtue”? Or can he be brought back into the fold?

General bookings open from 17 January 2024

Diary Date: Final Dress Rehearsal
8pm, Monday 19 February 2024

Pymble Players extends an invitation to all financial and Life members to come to the Final Dress Rehearsal of The White Sheep of the Family at 8pm on Monday 19 February 2024.

UPCOMING AUDITION – THE SPOOK

Season: 15 May to 9 June 2024

Tickets Available From: 10 April 2024

Written by: Melissa Reeves
By Arrangement with the Licensor Melissa Reeves.

Directed by: Casey Moon-Watton

Closed Auditions by appointment ONLY, will be held on Monday 12 and Tuesday 13 February. Call backs (if required) Thursday 15 February.

7 actors (3 females and 4 males) with stage ages from late teens to 50s. A great opportunity for actors in this enlightening and at times comedic Australian story. There are 15 characters so some doubling will be required.

Remember, auditions are by appointment only and so registration is essential.

Click below to Download the Audition Pack for full information.

Former actor with Pymble Players, Liam Madden, tragically died in Uganda just before Christmas 2023. Those who knew him will remember him fondly. Here is a tribute compiled by Jan McLachlan, Angus Templeton, and Geoff Jones:

Jan McLachlan says: “Liam was interested in ‘the stage’ and thought about acting as a career. As his family home is close by Pymble Players theatre, he dropped in to find out what happens there. Being a gorgeous young man and talented too, he was soon cast by Vicki Nield, as Christopher Wren, in the first Sydney amateur production of Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap.

Liam performed in two pantomimes, The Little Prince and Scruffy Ruffkin’s Christmas Tale where he is remembered for his very Large Elfin Ears.”

Liam was also in Much Ado About Nothing in 2014. Set in postwar Australia, Liam played a soldier and is most fondly remembered by director, Angus Templeton.

Angus Templeton says: “Liam was an absolute dream to work with. He brought a youthful energy and commitment to the rehearsal process. Of particular note, he came up to me just before one of the final rehearsals and earnestly asked whether it was too awkward that he (six foot five) was so much taller than his love interest (five foot nothing). I told him that the scenes worked perfectly because he had been so unaware of it and instructed him to forget that he had ever noticed. He was a lovely young man, and I was terribly sad to hear that he’s no longer with us.”

Geoff Jones says: “I worked on Much Ado About Nothing as well and recall Liam’s dedication and maturity. He was committed and determined to give his best. Which he did.

He was keen to sing a harmony to a melody I suggested, with another actor (whose name I can’t recall…sorry). This was always a highlight for me in performance because they both carried it off in such a heartfelt way. Technically and emotionally right!

I always wished for other opportunities to work with Liam, having enjoyed his progress and development as an actor.”

Canberra University and his grandmother became his focus so he left Sydney, and whilst not with any regularity, he would attend PP whenever he could.

Iwona Abramowicz and Wendy Knight are in Elanora Players’ production of Killing Kate: Confessions of a Book Club

https://elanoraplayers.com.au/

Season 12 – 20 January 2024

Mitchell Doran is in The Pavilion Theatre Castle Hills’ production of An Inspector Calls

https://paviliontheatre.org.au/aninspectorcalls/

Season 2 – 24 February 2024

Wayne Chee is lighting Designer for Hunters Hill Theatre’s production of Boeing Boeing

https://www.huntershilltheatre.com.au/whats-on.html

Season 8 – 24 March 2024

Daniel Ferris is in The Pavilion Theatre Castle Hills’ production of Caravan

https://paviliontheatre.org.au/caravan/

Season 5 – 27 April 2024

Gaslight - Playwright Patrick Hamilton would be very pleased with this rendition of his thriller.

Published 7 November 2023 by Stage Whispers

I have now seen and reviewed several performances by the Pymble Players and I am usually always impressed by the attention to detail with regards to the set decoration. This play, however, is entirely different with a noticeably minimal and dark set used to great affect by director Joy Sweeney.  The stark surroundings serve to amplify the lonely and loveless existence of the leading lady and also mirror the dreadful intentions of the monstrous leading man. 

With moody lighting, eerie fog and unnerving music to reinforce the tension, this small cast of five does a brilliant job of building and maintaining suspense throughout.  As the Director, Set Designer and Wardrobe aficionado Sweeney has ticked all the boxes and created something special.  She deserves more than one nip of Rough’s whisky. Congratulations to all involved.

Gaslight will flicker with the Pymble Players until the 26th November. 

4.5 nips of whisky out of 5.

Gaslight - A Victorian Domestic Noir

Published 5 November 2023 by DARK STORIES

Patrick Hamilton’s play Gaslight is a classic domestic noir, performed with careful consideration by the Pymble Players. The English novelist and playwright wrote Gaslight in 1938. After its popularity with the resulting plays and the 1944 Hollywood film, ‘To Gaslight’ became synonymous with the meaning of someone psychologically manipulating another for their advantage, to make them doubt their memory, perception of reality and their own sanity.

Gaslight, directed by Joy Sweeney, is set in Victorian England. It revolves around the Manninghams – Jack and Bella. From the first introduction to these characters, we see an upper-class, seemingly happy couple. They are in the drawing room, where we subtly recognise wealth in the Manningham’s furniture and locked fold-up wooden writing cabinet. This is where tea is served in dainty teacups by the servants, a place where they can engage in relaxing conversation. However, things do not remain relaxing for long.

Jack, portrayed by Nick Roberts … flip-of-a switch was played with such credibility that it took the audience by surprise…

Amelia Conway’s fragile portrayal of Bella is outstanding...

Georgia’s Drewe’s Nancy is bold, teetering on defiance towards her mistress…

Kate Kelly’s Elizabeth is a strong, motherly and caring woman…

Retired Detective Rough, portrayed with finesse by David Kirkham…

Sound design by Geoff Jones kept the audience’s attention and ratcheted up the uneasy atmosphere throughout the play.

Gaslight highlights the domestic abuse darkness that lives behind closed doors, and though set in London in the 1880s, it remains as relevant and prevalent in modern society today.

Gaslight - Suspenseful, hypnotic, and heartbreakingly beautiful

Published 5 November 2023 by The Fourth Wall

Patrick Hamilton's extraordinary, timeless, and mind-bending tale of the depths of human nature has been brought to life with fearless direction and innovative vision by director Joy Sweeney at the Pymble Players Theatre.

We have the choice to enter this story with conflicting mindsets. On one hand, "Gaslight" is a classic Victorian drawing room thriller, asking us to piece together the puzzle: strange noises above, missing picture frames, mysterious dimming lights, and an unsolved murder. On the other, it delves into the harrowing truth of how psychological abuse is performed behind closed doors with noxious intent by those who claim to love us the most. Sweeney adeptly melds both. There is a reason this story still resonates today. The audience can't help but be moved.

This slickly directed, executed, and highly entertaining production has refreshingly broken many theatrical boundaries and brought this tight-knit company to the forefront of what great community theatre can offer.

4 and-a-half flickering flames out of 5