Issue 4 2024
Image credits:
Daniel Ferris
Leah White
Cassandra Gorman
Madeleine Dart
Contact us:
Our mailing address
Pymble Players Inc.
PO Box 203, St Ives 2075
E: theatre@pymbleplayers.com.au
W: pymbleplayers.com.au
F: facebook.com/PymblePlayers
“The word theatre comes from the Greeks. It means the seeing place. It is the place people come to see the truth about life and the social situation.”
— Stella Adler
From the President
Hello again to all PP members and past members – welcome to Issue 4 of Noises Off for 2024.
Since March, we have had two main streams of work running in parallel: getting the 2024 shows on the road and working on our transition from our Pymble theatre to the Chatswood Zenith Theatre for 2025.
We continued our 2024 Season with a successful run of Sweet Road directed by Rob and Leah White, which received excellent reviews. It was great to have the dynamic duo back to direct their third PP play with excellent production values featuring the creativity of Wayne Chee.
Rehearsals, set-con and tech are well advanced on our next play The 39 Steps from the novel by John Buchan, adapted by Patrick Barlow and directed by David Allsopp. This show promises to be very popular with our audiences and bookings open on 25 September. As you all know, this will be an historic event being our last performance at the current Pymble theatre after 50 years. See more later in the newsletter and on our website.
Regarding the Zenith transition project, it continues apace! This exciting new chapter for PP was launched with fanfare on 15 September at the Zenith Theatre, Chatswood. The Launch was a great success by any measure with enthusiastic, positive feedback from the large audience and excitement about our future. See elsewhere in this newsletter for pics and more.
We had twenty-six volunteers directly contributing their skills and efforts towards this PP rebirth event at our new home. It was a pleasure to work with such an efficient, friendly, and talented team putting it all together.
We have a lot of migration work in front of us and challenges to be addressed. We indeed have the people to overcome those challenges and flourish.
For now, our focus will be on The 39 Steps. It will be a terrific way to put an exclamation mark at the end of our Pymble history, so we hope to see you all there to share a fond and funny farewell!
Warren Blood
President
AND THAT’S A WRAP! – Sweet Road
By Arrangement with Cameron’s Management Pty Ltd as agents for the Author
7 – 31 August 2024
Written by: Debra Oswald
Directed by: Rob and Leah White
Australian playwright, Debra Oswald injected drama, profanity, disappointment, a sudden death, a love tryst and a couple of happy endings in Sweet Road.
Sweet Road’s technical innovations included 804 lighting and sound cues, referred to as soundscapes, engineered by Wayne Chee. Some of the Sweet Road cast were well known at Pymble Players, but we did also welcome four new faces to the stage.
To our exceedingly talented cast, innovative technical team, diligent behind-the-scenes committee, enthusiastic front-of-house volunteers, conscientious house managers and our loyal and steadfast patrons, a mammoth thank you. We promised this play would be a different experience for the audience and we believe that we delivered.
We look forward to welcoming our audiences back for The 39 Steps, the final play on the PP stage in Pymble.
Rob and Leah White, Directors
Cast with Directors
OUR NEXT PLAY – THe 39 Steps
An Amateur Production By Arrangement with ORiGiN™ Theatrical on behalf of Samuel French – A Concord Theatricals Company
30 October – 23 November 2024
From the novel by John Buchan, adapted by Patrick Barlow
Directed by: David Allsopp
WINNER of 2 Tony© and Drama Desk Awards 2008
WINNER of BEST NEW COMEDY – Laurence Olivier Awards 2007
Pulled into a web of intrigue and deceit, Richard Hannay must evade shadowy organisations, femmes fatales, corrupt constables and frisky farmers’ wives. Twisted into knots by skulduggery and suspicion, Hannay must solve the mystery of the 39 steps and save the motherland before it’s too late. Strap yourself in for this parody as four actors perform 139 roles in 100 minutes at breakneck speed. It’s Hitchcock made hilarious!
A ripping yarn of thrills, intrigue and unexpected romance. Can Richard Hannay rise to the occasion?
CAST
| undefined | |
|---|---|
| Richard Hannay | Daniel Ferris |
| Annabelle, Pamela, Margaret | Cassandra Gorman |
| Clown 1 | Mitch Doran |
| Clown 2 | Faith Jessel |
Bookings open on 25 September 2024.
A Note from our Director
Much like the play itself, the cast and crew of The 39 Steps are moving along at a roaring pace – with Act 1 blocked and ready to run, most of the props in place – and we haven’t even moved onto the stage yet!
With minimal set to build, we’ll be cracking on with assembling Act 2, then bringing together all the sound and lighting elements that will add that layer of cream on top.
We’re all excited to be ending the year – and PP’s tenure in this space – with an incredibly entertaining and hilarious show.
David Allsopp, Director
Cast in rehearsals
Diary Date: Final Dress Rehearsal
8pm, Monday 28 October 2024
Pymble Players extends an invitation to all financial and Life members to come to the Final Dress Rehearsal of The 39 Steps at 8pm on Monday 28 October 2024.
2025 SEASON LAUNCH AT THE ZENITH THEATRE
What a celebration! It was a pleasure to host our sold-out season launch on Sunday 15 September 2024 in our new home for 2025 – the Zenith Theatre in Chatswood. We celebrated in style with some light comedy to open, followed by introductions to our 2025 line-up of plays and directors, a few staged readings from those plays, and then some canapés to top it off! The post-performance foyer of audience members, 2025 directors, season launch performers, and production team was a buzz with excitement for the future of PP.
2025 SUBSCRIPTION SEASON IS NOW OPEN
A big Welcome to our 2025 Season! For our inaugural season at the Zenith Theatre, we are delighted to be offering our audience three thoroughly entertaining and fun plays – all very different from each other in style, setting and content. We will also be introducing two directors who have not worked with Pymble Players before, so it will be a year full of firsts, and we hope that you will come along with us for the first steps of our journey into our new and exciting home.
The first production we are bringing to you is the fast-paced Broadway comedy It’s Only a Play written by Terrence McNally and directed by Joy Sweeney. Our second production will be an Agatha Christie mystery thriller, with a unique blend of suspense and humour – Spider’s Web, directed by a new to Pymble Players at the Zenith director, Georgia Drewe. To round out the season, we have the very popular and uplifting Australian comedy, The Appleton Ladies’ Potato Race by Melanie Tait and directed by Alexandra Pelvin who is also a new to Pymble Players director.
We sincerely hope that you will enjoy our fun-filled first season at the Zenith and that it will be the dawn of a new and exciting chapter for Pymble Players and our wonderful audiences.
Subscription tickets for all three plays for the 2025 Season are now available.
A TRIBUTE TO LIONEL DAVID WILLISON
(27.4.1938 - 13.5.2024) - Former Life Member of Pymble Players
In 1977 Lionel began his time at Pymble Players, where he designed and built the set for The Gingerbread Lady. He continued to be part of ‘the set con team’ and in 1996, they completely renovated the theatre. This massive task included reconfiguring the seating to make one central aisle with rises, putting in the ‘crash doors’, lifting the height of the stage and adding a second access door. A new lighting gallery was constructed along with all the lighting bars and a new sound system. We all looked up to Lionel and he became ‘The PP Technical Director’. He resided in the gallery for a great number of PP productions and served on the Committee over many years. In days gone-by, we would begin the PP season with a sausage sizzle where Lionel would wear his Hawaiian shirt and cook on the BBQ; tongs in one hand and a wine in the other. He will long be remembered for this as well as his endearing grin.
Jan McLachlan, Life Member and former PP President
ARTISTS AWAY
Blake Michael Paish will appear in The Ghost Train directed by Stephen Snars for Castle Hill Players at the Pavilion Theatre, Castle Hill. Season 20 September – 12 October 2024.
Don’t miss Radio Active Live in their 12th year of performing for you! Jan Johnson will appear in the October show and Diane Abbott is the Director.
Season: Sunday 13 October and Sunday 27 October 2024, 3-5pm at The Hills Lodge (Estate Room). For bookings phone Janelle — 0481 741 440.
Karen Pattinson and Jordan Andrews will appear in Lifespan of a Fact directed by Carla Moore at The Theatre on Chester. Season: 1-23 November 2024.
Kate Mannix and Brett Joachim will appear in Grand Horizons directed by Jason Darlington for Castle Hill Players at the Pavilion Theatre, Castle Hill. Season 15 November – 7 December 2024.
Christine Rule, Tida Dhanommitrapap, and Ross Alexander will appear in Mother and Son directed by Jasper Kyle for Hunters Hill Theatre performing at Club Ryde. Wayne Chee - Set & Lighting Design. Season 22 November - 8 December 2024.
For inclusion in Artists Away, please let us know details of the production in which you are performing or involved by sending information to theatre@pymbleplayers.com.au (Attention: Noises Off). We look forward to hearing from you!
REVIEWS – SWEET ROAD
