The life of Sandra Marriott

Posts in category Amateur Dramatics

Much Ado About Nothing

Sep05
2011 2 Comments Written by Sandra

On saturday I had the pleasure of going to watch Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing being performed at the Globe Theatre in London.

It probably helped that I know the play pretty well, having played Hero in The Blackmore Players’ version in 2007, so I could enjoy the acting without wondering what the shakespearian words were all about!
Eve Best as Beatrice, and Charles Edwards as Benedick were both immense. Their ability to show the comedy of the play was a joy to behold and easily makes them the best two leads in this play that I have ever witnessed.
Matthew Pidgeon as Don John was also very good, as was Paul Hunter as the odd Dogberry…but you know what, everyone was great and I enjoyed the show immensely!

The staging at the Globe allows for natural movement instead of having to work to a rectangular format like most theatres. And on a bright sunny day as it was on Saturday, it is an amazing experience.

If you haven’t experienced the Globe theatre, you should!

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Blackmore Players’ now have a YouTube channel

May21
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Sandra

I’ve previously avoided video for the Blackmore Players as I never really knew where we stood with copyright and all that malarky.

However, I’ve seen enough videos pulled from YouTube for so-called copyright infringement to know that the video will just get removed if anyone complains, rather than getting sued, and of course, the Players pay for all the rights to be used so we are not infringing any copyright!

Now, video is not my forte, especially as I’m taking it from a DVD rather than a raw video format, but it was pretty easy to do in Windows Live Movie Maker – once I’d converted it back to an avi file!

Please feel free to comment on the video within the YouTube channel, and tweet all about it ;0)

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Heroes and Villains

May15
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Sandra

The last few weeks have been manic with the last preparations for the Blackmore Players variety show titled Heroes and Villains!

I’d forgotten just how much energy is needed for the show – after having only one evening off in the last week, as well as working a full five day week, I am shattered!
Of course, staying to the very end of the after show party and getting home just before 5am this morning, then getting up at half ten probably didn’t really help!

We had a great run despite part of the set for the play falling down one night! Well the audience seemed to enjoy it!

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Sir Ian McKellen understands amateur theatre

Feb08
2010 Leave a Comment Written by Sandra

At last a voice of reason has spoken up about the ever more suffocating laws regarding those who work with children.

BBC news story

At the Blackmore Players we now have to have a separate changing area for the kids, and I believe that if there are boys and girls, then essentially you need 2 kids changing areas.
This is starting to get silly.
As an amateur group who use a village hall, resources are limited, and we have even talked about hiring a caravan for a show so that can be the kids changing area. We also have to provide a chaperone for the kids during the performances.
However, from April this year, the rules are set to change again, and I believe that anyone who helps out with the kids will have to be CRB checked – that means I couldn’t just pop along to a kids rehearsal and help out unless I have been CRB checked. That puts a strain on an amateur group.

Now, I know a lot of people will say that it’s only right that anyone working with kids should be CRB checked, but we are a small village where a lot of the members are known, the kids all stick together anyway, and none of the parents seem to have a problem leaving their kids with us.

It’s nice that someone in the industry recognises that having kids in amateur groups is important, and hopefully the restrictions can be relaxed in a manner that still provides protection for kids, while at the same time acknowledging the effect these rulings are having on amateur theatre companies.

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Copper Thieves Strike Blackmore

Jan20
2010 Leave a Comment Written by Sandra

With our first performance of Blackmore’s Got Panto due to be staged tonight, we were greeted with the news this morning that there would be no heating in the village hall due to some scum stealing the outside copper piping. As tonight is our invited audience of OAP’s this is a very serious matter.

To my knowledge, Blackmore Village Hall is a privately run venture without any involvement from the Parish Council. The groups that use the village hall complex pay rent to help keep everything going, so these scum are literally stealing from the Blackmore Residents.

The village hall was built by the residents of the village back in the 60s. And I mean they literally built it with their own hands. The fact that very little vandalism has occurred at the village hall in the last 40 years is testament to how respected the facility is by the majority of the villagers.

I wonder if the sudden increase in petty theft in the area has anything to do with the residents that suddenly arrived at Easter last year and started to develop the greenbelt land they had bought. And then some wanker of a judge at the High Court decided to let them continue despite greenbelt land being destroyed. I may be jumping to conclusions, but it is my blog and I shall jump to whatever conclusions I like.

I wonder how long it will be after the pipes are replaced that they will disappear again. SCUM.

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Dress rehearsal sorted – bring on the show!

Jan17
2010 Leave a Comment Written by Sandra

Now I am home in the comfort of my sofa with a steaming cuppa by my side and dinner in the oven, I think it’s time to reflect on today’s dress rehearsal!

I started the day getting the final bits of costume, namely tights and hair grips, and by midday the dress rehearsal nerves kicked in. I’ve been doing shows at Blackmore for the last 11 years so it is beyond me why nerves still exist. So I left my husband and drove to Blackmore stopping at the flat in Boreham en route to find a few last minute things. Once in the car and out on the open road the nerves left me. Maybe the nerves exist because I’m worried some idiot will have an accident and close the A12 – then I’d be in trouble!

I got to the hall without incident for about 2pm and started getting ready – laid out my costumes to make sure I had everything I needed, and got my makeup done.
After a wander round and chatting to a few people, I sat down to go through my lives. Remarkably, we started on time at 3pm, and I had no nerves at all!

Well considering the shambles of a rehearsal that we had on Friday evening, I think the dress rehearsal went very well, despite a few dodgy bits. In the past we have done a dress rehearsal followed by a full run through minus costume which can be quite exhausting, but I fully expected to have to do some of the bits that were quite frankly dire. But we didn’t. Instead we have a script only rehearsal tomorrow night and no other rehearsal!
Yes that’s right we go straight into the show for the OAPs on Wednesday without no further stage rehearsal! That’s a first!

Well, I’m glad we have a rehearsal tomorrow night as I think it would feel odd having 2 nights off then straight into a show.

I will keep my fingers crossed and hope my nerves stay away so I can enjoy my last panto for a while.

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