CAT AMONG THE PIGEONS By Duncan Greenwood

Richard Barton and Catherine Helliwell discuss this production for the Cottingham Little Theatre

Cottingham Little Theatre was founded in 1920 and stages two productions

each year in May and December The range of productions spans a wide spectrum from the classics to conventional thrillers comedy music hall and pantomime Performances are held in a local hall the interior of which resembles a small theatre with an established stage and proscenium arch The seating

capacity is 140 The society enjoys a thriving membership of about 40 members half of whom are either performers or production assistants Cottingham is reputedly the largest village in England and is situated in East Yorkshire on the outskirts of Hull

PLOT Cat Among the Pigeons by

Duncan Greenwood is an extremely amusing comedy It

TR4DITIDN4L P4NTDMIMES by Colin Wakefield and Kate Edgar

(Published by Josef Weinberger plays) ALADDIN

traditional to the tips of its turned-up toes has the Playstalion generation screaming with delight (The Independent)

CINDERELLA one of the finest Christmas shows I have seen for years

(Ramsey Advertiser)

DICK WHITTINGTON An absolute joy (The Punter)

THE SLEEPING BEAUTY Another mini-masterpiece of mirthfulness (Western Daily Press)

JACK AND THE BEANSTALK You won t see a better performance this side of the moon

(Blakemore Vale Gazette)

ROBiN HOOD AND THE BABES IN THE WOOD

Children seeing this show as their first visit to pantoland are lucky indeed (Salisbury Journal)

MOTHER GOOSE This could well be the mother of all pantomimes in a fine blend

of old and new (Southern Evening Echo)

LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD (First performance Winchester Theatre Royal - 12th December 2002)

For full details wwwtraditionalpantomimescouk

8 Amateur Stage

was decided to move the original setting a few years forward to the early 1960s The interval took place after Act II Scene 1 a natural halfway break

Four generations of Tinsley s live in uneasy contentment in the house of Alfred and Nora They are all dominated by Nora and her daughter Edna until Ednas brother Bill comes home from the National Service in IndoshyChina bringing with him an exotic French dancer Yvonne Chartreuse The male Tinsleys gravitate towards the newcomer while the females are suspicious jealous and determined to expel this dangerous intruder Alfred Noras long suffering husband and his business partner Joe escape to the sanctuary of the greenhouse and pigeon loft but become involved when pigeons are required by the dancer as a performance accessory Subshyplots include a distraught fiancee Annie the young wife Edna continually frustrated by her husbands lack of ambition and Grandmas constant resort to the gin bottle A change of fortune for all occurs largely due to Grandmas substantial pools win generously shared with her family

CASTING Casting was as usual by

audition and all parts were filled on the first evening The play appealed partly because it is set in a northern industrial town so accents posed no problem to the cast Another reason for our choice was that due to a recent publicity drive some new younger members had been attracted and we wished to integrate them as soon as possible It seemed that as the characters in the play were so well defined and equally spaced throughout the piece this would be an ideal vehicle for them to put their talents to the test especially as one or two had

little previous stag-e experience To address the balance

experienced actors were chosen to play the parts of Alfred Grandma and Joe The exotic dancer Yvonne required an attractive young lady who could speak with a French accent and dance A former member fitted the part perfectly She was coached by a local dance teacher who by great coincidence had danced professionally in Hong Kong A member of our Junior Section filled the small but important role of Annie All our cast were well matched being the correct age for their part which we felt was quite an achievement

The Note to Producers in the script which fully described the characters proved very helpful in preparations for rehearsals as well as auditions and casting As the notes say Any attempt to p roduce the play in the convent ion of either farce or burlesque should be resisted as it is essential that each character is recognisable as a credible human being Whilst the characters are drawn rather larger than life they should be portrayed with the exception of Yvonne as homely everyday people with recognisable humar failings and eccentricities

A special feature of this production was the introduction of a co-director A member witr many years of acting experiencS with the group took the opportunity to move into the field of directing

REHEARSALS We rehearse twice a week

starting lin September for our early December production 0 rehearsal facilities are good using a drama room in the loca senior school and a large wellmiddot rehearsal room at the rear of ~ stage in the local hall We we euro fortunate to have one rehearsa on stage before the dress

APRI ~

rehearsal Because many groups use the hall we are unable to have a separate technical rehearsal and this must be ncorporated within the dress rehearsal

Each act was blocked in turn the third act being the responsibility of the co-director throughout the whole production

The less experienced new members came in for some early Individual coaching by the airectors which included voice delivery stance and the general basics of stagecraft Some amusement was caused initially In our attempts to overcome the old problem of embarrassment rehearsing the touching kissing and cuddling scenes By the fourth week several of the cast proved their ability to learn lines and this provided encouragement o others who quickly followed suit and the prompt was then in regular attendance By the sixth week the cast were requested to put all books down

Up to this point rehearsals had dealt with each act in rotation Dispersed amongst these were specially allocated hours for middot polishing those sections which required extra attention These lrlcluded the introduction of complicated business and more especially the exotic dance routine between Yvonne and Ernest which had to be timed precisely to synchronise with the music The scene that included bringing on and handing out artnks to all the cast needed special attention as did Grandmas attempt to open the lOCked drinks cabinet

The final two weeks consisted J full runs with emphasis on ace timing and sound effects ieryone felt by now that all we ~~ed was an audience

SCENERY Our resident stage manager

- reed that a box set depicting Sitting room of the Tinsleys

SuOUrban villa could be achieved

Jl

on the relatively small stage The stage is only 15 ft wide by 10ft deep It does however have the benefit of a deep tack wall extension measuring 13ft by 6 ft

In order to make the best use of the space available we constructed archways to the kitchen and hall instead of using working doors The French window was set as far back as possible in the extension using a low brick wall effect as a backing Some tubs containing real conifer branches supplemented the trees and shrubs which were painted by a gifted member of on the backing flat

The fireplace wall was papered with a multi-coloured striped wallpaper The other two walls were painted yellow This gave a bright cheerful look reflecting the familys perception of social climbing

LIGHTING The lighting plot was quite

straightforward representing early evening in spring in all but one of the scenes the exception being Act III Scene 1 depicting morning Here we had the effect of bright sunlight on the patio area All the evening scenes had two small working table lamps on stage but these were for cosmetic rather than practical purposes

The co-director used a blackout rather than curtains for the end of the play to obtain a more dramatic effect as this is scripted to occur in the middle of a telephone call

COSTUMES Full skirted dresses and a full

lace petticoat were made by our wardrobe mistress for our youngest member Our French dancer made her own exotic costumes which contrasted beautifully with the 1960s style of the rest of the cast We dressed Alfred in muddy

Wellingtons and flat cap for his opening scene A mention must be made of Bills National Service uniform specially obtained from a local source

Most of the suits for the men were easily accessible as were the rest of the female costumes

MUSIC We thought it would be fitting

to use brass band music to open During the interval a Beatles medley kept the audience entertained and in the 1960s mood

SPECIAL EFFECTS AND PROPS

A working radio was required three times For music played during the play we selected Anything Goes for Act II Scene 1 More searching was required for evocative dance music in Act II Scene 2 and we selected the last 3 minutes of Borodins Polovtsian Dances Marilyn Monroe singing I Wanna Be Loved By You was used in Act III

Whenever the French window was opened the distant sound of Alfreds cooing pigeons was heard which was most effective

Baby crying was essential and after some consideration we decided to use a recorded version which worked very well Any knocking and slamming of doors bumping of luggage and ringing of doorbells was done offstage by the actors concerned

Our Sound Operator another member from our Junior Section used his own recordings on CD This was the first time we had moved away from audiotapes and was most impressive

A 1960s milk bottle was tracked down along with a correctly shaped babys bottle We were fortunate to be given a 1960s style put-u-up sofa and Grandmas armchair The second-hand drinks cabinet was purchased for a modest sum as

was the fireplace Other furniture and stage dressings came from our props mistress and the homes of members Several newspapers were needed and these had to be carefully constructed to reflect the correct title and to obliterate any colour sections

The whole set was enhanced by the use of daffodils and potted greenery on the tables and in the hearth

SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS OR

PROBLEMS Some difficulty was

experienced in obtaining the charger for the 1960s soda siphon but after much searching a local store was able to oblige

It was vital that the play started with a good pace leading up to the more humorous aspects after the first twelve or fifteen minutes Thereafter good timing in delivery was of the essence especially Grandma and her drinking scenes with Alfred Overall the audiences thoroughly enjoyed the production and we would recommend it to other groups We played for three nights two of which were capacity audiences

All scripts scores and libretti featured in The Play Produced

and The Musical Produced can be obtained from

SERVIN G A MATEU THFATRE SINCE rU

MuSiC and scripts available for all Discounts for members

Tel 0870 770 2480 Fax 0870 770 2490

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Amateur Stage 9