Maureen Sullivan is a regular contributor to Island Echo’s coverage of the Arts on the Isle of Wight. Maureen has been actively involved in the Island’s amateur dramatics scene for several years, appearing in many different roles and guises with several theatre companies. In her free time, Maureen also writes and reviews at iwtheatre.org.
Catch Maureen’s column each month for the latest theatre and art happenings...
Welcome to the September theatre line up!
Phew! What a lovely long hot summer – the Island’s amateur thespians have enjoyed their holidays but like the school students, they are now beginning to return to work. This does mean that September shows are quite light on the ground – but plenty of preparations are being made now for a great autumn season.
Talking of schools, The Bay Secondary site are gearing up for their production of ‘Cindy’. The bad news was that the show had to be postponed from the original summer date, but the good news is we can still look forward to it! ‘Cindy’ is a modern retelling of the well-known pantomime, but is not all princesses, pretty dresses and girl gets boy – this is a fresh look at an old story, encompassing themes of feminism and LGBTQ along with rock and rap music.
Come along to The Bay on September 8th and 9th to see what these talented youngsters have worked so hard on: further information and tickets can be obtained at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeg85i1S0OIWMjVekHyp7Jf2t-1YrnomAhWunwMC7yZs-sBzQ/viewform
Later in September – from 23rd to be precise – the Pirates are coming! Bembridge Village Hall is ringing with the sound of Gilbert and Sullivan’s arguably most popular comedy operetta, ‘The Pirates of Penzance’. Under the expert direction of Andrew Wilson-Jenner, the talented and experienced cast are already looking and sounding amazing, and the show promises not only to showcase some very well loved songs, accompanied by a small live orchestra, but to be incredibly funny. Poor Fredric has been apprenticed as a pirate in error by his hard of hearing nursemaid Ruth, but his apprenticeship is at an end as he reaches his 21st birthday – or does he? The Pirate King is determined to keep Fredric on board – quite literally – and to force all the Major General’s daughters to marry his pirate band against their wishes. Horror! – as the girls rightly say.
So whether you are the very model of a modern major general, or believe a policeman’s lot is not a happy one – or just want to see if Fredric and Mabel’s love will triumph over the plots of the Pirate King and his evil band (or have they just gone astray), come along to Bembridge and enjoy the fun. ‘Pirates of Penzance’ is staged on 23rd and 24th September at 7.30pm and 25th at 2.30pm and tickets are available at https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/Bembridge-Little-Theatre-Club/e-byvdjd or call the box office on 07841 950261.
And that’s it for this month! See you in October for a veritable feast of shows!
Seems like at least we have something to look forwards to as the beautiful Summer draws to a close and darker nights draw in.