Cast rehearse for Saturdays Murder Mystery

Pictured are just some of Saturdays cast… Still time to book your tickets!!!

First Sight Review

We performed my play ‘First Sight’  recently at the Matchbox short play festival and at the risk of looking like we’re blowing our own trumpets I wanted to show you the review that appeared in the recent NODA magazine.

“First Sight written and produced by Cliff Gillies and performed by Too Friendly Theatre Company was the first play. Cliff took the part of Matthew, the main character, who delivered the dialogue mainly as a monologue. He tells the story through a number of love letters  he has exchanged over many years with Emily, his love at first sight. His delivery was an emotional roller coaster which could not be faulted. The parts of Dave, played by Mark Haygarth and Emily plated by Helen Rawcliffe are important to the story…

…However the writing was excellent with  an unexpected twist in the denouement. This was a good short play well presented.”

Edited from the full NODA review.

A Brave Choice Which Came Off…

Well it’s a bit late getting it up here but here is another review of our performance of ‘It’s Now Or Never” from the NODA magazine.

“This comedy which borders on farce was a brave choice for the group and it came off… The set was very good indeed and the pace was fine. The cast worked hard and came across well with good characterizations. But what can I say about Rocco, played by Mark Haygarth, who doubled as Elvis. The poor man was pushed from pillar to post throughout the play… and handled the role extremely well. Rob Darby gave us a believable police inspector with a good accent.  Sue Thomas played Daphne for all it was worth and added to the fun. There were good performances, which I have come to expect,  from Cliff Gillies and Helen Haygarth. Lydia, played by Dot Scott and Keith, played by John Windsor, who along with Cliff led the team in what was a very enjoyable evening.”

Edited from the full NODA review.

A Murder Is Announced

Just a quick post to let you know that we are performing our next Murder Mystery on March 6th 2010. As usual it is being held at the Royal Clifton in Southport. The theme for those that like to dress up… and there are many who do… is Oklahoma. Specifically it is the after show party for a production of the musical Oklahoma when things go awry.

So fell free to dust off either your glad rags or you cowboy boots and your stetson!

As usual tickets are through the hotel and as usual they are about to sell out. So if you haven’t got your tickets yet… then be quick.

The hotel details can be found here.

Merry Christmas

As it comes to the end of another Too Friendly year I thought it a good time to look over some of the highlights and lowlights of 2009.

The year started off with some of the cast performing and working on All Soul’s biggest pantomime to date. Peter Pan (complete with flying) went down a storm with both the critics and the audience and, for me in particular, was such a great laugh to work on as it also marked my first time playing the Dame!

We then started work on Miles’s Tredinnick’s hilarious ‘It’s Now Or Never’… This was a difficult play to put together. The pace is frantic, the set complicated  and it’s quite wordy… but the results were fabulous! A real crowd pleaser, the show delivered jokes by the second and had audiences rolling in the aisles. Photos of us even made it to the authours website  - checkout the page for the play.

The second show of the season was an even bigger challenge. We performed two full plays on the same night. John Godber’s ‘Bouncers’ along with another of his plays, the classic ‘Shakers’. Each play is a four hander with either an all male or all female cast. Each play is set in and around the local cocktail and we wanted to make the staging something different. Therefore we converted the entire venue into ‘Shakers Nightclub’ complete with a dancing floor, disco lights,  smoke machines and a D.J. Once again the critics loved it, giving us one of our best reviews ever, and some great responses from the audiences too.

As ever the Murder Mysteries at the Royal Clifton did well. Each one selling out again and we will be doing even more of them in 2010.

Without any doubt the lowlight of the year was the loss of our great friend Tom Hancox. Tom was a member of the company for many years.  Initially backstage, he was  responsible for the lights and sound on many shows and latterly he started performing and even writing for us.

Tom was an amazing man. Full of life and verve and brimming with talent. He was an inspiration and friend. He will be sadly missed.

Tom, Mark and Alec take their bows

Looking forward to the new year some of us will be starting the new year in pantomime once again (… Oh Yes We Wil!l) as we perform in ‘Dick Whittington’. Then we start work on the next Murder Mystery and also start the preparation for the next big show Alan Acybourn’s ‘Time Of Your Life’. More details of which are coming soon.

A big thank you to all the people that have come to see the shows over this year and especially to those that have written in. We really could not have done it without you and we hope to see you in 2010.

Merry Christmas!

Dick Whittington

Tickets are now on sale, and selling fast, for All Souls Dramatic Clubs latest pantomime ‘Dick Whittington’. The show is on at their new venue, Greenbank High School Theatre in January. Click www.allsoulsdramaticclub.co.uk for details. Book now!

Time Of My LIfe – Cast Details

Today we finalised the casting of the roles for Time Of My Life and the play will be perfomed by the following cast:

Gerry – John Windsor

Laura – Sue Fryer

Adam – Cliff Gillies

Steph – Helen Haygarth

Mo – Joanne Wasilew

Glyn – Mark Haygarth

Calvinu, Tuto, Aggi, Bengie and Dinka -Rob Darby

Directed by: Cliff Gillies

Twitter’d

The Too Friendly Theatre Company now has a presence on Twitter. Our Twitter user name is toofriendly and you can message us @toofriendly too.

 

Please follow us for all the latest updates!

 

 

Murder Night Goes Well

Just a quick note to let you know that last nights  Murder Mysyery went very well indeed. Well done to all involved and if you missed out remember to book early for the next show. It was great to see so many of the audience joining in in the fun and getting dressed up too. We added some photos to our photstream too. Click here to view.

This Weekend Someone Gets Murdered

Tonight we have been rehearsing a new Murder Mystery. Written once again by our in house Ruth Rendell, Joanne Wasilew, it’s performed next Saturday at the Royal Clifton. This performance marks a debut for some new cast members: Paul Miller, last seen as DJ Mike Lock in our production of ‘Bouncers’ joins Helen Rawcliffe, Jeni Law and Ana Woodwood.
Tickets for this are sold out… So make sure you book early next time!!!