Up For An Award… Again.

Congratulation to our own Helen Haygarth who has been nominated for “Best Supporting Actress” for her role in our version of Alan Ayckbourn’s ‘Time Of My Life…

A thoroughly deserved nomination I think you will agree!

Mark Hits The Big 50!

Long time Too Friendly cast member and friend Mark Haygarth celebrates hit 50th birthday today. Last night we all went to surprise party for him to help him celebrate!

We would like to take this opportunity to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARK!

Below is the speech from last night… as best as I can remember it!

Don’t forget you can see the older version of Mark in our next play opening on the 27th of this month; ‘Time Of My Life”… quite an appropriate title really!

Mark in "Breezeblock Park"

Ladies and Gentlemen. At this point I have been asked to give a speech but I also understand the buffet will be served soon…. so to reiterate what Henry 8th said to each of his many wives: “I shall not keep you long!”

Actually I’ve been told that I have a full  five minutes to tell you all the great  things about Mark. Which is great…  but I don’t know what I’m going to do for the other four minutes and fifty seconds..

Ahhhh Birthdays! Mark has now reached the time of his life when,  if he had the time, he’d have the time of his life.

Mind you… you know your getting old when the candles cost more than the cake!

Thinking about it though…  old age isn’t so bad… not when you consider the alternative!

But Mark… Birthdays are, in fact,  good for you. Statistics prove that the people who have the most birthdays… live the longest!

Well what can I say about Mark?

Well before making this speech I asked everyone if they could sum up Mark in one word what would that word  be… amazingly they  all said the same word… everyone… the same word…

Tight.

Now I know you think Mark is very “efficient” with his money. But this is simply not the case. Not a lot of people know this but he does a lot for charity. Oh yes. But whenever he donates money to charity, he likes to remain anonymous. That’s why he never signs his name on the check.

No seriously… I’m only joking… He’s really generous…. He’d give you the hair off his back if you needed it.

Joking aside…  What a special occasion this evening is and what a honor it is to say a few words as a tribute to Mark as we celebrate his  birthday. I asked to say a few words tonight to personally thank Mark for being my friend over  the last ten years… he’s been there through some bad times and some amazing times. We have some hailriours times over the years doing our theatre shows and Mark’s never kept us wanting… he’s kept us waiting a few times… but never wanting! He’s a great memeber of the company, a great actor… better than he thinks… and a great friend.

Personally he was there for me when my father died…a simple gesture I will never forget…  and I’m proud to say he will there there next year as my best man.

Mark, tonight as we celebrate your birthday, we wish you a magical day that is profoundly happy and richly blessed. We appreciate the special and unique role that you play in our lives and long may you continue to do so.

Never forget  that you are admired and loved by your family and  as a special and caring friend.

Tonight we acknowledge how you are always there for us when we need you – through times of adversity and throughout the celebrations in our lives. Your strength, your caring and your support continues to brighten our days in so many wonderful ways.

For this is what defines you and always will.

If you would like to wish Mark a Happy Birthday… feel free to comment!

A Raft Of Award Nominations… and Next Show – Tickets on sale

Celebrations are the order of the day at recent rehearsals from the Too Friendly Theatre Company. The cast have just been informed that they have received multiple nominations in  this years National Operatic and Dramatic Association annual awards. The awards celebrate the best of the North West’s theatre and they have been nominated for their play ‘It’s Now Or Never’, performed in the Little Theatre in Southport last Summer. They have been nominated as ‘Best Supporting Actor for Mark Haygarth, ‘Best Actor’ for Cliff Gillies, ‘Best Director’ for Cliff Gillies, ‘Best Staging Of A Play’ and for the ‘Best Play’. Cliff has also been nominated for ‘Best Mortal In A Pantomime’ for his role of the Dame in All Soul’s production of Peter Pan!

This amazing news comes as the company puts the final touches to another show at the same venue. ‘Time Of My Life’ opens at the the Little Theatre on May 27th and tickets have just gone on sale. The play, written by Alan Acykbourn is considered one of his greatest plays and should prove a real treat for local drama fans. The story follows Laura Stratton’s fifty-fourth birthday. She is out for the evening to celebrate at her favourite local restaurant. The other guests include her businessman husband, Gerry, her two sons Glyn and Adam, Glyn’s wife Stephanie and Adam’s new girlfriend, Maureen. Three couples celebrating a happy family outing. Yet is it all as harmonious as it appears? What secrets lie buried in the past? What hidden tensions lurk beneath the present surface? What awaits them all in the future? What do the waiters make of it all?

Alan Ayckbourn’s dark comedy explores the family’s lives, past, present and future in a three way journey through time. It has been described as ‘completely timeless, a masterpiece of theatre’ and ‘dark, funny, a soul searching

The production opens on May 27th and runs till the 29th at the Little Theatre in Southport.

You can get information on the theatre’s website www.toofriendlytheatre.com. Tickets are priced at £7.50.

BOOK TICKETS NOW! YOU NEVER KNOW YOU MIGHT BE LOOKING AT NEXT YEAR’S ‘BEST PLAY’!

To book tickets in advance call 01704 541306

“Time Of My Life” by Alan Ayckbourne – Our Next Production.

When eating out, why is it that the next table’s conversation is often so much more fascinating and intriguing?  It is Laura Stratton’s fifty-fourth birthday. She is out for the evening to celebrate at her favourite local restaurant. The other guests include her businessman husband, Gerry, her two sons Glyn and Adam, Glyn’s wife Stephanie and Adam’s new girlfriend, Maureen. Three couples celebrating a happy family outing.

Yet is it all as harmonious as it appears? What secrets lie buried in the past? What hidden tensions lurk beneath the present surface? What awaits them all in the future? What do the waiters make of it all? Alan Ayckbourn’s dark comedy, ‘Time of my Life’, explores the family’s lives, past, present and future in a three way journey through time. All of them in search of personal happiness but, as is so often the case, hard pressed to recognise it even when they find it.

Our production opens on May 27th and runs till the 29th at the Little Theatre in Southport.

You can get information on the theatre’s website here.

Tickets are priced at £7.50.

Curtain is 7:30pm (TBC)

For more information keep this website bookmarked.

To book tickets in advance call 01704 541306

Time Of My Life Poster (Draft)

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!

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

Next Show

Too Friendly would like to announce details of their next show at the Little Theatre in Southport. Time Of My Life by Alan Ayckbourn

The next show will be at the Southport venue on the 27th, 28th, 29th of May 2010.

TIME OF MY LIFE is a play by an inspired master craftsman working at full stretch – harsh and funny, generous but unforgiving. The setting is Laura Stratton’s 54th birthday party in a pseudo-Mediterranean restaurant in the North of England. Also present are Laura’s husband Gerry, a self-made businessman; their womanising son Glyn and his colourless wife Stephanie; and their adored younger son Adam and his glorious punk hairdresser girlfriend – Maureen.

It all starts with happy celebrations and bubbling conversations. But soon skeletons start popping out of the family cupboard with revelations of infidelities, business crises and past emotional grudges. Add a succession of comedy waiters and you have the wonderfully funny ingredients for a vintage Ayckbourn play that will leave you rocking with laughter and emotionally spent.

We will be casting for this show shortly and the cast list will be posted as soon as possible.