Our spring production (15-19 March) is Alan Ayckbourn’s riotous comedy Bedroom Farce. Director Darrel Poulos is delighted to have assembled an excellent cast for this production. There were some tough choices to be made as many people read very well for a number of the roles. It gave the casting committee pause for thought about how to choose the final members of the cast. Casting is as follows:

Earnest: Geoff Atkinson
Delia: Jan Beyts
Trevor: Ioan Harvard
Susannah: Grainne Harling
Malcolm: James Gwynne
Kate: Karen Du Plessis
Nick: Tim Harling
Jan: Jan Corby
Lighting: Derek Gilbert
Stage Manager: To be finalised

If you want to help out with this show in any non-acting capacity, please contact Darrel Poulos or Kate Lindsey, who would be delighted to hear from you.

After a long gestation period, The Henley Players Writers’ Group met for the first time on 28 July 2010, at the Hot Gossip cafe in Friday Street. A small but dedicated group enjoyed vigorous discussion about the nature of playwriting, and everyone read excerpts of their own work. The date of the next meeting is yet to be announced, so watch this space!

Contact Mike Rowbottom for more information, or read the article that appeared in the 18 January issue of The Henley Standard www.henleystandard.co.uk.

Congratulations to Alex Rogers, Sue Baxter and cast and crew for doing so well at the Didcot Drama Festival in May. Alex Rogers’ ‘For Thine is the Kingdom’ won Best Play, Alice Evans won Best Actress, Jan Beyts won Best Supporting role, and Alex narrowly missed out on the Best Actor award. A wonderful result of which we are very proud.

We are also proud to acknowledge the kudos gained at the Wallingford Corn Exchange Festival in early June, where ‘Kingdom’ won the Punters’ (Audience) Prize for Best Play, and Alice Evans was awarded the Adjudicator’s Award.

As you may know, this year we entered a record four (!) theatre festivals: Maidenhead Drama Festival, Kenton Drama Festival, Didcot Drama Festival, and the Wallingford Corn Exchange Festival. ‘For Thine is the Kingdom’ was written by Alex Rogers, and is a savage black comedy about fear, prejudice and the dangers of playing God. Our guest director for this show was Sue Baxter, Head of Drama at St Gabriel’s, Newbury. Alex Rogers and Alison Evans played the challenging lead roles, ably supported by Jan Beyts and Dominic Walker. Thanks to various other members of THP for providing stage management and other support.