Hello Act Two-ers!

I have been a member of Act Two for the last 19 years and during this time I have had many different roles on the committee and I am really excited about being Chair again.

 I am proud to be a member of such a successful organisation.

 As chair I aim to continue to support the group to encourage new members to join. This includes not only those with previous acting experience but also those that may lack confidence and just want to have a go.

 We may be an amateur company, but I want to ensure we continue to empower our members as well as invest in all the necessary equipment available to maintain our amazing professional standards.

 I will ensure that we have a varied social calendar throughout the year to keep members engaged. I think it is important to acknowledge how much our members enjoy staying in contact with the group, especially if they are not taking part in a current production.

I’m hoping my years of wide-ranging experience within the group as well as my personal determination will see the group continue to thrive and grow.

I believe I represent the traditional core values of Act Two, and this, together with a desire to embrace new ideas and ventures will ensure that we continue to flourish and are still here in years to come for future generations to enjoy.

It’s Thmeeeee

I haven’t done one of these blogs for some time now, mainly due to time pressures of work and rehearsals. However, after the most wonderful week of performances of Peter Pan, I feel compelled to write this. I have some highlights to count down later, but first I want to send a huge thank you to everyone who made it happen. That includes actors, backstage, props, costumes, front of house; as always, but also to those who stepped up at short notice and helped us out, such as stage up/down, chaperones & helpers in general - we can’t do this without all of the help.

It goes without saying (but I’ll say it anyway) that the director, Sally, deserves a special mention, not just for the wonderful shows but for all the work she has done in the background on safeguarding & other red tape that only gets noticed if you fall on the wrong side of it. We didn’t! Also for the fabulous job Richard did with the website, online sales, graphic design and publicity - we sold more tickets this year than ever before! 4 sell outs and a great audience on Wednesday. Amazing achievements! It is this that will make us sustainable in the future to produce more amazing shows!

As I mentioned at the start I want to count down my top 10 highlights :

10. 4/5 nights sold out and over half full on Wednesday night! fantastic!

9. The presentation to Jean for more than 20 years of hard work & commitment to front of house. And the look on her face as we got her on stage - finally! Thank you Jean!

8. The massive achievement by Lily, stepping up and playing John on Wednesday night, having learned the lines, dances & songs in just days! What a superstar!!

7. The constant beaming smile on Talia’s face both on and off stage, setting an example to us all how it should be done and for just cheering us all up generally when we needed it.

6. The juniors, generally. Great performances & it just amazes me every year how they change over such a short time. Nervous, tentative and quiet to confident, outgoing young performers. Lifelong memories!

5. The Saturday matinee! All those children having a fabulous time and wanting photographs with the performers afterwards. It’s what makes panto special and the smiles on their faces just melts my heart.

4. Shaving off my beard!! After 2 months of growing it to play Smee, it was such a relief to first sheer it off like a sheep’s fleece, followed by beard trimmer and then shaving around the edges. Was worth it but glad it’s gone!

3. The hugs all round after the last show. Just another reminder of why we do panto. We became a tight knit group, a little family, and the feeling of connection between everyone was palpable

2. The joy of seeing Bridget grow from being a shy, quiet performer to singing solo in from of sell out audiences like she’d been doing it all her life. What a transformation. Wonderful!

1. Last but not least! The amazing feeling of being in a show with the most wonderfully talented people that I know. All of you are stars and have done something and achieved something very few can do or achieve. That will always be there, inside you, knowing you can achieve something anything you want to.

There are many, many more highlights, but I thought I should stop at 10 or this blog could get very long! One question - why would anyone not want to join Act Two and be part of the greatest experience of your lives??

Come along; we are inclusive, friendly and approachable and welcome anyone who wants to be on stage, back stage or just involved in some way. Come and join us, like I did 20+ years ago and, like me, you will never regret a single day.

It’s the one-act plays next at the end of May. Come along to audition, get involved with the group or just buy tickets for the shows! You won’t regret it!

What a Show!

Hello all Act Twoers!

Well, what a great pantomime we have just produced. Feedback has been amazing from cast and audience alike so congratulations to everyone involved - actors, backstage, front of house, stage up/down team…. Everyone!

It takes a whole team of people working together to put on such a great show! Thank you to the whole team, we couldn’t do it without you. And so on to the next show. The Act Two committee have chosen two fabulous one-act plays that will have the audience rolling around in the aisles (hopefully not the actors!) - they did us when we were reading them to make a choice.

All we need now is to cast it and to do that we need actors! If you enjoyed panto then you’ll love doing the plays. A smaller team, no singing or dancing but thoroughly great fun and a real sense of achievement to be involved. The plays are my personal favourite production and I can’t wait to get started!

Auditions are coming up very soon, on Wednesday 28th February and Monday 4th March in the Hammond Hall meeting room at 7pm. Don’t miss out on an unforgettable journey. We look forward to seeing a full house of auditionees next week and 2 great plays at the end of May.

Thank you and see you all next time!

The Sheriff of Nottingham (or John)

Act Two Chairperson