Playing Sardines Behind the Bike Shed.

Just to give you an idea - and it really is just an idea! - of the space in which we presented our Dream on 14th January. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the Bike Shed Theatre. And what a magical place it is.

Half a dozen of us arrived to set the whole thing up and the organiser asked if we were all here. She paled visibly when we told her that there would be another 16 of us arriving between now and the off. At one point we thought that the cast might outnumber the audience - capacity at the Bike Shed, at best, is 50 - but as it turned out, we were two thirds full. It was, I think, possibly the most fun we've had in a space for quite a while. The guys who run the place couldn't have been more helpful or welcoming and we're looking forward to being able to take another (smaller!) production back to the Bike Shed later in the year. Watch this space.

We still have another performance of The Dream to give, in the open-air in May in the beautiful surroundings of Hole Farm - details to follow - but the next big thing on the agenda is the workshop and auditions for Taming of the Shrew, the 2014 Dartmouth Shakespeare Week production. Loads of interest and the prospect of spending the afternoon with not only a great bunch of people and having a laugh or three, but also getting to grips with Commedia Dell'arte at the hands of our facillitator for the day, Gareth Ballyn. He's been in a couple of our earlier productions and was an extremely scary Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet. A drama teacher par excellence and a curator of no mean repute, it promises to be a lively and informative session.

Gareth - smiling before he does for Mercutio!

 We had our annual get-together the weekend after the Bike Shed gig, the perfect chance for everyone to let off a bit of steam and look forward to the Shrew and all that it will entail.
Large thank you's go to Kate and her crew at the Cafe Alf Fresco, who laid on a splendid bite of lunch...the chocolate bread and butter pudding was particularly excellent.

Once again we have had a large number of people contacting us, via the website, asking to be involved in this year's production. It always lovely to see new faces and we can always find things for people to do...but the majority of the 'expressions of interest' have been from people of the female persuasion. Brilliant! But we need more MEN! So if you know of any(male)body who would like to have a bash at treading the boards up at the castle, point them in our direction! It would be really splendid to meet them! Got a couple of interesting possibilities in the pipeline which will appear here should they come to fruition, but for the moment, everything is concentrated upon casting the Shrew and thinking about all the extra bits 'n' bobs for this year's DSW. 

We certainly hope to have more stuff going on about the town, which we managed to achieve for the first time in 2013, but it all takes warm bodies to make it happen. Presentation of our donations for 2013 will be happening quite soon; the recipients have been informed, we're just waiting for the moment to get the cheques to them. For those of you who haven't heard who we are supporting this time around, here they are, in no particular order:

• Dartmouth Caring
• Dart Area Landscapes Access Group 
• Fr. Will Hazelwood's Youth Group
• The Renaissance Historical Dance Society
• Stoke Fleming Junior School

and, as you will have read in the previous blog, the first award made by way of the Inn Theatre Company Bursary for Young People, which went to Freya Hoben.

Here's to the next round of theatrical insanity!