Newsletter       June 2003


It's Official

SHADDO held its first AGM on April 7th and is now a properly constituted society with an elected executive committee!

The AGM was held at the Plowden Arms and everyone over the age of 18 who had been involved with SHADDO or MAD (Millennium Amateur Dramatics) was invited to attend. Sixteen people packed into the meeting, voted to adopt a constitution and elected the officers and members of the executive committee.

The AGM minutes and constitution are on SHADDO's web-site at www.shaddo.org.uk, along with the Chairman's and Treasurer's reports. Gareth Jones was elected Chairman, with Liz Thomas Vice-chair, Neil McAdam Treasurer and Hilary Tucker as Secretary. Mel Crowder, Neil George, Liz James, Fredric Lawson, Mark Manson, Hugh Steele and Steve Watkins were all elected to the committee. Details of how to apply for membership of SHADDO will be available soon. There will be three categories of membership, full membership open to anyone over the age of 18 who lives or works within the immediate area, Associate membership open to adults in the wider area, and Junior membership for under 18s who live or attend school locally. There will be an annual subscription - £10 for adults, £5 for children - and rehearsal or script fees for performers, but no joining fee! Membership will run from 1 September to 31 August each year. So, watch this space, or better still log on to www.shaddo.org.uk from time to time to keep up to date with the latest developments!


Jane Edwards Gets Life!

 

Although as yet we don't have a list of members, we have elected our very first honorary life member, Jane Edwards.

Without Jane, there would be no SHADDO; her energy, enthusiasm and style are still, I hope, a feature of SHADDO's productions - so- there's no escape, Jane!

You're in SHADDO for life!


Productions

The year got off to a flying start - well, OK, no-one actually flew but the bubbles were pretty damn good - with Peter Pan. The script came once again from Victuallers, adapted for Shiplake and the Memorial Hall. It was great to welcome new faces again this year, both as performers and on the production team, and to see the stalwarts from previous performances build on their experience and, in every case, step up that extra bit to make Peter Pan a real success.

The audiences went away wanting more, the performers and production team went away exhausted, the directors went away..., eventually. It was a production we were all, rightly, proud of - it brought over 100 members of the community together to put it on, old and young, and played to full or near full houses for four performances, raising over £1000 for SHADDO to invest in future productions.

A huge "thank you and well done!" to the entire cast and crew!


Murder Mysteries

On March 1st, SHADDO's resident Murder Mystery team put on Pasta, Passion and Pistols for Gillotts School PTA. The drama was set in an Italian restaurant in New York and the PTA did a fantastic job decorating the hall and the dinner tables so that the entire hall became the stage set. They also provided an excellent three-course supper, which was served by Gillotts students, including several SHADDO members, as the murder plot unfolded.

Amazingly, more than 90 diners were fed and entertained and the PTA made around £1000 for Gillotts School funds.

This was our third Murder Mystery production and, as always, was extremely popular. These can be great fundraising events for all kinds of organisations - if you know of any local group that's fed up with the annual jumble sale or disco and would like to try something different please let them know about SHADDO's Murder Mysteries. We charge a set fee to provide the entertainment, so it helps our finances too!


A Little Help from our Friends

A big "thank you" goes to HAODS, who have donated costumes to us. They were having a clear out and very kindly invited us to take our pick of their surplus costumes. Angela, Hilary and Lizzie had a great time coming up with ideas for future productions based around the sudden acquisition of a number of gypsy skirts (some suspiciously large), three straw hats, various items in brown fur and a large Victorian-style bathing suit - and much, much more!

Thanks too go to Jean Povey, who has added to our stock of pantomime costumes.  We now have a wolf, a couple of piggies, Little Red Riding Hood and Humpty Dumpty.

Luckily, Mark Manson organised a working party to clear out the tower at the Memorial Hall at the beginning of April or we'd have nowhere to store this windfall - thanks to him and to everyone else who gave up their Saturday morning to help!

 

As well as costumes, we are beginning to collect a script library, thanks to the donation of a box of assorted plays from Beryl and Fredric Lawson.  They include dramas, comedies, farces and fairy tales, and we are hoping to arrange some play reading evenings, possibly in the late summer or early autumn, to get to know some of the plays.

Please contact Liz Thomas at vice-chair@shaddo.org.uk if you are interested in taking part in a play reading.

If anyone else has any plays or scripts, or potential costumes or props looking for a new home, do please let us know! Swords, knickerbockers, crinolines, pith helmets - check your attic!


Future Productions

After lots of thought and discussion, we have decided to put on a Pantomime again, in January!A number of different scripts are being looked at and the most suitable one will be modified and customised over the next couple of months.

Watch this space (and all the usual places) for details of the production including audition dates etc! We have another booking for the murder mystery Passion, Pasta and Pistols! This will be on September 27th at the Memorial Hall and is being organised by Shiplake School PTA to raise funds for the school.

If you'd like information on ticket availability for this event, please contact Liz Thomas by phone or email. We're also looking into the possibility of

 

 

using the Memorial Hall as a venue for showing films - again, watch this space!

There's a lot of enthusiasm for staging a play in addition to the regular panto/murder mystery activities. The problem seems to be finding someone willing to grasp the nettle and occupy the coveted Director's chair! If anyone out there would like to have a go at putting on any kind of play, whether it be a drama, comedy, farce or whodunit in one, two or even more acts, we can guarantee a whole bunch of enthusiastic actors and production crew to get it staged. Please do get in touch with one of the committee members - we'd love to help you get a production off the ground



Hope you've enjoyed this Newsletter!  If you have any comments, suggestions, ideas or contributions for future editions, please send them to: vice-chair@shaddo.org.uk