2009-10 season

Saddleworth Players will be producing the following plays for the 2009-2010 season.

Winslow Boy – Terence Rattigan
The Winslow Boy by Terence Rattigan is based on an actual incident in the Edwardian era, which took place at the Royal Naval College, Osbourne.
Set against the strict codes of conduct and manners of the age, The Winslow Boy is based on a father's fight to clear his son's name after the boy is expelled from Osborne Naval College for stealing a postal order. To clear the boy's name was imperative for the family's honour; had they not done so, they would have been shunned by their peers and society. The boy's life would have been wrecked by the stain on his character.
The play was inspired by an actual event, which set a legal precedent: the case of Stonyhurst College alumnus George Archer-Shee, a cadet at Osborne in 1908, who was accused of stealing a postal order from a fellow cadet. His elder brother Major Martin Archer-Shee, was convinced of his innocence, and persuaded his father (also called Martin) to engage lawyers. The most respected barrister of the day, Sir Edward Carson was also persuaded of his innocence, and insisted on the case coming to court. On the fourth day of the trial, the Solicitor General accepted that Archer-Shee was innocent, and ultimately the family was paid compensation. George Archer-Shee died in the First World War and his name is inscribed on the war memorial in the village of Woodchester in Gloucestershire where his parents lived.

The Killing of Sister George – Frank Marcus
The Killing of Sister George is a 1964 play by Frank Marcus that served as the basis for a 1968 film directed by Robert Aldrich.
Sister George is a beloved character in the popular radio series Applehurst, a nurse who ministers to the medical needs and personal problems of the local villagers. She is portrayed by June Buckridge, who in real life is gin-guzzling, cigar-chomping, and slightly sadistic, the antithesis of the sweet character she plays. June lives with Alice "Childie" McNaught, a considerably younger dim-witted woman she often verbally and sometimes physically abuses. When June discovers her character is scheduled to be killed, she becomes increasingly impossible to work and live with. Mercy Croft, an executive at the radio station, intercedes in her professional and personal lives supposedly to help, but she actually has an agenda of her own.

Equally Divided – Ronald Harwood
Shortly after the funeral of her mother, to whom she has sacrificed her life to nurse the bedridden old woman, Edith, severe, embittered and unmarried, now has her sister Renata staying with her. Renata is glamorous, well off, selfish and several times married.
When the contents of their mother’s will are made known, childhood rivalries re-emerge. Solicitor, Charles Mowbray is bewitched by Renata and pays her much attention but Edith finds support from the flamboyant antiques dealer Fabian Hill whom, unknown to her sister, has been engaged to ‘cast an eye’ over theit mother’s valuable pieces.

Chalk Garden – Enid Bagnold
Raised in a manor house beside the sea, where the flowers struggle to grow, sixteen-year-old Laurel runs wild. As her eccentric grandmother tends to the garden, Laurel's need for love forces her into a world of fantasy. But things begin to change with the sudden appointment of a governess who brings a mysterious new presence to an already dysfunctional household.

Come Blow Your Horn – Neil Simon
Chronologically speaking, ''Come Blow Your Horn'' is the fourth play in the Neil Simon semiautobiographical cycle that later carried him from Brighton Beach to Biloxi to Broadway. After ''Broadway Bound,'' the Neil Simon stand-in left home and moved to his worldly brother's bachelor apartment in Manhattan, where he received on-the-job training as a ladies' man.
The author's first Broadway play and, consequently, his first Broadway hit, was prescient. In the 1961 comedy, we can see the author's comic talent and, with knowledge from hindsight, we can spot hints of Simon plays and characters to come. Upstairs and unseen in this East Side apartment house is a man named Felix Ungar, later to migrate to Riverside Drive where he became the obsessively neat half of ''The Odd Couple.''

Adrian Clark at Millgate

An evening of clairvoyance and mediumship with Adrian Clark, international spiritual medium
                                                                                                                            

Join us for an evening of love and laughter as Adrian Clark, international spiritual medium joins two worlds. Adrian works with spirit and brings through message with evidence of survival - proof that life continues after the physical body dies. Adrian established himself as a medium in 1995 and has since then appeared in a variety of venues, including spiritual churches, psychic societies, and theatres around the UK and Europe. 

16s and over only. Tickets £10 advance or pay on the door.  Tel: 0845 130 9517 to book your places – visit www.adrianclark.me.uk
Doors 7.30pm for 8pm start.  Address: Millgate Arts Centre, Stoneswood Road, Delph, OL3 5DY(18th March).

The Shell Seekers

The next play at Saddleworth Players is the Shell Seekers, a stage play adapted from the novel of the same name by Rosamunde Pilcher. First performaed in 2005, it tells the story of Penelope Keeling, whose father painted 'The Shell Seekers', the painting which acts as the backdrop to the play – a touching, romantic, family drama.

It has been adapted twice for the small screen; the first version, starring Angela Lansbury won an Emmy – although it took considerable liberties with the storyline – the second version was a mini-series starring Vanessa Redgrave.

The novel was first published in 1988, and was phenomenally successful, selling over five million copies worlwide. Told through a combination of flashbacks and scenes from the present day, it shows what life was like for everyday people during the second world war – Pilcher herself served with the Women's Naval Service for three years towards the end of the war.

But it also tells the story of a family, the relationships that intertwine within it, and of the unexpected directions that life takes us within them.

Tickets for Lucia

We are now into the last week of bookings for Make Way For Lucia. Tickets are on sale at the box office Tuesday through to Friday 7.30pm till 9.00pm, by calling 01457 874644 or by calling into the box office in person. You can also email bookings@saddleworthplayers.org.uk. The play runs from Saturday 7th to 14th (Happy Valentines), with no Monday performance.