TakeTen, Chesil Theatre’s New Playwriting Festival, finally came to the stage earlier this month and has been voted an all-round success. Winning writers with judges, directors and cast were all able to meet at performances of the sell-out shows over one weekend.

​Popular novelist Dom Brennan was also in the audience and writes:

While amateur theatre may at times have an image problem, if the recent TakeTen playwriting festival organised by Winchester's Chesil Theatre is anything to go by, it really shouldn’t have.

Certainly, Sir Ian McKellen seems to agree, perhaps as he along with so many other well-known actors, from Michael Gambon and Sir Anthony Hopkins to Glenda Jackson and Ben Kingsley, all came up through the amateur theatre route.

The Chesil’s 2014 festival of 10-minute plays drew from him this comment: '...the whole enterprise was startlingly good and an example of what a theatre company like the Chesil can do better than a professional one.'  And the launch of the latest festival in 2020 received similar backing from Sir Kenneth Branagh, praising its commitment to unlocking creativity and the imagination.

These biennial events have been running since 2008 and the latest competition received over 400 entries from across the UK, submitted for judging by professionals in the dramatic arts. This year's theme of The Road Not Taken might have been a hostage to fortune; possibly inviting the odd car crash of a play or ones going nowhere in particular. But scripts selected from some already prize-winning, albeit relatively unknown, writers have not surprisingly revealed some tiny gems.

But if the brief was to stimulate creativity and imagination and develop an engaging theme inside of ten minutes how well was it met? Rather well, as it happens. The humorous pieces gave us a modern riff on Macbeth's three witches unwilling to predict the outcome of an uncertain Romeo's romantic choice in A Desert Place, the absurdist comedy of an unshakeably confident traveller convincing an initially sceptical passer-by that his non-existent bus must inevitably arrive (Along any Minute), a reworking of The Emperor's New Clothes, about pointless systems upgrades, nicely couched in the twaddle that is modern business jargon (The Belgians), plus a satire on the perils of traversing a newly revolutionary, and newly bureaucratic European state (Pufferfish over the Carpathians), which had uncomfortable portents of our current freight delivery situation.

In a darker vein there were moving pieces on dealing with guilt and grief via imaginary conversations with a dead parent (A Grande Day Out), sisters revealing the bitter legacy of their recently deceased brother (Careful), and a soldier's life paused by the priming of a land-mine (Tremble). Somewhere between the two extremes we had the evolution of an unpredictably intertwined friendship (All Our Lives) and an echoing, atmospheric piece set in a tunnel (Tunnel).

However, the standout was surely Steve Clark's searingly convincing portrayal of a macho taxi driver coming to terms with the dawning realisation of his homosexuality, via a soliloquy of sustained virtuosity (Waiting for a Fare). He did the taut script by John-Paul Jones full credit and his ability to inhabit his character may well have convinced some audience members to seek to book him for a cab-ride home.

As with England's exhilarating performance this summer in the rescheduled 2020 Euros, this Covid-delayed production from the Chesil, which has been presenting around half a dozen classic and modern plays annually since being based in Chesil Street in 1966, proved well worth the wait.

Despite the different approaches of each writer there was an impressively coherent feel to the whole endeavour, with the cast and production team amateur in name only. In fact, I’d say the only difference between this amateur production and a professional alternative was that in the latter the performers normally get paid.”

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About Dom Brennan
Dom Brennan was born in Essex, studied at King Edward VI Grammar School and Nottingham University before taking up a career in IT based in London. In 1993 he moved to Winchester and had a number of published works. These include The Black Diamond Stamp Club, set in the 1960s and following the meetings of a schoolboy stamp club in Essex and Out Of Anglia, a children’s story featuring an ostrich farm in Norfolk. There followed an initial series of “Art Detective” comedy novels featuring Inspector Ernest Montcrieff of the Serious Freud Office – including The Trembling Trilby and The Return of the Trilby. All are available as Kindle ebooks from Amazon.


About the TakeTen winners:
A Desert Place
Rosemary Evans
London

A Grande Day Out
Ian Fraser
Winchester

All Our Lives,
Christina Pye
Winchester

Along Any Minute
William Patterson
London

Careful
Karla Ptacek
London

Pufferfish Over the Carpathians
Neil Walden
Gloucester

The Belgians
Ross Bateson
London

Tremble
Rob Johnston
Manchester

Tunnel
Cate Sweeney
Cardiff

Waiting For a Fare
John-Paul Jones
Poole


About the judges for TakeTen

• Kate Spencer, stage and television actor, currently playing Grace Vickers in Coronation Street.
• George Richmond-Scott, West End director and voice coach, presently teaching at ALRA and RADA Business.
• Rosanne Collinson, Head of Drama, Peter Symonds College, Winchester
• Simon Plumridge, core member of Winchester’s professional touring company Platform 4
• Cecily O’Neill, author, Artistic Director of 2Time Theatre and a previous judge for Chesil Theatre writing festivals.

About Chesil Theatre
Chesil Theatre (Winchester Dramatic Society) is based in the heart of Winchester, presenting six main productions a year, ranging from comedy to classics. Chesil Theatre also runs drama workshops and readings, plus two lively youth theatre groups as well as offering stagecraft and technical training. The Company has been performing for over 150 years.

Since 1966 Chesil Theatre has been the Society’s permanent home - a former 12th century church in Chesil Street, Winchester. This medieval building provides an intimate 75-seat studio-style theatre and versatile performance space.

TakeTen, Chesil Theatre’s New Playwriting Festival, will take to the stage for four performances on 2nd and 3rd October at 2.30pm and 7.45pm. Tickets are now available from www.chesiltheatre.org.uk.

Chesil Theatre’s new TakeTen playwriting festival builds on the previous six biennial competitions run by the theatre that have invited new writers to submit a 10-minute play based on a set theme. The theme of the new TakeTen festival is The Road Not Taken.

TakeTen was launched in May 2020 and by the closing date in July over 400 entries had been received from across the country. It was then the turn of the judging panel, all from the professional world of theatre and drama, to complete the difficult task of choosing the best ten plays to be premiered.

After many delays caused by the pandemic, 24 actors and 10 directors from Chesil Theatre are now performance-ready, with writers able to see their work for the first time whilst meeting the judges and cast.

Chesil Theatre Chairman, David Small said;
“We’ve had to wait a long time to bring this national event to our stage but it’s been worth it. We now have an exciting, varied and challenging programme of plays, across many theatrical genres. All thought-provoking, all intriguing, all entertaining.”

Jo Matthews, Chairman of the umbrella organisation LTG, which represents over 100 amateur theatres in the UK, will be in the audience. As a previous winner, Jo appreciates the difficulty of "writing within a tight time and theme envelope”.

Jo commented:
“TakeTen is a brilliant idea. Writing a play lasting exactly ten minutes is a hard discipline but wonderfully invigorating. It concentrates the mind down to the core of plot and character, with the sparest dialogue and exposition. For the writer watching your own work performed is fun, but scary. Such is the exciting collaborative nature of making theatre!”

Two theatrical knights have also enthused about the festival. Sir Ian McKellen commented that it is “… an example of what a theatre company like the Chesil can do better than a professional one.” Whilst Sir Kenneth Branagh said: “Three cheers for Winchester’s Chesil Theatre! At a time of challenge for all, they have bravely looked to creativity and imagination.”

All performances will be subject to and compliant with Government Covid-19 restrictions which are available on this website.

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About the winners:
A Desert Place by Rosemary Evans, London
A Grande Day Out by Ian Fraser, Winchester
All Our Lives by Christina Pye, Winchester
Along Any Minute by William Patterson, London
Careful by Karla Ptacek, London
Pufferfish Over the Carpathians by Neil Walden, Gloucester
The Belgians by Ross Bateson, London
Tremble by Rob Johnston, Manchester
Tunnel by Cate Sweeney, Cardiff
Waiting For a Fare by John-Paul Jones, Poole

About the judges for TakeTen

• Kate Spencer, stage and television actor, currently playing Grace Vickers in Coronation Street.
• George Richmond-Scott, West End director and voice coach, presently teaching at ALRA and RADA Business.
• Rosanne Collinson, Head of Drama, Peter Symonds College, Winchester
• Simon Plumridge, core member of Winchester’s professional touring company Platform 4
• Cecily O’Neill, author, Artistic Director of 2Time Theatre and a previous judge for Chesil Theatre writing festivals.

Chesil Theatre Winchester will be delighted to welcome audiences back into their unique performance space when Anthony Horowitz’s psychological thriller Mindgame takes to the stage from 4th to 11th September 2021.

For two of the actors this will be a complete turnaround of roles – from Shakespeare to nearing Psycho. Marcus Whitfield and Helen Milton-Symes were last seen as Theseus Duke of Athens and Hippolyta Queen of the Amazons in Chesil Theatre’s recent outdoor production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. They are now cast as Dr  Farquhar, the strange head of an experimental hospital for the criminally insane and his assistant Nurse Paisley. Andrew Jenks plays the seemingly-unsuspecting visitor,  novelist Mark Styler. But is all as it looks at first sight?

Director Ros Liddiard is no stranger to psychological thrillers –she directed Sleuth by Anthony Shaffer for Chesil Theatre, which played to capacity audiences and was a huge success.
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In the current pandemic situation, all performances are subject to and compliant with Covid-19 regulations. The auditorium is being reconfigured to give two completely socially distanced performances and the remainder with limited capacity. Tickets are now available here.

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​Nicky Malliarou directing Careful  by Karla Ptacek

Nicky joined Chesil Theatre in 2016 when she played Amy in David Hare’s Amy’s View. She has since then been involved in several productions including, Season’s Greetings, A Bunch of Amateurs and Rumours. She was also cast as a demented Spanish waitress in the dark comedy The Last Supper, by Paul King in an earlier Chesil Theatre new writing festival. In September Nicky will be leading the senior section of the Chesil Youth Theatre, preparing them for their performance in February 2022.Nicky has a passion for theatre and has spent most of her life, especially when living and working in London, glued to a theatre seat, trying to cram in as many productions as possible. This is her first time directing and she is delighted to be in charge of Careful, a funny, emotionally charged and at times rather disturbing play portraying very clearly and powerfully the intense relationship of two sisters after the death of their brother. She hopes her vision of how the play should be staged will resonate with the audience.

The show will go on! And A Midsummer Night’s Dream – a play of magical mischief, languishing lovers, feuding fairies and an amazing amdram performance is the ideal way to welcome back live theatre to Winchester. The Chesil Theatre has the bonus of performing in the beautiful gardens of Wolvesey Palace as the first production in The Summer Festival of Theatre.

The play opens on July 13 after the most unusual rehearsal period in the Society’s history. Actors have met in small groups in a field in the coldest May for decades. Happily, June brought warmer weather for director, Sarah Hawkins, to lead the ensemble. Such was the desire of Chesil members to get back to the fun of working together, that this is a cast of great depth. Even the cameo parts are taken by experienced actors who have appeared in major roles in previous seasons.

With fairies from the Youth Theatre, original music and songs by member Heather Bryant and a backstage and support team of nearly 40, this demonstrates the strength of the long- established group.

Sarah Hawkins is an experienced Director of open-air productions but admits this one has been challenging for everyone. “At all times we have followed the guidelines and pulled together to achieve what we know will be a joyous evening of laughter and happiness to the high standard expected from the Chesil.”

The audience size will be limited and socially distanced, in line with Covid-19 regulations.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream
By William Shakespeare
Tuesday July 13 – Saturday July 17 7.30pm
Matinee Saturday July 17 2.30pm
For further information please contact:
Lisbeth Rake
Chesil Theatre Marketing Team
01962 890102
Lsrake76@gmail.com 

Chesil Theatre Winchester will be back on stage in the autumn with Mindgame by the master of mystery and suspense Anthony Horowitz, famous for the television series Foyle’s War and Alex Rider novels involving the teenage MI6 agent. Open auditions for the three challenging roles will be held on 4th and 5th July 2021, with an informal reading on Friday 2nd July to which all are welcome. Special Covid-compliant arrangements will apply. Please email welcome@chesiltheatre.org.uk.

Full of suspense from the start, Mindgame finds Mark Styler, a writer of “true crime” stories, arriving at Fairfields experimental hospital for the criminally insane, with the hope of interviewing serial killer Easterman for a new book. There he meets Dr Farquar, the new hospital director. However, things don’t seem to be quite right.
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Ros Liddiard also directed the mystery thriller Sleuth at the Chesil Theatre and says: “Mindgame like Sleuth will keep the audience on its toes with twists and turns in the plot before reaching the final startling conclusion. Nothing is what it seems!”

Mindgame runs from 4th to 11th September 2021. In the meantime Chesil Theatre presents Shakespeare’s  A Midsummer Night’s Dream in the gardens of Wolvesey Palace from 13th to 17th July 2021. Full information from www.chesiltheatre.org.uk.

​Heather Bradford directing All Our Lives by Christina Pye

​Heather’s involvement with the Chesil Theatre encompasses acting, singing and directing. She appeared in Juno and the Paycock by Sean O’Casey, The Venetian Twins  by Carlo Goldoni, and directed Joanna Murray-Smith’s Honour.

​She performs traditional and contemporary folk song at venues and festivals across the UK specialising in folk operas which dramatise the lives of ordinary people in nineteenth century working communities. Heather is delighted to have been selected as a TakeTen Director and particularly pleased to be bringing finalist Christina Pye’s two-hander All Our Lives to the Chesil Theatre’s stage.