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.

The theme set for entries in the 2021 Chesil Theatre New Writing Festival was The Road Not Taken. Over 400 writers from all over the country submitted 10-minute plays, most taking a metaphorical approach on how choices and events can alter a life. However, Ian Fraser, one of the ten winners, went even so far as to name the road – the M56. This motorway plays a key factor in the drama he submitted – A Grande Day Out.

Ian, who has lived in Winchester for 30 years, is a biology teacher. Studying science at university was one of the choices he made when deciding which path to follow in life. “I wanted to be an artist and novelist,” said Ian. “My father pointed out that employment in those worlds was hard to come by – and of course he was right. I chose biology because it gave opportunities to draw and I discovered a love of teaching the subject.”

In his free time, Ian paints, sketches, designs stage sets and writes. He describes himself as “a globe-trotting adventurer” travelling to remote parts of the world either alone or leading groups from the school’s Expedition Society.

Ian took a Creative Writing course run by the Adult and Higher Education Division (AHED) at Peter Symonds College. He focused on travel writing initially, with the aim of submitting magazine articles. He also attended a Winchester Writer’s Festival Weekend at the University of Winchester with Conference Director and local writer Barbara Large MBE. “We had to write the synopsis of a novel and the opening chapter, for assessment. I received such positive feedback, both at the weekend and meeting Barbara afterwards. It really encouraged me to keep writing.”

Ian’s entry for the 2018 Chesil Theatre new writing competition, based on the theme Hidden Worlds, was long-listed and he is delighted to have been declared a winner this time. A Grande Day Out, along with the nine other winners, will receive a full production at the theatre over the weekend of 2nd and 3rd October 2021.

“I found that the ten-minute rule imposed a discipline and structure to my writing,” explained Ian. “To establish a back story, characters, relationships and intrigue the audience within that limit was a stimulating challenge.”

Ian completed four full drafts – with minor changes between each one – before he was happy with his entry. The cast and director have now been chosen and he is looking forward to seeing how his play is interpreted.

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For further information please contact:
Lisbeth Rake/Flavia Bateson
Chesil Theatre Marketing Team
07855 253452
flavia.bateson@starspray.org

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.

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.

Zoe Stanford directing A Desert Place by Rosemary Evans
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While Zoe has acted with Chesil before, this is her first directing stint for the theatre and she is excited to be involved with TakeTen and the wonderful plays it has produced. As a former secondary school English teacher, she is thrilled with the opportunity to have some fun with Shakespeare in A Desert Place and to get to tackle the pandemic in a fun way.'

Sarah Hawkins directing Tremble by Rob Johnston

​As an ex-English teacher, Sarah has been involved with numerous dramatic projects, the big ones being seven open-air Shakespeare productions at Peter Symonds College, Winchester. Since 2007 she’s been a director at Chesil Theatre and occasionally on stage. This summer sees Sarah tackling A Midsummer Night’s Dream. She’s looking forward to the completely different challenge of Tremble, with its nuanced subtlety balanced by high tension.