Chesil Theatre is calling all James Bond specialists, quiz fans and in fact anyone looking for a fun evening to kick off the festive season. Come to Winchester’s cosy studio theatre for Bond is Back – a 007-themed event on Friday 4th December. The evening kicks off with a martini, shaken not stirred of course, then a light-hearted quiz mixing 007 and general knowledge questions. An auction in aid of the Chesil Theatre Development Appeal follows with amazing lots, some of particular interest to the super-spy’s followers. Auction items continue to come in but currently include:

• Lunch for four at Winchester’s four star Hotel du Vin
• Speedboat ride for two on the River Thames from London RIB Voyages
• Original autographed photographs: Roger Moore (James Bond), Judi Dench (M), Shirley Eaton (Golden Girl in Goldfinger,) Rosamund Pike  (Miranda Frost)
• The Life of Ian Fleming by John Pearson, bound hardback edition
• The Word Is My Bond autobiography signed and donated by Roger Moore
• Two Club Wembley Stadium tickets for an England or Premiere League Match
• 2x2 tickets -Tour of the College of Arms (as seen in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service)
• Total 10 tickets -Tour of the Aston Martin factory – manufactuers of the famous DB5 and many other cars used by 007
• 2x2 tickets - Private screening of Beautiful Devils, based on Othello, at BAFTA or Mayfair Hotel Theatre
• Opportunity to appear as an extra in a new film production (Carnaby International Films)
• Two tickets for a National Theatre play of your choice in 2016
• Two tickets to the Discovery Experience at the Bombay Sapphire Distillery
• 50% off voucher for Anthony Sinclair Mayfair, Savile Row tailors to early Bond films
• £60 voucher for Cote Brasserie restaurant
• Gieves and Hawkes tie and £50 voucher, tailors to Skyfall and SPECTRE.

 
There are also many tempting raffle prizes. For full details of auction lots contact Flavia Bateson appeal@chesiltheatre.org.uk. If you can’t be with us on the day, we can accept bids for the auction in advance. Again contact appeal@chesiltheatre.org.uk.
 
Bond is Back tickets priced £5 are available online from www.chesiltheatre.org.uk,  by phone 00333 666 3366 or by post to Chesil Theatre, Chesil Street, Winchester SO23 0HU.
 
 
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For further information please contact:
Flavia Bateson
01962 855544
marketing@chesiltheatre.org.uk

Garden gnomes and aspirations abound in the latest Chesil Theatre production of Willy Russell’s One for the Road.  Better known for Shirley Valentine and Educating Rita, Russell’s trademark humour is evident in this play.
 
Unusually, the cast were all making their Chesil debuts, as was Director, Jim Glaister, with his first full-length play.  They made the most of a script full of wit and an audience who came prepared to be entertained. The whole play had pace and energy.
 
The set had an authenticity that perfectly conveyed us to a 1980s bungalow on a middle-class suburban housing estate which, though nominally set in the north of England, could be anywhere. 
 
Andrew Jenks played Dennis Cain not only with humour and spot-on comic timing but also with a yearning sadness at the emptiness of his life and a sense of loss at what might have been as he stands poised on the divide between youth and middle age. Anna Rose gave a well-judged performance as Jane Fuller, brimming with self-righteous assertiveness until the moment when she realises that she has lost sight of the girl she once was. Pauline Cain, confidently portrayed by Helen Symes, was the perfect foil for both Dennis and Jane and the dynamics between the two women worked particularly well. Lukas Curnow as Roger Fuller, slightly confusingly styled to look like Dana Carvey in the 1992 film Wayne’s World, nonetheless conveyed a range of emotions with his facial expressions that added much to the comedy of the play.
 
Willy Russell steadily pokes fun at the aspirations of the upwardly mobile with his choice of classical composers for street names, the beheading of the estate garden gnomes and the women’s insistence on referring to cottage pie as hachis parmentier.  Tension built throughout the play as Dennis’ parents went missing and the dinner, literally, went up in smoke. A thoroughly entertaining and enjoyable evening was had by an audience who were able to appreciate the many 80s references and jokes.
 
Madeleine Woosnam
 
For more information please contact marketing@chesiltheatre.org.uk or access the website www.chesiltheatre.org.uk.