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The play ran for two weeks at the end of March
2003. Here are some of the comments
made about the play and the venue.
What
People have said about "Time after Time" & Venue
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A clever play brought to life by an enthusiastic
and very capable cast |
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The entire Production was Most
Impressive |
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The whole experience was amazingly Energetic |
| Very clever
& integrated famous quotes/references well |
| The lighting and special
effects added greatly to the atmosphere |
| The
technical aspects of the production was very good |
| Brilliant play marvellous
acting |
| Overall it
was a really enjoyable performance and certainly deserves to be seen by a
bigger audience |
| An excellent and beautiful
setting for an extraordinary & fascinating production |
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| It was a welcoming theatre
we came to |
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The Venue and Production was
excellent and very professionally delivered |
| The venue is clearly a
winner |
| The venue is
quite spectacular & facilities impressive |
| A great kick off for a
wonderful venue - I look forward to returning in the future |
| Beautiful
church lovingly restored, quite unexpected in this neck of the woods |
See also
www.britishtheatreguide.info/reviews/timeafter-rev.htm
Articles as appeared in our May
Edition of the Parish magazine and written mid April 2003
William Shakespeare
running around in a Church? Whatever next? Drinking, carousing, and masked women
writhing near the pulpit? What on earth is going on? Techno-Funk blasting out
from the Church speakers? I demand to speak to my MP! But fear not, good
readers, there is nothing untoward in all of this. It merely denotes the
initiation of Birmingham’s newest theatre venue.
The key to directing Frank
Bramwell’s new play “Time After Time” was my digital camera. Strange but true.
When asked by Frank to direct his play I leapt at the chance. The piece was
challenging, and open-ended, which leaves a director with plenty of choices to
make. But choices take time, and I wasn’t going to be in the country to make
them: I was just about to set out on a theatre tour of Canada!
However, when I first
visited the Church, a great many things fell into place. The ambience and
architecture of the building gave me inspiration! I went around, snapping
pictures of just about everything in sight: the pulpit, the Nave, the font, the
fountain, the columns and flooring and, of course, the stage area. Richard’s
wife was even kind enough to show me a ground plan of the building….so I
photographed that too! Now I had what I needed! Armed with these images, and the
script, I headed off to the frozen wastes of Canada for a minus forty degree
theatre tour of Harold Pinter’s play “The Lover” with Dreamsurf Theatre.
However, my spare moments in the arctic prairies and icy Rockies, were spent
working on the staging for “Time After Time”.
I therefore felt pretty
well prepared when I arrived back on these shores in early February. All that
was needed was to get a cast together, which was no problem at all, considering
the huge wealth of professional acting talent we have in this region. Oh…there
was one exception which proved the rule: one of the cast was Canadian. On seeing
the script and photos of the church, he was so keen to be part of it, that he
paid most of his air fare to come over! Now that’s dedication for you!
The three weeks of
rehearsals went smoothly, and there was great excitement from all concerned when
we first moved into the Church. What a venue! Not only that, but Richard and the
technical staff were so friendly and helpful, that we all felt immediately at
home. If only all Churches could be like this!
However, there was to
be one hiccup before opening night. The dress rehearsal was a total disaster!
True, it is a complicated show, and technically quite demanding, but for some
still unexplained reason, anything which could go wrong did…and a few other
things besides. By 11pm we staggered to a finish, wondering what on earth was
going to happen at the opening night. In the event, however, it was probably a
blessing in disguise. The dress-disaster so focussed everyone, that the opening
night was a triumph. In fact, I think it’s fair to say that it was probably the
best performance of the whole run…not that the talented cast ever gave a bad
performance. The audiences were small but appreciative, and though the chairs
were a bit hard for such a long play, this was soon remedied with the addition
of a few cushions, purloined (on a temporary basis) from the living rooms of
various members of the cast! In fact, the only real difficulty was in the
acoustics, which had something of an echo, which didn’t help clarity. However,
I’m sure this can be looked at for future productions.
All in all, a triumph
for all concerned! And let’s hope that the Church becomes a regular host to such
theatrical ventures. If ever you want someone to direct the Mystery Plays
there….you know where to find me!
Marcus Fernando.
“Such are memories,
embers of a brighter fire”
This quote from the
play says so much about life after the event that it seems very appropriate to
start these few words with it.
Only 3 weeks ago we
were in full swing, the second week of our 2 week run of Time after Time. As I
write this today, I feel pleased about the little bit of magic that we were able
to create in that beautiful environment.
In the 2 weeks since,
I have been quietly reflecting on just what we did manage – so many things that
it is hard to put them into a coherent order. Instead I will just throw in some
random thoughts as they occur to me, and hope you will forgive my little
indulgence.
As the writer it was
very satisfying to see the play come alive. Up to that point it had been an act
of faith (as well as a lot of hard work!) and the 2 years of preparation was
more than justified. What was especially uplifting was to see this talented set
of actors give all their energy unreservedly, and in the process produce the
many inspired moments which members of the audience commented on in their
feedback.
Special moments? I have a wicked memory of
the pained and shocked reaction by the audience each and every night as James
pushed his annoyingly squeaky wheelbarrow all the way up the nave of the church!
I also have delightful memories of Jen and Stephen as they arrived and departed
on the bicycle, handling it with such aplomb and verve.
The many feedback sheets sent in gave fulsome
praise (and criticism where merited) to the many excellent features of the
production. In addition to commenting on the play and the production, most of
the people who came were in full agreement that St.John’s Church was indeed a
most beautiful place. They also gave testament to the friendly service of the
volunteers who served refreshments, sold programmes etc.
So what of the future? Well,
Heart
Productions will be busy putting on further productions (returning one day to St.John’s?). Being the first outside group to perform at the Church was
something that stayed at the forefront of my mind as we planned the whole event,
and I hope that Heart Productions will prove to be the first of many others who
will share their creations here. This is a formidable and extraordinary building
- Birmingham should be very proud of its newest and loveliest performance
venue!
Finally, on behalf of
Heart Productions,
thanks to everyone in the Parish who made us all so welcome and who helped us.
Above all, my own personal thanks to Richard, whose inner belief and confidence,
right from the very outset, helped make the whole event such a success.
Frank Bramwell
To contact
Frank Bramwell, the author of the play please email
frank@networkassociates.freeserve.co.uk mentioning this web site
or go to http://www.heartproductions.co.uk/
To contact the Director Marcus Fernando of the play please email
dreamsurftheatre@hotmail.com
mentioning this website
Lighting Equipment and Expertise provided
by Rage
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St.
John's and St. Peter's Church, with Ladywood ARC
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