Tag Archives: Petuaria Players

Lucky Sods – The Album

Photo album that is, you know we don’t do musicals!  We have a few photos to share with you and you can view them below. 

A successful run

It is almost a month since our run of John Godber’s Lucky Sods came to an end.  It was a sellout - good for our small drama group cash reserves and help with our upkeep, and even better for the actors, performing in front of packed appreciative houses every night.  The joy of live theatre is the interaction with an audience, making every performance unique.

We kept the play true to it’s original timing – the early years of the National Lottery, Cilla Black’s Blind Date and the channel tunnel referred to as ’The Chunnel’ (well, that never caught on!). 

A rough journey that ended well

Janet, directing, used a simple black drapes set with minimal furniture and props to suggest the setting for each of the ten scenes. This was a good move – whilst the end product was a great success the journey there was a challenging one.  Before we started rehearsals we knew that we had a minimum of actors to perform with just one person backstage and lots of scheduled holiday weeks for some actors that would impact rehearsals.  But we were determined to put a show on and we planned our work accordingly around the issues; flexible rehearsals (which made life harder for Rob who had so many words to learn), and actors doubling up to carry out backstage roles when not on the stage.  

As if that wasn’t enough we also had a difficult start due to an unusually late delivery of scripts from the publisher, a round of covid infections that laid a few of us low and kept us away from rehearsals – and then Gill broke her wrist which explains the photos with her elegant cast in place. How many audience members noticed though? And if they did they may yet be wondering if they had missed an element in the plot where her character Jean broke her wrist….

Gill’s broken wrist “the show must go on!”
Ready to go on seven actors and five backstage crew in one photo

With the very real issue of having no-one to operate the sound and lights we were fortunate to have Paul Morrell re-appear on the Petuaria Players scene after a gap of nearly twenty years. Paul, a regular on the stage in the past, took on the role of Sound and Lights operator and saved us a lot of grief.  Good news – he’ll be doing the same on the next play too.

Lucky Sods – the Photos

Backstage (Left to Right, from back row): Nic Johnson (Stage Manager), Paul Morrell (Sound & Lights), Sally Morland (Props) and Janet Drewery (Producer) all ably assisted backstage by Dianne, Barbara, Gill and Sue)

THE PERFORMANCE PHOTOS

As usual with our thanks to Dave Hackett

TIP: to view at full size click on any image or click on the first one and then scroll right or left

Note: IF YOU RECEIVED THIS POST BY EMAIL GO TO THE WEBSITE TO VIEW FULL SIZE IMAGES BY CLICKING THE TITLE

That’s it folks.  That wraps up this play nicely before Christmas. Don’t forget to follow us on here or on Facebook to get our latest updates. 


Lucky Sods

A GENTLE REMINDER (in case you needed one) that our next play , John Godber’s LUCKY SODS will be performed on Thursday, Friday, Saturday 16th, 17th 18th November.

This one, reminding us all of the early days of the National Lottery and those anxious moments watching the coloured balls come out (always assuming you bought a ticket), is not just a reminder of those days but also a reminder of our first production of this play, back in 2005.

For Gill Collins and Rob Newton it was a real challenge – Godber’s rapid natural dialogue coupled with a big role for Rob to learn, but roles that they both relished and enjoyed. At that time they were supported by Richard Bateman, Jayne Hewson, Phil Johnson, Barbara Failey and Wendy Fairburn.

Rob and Jayne as Morris and Connie in 2005.

This time around, with our membership reduced Rob finds himself resurrecting his role and assures us that no, he does not remember his lines from eighteen years ago and no, learning them does not get any easier.

With Gill also resurrecting her role as Jean we also have Barbara back in the play now taking the role first played by Jayne, with Dianne, Steve, Sally and new member Sue joining the cast.

..and introducing new member Sue


LUCKY SODS  by John Godber is being performed by The Petuaria Players at Elloughton / Brough Village Hall
November 16, 17, 18 2023

If you want to book tickets details of how to contact us click here on our Book Your Tickets page.

You can read more about this season’s productions here on our What’s On page.


Here we go again!

ANNOUNCING OUR PROGRAMME FOR 2023-4

What are we going to perform over the next 10 months? That has been our dilemma for the last few weeks. As with many amateur theatre groups, we face increasing issues from all angles – but mostly from dwindling numbers of actors. There are many plays we would love to perform but are unable to due to our limited cast availability, coupled with the need to also have members literally behind the scenes in our backstage roles. As you know, Jayne Hewson’s passing in March was a devastating blow to our group and adds to a loss of four other actors since lockdown; Wyn Price, who also passed, and others where personal circumstances can no longer allow the heavy commitment of time required to put on a production. (On a positive note, we are pleased to welcome new recruit Sue Crowston to the group.)

If we are to offer you more varied, exciting and funny plays then we need to encourage new (and let it be said) somewhat less mature males and females to take on this exciting and rewarding pastime.

So if being on stage is not for you, perhaps you know of friends or family members in the area that could be encouraged and inspired with your help?

We also welcome help backstage, at set build and on play nights to assist with our interval drinks and if anyone has a yearning to operate the sound and lights then get in touch! 

OUR NEW SEASON

Enough of our woes. We have, despite them, come up with a wonderful programme that fits our current cast availability and just two male actors (oh did I mention we need more actors?).

Please note that the booking office is not yet open  but follow us to be amongst the first to know

Here are the dates to put in your diary.


November 16, 17, 18 2023

We are pleased to announce that we will be bringing John Godber’s wonderful comic play about a couple who win the lottery back to the stage.

LUCKY SODS

by John Godber

We first performed this back in 2005 and it was a play that was very much enjoyed by both the cast and the audiences.


May 16, 17, 18  2024

We return to farce with our May play and a very funny fast-paced drama of confusion, mistaken identities, mayhem and, of course, doors opening and closing.

PERFECT WEDDING

by Robin Hawdon


So please reserve those dates in your calendars and await our next post with more detail about our first play.


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Par For The Course is happening soon!

Well, we are now back into rehearsals and working hard to bring you our next play. Peter Gordon’s Par For The Course will be performing 11th, 12th, 13th May and tickets are going fast.

What? You haven’t booked yet? Love or hate golf this one is fun for everyone. Reserve your tickets now.

We have had a few issues recently but our usual booking contact methods on here, via email or phone should all be working fine – just remember that we never ask for money up front.

Below is our little video of rehearsals which should be visible as it links to YouTube. If you are an email recipient and the link doesn’t work click on the header to go to the website.

Looking forward to seeing you all – or more accurately, you seeing us!

Par For The Course – rehearsals