The New Theatre season closed this week for another year with the annual Boat Party. It’s been a fantastic year for New Theatre, and the outgoing Committee leave confident in the knowledge that the theatre’s future is secure. The current group of first soon-to-be second year members is large and very talented. We’ve had over thirty shows this year, loads of New Writing, twelve straight days of theatre, two plays at NSDF and six NSDF awards, devised work, a busy social scene, a lovely new roof in our foyer, reviews in the Evening Post, a Mystery Jets gig, a Postgrad Project, and we’ve got two shows travelling up to this summer’s Edinburgh Fringe. There’s much to take pride in.  

As your outgoing President I’d like to say thank you to everyone who’s been involved this year. These are the days of our lives, and they’ve been brilliant. We’ve done many wonderful things as a Company. Smack the shit out of it next year people. Hopefully see you all in Edinburgh. x

The Hustings took place today in New Theatre. The turn-out was excellent, with a full house of members turning up to vote. The President was elected first, so that the other nominees could run for other positions, and it is with great pleasure that we announce that Matt Leventhall was elected New Theatre President with a strong majority. Matt has been on the Committee for two years, first as Technical Manager ‘06/’07, then as House Manager this year. On top of these, Matt is the curent Societies Officer on the Students’ Union Executive, so is highly qualified for the job.

The other positions were hugely contested. The members heard a one minute speech from each candidate, and then had an opportunity to ask questions. A vote was taken to elect two Costume Managers, since the job is too big for one person to do alone. The results were:

 President: Matt Leventhall

Secretary: Nick Medhurst

Treasurer: Oliver Margolis

Theatre Manager: Andy McNamee

Publicity: Lucy Butler

Productions Co-ordinator: Jonny Steer

Costume Managers: Laura Free and Lauren Knight

Workshop Managers: Katie Blumenblatt and Vicky Auckland

House Manager: Will Vickers

External Events / Socials Co-ordinator: Lee Denny

Edinburgh Co-ordinator: Anthony Lau

Technical Director: Phil Geller

Business Manager: Anna Sherriff

Huge Congratulations to all who got elected, and thanks to all who ran. It was highly competetive. The hand-over will take place over the course of the coming weeks, and the new Committee will take over from the current Committee in the last week of term.

Last two nights of the Crucible coming up, if you’ve not seen it yet, come down and watch it. And then a big after-party at the top of Derby Road on Saturday night. Look for the balcony with people on it just below the Ropewalk.

Please note that the positions of Edinburgh/Social Secretary and External Events Co-ordinator are being re-jigged. The positions you can run for are now Edinburgh Co-ordinator and Social/External Events Co-ordinator. Subtle, but important. Visit the Hustings Page for more info.

It’s the time of year that Edinburgh auditions take the theatre by storm. The Fringe is the largest, most vibrant and exciting arts festival in the world. Every summer, millions of Fringe-goers descend upon Scotland’s capital, hoping to soak up some culture, scenery and Highlands sunshine… this is where you come in.

This year, the theatre is taking not one, but TWO shows to the Fringe so now there are even more opportunities than ever before for you to get involved. Both pieces are to be helmed by New Theatre veteran directors Cal Lewis and Anthony Lau. The pieces are as follows:

‘Crossing the Rubicon’
Written and Directed by Cal Lewis

Cast: 8 (5m/3f)
Venue: C Soco
Play run: 13th-25th August, 2008

An original piece that centres around contemporary social issues. ‘Crossing the Rubicon’ serves as a commentary on life in modern-day London, the trials and tribulations one faces, and the inevitable consequences of actions.

The play tells the story of Jack and his sister Lizzie, two relatively ‘normal’ adolescents, who hope for ‘good’ grades which lead to ‘good’ jobs. The attractive and playful Lizzie, is courted by Rufus, a local youth with a criminal background and a less than encouraging future. Feeling the duty to protect his sister and his family name, Jack is forced to defend his sister, bringing him into a world completely different from his own. This new, crooked environment tests the limits of Jack’s mental endurance, facing an inner battle of whether to return to the straight and narrow of his previous life, or go through with the new demands placed on him by his criminal superiors.

An ensemble, devised piece being led by artistic director Simon Thompson (see award-winning ‘Slippery Soapbox’) and produced by NT Treasurer Jackie Lee.

The Die Is Cast…

AUDITIONS:
Thursday 1st May, Portland Building West Concourse Lounge, 3-4pm; New Theatre Foyer, 4-5pm
Friday 2nd May, Portland Building West Concourse Lounge, 3-5pm

For more info or to book an audition slot, call:
Jackie Lee: 07961 771 557

‘Cross Stitching’
Written and Directed by Anthony Lau

Cast: 3 (2m/1f)
Venue: C Soco
Play run: 13th-25th August, 2008

From the production team that brought you ‘After Miss Julie’, comes a new modern day love story embedded with twists and turns rendering it closer to Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde than Romeo and Juliet.

Richard and Thomas’ burgeoning romance is limited only by their feelings of inadequacy and embarrassment as their affection in everyday situations and scenarios garner the unwanted disgust of a predominantly heterosexual society. In this surrealist piece, the consequence of such unwanted attention is Richard’s decision to have a gender-reassignment operation and thus the introduction of his post-operational alter ego, Gail. Non-linear and surrealist in style, ‘Cross-Stitching’ is an offer of new writing which has gone through the rigours of the Donmar Warehouse, whilst serving up something genuinely fresh and original in its analysis of contemporary social acceptance and perception.

AUDITIONS:
Wednesday 30th April, Portland Building D138, 2-4pm
Thursday 1st May, Portland Building East Concourse Lounge, 4-7pm

For more info, call:
Anthony: 07740 979 604
or
Sam: 07920 101 404

I cannot urge you enough to audition. You will never again have such an easy opportunity to perform in such a vibrant atmosphere as that which is uniquely presented by the Fringe. The talented people you will perform alongside and meet in Edinburgh will become part of your extended family. You will rub shoulders with producers, promoters, journalists, festival directors and other media types. In fact, the Fringe is a prime location for agents to snap up emerging talent. Many celebrities began their successful careers through the Festival: from Flight of the Conchords to Stephen Fry; Rachel Weisz to Emma Thompson. If a career in the arts (particularly theatre) is an ambition of yours, then Edinburgh will certainly give you a steady grounding in experience of the industry.

Finally, and most importantly, it promises to be the most fun summer of your life. Fact.

That’s enough from me, but keep your eyes peeled for auditions coming up. Sign-up sheets will be in the New Theatre foyer this week.

Get involved.

Tom
(NT Edinburgh Co-ordinator)

Committee Hustings this Friday at 1pm in New Theatre. If you think you’ve got what it takes to run New Theatre next year, come along and stand for election. The current Committee have written about their positions for you, so visit the following link and find out what there is to be done:

Click here to visit the Committee Hustings page. 

If you’re not thinking of standing, please come along anyway and cast your vote. It’s vital that you vet these people properly, since they’ll be in charge next year. This is your chance to make sure you get the right people for the job.

After the Hustings, the new Committee will meet with the current Committee and the hand-over process will begin. The new Committee will take over in the last week of term.

Proof, one of the two New Theatre shows that travelled up to Scarborough for NSDF last week, collected five awards at the Festival’s closing ceremony.

• Directors’ Guild Award for Best Director: Guy Unsworth
• Spotlight Award for Best Actress: Anna Wheatley
• Judges Award for Acting: Lizzie Bourne
• Best Sound Design: Nick Breen
• Best Set Design: Guy Unsworth & Crew

This is a fantastic achievement. The NSDF is a Festival that celebrates the best Student theatre in the country. Just getting selected is an enormous complement to any Company. But to win these awards is staggering. And what’s more, practically every facet of theatre is represented in the categories above. On behalf of the New Theatre Committee, and all the Members, I’d like to offer hearty congratulations and much respect to the cast and crew of Proof, who did us all extremelly proud at the Festival.

For more about this year’s NSDF please visit newtheatre.org.uk/nsdf, and visit the Photo Gallery to look at the photos.

Proof was originally supported by KPMG and received a generous grant from the University of Nottingham to attend NSDF.

The New Theatre has won an award: at the closing ceremony of NSDF ‘08 last Friday we received a Special Judges’ Award for Promoting Student Theatre. This was in recognition of the fact that we are completely student-run, and have, for the second year running, had two productions selected for the Festival. The Judges were particularly impressed by the fact that our members are not Drama Students, and come from all possible walks of university life. In the light of this, hopefully the University will find it very difficult to demolish our, ahem, Award Winning New Theatre. Congratulations to everybody, you’re the ones that make it happen.

It’s been a busy week for us here at New Theatre - not only has our second external production ‘The Cranberry Chamber’ moved in, but we lost a member of our Committee, gained one, and held our Edinburgh ‘08 Proposals meeting.

Sam Turnbull resigned from his position of External Events Co-Ordinator on Wednesday, which meant that his shoes had to be filled pretty quickly, and so we held our mini-hustings to fill this position on Friday, and Simon Thompson ran for the position and won it! Congratulations Simon, we look forward to seeing all the new and exciting stuff you’re going to bring to the New Theatre table. The Committee would like to thank Sam for all his work and wish him the best of luck for the future.

Immediately following this was the Edinburgh ‘08 Proposals meeting, and the Committee once again pulled out all the stops and made the decision to send up not one, but TWO productions to Edinburgh this year in the last two weeks of August. Anthony Lau will be directing a piece of new writing and Cal Lewis will be directing a structured-devised piece, based around another piece of new writing. Plenty of opportunities to get involved here, from acting to working on the production teams, so if you’re interested get in contact with either of the directors, with Jackie Lee (for Cal’s production) or with our Social & Edinburgh Sec Tom Warren. Edinburgh auditions will be held very soon, so keep your eye out for that.

In other news ‘The Cranberry Chamber’, Student Improv Nottingham’s first production, finishes TONIGHT, so if you haven’t been to see it yet get on down to New Theatre! New writing combined with improvisation? We like.

The NSDF winners were announced on Sunday and Disco Pigs and Proof have both been selected for the Festival. This is the second year in a row in which Nottingham Uni has had two productions at the Festival, which usually features just ten shows from all over the country, so huge congratulations to all involved.

In other NSDF related news, the Arts Council reversed its decision to cut the Festival’s funding after rethinking its ludicrous position. It was a direct response to the weight of public support for NSDF, especially in the light of the petition, so thanks to all who signed - power to the people.

For those of you who missed the meeting but still want to audition, you can download the audition pack. Contained within are blurbs about all the plays, a timetable of plays, rooms and timings and the phone numbers of all the directors. If you missed the sign-ups you can phone the directors and organise an audition. Re-calls will take place on Saturday. To find out about re-calls, click here.

To download the Audition Pack, click the Word Document: