THE PLAY PRODUCED

THE RISE AND FALL OF LITTILIE VOICE

by Jim Cartwright

produced by Pinner Players Theatre Company in Pinner Village Hall

INTRODUCTIQN

Pinner Players was founded in 1936 and has been putting o n three plays a year in November March and May for some yea rs now We offer a varied selectio n fro m comedy to drama through classics to modern plays and all areas in between We have wanted to produce this comedy Idrama about the talented but introverted daughter living unde r the thumb of and in the shadow of he r ex trovert sluttish mother for some time but casting the eponymous Little Voice was a problem needing ~s it d oes a talented actress who was also a singer who could mimic the Greats A taU enough order for the profess ional stage but seemingly almost impossible for an amateur gro up Also the play was tec hnically very difficult the setting requires a fire a multishylevel and complex sound and lighting The direc tor Simon Cash had produced the one act play To by Jim Cartwright for the Harrow Arts Festival in 1996 and was very keen to mount this more ambitious full length play so taking a deep breath and with much crossing of fingers we placed it as our Ma y production ilnd therefore as the last play of our season before our summer break We then found out it had been made into an Oscar nominated film Whe ther this added to our audiences was a d ebatable point ilI1d the cas t itself was divided between those who went to see the film to get some ideas and those who stayed away for the same reason

The action of the play takes place in a northern town in present day and concerns the relationship between Mari Hoff a man-mad drunken widow whos sole purpose in life is to find herself another husband and her daughter the shy reclusive Little Voice so called because no one could ever hea r her But Little Voice has a secret talent she can accurately mimic the voices of the great female s ingers of popular mus ic whose records she plays constantly Maris curren t boyfriend a slimy small time impresario called Ray Sa y discovers the hidden talent of Little Voice and eventually persuades her to appear at a local

16

night-club In the meantime Little Voice has found a new friend and kindred spirit in Billy the teJephone mans s ilent assistant whos obsession is lights and lighting effects Add Sadie the fat monosyllabic neighbour who is always on hand to help Mari and Mr Boo the night-club owner who recognises a gold mine when he sees it and there is a totally believable cast of characters Who interact well and feed off each other The plays dialogue with strong language in places is full of rich northe rn di tleet much

sho uting and screaming and wonderful one liners and requires vocal dexterity from its non singers as weLl as Little Voice

CASTING

Pinner Players cas tings all fo llow the same pattern the direc tor selects various parts of the play and those interes ted in a par ticular part are asked to read with others w1til all have had their chance at all the par ts requested A final decis ion is made by the 3 person casting committee which includes

the direc tor For this play Si m had prepared a tape using ex tra from Shirley Bassey Ma ri lmiddot Monroe and of course jud Garland and the actres auditioning for Little Voice san_ along with the cassette an _ continued when the volume W

lowered Our chosen Little Voie was a newcomer to the compm although known to the chai rmal who taught her drama she e looks like a young Judy Garla and although ex tremely nervou~ rose to the occasion wonderful well a nd g rew in strength an~ oConfidence th ro ughout thte rehearsal period The other pa shywere cast from o ur regula members with no problems of ag etc

REHEARSALS

Rehearsals are held o n tw evenings per week and in this case we had a 9 week rehea rsal period Pinner Playe rs reheilfse in th lounge o f the village hall which is slightly narrower from front t back than the s tage and whi h sometimes leads to problems with perspective The dialect did nelt pose a problem to our Londo based actors although we decided to play the part of Ray Say as a Cockney What they did fin d difficult especially Mari was the sheer effort required to deliver thE extremely clever lines at the breakneck speed and at the volume required from the script In several places dialogue is superimposed on music - in at least two places over two different songs both played at full vo lume

Because other groups use the main hall rehearslt1ls on stage are very limited and we could only manage two prior to play week The sp lit levels and the a lleyway cou ld not accurately be depicted in the lo unge and of course the scene could no t be se t for the fire so the first technica l rehearsal on s tage on the Monday before the play wa somewhat fraught with the cas t find ing their way around the set and handling the props for the firs t time and the technical crew sound lighting and backstage needing the time to set the lighting board cue the music and rehearse the scene changes

In retrospect it was ag reed that not enough time had been allowed for

AU6UST

The number for and the Press I also to dialogue making the

-up to the Anthem which 5 Act I much more powerful d II One More Opponent

me dialogue thus making this more comprehensible and

Interview was cut in parts also became dialogue The mal Someone Else s Story

- 3d ded to the end of the show Florence which then linked into Ep ilogue with both she AND

ly encUng the show as they dually reflect upon their

were provided mostly by the any bearing in mind the midshy

which the show is set Only opening Mefilno folkshy

mes were hired I decided to th the colour theme of dark

Russians and bright colours ~ Americans The make-up

signed to suit the nationality characters The Arbiter

be the one character whose up would reflect the game of

- n that his face was painted in lack and white squares

ng the look of a chess-board h lme followed this black

STAGING

wnique and imaginative set - igned by Jolm Buckley and

- TUCted by himself and his ted team of workers The n is noted for its sets which ~ul arly hired by other _ around the country before

_ tripped due to lack of _ t space CHESS is a show any scenes so I decided to

m the thrust and make a ess-board the centrepiece of t stage built out in front of stage (the audience seated

_ - on three sides of the thrust) ~ main stage itself DR and

o 10 revolves formed the

hen revolved revealed the - hotel settings in Italy and

Centre of the main stage the backdrop for other

- by us ing flags for the - C1nd set pieces on trucks

Bangkok hotel foyer and se t plus lanterns (the

Ta being US)

USt itself was built at two la rge step behVeen linking

level of the stage proper games were played on

~e level thrust setting the nd to the dance routines

iving a total area of 27 x luding peripheral and

The ramps and steps easy access to and from the

arena ensemble entrances often being made through the audience from the floor of the arena The chess- board itself was designed to incorporate sequenced lighting beneath each square Fortunately ou r sponsors Plastics Direct provided the heavy-duty clear and black plastic for the illuminated thrust or the design would not have been cost-effective

Two 52 television screens mounted on either side of the proscenium relayed video footage TV news bulletins and live video of TV news bulle tins interviews and the settings for the embassy airport Budapest etc using rear projection units

LIGHTING

Before we could even begin to light this show we needed to install extra lighting bars to cope with playing in the thrust Wiring of four new bars commenced about hVo weeks before we opened and was completed two days before Lighting the show provided the idea l opportunity for the technicians to test our new Strand GSX lighting console to the full The main arena chess-board was lit from benea th wi th 32 x 500W floods all these being controlled individually by our lighting board to be used in a series of chase sequences as the human chess pieces echoed the game on the upper thrust level

We used 4 x 12kw follow spots to create a dose relationship with each character and the audience We needed 16 packs in all to give us a total of 96 dimmers available shythis was just enough to cope with the number of lights we required As most of the show would be staged on the chess-board thrust there was no scenery to light so it was decided to use subtle colour changes to alter our sets With a combination of deep amber and light s traw this was achieved Coupled with profiles and fresnels this was the backbone of our rig To give colour to the dramatic Bangkok scene 10 par cans with assorted colours were used This show had no limits for our lighting team and allowed them to be as imaginative as the budget would let them

SOUND

The sound rig was quite complicated All principals had a radio mic fixed mics were strategically placed round the thrust the off-stage backing group had separate mics and on top of a ll this individual members of the orchestra were mic-ed plus monitor system for MD and cast

SO HOW DiD IT GO~ _ As the opening became imminent we managed to rehearse on the full set only twice before the show - the Saturday and Sunday before we

opened on the Monday The large George Lawton Hall is hired for each production and everything even our own pound70K Lottery-funded seating has to be installed for each production Everything went very smoothly and it was indeed a rather electrical experience when the company firs t came in contact with the chess-board Prefaced by fits of ne rves lots of gargling backstage the odd bit of yodelling and much excited anticipation the overture began and the game was ready to be played My cast had given me 101 and they played that game beautifully I have loved directing this tea m - and 13 is definitely not my lmlucky number Everybody had pulled together shyand they pulled it off Some doubters have said this show couldnt be done by amateurs Mossle) proved them wrong shyCHECKMATE

Postscript Our apologies for the misunderstanding which led to our claim that Mossley presented the Northern amateur premiere of CHESS (see June issue) and our congratulations to those other companies who have taken up the challenge of this com plex show As we go to press we learn that Mossley has scored a bulls-eye with their remarkable production which out of some 150 reviewed by the GMDF panel of three adjudicators throughout the 1998 9 season has been awarded Best Overall Musical Prod uction Best Presentation and for Nita Bennett Best Director John Buck ley the companys Stage Director joint Designer Scenic Artist and Production Secretary received the prestigious Laurence Roberts Trophy 1999 for Personal Achievement in Amateur Theatre fo r his work with Mossley Their only problem now is - follow that

IR

ALL SCRIPTS SCORES AND LIBRETTI FEATURED IN

THE PLAY PRODUCED AND THE MU ICAL PRODUCED

CAN TA OM

TEL 0171-837-5655 FAX 0171-833-0609

9

The number for and the Press I also to dialogue making the

-up to the Anthem which 5 Act I much more powerful d II One More Opponent

me dialogue thus making this more comprehensible and

Interview was cut in parts also became dialogue The mal Someone Else s Story

- 3d ded to the end of the show Florence which then linked into Ep ilogue with both she AND

ly encUng the show as they dually reflect upon their

were provided mostly by the any bearing in mind the midshy

which the show is set Only opening Mefilno folkshy

mes were hired I decided to th the colour theme of dark

Russians and bright colours ~ Americans The make-up

signed to suit the nationality characters The Arbiter

be the one character whose up would reflect the game of

- n that his face was painted in lack and white squares

ng the look of a chess-board h lme followed this black

STAGING

wnique and imaginative set - igned by Jolm Buckley and

- TUCted by himself and his ted team of workers The n is noted for its sets which ~ul arly hired by other _ around the country before

_ tripped due to lack of _ t space CHESS is a show any scenes so I decided to

m the thrust and make a ess-board the centrepiece of t stage built out in front of stage (the audience seated

_ - on three sides of the thrust) ~ main stage itself DR and

o 10 revolves formed the

hen revolved revealed the - hotel settings in Italy and

Centre of the main stage the backdrop for other

- by us ing flags for the - C1nd set pieces on trucks

Bangkok hotel foyer and se t plus lanterns (the

Ta being US)

USt itself was built at two la rge step behVeen linking

level of the stage proper games were played on

~e level thrust setting the nd to the dance routines

iving a total area of 27 x luding peripheral and

The ramps and steps easy access to and from the

arena ensemble entrances often being made through the audience from the floor of the arena The chess- board itself was designed to incorporate sequenced lighting beneath each square Fortunately ou r sponsors Plastics Direct provided the heavy-duty clear and black plastic for the illuminated thrust or the design would not have been cost-effective

Two 52 television screens mounted on either side of the proscenium relayed video footage TV news bulletins and live video of TV news bulle tins interviews and the settings for the embassy airport Budapest etc using rear projection units

LIGHTING

Before we could even begin to light this show we needed to install extra lighting bars to cope with playing in the thrust Wiring of four new bars commenced about hVo weeks before we opened and was completed two days before Lighting the show provided the idea l opportunity for the technicians to test our new Strand GSX lighting console to the full The main arena chess-board was lit from benea th wi th 32 x 500W floods all these being controlled individually by our lighting board to be used in a series of chase sequences as the human chess pieces echoed the game on the upper thrust level

We used 4 x 12kw follow spots to create a dose relationship with each character and the audience We needed 16 packs in all to give us a total of 96 dimmers available shythis was just enough to cope with the number of lights we required As most of the show would be staged on the chess-board thrust there was no scenery to light so it was decided to use subtle colour changes to alter our sets With a combination of deep amber and light s traw this was achieved Coupled with profiles and fresnels this was the backbone of our rig To give colour to the dramatic Bangkok scene 10 par cans with assorted colours were used This show had no limits for our lighting team and allowed them to be as imaginative as the budget would let them

SOUND

The sound rig was quite complicated All principals had a radio mic fixed mics were strategically placed round the thrust the off-stage backing group had separate mics and on top of a ll this individual members of the orchestra were mic-ed plus monitor system for MD and cast

SO HOW DiD IT GO~ _ As the opening became imminent we managed to rehearse on the full set only twice before the show - the Saturday and Sunday before we

opened on the Monday The large George Lawton Hall is hired for each production and everything even our own pound70K Lottery-funded seating has to be installed for each production Everything went very smoothly and it was indeed a rather electrical experience when the company firs t came in contact with the chess-board Prefaced by fits of ne rves lots of gargling backstage the odd bit of yodelling and much excited anticipation the overture began and the game was ready to be played My cast had given me 101 and they played that game beautifully I have loved directing this tea m - and 13 is definitely not my lmlucky number Everybody had pulled together shyand they pulled it off Some doubters have said this show couldnt be done by amateurs Mossle) proved them wrong shyCHECKMATE

Postscript Our apologies for the misunderstanding which led to our claim that Mossley presented the Northern amateur premiere of CHESS (see June issue) and our congratulations to those other companies who have taken up the challenge of this com plex show As we go to press we learn that Mossley has scored a bulls-eye with their remarkable production which out of some 150 reviewed by the GMDF panel of three adjudicators throughout the 1998 9 season has been awarded Best Overall Musical Prod uction Best Presentation and for Nita Bennett Best Director John Buck ley the companys Stage Director joint Designer Scenic Artist and Production Secretary received the prestigious Laurence Roberts Trophy 1999 for Personal Achievement in Amateur Theatre fo r his work with Mossley Their only problem now is - follow that

IR

ALL SCRIPTS SCORES AND LIBRETTI FEATURED IN

THE PLAY PRODUCED AND THE MU ICAL PRODUCED

CAN TA OM

TEL 0171-837-5655 FAX 0171-833-0609

9