About
From the Chairman:
Hello, and welcome to the Parlour Players website. We’ve designed it to be easy to use and fun to read. On it you can find all about the various plays we have staged in the past and what we are up to at the present time.
A little bit of our history …. The Parlour Players was formed in 1980, when several people in the Sanderstead United Reformed Church had enjoyed putting on Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat and wanted to try their hand at different types of drama. At that time, there were few amateur societies locally and they would only accept people with experience. The only answer was to start our own group – so we did! The Club was formed from people full of enthusiasm but just a few who had experience. Its aims were to encourage anyone who wanted to try their hand at anything that went to make up a show; acting, of course, but also set building, stage management, props, make-up, sound, lighting and front of house. No experience was required, just the willingness to join in and learn.
Learning as we went along, we progressed to costume drama and even a musical. We now present high quality shows that vary from comedy and thrillers to drama and murder mysteries. Our aim, however, has remained the same to this day, and everyone is made welcome regardless of their experience or lack of it!
We still use the Sanderstead United Reformed Church hall as our base and all our shows are presented there. Our membership has expanded considerably since those far off days and you do not have to be connected to the Church to belong.
November 2009 saw our production of “Double Cut”, a tense and psychological thriller, where nothing is quite as it seems! Involving diamonds, a wealthy heiress and an intriguing newcomer, the play kept our audiences guessing right up to the end.
In May 2010, we presented “Noises Off” by Michael Frayn, an ambitious project for the group, involving a two storey set and plenty of work changing the set in the interval! The play, as readers will probably know, is one of the funniest comedies ever written and had our audiences in stitches!
Members of Parlour Players also get together at a variety of social occasions, which take place throughout the year. Please see the News section for more details.
I hope you enjoy exploring this website and please contact us through our Secretary, Kate Nash, on katenash100@hotmail.com, if you would like more information or are interested in joining us.
Roger Brimble
Chairman
July 2010
