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carlton Chronicle |
You are invited to come along and be entertained by over 30 members of Wimbledon's leading drama group for an evening of sketches, plays and comedy. Feel free to bring your own beverages to sit in candlelight for an informal, fun evening on Thursday 3rd and Friday 4th March from 8pm.
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IN THIS ISSUEComing Soon: The 2005 Workshops Carlton Christmas Quiz Answers 2005 SHOWS ANNOUNCEDAfter a very interesting selection process, the committee are pleased to annouce the shows the group will be performing in 2005. See the Forthcoming Attractions for more details. The shows will be as follows:
So get your thinking caps on, and come up with a proposal for a show you would like to direct. The whole season will be decided at a special committee meeting on December 5th (at Andrew Candish's flat), so be aware you may be asked to direct the November 2005 show! Ask the committee for details - there's a form to fill in. PLAYING AWAYIan Ward is playing Bill Sykes in Cygnets' production of Oliver, 18-22nd May 2005 at the Polish Centre in Hammersmith. More specific details to follow when/if he gets them! It has not been confirmed whether Jeff Graves has contacted Cygnets to ask whether they need someone to play Bullseye... We at the Chronicle wish Ian all the best in his accurate portrayal of murderous villainy. CHRONICLE PRIZE FOR CHRONIC JOURNALISMEach issue, the editor awards a contributor a prize for talent, wit, integrity or just plain neck. This time around the prize goes to Katy Wey for "Hope In The Face Of Age" Congratulations Katy, that will be £10. If you would like a chance at winning this illustrious prize, write something for the Chronicle! Get your name in print, if not lights! |
COMMITTEE CRISIS UPDATESadly, despite lots of shameless begging, there are still two positions vacant in the Carlton Committee. Mike Norman-Smith, who is a prince among men, and the hem of whose robe I am not worthy to touch, as taken up the +3 Gauntlet of Publicity, and will be performing his magic on the local media. He is already making connections with a number of local heritage and community organisations, and will be starting on the local newspapers soon. If you have any contacts or information that would be useful to Mike for publicising the group, let the committee know at the usual Hotmail address. That still leaves the Social & Fundraising, and Membership Secretary positions free. Please come forward if you can help. The Committee is vital for running the group, and if we don't have enough people to take part, decisions can't be made and the group will grind to a halt. Please, please, if you can, step forward and have a go. The current committee is as follows:
This means that officially,
As you can see, there are two vacancies. And while the committee as it stands will be able to struggle through, we can't go on forever. We need people to come forward and join the committee and help keep the Society going. The Carlton depends greatly on fundraising to survive, and while last years total was great, it won't last forever! We need your help! We really need someone to fill the position of Membership Sectretary. It was created, based on the newly updated constitution, and would involve maintaining the membership list, and making sure that all the member details are up to date. This can be done by anyone with a PC. We're always looking for new members, but we need to keep track of our current ones too. All committee members get to decide which shows are performed, so it would be great for someone wishing to get more involved with the Society. The committee works as a team, with monthly meetings round each others homes (wine provided!). We help each other out as well, writing press releases, phoning theatres, ensuring the Society is run smoothly. Please help if you can. Please. Please. Contact the Committee for further details. Join the committee!Imagine the power!Your Society needs you! |
Something to share? Send all your news items to the editor. PLEASE.
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Kathie Arundell writes: A red carpet, Cristal Champagne, DJs, Ballgowns and tiaras (but no tantrums puleeze!) Planning is now underway for our Star Studded Gala next year - put the date in your diaries NOW - Saturday 9th April 2005 at Drake House, Wimbledon.
Along with the usual wonderful gourmet sustenance, exquisite refreshments, a number of special guests hopefully will be in attendance. At the moment, invitations have been extended to Elvis 'The King' Presley, Shania Twain, Andrea Corr, Tom Jones and Bjork to name just a few! Musical Maestro Mr Mike A will be doing the music; Incredible Ian and Masterful Matt will be compering the evening!
But would YOU like to be a STAR for one night only? Would YOU like to join that esteemed star-quality company? Would YOU like to say "Tonight Matthew and Ian, I am going to be..."?
Okay, the plan is that whilst we are all stars in our own right, some of us have that extra special starry talent to sing and be someone else. Who would you like to be? Let us know! If you want to be your own wonderful self and sing - tell us! If time permits, we'll have a girls' chorus and might even throw in a boy band too. If any of this interests you, please get in touch with Kathie Arundell (in confidence) and we will take it from there. There are limited slots - so don't wait - make a decision NOW and join the fun!
The plans are underway for a Gala that, with your participation, will be a Star-Studded night - one never to be forgotten!
Kathie can be contacted on Kathie.Arundell@hblb.org.uk; Kathryn.Arundell@ukgateway.net; 0208 540 5457 - call now!
The May production has been chosen, and it will be a new adaption of 'Marat/Sade', subtitled 'Theatre of Mind'.
Veteran Carlton writer and director Mehmet Izbudak will be writing and directing this piece, so you can be sure of a quality production, with lots of interesting parts.
Auditions take place at the WCC on Thursday 10th & Monday 14th March, starting at 7.30. Turn up to find out what it's all about.
The production is on at the Wimbledon Studio Theatre, from 24th to 28th May.
Carl Whiteside is directing this comedy classic, set in the toilets of a nightclub. More details as and when!
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Above: Christina Ricci as Wednesday Addams - "Down in one, down in one, down in one!"
Above: South Park's Wendy - Steve as Stan?
Above: Princess - Steve as Keyop?
Above: Getting warmer…
Above: That's more like it. Katy says "la la la hello bunnies"
Thanks very much Katy! More probing next
prog...send in your nominations now! No, really! HAVE YOUR
SAY!
*descriptions charged at the following rates: Honest=free;
Tactful=£5; Glowing=£10
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The Christmas Party was a great success, with music, dancing, karaoke, an awards ceremony to rival the Oscars (in terms of gold envelopes at least) and not least the announcement of the answers to the Christmas Quiz. Mike Tierney was the proud winner of the quiz, and he won a prize for winning it. Thanks to Kate "We were flung!" Mitchell and Ruth "I'm stopping the tap!" Brooks for organizing it, Lucie "Charmant!" Morris for the Oscars, and last but not least, Jeff "You broke Thermometer!" Graves and Katy "I love big men!" Wey for the quiz. The answers are below - how many did you get right? I got loads.
Here we go...
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There is more to the Carlton than felling forests and filling rubbish dumps. Check out these handy hints before you throw your out-of-date address list away.
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People do not bother to move their lips or part their teeth
when speaking, and often use very little speech-energy. The
result is that consonants are barely articulated, and vowel
sounds become flattened almost out of recognition - most
particularly the long "o" sound - the same indeterminate
quality doing duty for them all. Our English vowel sounds,
though perhaps not so pleasing as those of other languages, are
not without beauty when given their true value. (Often we are
faced with such grim alternatives as the following:
East End congregation: "Prise 'im for 'is grice and
fiver."
West End congregation: "Preese Him for His greece and
fever.")
This disregard of vowel sounds is one of the most striking and
one of the ugliest features of modern speech… This is
probably the main reason why our younger actors and actresses
so frequently fail in the playing of Shakespeare, and other
"classical" plays. Thye are unable to rid themselves of that
manner of speech which stamps them so unmistakably as
"1930".
More useful advice from Ms Mackenzie next time…
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Kathie's back, this time with a delicious combination of tastes for all you gourmets.
This is easy and it makes you look like you have slaved all day to produce it!
Ingredients
Note: In the summer time, this can be served cold. Follow the above and after it all cools down, place in fridge and chill.
See Note Below first!
Ingredients
Note: DOUBLE ALL THE ABOVE EXCEPT THE PORTION OF PORK TENDERLOIN
Doesn't that sound absolutely yumptious! Let Kathie know if you have a recipe to share.
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Within the chest of that stocky great hunk of blokehood, John Gargrave, beats the heart of a peacock. Or so I thought when I witnessed this episode on the tube at Colliers Wood in 2000: I was sitting most of a carriage away when he alighted, looked about him and took a seat. At Tooting Broadway the doors opened and a woman got on. Immediately John stood up and offered her his seat with a flourishing motion of his hand. She blushed with that look of 'what do I do when a man offers me his seat on an almost empty tube carriage?' and she sat far enough away to dissociate herself from him, yet not so far as to pay him an insult. At each stop John leapt up from his seat to offer it to: a schoolboy; a very frail old man; to help a blind woman and her dog onto the train. He got off at Stockwell, before the carriage was full but I felt sure that he would have stood for the rest of my journey to let another person sit, had the opportunity arisen.
Giving to beggars and charity tins is one thing: actively seeking out the needy, kicking down their front doors and fulfilling their needs is another. After what I saw on the tube I talked to Bill and, I confess, we followed John - taking it in shifts and only for eighteen months - nothing sinister or obsessive. A repeated piece of behaviour we witnessed was John waiting in a queue; giving up his place; queueing again; etcetera. The most extreme act of self-sacrifice was this: John joining an extremely long queue at a gig venue in the West End, waiting for 50 minutes in the freezing cold and, when his turn came to go in, giving up his place to a woman who had just arrived. She was inappropriately dressed for such weather but she melted John's big heart and he rejoined the back of the queue. We could only speculate as to what happened when he finally got inside but she certainly looked very grateful at the door.
John was a practitioner of the little-known life-style of 'intrusive aggressive chivalry'. In a bygone age he would have been busy throwing alms to lepers; spreading his cloak over puddles; slaying dragons and rescuing maidens from towers having faintly phallic architecture. People like John have been studied for several years by a team of anthropologists at the University of Seattle. They have found a huge increase recently in the phenomenon of ostentatious giving and helping and have nicknamed its adherents 'philanthro-terrorists'. These people throw aside the Christian doctrine of doing good deeds quietly, with no thought for reward. For them, the fact that they help the weak and needy in the full glare of publicity is all the more opportunity to recruit others to do good, by example.
So far we have told you only about the flashy, public side of John's self-sacrificial endeavours: we must balance the scales for this thoroughly decent man. Our observations revealed his routine of unconditional love. Monday mornings he was up with the lark, letting himself in to the Sydenham branch of Scope charity shop to sort manky clothes for an hour before heading off to his 9-to-5. On Wednesdays John would bathe himself, publicly, in humility by scrubbing, on his hands and knees, the front steps of a hostel for homeless people in Brockley; why shouldn't everybody feel proud when they walk up to their front door? Friday morning saw him peeling and cutting up vegetables for a charity soup run. That night he was ladling the stuff out and handing it to the freezing rough-sleepers on the embankment.
There are two Johns in the one body: all his life a battle has raged within him between the glory-seeker and a humble, monk-like figure who craves anonymity. Our research revealed that at school, when football teams were being picked, John, a popular boy and a good player was invariably one of the first to be chosen by a team captain. On one occasion he went so far as to feign wetting his pants by bringing a crisp packet full of water onto the pitch and spilling it on his shorts. This got him chosen after the matchstick-legged boy with bottle-bottomed glasses and he achieved his childhood ambition - being the most despised kid in the school. It didn't last though. His insuppressible congeniality and social magnetism made the episode disappear from the minds of his schoolmates and in two days he was again being carried, shoulder high, for something or other.
After leaving school and doing odds-and-ends jobs the selfless Samaritan enrolled on a Voluntary Service Overseas programme which took him first to the favelas of Sao Paolo and then flood-ravaged Bangladesh in search of wants that he could fulfil. From digging sewers to feeding orphans, John gave of himself until he could give no more. Weakened, he caught malaria. He fought an order for him to be sent back home but it was no use. Back in Britain he recovered and became a computer engineer.
As an I.T. professional, John found himself only half-fulfilled. His customers weren't really needy, as such. They were just people with computer problems.
"Your screen shouldn't freeze any more now but if it does, give me a call and I'll come by as soon as I can."
These are hardly the words of a swashbuckling hero with a sword between his teeth. After years of screwdriver-twiddling and reconfiguring John was so hungry for more. Some kind of quest. A crusade! A mission to stamp out difficulty and unpleasantness in the lives of others here in the streets of south London! That's when the 'extreme charity', outlined above began.
Being a Thoroughly Decent Human Being to passers-by is all very fine but it is opportunistic. What if there are no people here and now with unfulfilled needs? John had to find a way to make his sense of duty and self sacrifice into his way of life rather than his hobby. He needed to be needed all the time. What kind of work would put John in the front line of help and service and give him an honest day's pay? Social work? Pah! They're all so politically correct and right-on. The police force was too dictatorial and authoritarian for such a free thinker as he. The fire service rejected John for being so physically fit that he damaged breathing apparatus in a trial with the amazing power of his lungs. Nothing seemed right. Then, David Blunkett was made Home Secretary and vowed to create a new tier of socially responsible people: Police Community Support Officers. More in touch with - and part of - the community than the police themselves. One may become a PCSO providing any minor drugs convictions, drink-driving convictions and county court judgements for fraud are at least six months old; and one has been off the sex offenders register for at least a year; and with no academic qualifications. John was able to tick all those boxes so he applied. Just look at him now! Resplendent in his high-visibility jacket he pounds his beat in Kingston and holds his head up proudly.
Gone are the hours spent standing in queues for things he doesn't want. No more charity shop volunteering. No. John gets all the personal fulfilment he craves from making the streets not only safer but feel safer. He's done a first aid course, he's armed with his radio and can summon the police at will. Woe betide the youth spraying graffiti on John's beat. Unruly behaviour in Kingston is retreating.
The other day we saw John at the deli counter in Tesco. He gave away his numbered ticket... must have just changed his mind about those stuffed olives.
Join us next time for another look into the murky waters of the Carlton pond, and other tortured metaphors.
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We meet twice a week, on Mondays and Thursdays, at the Wimbledon Community Centre, St. George's Road in Wimbledon at 8.00pm. After rehearsals (10.30pm until we get thrown out), you'll usually find us in the Hogshead pub at the bottom of Wimbledon Hill. All are welcome to pop in to a rehearsal, or catch us in the pub - see you there! We've been running for over 75 years, and new members are always welcome! VHS tapes and DVDs of some of our past productions are available - contact the committee for details. |
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If you want to contact the whole membership, please go through the committee! |
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These fees are subject to change at any time. To pay any fees,
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Another month, another format. If there is anything missing from the calendar I do apologise - my clairvoyance is affected by Seasonal Affective Disorder. You'll have to help me out by emailing me any items you would like to see included.
Thursday 3 and Friday 4 March 2005, Wimbledon Community Centre
9 April 2005, Drake House, Wimbledon
written and directed by Mehmet Izbudak
Auditions - Thursday 10 and Monday 14 March, WCC, 7.30
Tuesday 24 - Saturday 28 May 2005, New Wimbledon Studio Theatre
Early August 2005, Colourhouse Theatre (Date TBC)
by Willy Russell, directed by Carl Whiteside
November 2005, New Wimbledon Studio Theatre (Date TBC)
Thanks for reading! Be sure to visit
the Carlton website for up-to-the-minute news!
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