Making Tracks #5

Meet the cast – part 2

SUP’s new production of family favourite THE RAILWAY CHILDREN pulls into NST Campus in Southampton, 22-25 January 2020. You can book here – and tickets start at just £10

Anna Hussey (Mother)

Anna has been with SUP for one year, and has enjoyed being part of both Agatha Christie’s Then There Were None and appearing in SUP’s wartime anthology For The Fallen. She is very excited to step into the role of Mother in The Railway Children, especially as she gets to perform her biggest role to date on the Nuffield stage. Anna has spent many years backstage, so is very grateful for all the opportunities that SUP offers her on stage.

Sam Hussey (Mr Szezcpansky, Detective, Superintendent, Worker)

This is Sam’s first show with SUP, having stepped in to play the role of Mr Szezcpansky and some ensemble parts. He is by no means new to the local theatre scene, though, having tried his hand at everything from Shakespeare to musicals. He’s looking forward to his first time on the Nuffield stage, and has particularly enjoyed being able to try out a new accent!

Rameen Jamal (Maid, Mrs Perks)

A graduate from the London College of Music, specialising in Musical Theatre for Actors. Rameen has been performing from a very young age and has spent her entire academic career studying: Performing Arts, Musical Theatre, Acting and Dance. Rameen has a keen interest in the Shakespearean era, physical theatre and spoken voice. She makes her return to performing after an eight-year hiatus as a new member of the SUP in The Railway Children.

Deborah Knight (Cook, Worker, Crowd/Passenger)

Deborah has been dabbling in acting and puppetry since the last century, joining SUP in 2018. Her most memorable roles include the Mayor of the Munchkins and a chocolate egg-laying chicken, both with ACTS. She enjoys singing with local natural voice choirs and leading a meditation group – and last December, played Mrs Christmas at Furzey Gardens for SUP/Minstead Trust.

Maisie Lake (Peter)

This is Maisie’s first production with SUP. She has been performing since she was 10 and is currently applying to go to drama school. Some of her favourite roles include Anita in West Side Story and Hamlet in an all-female production of the play. Maisie is a keen singer and enjoys writing poetry.

Jamie Lawrie (Jim, Detective, Perks child, Crowd/Passenger)

Jamie joined SUP in 2019, and is keen to develop his acting skills. His first role with the company was in the hilariously slapstick The Man On The Floor segment of Neil Simon’s London Suite, performed at the Rose Theatre, Eastleigh in October 2019.

Jenni Watson (Mrs Viney, Crowd/Passenger)

Jenni’s love of acting was ignited when she was an extra in the film A Man For All Seasons whilst at drama school. Over the years she has performed for many local groups, her favourite roles include Vladimir (Waiting for Godot), Lady Booby (Joseph Andrews), Ellie Dunn (Heartbreak House), Lady Capulet (Romeo and Juliet), Paulina (Winters Tale), Red Queen (Alice), Nancy (Sitting Pretty), Caraboss (Sleeping Beauty), Mrs Pearce (Pygmalion), Angela in (Vicars) and Clara (Hay Fever). Jenni is looking forward to The Railway Children – it should be absolutely spiffing!

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About the director

Paul Green has been acting and directing in the Southampton area for more than 40 years. He joined SUP in 2018 to direct our acclaimed production of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, presented right here at NST Campus in January 2019. For SUP, he also co-wrote, directed and acted in the wartime anthology For The Fallen, which toured various venues and festivals in the summer of 2019. For RAODS, he directed Mary Shelley by Helen Edmondson at The Plaza Theatre in September. He is delighted to be directing The Railway Children as it allows him to use a variety of techniques, including his signature physical theatre style and imaginative stage effects. This production also gives him the opportunity to play with humorous material as, after all, theatre should be fun as well as creative.

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THE RAILWAY CHILDREN at NST Campus, 22-25 January 2020 – matinee Sat 25th Jan

Book now: call 023 8067 1771 or click here

Tickets from just £10

 

 

Making tracks #3

The rail-related charities we’re proud to be supporting

SUP and its production of THE RAILWAY CHILDREN are pleased to be supporting two charities: The Railway Benefit Fund, and Railway Children.

We will be promoting and collecting for both charities at all performances of The Railway Children, NST Campus 22-25 January 2020, and will be donating all profits from programme sales. We hope you can support SUP in supporting these very worthy causes.

Railway Benefit Fund (RBF) – ‘helping railway families through tough times’

Based in Crewe, a railway town in Cheshire, the RBF is the only UK charity that is solely focused on supporting current and former railway employees and their families when they find themselves in times of need.

An independent organisation founded in 1858 and incorporated by Royal Charter in 1949, the charity offers financial help, practical support and wide-ranging advice, all in strict confidence.

The RBF president is Pete Waterman OBE – record producer, songwriter, DJ, TV presenter and a keen railway enthusiast.

Earlier in 2019, the RBF launched an updated identity, including a new logo, colours and font: “In the past 160 years the charity has evolved and changed depending on the needs of the industry. But in the last few years we’ve changed quite a lot: we’ve listened to market research and industry stakeholders to ensure we are relevant to today’s modern railway people. We’ve launched new services of support as well as looking at new ways in which we can engage and work with the industry to better look after its main asset – the people!”

“First and foremost, we hugely appreciate our supporters. Without your help we wouldn’t be able to do the work we do to change railway peoples’ lives.”

You can learn more and donate at https://www.railwaybenefitfund.org.uk

Railway Children – ‘fighting for street children’

Helping more than 300,000 street children over the last 22 years, Railway Children provides protection and support for children with nowhere else to go, and nobody to turn to.

“Every year thousands of children across the UK, India and East Africa run away or are forced to leave homes that have become unbearable through poverty, abuse, violence and neglect. Reaching a child as soon as possible is crucial to getting to children on the streets before an abuser can, and before they become entrenched in street life. We race to get to children before the streets get to them.”

Working at street, community and government level, Railway Children uses research to inform its work, influence policymakers and plan effectively, and works closely with partners on the ground.

The charity launched its third UK project in Leeds in summer 2019, looking out for children at risk on and around the rail network:

“Since we started this work in 2016 at Manchester Piccadilly, adding a base at London Euston in 2018, we have been able to help hundreds of young people and keep them safe from harm. Some have been running away from care or home or groomed by people planning to abuse them. Many have been exploited by criminal gangs into transporting drugs and money on the railways and others were just found at the station struggling with their own mental health issues. Wherever we’ve met them, we’ve been there and we’ve been able to make a difference.”

You can learn more and donate at https://www.railwaychildren.org.uk/

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THE RAILWAY CHILDREN at NST Campus, 22-25 January 2020 – matinee Sat 25th Jan

Book now: call 023 8067 1771 or click here

Tickets from just £10

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BLOG: Making Tracks #2

Action stations!

SUP director Paul Green explains why he wanted to direct The Railway Children – and his vision for this immersive production

I’ve been keen to direct this particular adaptation of The Railway Children for quite some time. Let me explain why.

Paul Green is directing THE RAILWAY CHILDREN for SUP Theatre Company

First, the place that its author E. Nesbit and this particular story hold in popular culture.

I read my first E. Nesbit  book at the age of nine and read virtually all her books in the next three years.

They were completely different from anything I had read before. As the previous blog explained, Edith Nesbit was a genuine trailblazer for what we now recognise as ‘modern children’s literature’. The genre, as we know it today, didn’t really exist before ‘Daisy’ got cracking.

Her style, structure, her approach and the way she presented her characters led the way, and many others followed in her wake. 

And for generations of adults, the 1970 film version starring Jenny Agutter, beautifully directed by Lionel Jeffries, is a touchstone for their childhood. It’s still a family favourite.

I felt we could not only bring the story to a new audience in Southampton, for all ages, but that we could also do something interesting and a little different with this well-known and much-loved story.

SUP is promising “an immersive experience”

Which brings me to the second reason I wanted to tackle this story: this adaptation by Mike Kenny.

It was first produced as a site-specific piece at York Railway Museum, featuring a live steam train. The show then moved into London for two highly successful runs, at Waterloo station and then Kings Cross. Both, again, featured a steam locomotive.

His main surprise was that the children are played by adults (20 year olds),  to emphasise the family aspects and the humour that runs through the whole play.

We have a few surprises up our own sleeves. We plan to recreate ‘The Golden Age of Steam’ live on the NST Campus stage with an immersive experience, in the same way we created that distinctive atmosphere for our Agatha Christie production – but it’s the writing that really marks this adaptation out.

It’s fast moving and it’s funny. It moves along at a cracking pace like, well, like a train.

The structure is clever, and the dialogue directly involves the audience. As a result, we feel emotionally invested in the story. It really is for people of all ages.

It has some marvellous moments. Twinges of sadness, flashes of anger, moments of tenderness.

All the characters are beautifully drawn, in particular the central trio of children. If you haven’t seen this version, I think you’ll love it. (And we also have some fantastic actors rehearsing their socks off right now.)

My overall vision for the show is based on open staging with very fluid changes, projections, and fast-paced action, with evocative lighting and special effects. The emphasis is on fun and, for the cast, team work.

I want to give audiences a dynamic experience, gathering them up and taking them through the story. With a few surprises along the way.

So, how am I going to tackle the set-pieces on stage, those moments you may remember from the book or the film?

The simple answer is “you’ll have to wait and see”. But expect imaginative and inventive effects.

We are planning to give you the sense, sounds and visuals of a full-sized steam locomotive coming your way. We want you to feel a part of it. Expect immersive sound, lighting and special effects. We’re working hard to present the landslide in a very interesting way. The five-bar gate the children watch the trains from is the easy part.

Hope to see you there!

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SUP proudly presents THE RAILWAY CHILDREN at NST Campus, 22-25 January 2020 – matinee on Sat 25th Jan

Book now: call 023 8067 1771 or click here

Tickets from just £10

 

BLOG: Making Tracks #1

Welcome to The Three Chimneys

SUP Theatre Company is taking audiences back to the Golden Age of Steam: SUP co-chair Stephen Fenerty introduces our January 2020 show and its author.

E. Nesbit’s The Railway Children is an acknowledged classic. Originally serialised in The London Magazine in 1905, it made its debut as a book the following year.

The story, in case you didn’t know, is about an Edwardian family forced to relocate from London to a house near the railway line in Yorkshire – the house is called The Three Chimneys – after the father, a high ranking civil servant at the Foreign Office, is imprisoned after being accused of spying.

A classic image from the 1970 film version of THE RAILWAY CHILDREN

The narrative follows the central trio of children – Bobbie (Roberta), Peter and Phil (Phyllis) – in their various adventures and with the colourful characters they meet in and around the railway.

The book mentions the then-current Russo-Japanese war, which dates the events to spring, summer and autumn of 1905.

The railway setting is believed to have been inspired by the author’s walks to Chesfield railway station in the London Borough of Bromley, near where she lived, and her observing construction of the railway cutting and tunnel.

Described by her biographer as “the first modern writer for children”, Edith Nesbit (1858-1924) wrote or collaborated on more than 60 books. Incidentally, even though her name was Edith, she was always known as Daisy.

Edith Nesbit – ‘Daisy’

A follower of the Marxist designer, poet and novelist William Morris, she was also a political activist and co-founded the Fabian Society, a socialist organisation that was later affiliated to the Labour Party.

The Railway Children is perhaps her most famous work, closely followed by The Story of the Treasure Seekers and Five Children and It.

Noël Coward was an admirer of her work, writing that she had “an economy of phrase, and an unparalleled talent for evoking hot summer days in the English countryside.”

The Railway Children has been adapted for the screen six times, including three serialisations on the BBC in the 1950s and 1960s, and a TV movie in 2000. The most famous version is Lionel Jeffries’ 1970 film. Jenny Agutter played Bobbie in both the BBC’s 1968 and the 1970 film version—and was re-cast as Mother for the TV movie in 2000.

The Olivier Award-winning stage adaptation being presented by SUP at NST Campus in January 2020 was first staged in 2008 and 2009 at the National Railway Museum in York, and later enjoyed highly successful runs at London’s Waterloo and Kings Cross rail stations.

Almost one hundred years after her death, E. Nesbit’s work is still with us, and continues to delight successive generations of children. As her biographer Noel Streatfeild wrote:

“When an author dies, as E. Nesbit did in 1924, too often their books are forgotten. This did not happen in her case, for the books have gone on, loved by generation after generation of children. Not all her books were great, but enough were for her name to belong forever to children’s literature.”

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SUP presents THE RAILWAY CHILDREN at NST Campus, 22-25 January 2020

Book now: call 023 8067 1771 or click here

Tickets from just £10

 

BLOG: Ghosts & Queens 3

Breathing new life into a Ravenhill play

Our latest guest blogger is Troy Chessman: a brand new SUP member and director of the upcoming GHOST STORY

Although I’ve trained as an actor, I’m no stranger to directing. I have directed a number of one act plays for drama festivals in Surrey.

Actor/Director Troy Chessman

I made my debut in 2015 with an abridged version of ‘Macbeth’ which went on to compete at the next round of the All-England Theatre Festival in Oxsted. Since then, I have directed ‘Brighton Beach Scumbags’ by Stephen Berkoff and co-directed ‘Almost Nothing’ by Marcos Barbosa, which I also won ‘Best Actor’ for.

Beyond the festivals, I have also directed a new modern contextualised version of Titus Andronicus, ‘Bonnie & Clyde’ by Adam Peck at NST City, and my own original brand new play ‘Won’t Fade Away’ about Alzheimer’s disease and memory.

Macbeth (2015)

When I heard that SUP was looking for a second play to enter into the Totton Drama Festival, my ears pricked up. ‘Ghost Story’ had been on my radar for a while. I then heard they were ideally looking for an all-female play and I knew I had to put it forward.

When choosing a play to direct, I always like to pick something that stirs something within me (and that can mean an array of things).

I ask myself, does this play make me think? Does it provide me with an opportunity to challenge myself as an artist? Are the themes relevant to me? Will it provide opportunities for my cast to create interesting characters? Is the message of the play something I advocate? Or is it something that bothers me, that I can address?

Troy in ‘Almost Nothing’

‘Ghost Story’ by Mark Ravenhill is, in its essence, a dark play with moments of comedy and embers of light.

Although the play is centred around the subject of cancer, it is NOT ‘a play about cancer’.

Rather , it’s a play that explores three women’s responses to having/dealing with/loving someone with cancer.

The play also goes against the conventional ‘Mark Ravenhill’ content that one might expect. There is no swearing, no profanity, no sex, just a stark insight into the characters’ responses to cancer.

Troy’s ‘Titus 2017’

The play questions the lies and truths that we tell ourselves and others in times of adversity. It offers three fascinating characters, each with their own motives and objectives.

Meryl is now a healer and a strong woman who had once overcome cancer but it is back  (is she a con women?).

Lisa is suffering from cancer and is looking to Meryl to coach and heal her to wellbeing (did her success in pushing Meryl to ‘cross the line’ impact Meryl’s fate?).

And there is Hannah, Meryl’s younger, naive and doting girlfriend, caught up in the impact of Meryl’s cancer (is her need to lie masking other issues?)

The play is not straightforward, the narrative leaves a lot to be deciphered, which is what makes the play so interesting.

Rehearsals for SUP’s ‘Ghost Story’ – 2019

As a director, I am free to unpick, explore and interpret the text as I see it. The text raises a lot of questions, which was exciting to discuss in rehearsals.

Who is the ‘villain’ of the play? Why does Meryl do what she does? Why is this character lying? Why is this character telling the truth? IS this character telling the truth? Who is dead? Is anyone dead?

The more you delve into the writing the more questions appear, more opportunities to make the performance interesting and dynamic.

Rehearsals for SUP’s ‘Ghost Story’ – 2019

In my rehearsal process I like to play with and explore new ideas.

I draw a lot of inspiration from the work of practitioners like Berkoff who choose to utilise the use of body and physicality, lifting the language of the text. I have tried to incorporate the use of breath and pace into the world of the characters.

The dialogue in this play is very important. I have stripped the set back to a minimum, giving us a suggestion of Meryl’s home in order to allow the performances, the dimensions, the chemistry of the actresses to be the focus of the piece.

I am incredibly lucky to have been able to cast three brilliant actresses who have taken on everything I have thrown at them and created three wonderfully compelling characters.

I can’t wait to share this piece with you and I hope you enjoy it.

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SUP is proud to present GHOST STORY on a double-bill with Tennessee Williams’ AND TELL SAD STORIES OF THE DEATHS OF QUEENS for one night only.

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SUP presents STORIES OF GHOSTS AND QUEENS at Totton Drama Festival – and FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY at the Rose Theatre, Eastleigh on Sat 6th April – 7.30pm

Tickets from just £9.50 – no booking fee payable

Click here to book tickets

BLOG: Ghosts & Queens

I Want Candy

And Tell Sad Stories of the Deaths of Queens

Director Paul Cresser explains his choice of play for this year’s Totton Festival of Drama – and reports on rehearsals

When choosing the play for my directorial debut at last year’s Totton Festival of Drama, I looked for a play that would suit the dynamics of our group.

I settled on ‘Darlings, You Were Wonderful!’ – an all-woman piece to complement the all-male ‘Bully Beef and Whizzbangs’ that we were also entering.

Paul Cresser: SUP Secretary and director of AND TELL SAD STORIES OF THE DEATHS OF QUEENS

Having found that, for the most part, I’d enjoyed the directing process, I started looking for another play to propose for the 2019 Festival.

This time I looked for a play that interested me rather than one that would suit others, and the proposal I came up with was rather different to our previous entries!

One of the things I decided early on was that I wanted to direct a play with an LGBT+ theme that wasn’t another (as I call them) ‘angsty coming out story’.

I wanted to direct a play that had a strong LBGT+ character that wasn’t about that character being gay. That’s when I found Candy: an out gay man and transvestite, perfectly comfortable with who he is in that respect.

The story of the play explores Candy’s character flaws that, although coloured by his sexuality, are simply ‘human’ flaws: the need for love and the fantasies that he constructs in order to find it.

In ‘And Tell Sad Stories of the Deaths of Queens’, I have set myself some challenges: a lead character who must be a convincing transvestite, as well as recreating late 1950s/early 1960s New Orleans and the Japanese-style home of an interior designer – all on a very limited budget.

I have found myself having to research wigs and sailor’s underwear as well as seeking out make-up tips and helping my lead actor try on various dresses. I’ve also had to pull together a co-ordinated set, worthy of the home of a talented interior designer.

These challenges aside, I’ve really enjoyed getting inside this little-known Tennessee Williams’ gem.

The play was never performed in his lifetime due to its subject matter, and it’s a play that is decades ahead of its time. It was written in 1950s/60s pre-civil rights America, yet many of the issues addressed are still as relevant today and it has been interesting to explore and discuss those issues.

I’m also delighted to have pulled together a fantastic cast – all of whom are playing parts outside of their normal experience.

They are working together extremely well and I’m enjoying seeing the characters from the pages of the play coming to life before me. Jonathan Shepherd has bravely stepped into Candy’s high heels and is gradually revealing more and more of his inner diva. Paul Jones is exploring what it means to be a bisexual hustler, whilst Stephen Fenerty and Chris Aland’s gay couple is a match made in heaven (not the nightclub!).

I have certainly found directing this play more stressful than my first experience with SUP, but that is because I feel so much closer to it and that in some way what I am producing here is an extension of my own personality.

It’s my baby, I love it and I’m just really hoping that everyone else will love it too.

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SUP presents STORIES OF GHOSTS AND QUEENS at Totton Drama Festival in March 2019 – and FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY at the Rose Theatre, Eastleigh on Sat 6th April at 7.30pm

Tickets from just £9.50 – no booking fee payable

Click here to book tickets

 

 

Christie on Campus #10

It’s show time: don’t blink

Ten victims. Ten suspects. Ten blogs… AND THEN THERE WERE NONE

It took a little persuasion from SUP to convince director Paul Green to take the helm on this new version of Agatha Christie’s AND THEN THERE WERE NONE.

He’d seen too many creaky am-dram productions on cluttered drawing room sets – and so he wanted to try something a little different…

“Don’t blink. Don’t even blink… Don’t turn your back, don’t look away, and don’t blink! Good luck…”

This time last year, if you had told me that I’d be directing an Agatha Christie play at NST Campus, I simply would not have believed you. But here we are, and you are about to see the culmination of a great deal of hard work, fun and ‘thinking outside the box’.

Fittingly, this is number ten in our series of pre-show blogs: the tenth and the last.

My starting point with the play was our group of performers. How do you integrate people who haven’t all worked together to trust each other? Remarkably easily, as it turned out.

I’ve been blessed with a cast that is happy to take multiple leaps of faith (quite literally) into uncharted territory, from the very first rehearsal onwards.

The cast of SUP’s AND THEN THERE WERE NONE

Maintaining the tension, suspense and paranoia that I wanted has been challenging and exhausting for all concerned but will, I am sure, produce a gripping, exciting and involving experience.

If you look at Christie’s script, I think the only real issues are to do with the stage mechanics, not her writing: notably the extremely detailed stage directions and the set itself, which are extremely prescriptive – if you choose to use them.

Her plotting is great. The story rattles along at a fine pace. Her characterization and dialogue are excellent. But the first thing I did was to strip back the set and furniture, so we could focus the action (and the audience) on what was really important – the growing suspicion, fear and paranoia on Soldier Island – and to throw the stage directions out of the window.

I wanted to create a far more fluid, free-flowing and immersive experience – reaching out into the audience at times.

So, if you come along expecting a drawing room/sit-down jolly murder mystery, I’d suggest that you strap yourself in and prepare for a rollercoaster ride instead. I believe theatre should be fun for all involved as well as challenging and risky – and hopefully there will be shocks and surprises aplenty.

Paul Green

I also believe that challenging theatre convention provides a more interesting experience, so our audiences can expect to see stage pictures and behaviour that might grate and raise questions. That’s healthy.

A great many people have contributed to this show, far too many to mention, but my heartfelt thanks go to all those who have helped and supported the show.

So, can you spot the clues?

Never let your guard down. Don’t trust anyone. Don’t blink.

Enjoy the show.

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Take your seats… SUP proudly presents Agatha Christie’s AND THEN THERE WERE NONE at NST Campus theatre from Wed 23-Sat 26 January 2019 – tickets from just £10

Concessions and group bookings also available

Click here to book tickets

 

Christie on Campus #9

A killer writer

You think you know the story. Think again.

Nobody plots and executes a murder mystery like Agatha Christie. In fact, writes cast member Stephen Fenerty, she pretty much defined the genre – and set the template for generations of ‘stalk and slash’ thrillers to come

As part of our preparations for rehearsals, director Paul Green asked the cast to read Christie’s original novel of AND THEN THERE WERE NONE.

Although Christie adapted the play herself – and the play hits virtually all the main beats of the novel – the detail and depth of characterisation in the book make for a different experience. I have a 1966 Fontana paperback edition (costing 3/6) that retains the book’s original UK title. It must have been one of the last to do so.

AND THEN THERE WERE NONE is the Christie novel that is most often mentioned by readers as being “the one that stumped me” when it comes to working out ‘whodunit’.

The main narrative ends with the killer still unknown. The reader only discovers who and how in a lengthy epilogue, which includes a chilling confession.

It’s all very clever: how Christie structures the plot, and plays with the reader.

This structure is distilled and ramped up in her play version, which has a running time of just 95 minutes. A great deal is packed in, I can tell you.

Christie builds the tension like a rollercoaster: the prolonged click-click-click of the carriages being pulled to the top of the first drop… that tiny pause… then the drop comes, you’re rushing over peaks and through tunnels at high speed, screams around you – until that sudden, shocking stop at the end.

Christie is a forward-looking writer in many ways. I was surprised more than once by the deftness of her writing, and by what a trailblazer she is.

Here’s an example. The preamble in the novel has the characters travelling to Soldier Island. In his train carriage, Blore meets a fully-fledged ‘harbinger’. Or to give this trope its proper name, a “Harbinger of Impending Doom” – and this apparently drunk old man plays a blinder. “There’s a squall coming,” he cackles. “Watch and pray… The day of judgment is at hand!” Lovely.

Mordecai: the harbinger in THE CABIN IN THE WOODS (2011)

In narratives like this, the harbinger plays a specific role: to warn the main characters about what’s about to befall them in the house, holiday camp or whatever location they’re heading for. The threat may be non-specific but the danger is very real. I was delighted to see this small but satisfying incident in the novel make it through to the play, in a brief recollection by Blore.

What follows in the novel is a template for the countless “murderer on the loose” stories that came in the decades after. A group is isolated, cut off from the world in a specific setting, and picked off one-by-one by a merciless killer. Revenge is generally the motive. All is revealed at the end.

And as Christie wrote, “it’s always more exciting to have a girl at the end” – whether that’s Jamie Lee Curtis or Neve Campbell.

Indeed, like the harbinger, the ‘final girl’ is another slasher convention that came to the fore in the 1970s when this set-up entered the post-Vietnam era with a cycle of increasingly gory horror films

HALLOWEEN (1978) – ever spotted the screaming face made by the knuckles? Eyes, nose and mouth…

The setting could be an archetypal small town, as in John Carpenter’s HALLOWEEN (1978) – a film that further solidified the template, opening the floodgates to a thousand imitations – or a summer camp, as in Sean S. Cunningham’s equally successful FRIDAY THE 13TH (1980). Along with high schools, hospitals, shopping malls, and so on.

Described as “stalk and slash” they soon became known simply as “slasher movies”.

Violent, bloody (and often misogynistic), they generally match the Christie template in that victims are often ‘punished’ for a previous crime or transgression. These might range from the minor (sex outside marriage, tut tut) to the major (previous actions resulting in the death or disfigurement of the future killer).

Agatha Christie laid the foundations.

FRIDAY THE 13TH (1980)

And while avoiding the excesses the genre would later feature, and generally writing (for the times) from quite a progressive pro-woman stance, Christie also takes the time to deliver ingenuous deaths. They are often clever and grisly (and sometimes funny) – like the FINAL DESTINATION films, a supernatural variation on this narrative – and in playing to those themes of revenge and/or delayed judgement or punishment for past misdemeanors.

So you can see a clear line from AND THEN THERE WERE NONE right up to today.

While SCREAM (1996) and its sequels cleverly subverted the genre, playing around with our expectations, THE CABIN IN THE WOODS (2011) does this even more intriguingly: a smart, funny and ultimately unsettling film.  The poster – shown at the top of this blog – shows the cabin (as seen in the EVIL DEAD films, CABIN FEVER, etc.) as a tricksy Rubik’s cube.

The house on Soldier Island might as well be a cabin in the woods.

Christopher Landon’s HAPPY DEATH DAY (2017) brings the slasher movie bang up to date with a blackly comic and clever mash-up of GROUNDHOG DAY (1993) and HALLOWEEN, featuring a brilliant central performance by ‘final girl’ Jessica Rothe. Watch it. It’s not very gory – and it’s huge fun.

The sequel, HAPPY DEATH DAY 2U (2018) is out this February. I’ll be in the cinema.

In these modern takes on the genre, things are not always what they seem. And that brings us right back to the Dame of Death, Agatha Christie. As the poster for THE CABIN IN THE WOODS says: You think you know the story. Think again.

This applies, completely, to SUP’s new version of AND THEN THERE WERE NONE.

Think you know the story already?

Well, it’s true: we are using Christie’s original text and her original ending, and the characters you probably remember. But we are going to make you think again.

I promise.

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SUP proudly presents Agatha Christie’s AND THEN THERE WERE NONE at NST Campus theatre from Wed 23-Sat 26 January 2019 – tickets from just £10

Concessions and group bookings also available

You can book your tickets here

Christie on Campus #8

Countdown to death

It’s all hotting up in rehearsals, as the scripts go down and the cast don their costumes.

Director Paul Green pens our latest blog from the kill-zone that is Devon’s Soldier Island…

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All cast having made it through the Christmas and New Year break virtually unscathed – allowing for the odd car accident, house move and hangover, of course – everybody is now present and correct for Agatha Christie’s AND THEN THERE WERE NONE.

As you may have seen from some of our recent photographs, including those on this very page, the authentic 1950’s costumes have been obtained and tweaked. Just a few finishing touches are required now; the carefully chosen vintage costumes match the characters.

I think they look wonderful. It’s such a shame so many have to die. Then again, considering what they’ve all done in the past…

Director Paul Green

These costumes really add something to the tone and character of the production.

Get it right, and the audience simply accept and get on with enjoying the show: just another element of the theatrical jigsaw to assimilate in a barely noticed way.

But get the costumes wrong, and the audience notice. We want the audience to be fully immersed – not distracted. 

So, we’re now entering the final stretch of rehearsals and the tension is rising nicely.

As the scripts have been torn from grasping hands, the flow and pace I’ve been striving for is now being achieved.

Have you booked yet?

Everyone is having fun – or so they tell me – and this is evident in the performances and the group dynamic.

I am confident that, visually and verbally, this will be quite different from the traditional murder mystery format. I also believe this will be a very good thing – especially if you like edge of your seat tension and surprises.

Our prompt keeps telling me how transfixed she is by it all  – and she knows the ending!

I’m delighted with where we are, and I can’t wait to see it in front of an audience. So please make sure you’re part of this show too – by buying your ticket now.

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SUP proudly presents Agatha Christie’s AND THEN THERE WERE NONE at NST Campus theatre from Wed 23-Sat 26 January 2019 – tickets from just £10

Concessions and group bookings also available

You can book your tickets here

Ten Little Soldiers

Christie on Campus #7

The New Year brings new blood to the Nuffeld stage

The cast of SUP’s upcoming AND THEN THERE WERE NONE includes new faces

When we auditioned and cast the show, we were pleased to welcome some exciting new talent to SUP Theatre Company.

In fact, the 10-strong cast is an almost 50/50 split, comprising five new or new-ish members alongside five longstanding players. This has made for a genuinely interesting dynamic within the cast, as old friends have come to blows in character – and new alliances are forged.

So, it’s in with the new…

Anna Hussey plays Mrs Rogers

Anna Hussey

Anna has mainly been working backstage for the last decade, specialising in costume since leaving university.

She returned to the stage in 2016 and is making her debut performing with SUP in this thrilling production, with a marvellous turn as the hectoring and put-upon housekeeper on Soldier Island.

Along with performing, Anna enjoys board games, sci-fi and fantasy TV/film and attending rock gigs. She also hopes to return to another of her university pastimes in the near future... skydiving!

Gavin Costigan is Justice Lawrence Wargrave

Gavin’s first public performance in 1972 received mixed reviews from the critics.

Some thought that a loud solo rendition of “Baa Baa Black Sheep” may not have been entirely appropriate for a Nativity play – and perhaps even less so since he was in the audience.

Gavin Costigan

His acting skills have progressed since then, although sadly his singing is much the same. He has appeared in a variety of shows for different groups, and before the current production his favourite part was Charles Condomine in BLITHE SPIRIT.

Gavin is returning to the stage after a break from acting due a combination of work and children – but both of these are now somewhat more under control. His Wargrave is watchful and controlling. When not acting or trying to earn a living, he writes poetry, drinks whisky and walks up Scottish mountains, though not all at once.

Hannah Harrison plays Dr Elizabeth Armstrong

Hannah Harrison

Hannah likes to think that her revolutionary gender swap makes her the TRUE first female Doctor!

She trained as a professional actress at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts alongside fellow cast member Jess Capes. After following her friend of six years to Southampton, Hannah decided that she had to go one step further and join SUP – to further annoy Jess with her constant company.

Hannah is also an avid snow globe collector and has a thing for pineapple shaped objects. Her Dr. Armstrong is a joy to behold.

Alex Mawers is Anthony Marston

Alex is a qualified accountant working at Southampton General Hospital. As his amoral playboy character in the show says – repeatedly and annoyingly – he’s a “triffic!” addition to the team.

He’s only just returned to acting and this will be his first stage performance since his GCSE performance of Alice in Wonderland in 2010!

Although not seen on stage with SUP yet, Alex did appear as the Inspector’s assistant at two SUP Murder Mystery Dinners in 2018.

Alex Mawers

Jess Capes plays Vera Claythorne

Jess Capes

Jess trained at drama school with fellow cast mate Hannah.

She is very excited to be tackling this role alongside an amazing cast: if rehearsals are anything to go by, her performance in the climax of the play will have audiences on the edges of their seats.

Jess used to compete in ice skating, loves her brass music and once owned 13 gerbils!

Please remember to tell your friends, family and colleagues about the show – and don’t forget to book

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SUP proudly presents Agatha Christie’s AND THEN THERE WERE NONE at NST Campus theatre from Wed 23-Sat 26 January 2019 – tickets from just £10

Concessions and group bookings also available

You can book your tickets here