In the past the junior plays have been amazing and have enabled the younger members of Chipstead to shine. Past productions have included ’The Little Shop of Horrors’, ’Wizard of Oz’, ’Bully for You’, ’Bugsy Malone’, ’Three of a Kind’, ’A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, ’Robin Hood’, ’Divine & Deadly’ and ’100’.
These plays have included people having to act as fairies, gangsters, punk cleaners, pirates or even plants! After the last night of every play everyone is slightly sad to not be able to spend every evening with each other (but also relieved!) and the juniors never seem to lack energy or endless enthusiasm and each one has come back to be involved again. There have also been numerous plays, workshops and other areas such as revues in which the juniors have been involved.
The current Junior Committee consists of Sarah MacDonald, Siân Hayes, Harry van Manen and Becca Hollington, whose job it is to communicate with the juniors and to give them a voice, as well as to pass on any ideas that they have – and, hopefully, to materialise these.
Contact the Junior Comittee
"My Boy Jack" will be in production in early March and there are 2 excellent opportunities for Junior members. Both are good size parts (Jack particularly) which need strong playing. Kipling’s son (Jack) requires a mature 18-20 year old; Elsie, his sister, is 1 year older.
Unfortunately you will definitely NOT be able to do both the January and March productions, since rehearsal times overlap.
If you’re interested, please phone Maggie May to discuss (0173 643236), or attend the reading on 28th August to see if these challenges appeal.
See the Audition Dates page for more details.
Organisers Graham House, Lauren Milsom and Jonathan Laverock want everyone’s ideas, so they're holding a Scriptwriting Workshop in the rehearsal room at the Courtyard Theatre from 2pm to 5pm on Sunday 18th May 2008.
If you’re aged between 11 and 19 and would like to take part, just come along then. You’ll see how film scripts are written and help create a great story for Chipstead, to be be filmed in the summer. Who knows – you might even be the star of your own movie!
If you have any questions, contact Graham, Lauren or Jonathan via the website - click here to send your message.
"On Saturday 29th March, the Chipstead Junior Players set off for the Meads Recreation Ground – the intention being to play a variety of Easter-themed games and to run around in a field! Unfortunately, halfway through the tug-of-war the heavens opened and we had to put Plan B into action and take shelter in the Rehearsal Room.
This didn't dampen our spirits, however: we played the Easter Egg and Spoon Race, ran the three-egged [sic – Ed.] race (won by Alex Marrow and Charlie Mabbutt), and had a go at the limbo (won by Benita Murphy). And after the Easter Egg piñata we searched high and low for hidden eggs!
Then, when the rain finally stopped, we went back to the Meads for a rather muddy game of rounders. Despite the weather, everyone still managed to run around, catch up, and have fun!"
In 2004, Chipstead Juniors took part in a fantastic project to make their own short film, "Prima Prima Donna", which was a fantastic experience for all involved.
Once again another film project is being planned. The aim is to make a 10-minute short film, to be shot over a weekend in the summer of 2008, with juniors involved in every part of the process. You will be able to learn about writing, directing, sound, lighting, continuity, acting and editing – and have a lot of fun making your own movie.
In order to gauge if there was enough interest in the project to make it work, a Film Workshop was held at the theatre on Sunday 16th March.
The workshop gave attendees the chance to learn some of the basics of film making, and to try out some techniques to find out whether their talents lie behind or in front of the camera!
Please click on an image to enlarge it.
"We hope you all enjoyed it…we certainly did! We played loads of games, and partied! There was also a special visit from Mr. Claus himself! The costumes were awesome, and everyone made a really big effort!
We would like to say a big thank-you to Edwina Marrow for just being there and helping us out, Ian Radburn for spreading the festive spirit, and Alex Farquharson for helping in every way possible! Also a huge thank-you to everyone who stayed behind to clear up afterwards: we really appreciated your help."
The production, performed on Tuesday 8th May, was an enormous success, with the Juniors winning a string of nominations and awards:
- Runners Up in the Junior section of the Sir Michael Caine Drama Award.
- Best Junior Actress (Katherine Sparshatt for her role as Sophie).
- Nomination for Overall Contribution (Juniors) for "all aspects of presentation".
- Nomination for Best Junior Actor (James Mabbutt for his role as Ketu).
A brilliant show when performed at the Courtyard Theatre in 2006, it thoroughly deserved the recognition awarded to it at Leatherhead. Congratulations to all concerned!
The Helen O'Grady Drama Academy is a world-wide organisation whose original aim was to use drama to build confidence and communication skills in children and teenagers. Indeed many of the students come for those reasons, but many more come simply because they love drama and want to hone their skills in a fun environment. The Academy was launched in Perth, Australia in 1979 by Helen O’Grady, a drama teacher and television presenter. After a few years, her methods were franchised and it is now the largest organisation of its kind in the world.
Ian Brown, a member of Chipstead players has been running the Croydon based branch for 11 years now and for 7 years this has included classes at Chipstead. It was difficult to find anybody to run regular workshops for the Chipstead Juniors and the Academy provided a way of doing just that.
Classes take place on Friday evenings at the Courtyard from 7:30-8:30pm for 8-12 year olds and 8:30-9:30 for 12 year olds and upwards. During the autumn and spring terms, we provide a weekly workshop covering all aspects of drama and in the summer term, we work on a short production with each class.
Fees are currently £61.50 for a 13 week term giving a £10 discount on the standard fee.
For further information, please call Ian Brown on 020 8662 0962 or visit www.helenogrady.co.uk.
If you are not yet a member, and would like to know audition dates for a particular forthcoming production, please submit the enquiry form, stating which production you are interested in, and we will get back to you, with dates and audition notice when available.