Bijou Bulletin

May 2002

Everyone loves a good ole Variety Night right??? Just what we need to shake off those winter blues!!

The last one we did a few years ago sold out and was a resounding success!! We have shown you what great talent lies within the Bijou walls lately so you know you won’t be disappointed!!

Read on to find out more……………………

The ravages of weather and time have taken their toll on the roof of our beloved Bijou! After a number of years of patching and band-aid measures, there is no holding back the rain anymore- as the proliferation of buckets gives testimony! The existing roof has now been pronounced "beyond repair". The estimated cost of materials and labour to replace the roof is $8500.00.

A recent application to the Esperance Shire Council’s Community Development Fund was approved and the Council has generously pledged $3500.00 to cover the cost of materials for the project. We are very grateful to the Council for supporting our efforts!

To help raise the remainder of the funds required for the project, we are producing a Variety Show, which will be dubbed "Raise The Roof!". This production shall be staged on August 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, 9^th and 10^th. We are looking for anyone with some talent that they would like to display to become involved. As the name suggests, a Variety Show must contain variety! So we want singers, dancers, skit actors, sword swallowers, conjurers, and instrumentalist’s contortionists? Mel Bell has assumed the role of coordinating the performance and Maggie Tolman has agreed to be our Musical Director.

Auditions for the Variety Show will be held at 7.30pm at the Bijou on June the 12^th. Please register your interest with Mel by e-mail melvin.bell@bigpond.com or on 9071 7927. Please get behind the show and help replace our leaky roof!

Our last production, A Midsummer Night’s Dream was a tremendous success! The traditional preview night for the pensioners of the town was a hit, with a close to capacity house attending. This was the perfect lead up to Opening Night, which was a strong performance and received a very favourable review in the Esperance Express. With nine performances behind us, Closing Night arrived much too soon. What a way to see the show out: a packed house and the best performance for the season!

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) wrote A Midsummer Night’s Dream around 1595, around the time of Romeo and Juliet and The Merchant of Venice. As it is the most lyrical of his plays and contains such memorable characters, the work has remained one of the most popular and enduring of Shakespearean comedies. Taking on one of Shakespeare’s works was always going to be an ambitious project, one that would not have been possible without the generous financial support of Healthway- to promote Smarter Than Smoking and Country Arts W.A.- Your Regional Arts Partner. With their assistance we were able to engage Jenny McNae, a professional director from Perth to assist local directors Jo Merrey and Sue Abel to bring the show to life. The hub of the wheel was our energetic and highly organised Lora Lowe fulfilling the role of Production Manager.

The set breathed life into the play and under the magical lighting effects created by Andrew Bounds, the stage transported the audience into a realm of fantasy. Phil Shelton demonstrated his enviable creative vision in his set design, which, save for a thumping great big tree right of centre was brilliant in its simplicity. For those of you who may have wondered, the tree was a wire frame covered in plaster (and quite exhausting to pull down)! Many thanks to Phil, Andrew Dean, Andrew Bounds and all of the cast members who spent their time and perspiration to build the set.

Flora Yetman and her team of ever dependable seamstresses: Dora Egan, Margaret Johnston, Lachie Drummond, Del Maloney, Jill Graham, Sally Proudfoot and Gwendydd Fox turned the cast into their respective characters with a magic wave of needle and thread. But just how is it possible to create 26 impressive costumes for just over $100? You continue to amaze us, ladies!

Ever dependable Stage Manager, Mark Litherland, "shadowed" our every move and perfected the knack of running onto stage and snatching the sponsors sign without losing his stride. Valuable work as always!

Special thanks must also go to Carolyn Chambers, whom once again proved her resourcefulness and mustered weapons, babies, scrolls, flowers and every other prop necessary to the play!

For all of those involved in the show, there were many memorable moments. So here’s to the fickle fog that would drift in a different direction each night; the acrobatics of a lithe Robin Goodfellow; a Lover’s body part that wouldn’t stay contained (I will leave that to the imagination); the cacophony of musical fairies; the delicate balance of a Faerie Queene; doting rivals; men who became women, asses, walls, moonshine and lions; the most prolonged death scene in theatrical history; colourfast garments that change colour; and the inevitable lines that did not reveal themselves quite as Monsieur Shakespeare had intended them…

Jayne Arnold with the help of Andrew Dean well on their way to make Peter Pan fly into Esperance! The committee have endorsed "Peter Pan" as the big end of year production for 2002 and are all very excited about the project.

This will have marvellous parts for adults (16years up) and some parts available for children. Auditions will be early in September so keep your eyes & ears peeled for more info coming later in the year.

If you would like to express your interest or have any queries, please call Jayne on 90761263

Production Dates are set for:

22^nd, 23^rd, 29^th, 30^th November 6^th, 7^th December.

Memberships were due in March this year, and you may be surprised to know that only a very small percentage has been renewed. Remember that members are entitled to discount tickets to all shows, discounts to workshops, receive the Bijou Bulletin and…well…get to be part of our fabulous historic Theatre. What some of you may not know is that our membership numbers also greatly assists any funding submissions we apply for. Also keep in mind, that to be part of any show (acting, set building, costume making, Front Of House etc) it is a requirement that you become a member so you are covered by our insurance.

So…. Please keep our Treasurer busy this month by filling out the membership form and sending in with your cheque.

The Esperance Theatre Guild has had an AGM since our last Bulletin where a new committee and Office Bearers where elected:

PRESIDENT: Derek Clarke Ph: 08 90715062 email: theclarks@wn.com.au

SECRETARY: Tracey Schlink 08 90712073 traceyschlink@hotmail.com

VICE PRESIDENT: Greg Ducas 08 90712695 kerrigreg@wn.com.au

TREASURER: Anne Thomson 08 90713334 anne.thomson@bigpond.com

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:

Mel Bell, Andrew Bounds, Julie-Anne Clark, Andrew Dean, Peta Lawrence, Mark Litherland, Lora Lowe, Carol McLeod

Please feel free to contact any of the committee for any queries you may have. We must thank the committee for all their time and effort they put into keeping the Bijou running smoothly.

Also a big thank you goes to all the outgoing committee members especially to Anne Hilton who left the Treasurers role after a few years of excellent work for us – thanks Anne.

A hearty welcome to the following new members that have just joined us this year:

Paul McKay, Rhianan O’Connor, Nicole Edwards, Isha Edwards, Judith Olney, Joe Young, Ray Foster, Kristin Kleinig, Lisa Ellett, Jo Mead, Paticia Lloyd, Anne Thomson, Peta Lawrence, Heather Fink, Jo Merry, James & Joan Toop.

Most of these joined us in "A Midsummer Night Dream" and what a fabulous job they did there!!!

We all look forward to working with you all and hope you all enjoy being a part of our little theatre!

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