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Brand New logo!

11/5/2021

With a global pandemic and the loss of an entire year, we at WARTS have decided that 2021 is the year of renewing ourselves. So we have voted and decided on our new logo! Here it is!

The spotlights even make a 'W' just for us!
We have lots of other new things planned ready to take on this new world we find ourselves in. As a committee, we have a new found enthusiasm and agree it's time to start thinking out of the box! Stay tuned for upcoming details!

The House of Dracula! Done and dusted

2/12/2019

Well, that was fun! The House of Dracula was an incredibly bonkers mixture of scenes, stroylines and down right outragious behaviour, and that's just the cast!! Containing some new faces and a abundance of illnesses, we persevered and put on a wicked show!

As the post-show blues kick in, it's time to kick around ideas of our next performance and the all important post-show meal!

Baron Von frankinstein the 4th

13/11/2019

Rehearsals for The House of Dracula are well underway, however due to a multitude of reasons, we are now working with our 4th Baron! WARTS thanks the previous Barons deeply and totally understand that personal life can bite at any time for anyone. The rest of the cast shall prevail and put on a great show. The staging looks ace and the costumes are coming along nicely! (Although we'll let you decide if 'nicely' is the word to use for Isabel's costume!)
Also, at this time of year when the coughs and colds begin to crawl out of their caves, much like Michael Buble, we have had a few cast members knocked down with illness. Yet, we carry on and laughs are a plenty throughout this turbulant rehearsal process!
So please buy tickets and make our hard work worth while!

A thousand days over three nights

29/6/2019

Well, that's another production complete! Anne of The Thousand Days is done and dusted. All the feedback we had was positive, and it seems our rendition was very well received. Not sure if there were any reviewers in, but I will link to a review if I find one!

Most of the comments that came my way were enquiring about whether Wolsey's little "trip" was part of the play. To clarify, it was not! Although I think Tim was grateful for the period of rest.

It was a lot of fun to do, and I got to be loud, which is normally discouraged in the office where I work!

It is now the Saturday after, and this morning we have dismantled the stge and stored it away until next time. It is always a little sad when the set is taken down afterwards. All the hard work and build up that takes so long, and the set is down in a matter of hours. When you have to dismantle the stage as well, its sad times indeed.

As many of you will know, we lost our dear friend Leslie Dumbell a few short weeks before this production, and each night was dedicated to his memory.

Following this production a number of WARTs members are also moving further afield, so our numbers will be dwindling. There has never been a better time to come and join us!

Rest assured, faithfull WARTies, we willl be back on stage toward the end of this year. Keep your eyes peeled for annoucements and dates in the coming months.

All the best,
Henry Rex (Or KriZ)

December 08th, 2018

8/12/2018

Seasons Greetings to you!

Our production of Alan Aykbourn's Seasons Greetings is two thirds complete! A sold out house last night, and our final production tonight. After our first performance, we received a lovely review form a former WARTs member Roella Trudgill, who performed in a previous production of the same play (such a small world!)

"Seasons Greetings by Alan Ayckbourn performed by WARTS 6/12/18 at Botesdale Village Hall The most noticeable skill of playwright Alan Ayckbourn is his writing of his observations of life and Seasons Greetings is no exception.
"It highlights the stresses and strains when several family members are together in such a close proximity for a few days over the festive period This is the third time Wortham and Redgrave Theatrical Society, WARTS, have performed this in 26 years. In the first one I had the privilege of playing heavily pregnant Pattie!
"This performance saw Rob Backhouse play businessman, Neville, who has an obsession of mending things.Victoria Curry played his very frustrated wife Belinda Alison Dumbell plays a sozzled middle aged woman who because of this gets easily confused especially about engine drivers. Her husband, Bernard, who is a self confessed incompetent Dr, and even worse puppeteer, is played by Graham Freeman. Leslie Dumbell, who 26 years ago played my husband Eddie, this time took the role of Harvey an intolerant former security guard, which was played by Frank Sheehan 26 years ago. The shy unassuming secretary of the book society, Rachel, was portrayed by Carys Allen. This time Eddie, a former employee of Neville, was played by Derrick Mitchell. Helen O’Neill saw her self being cast as heavily pregnant Pattie for the second time having performed it 20 years ago. Former West Suffolk drama student William Rice gave a well polished performance as young writer Clive.
"All in all a typical fun Ayckbourn production including some scenes that may be all too familiar for a few members of the audience. The cast was well directed by Keith Charman with an excellent stage management, lighting and sound team. It continues tonight and tomorrow evening. Roella Trudgill"

If you haven;t seen it, you have one more chance!

television comes to the stage

13/5/2018

Hello WARTies!!!

Its been a while, but I can now reveal that in a couple of weeks, the humble village hall in Bottesdale, will become none other than a humble village hall in Dibely!!!

That's right, our next production is the Vicar of Dibely!

Our crack team of actors, producers, painters, and decorators have been hard at work, perfecting their rendition of the adaptation of the famous TV show.

Set between the Dibley village hall and the Vicarage, the well-loved characters hold their council meetings with much sniping and varying degrees of success, while curious goings-on and hilarious conversations take place in the Vicarage. the action culminates with the "faiytale" marriage between Alice Tinker and Hugo Horton.

It should be mentioned that some scenes contain milk adult themes which some parents may find unsuitable for children.

Tickets are available from Wortham Post Office, Redgrave Village Stores, or the box office on 01379 687580.

Will we see you there?
"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, yes!"
(Sorry, I had to make that joke!)

KrZ

The end of thomas, more's the pity

9/10/2017

A Man For All Seasons - WOW!

Our late 2017 production is now complete, and honestly, my head is still spinning. (Although I need to stop channelling Thomas Cromwell!) This show has had many pitfalls, but we have over come them all. Like Thomas More, our fantastic director held firm to her vision and led us through. We have received so much positive feedback, its really nice to hear that we fulfilled peoples expectations.

This play was, IS, a monster. It is heavy with words, and steeped in political manoeuvring. It took me at least three read-through's to understand how it flowed! As with most shows, it is not until the scripts are down that the feeling really comes through, and when it did, it was intense. There is the occasional moment of levity, but it felt awkward to laugh when the rest of the show is about a man trying his hardest to save his family and dodge the executioners axe.

We had an amazing run, with three fantastic audiences, so a big thanks to everyone who came along. As a final point, it should be noted that this was our director's first attempt at directing a play. Good job you picked such an easy one, Liz!

Keep your eyes peeled for information on about next show, and I'll see you all after the next one!

-Cromwell

scrubbing up, all nice like!

26/8/2017

Today saw the cast of WARTS next production, A Man For All Seasons, trying on costumes for the up coming show!

Here'es a few sneak peeks for Saw Thomas Moore, Lady Alice Moore, Thomas Cromwell, and
"our liege Lord, Henry, by the grace of God, the eighth of that name".

Once more into the breach!

28/7/2017

Hello fellow WART-ers!

Hot on the success of our last production we are underway with our next!

Robert Bolt's A Man For All Seasons explores the choices of Sir Thomas More as King Henry VIII fights for approval for his divorce of Catherine of Aragon.

Sir Thomas More, lord chancellor and close friend to the King, tries to keep his decisions in line with his own moral and religious beliefs, to the displeasure of the reigning monarch. The King's secretary, Thomas Cromwell, seeks to convince the Lord Chancellor to sign an act of parliament regarding the King's position in the newly formed Church of England, and will go to increasingly dubious lengths to ensure the King's wishes are met.

Meanwhile, More's family and friends, including the Duke of Norfolk, struggle to understand his decisions, which begin to oppose the wishes of the state, putting More in a dangerous position...

A wild ride!

3/4/2017

The Ghost Train has left the station, to the sound of thunderous applause!!!

Three nights always seems to fly by too quickly, as I'm sure my fellow WARTS would agree. The absolute chaos that imbues a theatrical performance is amazing, and this time was no exception!

We put our all into this performance and we felt we got a good show out of it. Every night we had the front of house guys coming into the green room trying to find more chairs for the throngs of people.flocking to an out-of-the-way village hall. I have been with WARTS for four years, and I have never seen that many people in our little village hall. Pretty much full every night!

We received a wonderful bevvy of comments and compliments every night, and also two great reviews in the Diss Express and the East Anglian Daily Times.

I have added a collection of production photos from our dress rehearsal in the picture section, have a look!

Finally, WARTS want to extend a massive thank you to everyone who came out and supported us, it was great to see you!! We look forward to seeing you in October for our next production, details to follow....