Black Comedy Kicks Off Newport Playgoers 86th Season

A man who's convinced his shopping trolley is a dog called Rover and a wellie-wearing cook who bakes almondless almond cakes are among the crazy characters in the hilarious black comedy that launches the new season of plays by Newport Playgoers Society next week.

‘One O’clock from the House’, written by local favourite, Frank Vickery, launches Playgoers’ 86th season at Newport’s Dolman Theatre.

The action revolves around the funeral of an elderly father - not usually an occasion for hilarity, but this is a play about a distinctly dysfunctional family. An amazing array of crazy characters - including a woman who's a happy inmate of a psychiatric home – turn up to make the proceedings very lively. Add to this a posthumous joke played by Father on his daughters and the fact that it is not exactly what might be termed a close-knit family, and the scene is set for a scorching comedy of personalities and situations.

Theatre-goers can use the newly revamped Kingsway car park where they can benefit from well lit, manned and secure parking for a fee of only £1 per evening performance – look for the Orange Zone which is specially designated for Dolman theatre-goers.

‘One O’clock from the House’ by Frank Vickery is at the Dolman Theatre from 15 - 19 September at 7.15pm with an extra matinee performance on the Saturday at 2.30pm. For tickets ring the Dolman Theatre box office on 01633 263670 or 01633 656757. For information about joining Newport Playgoers Society phone or visit our website http://www.dolmantheatre.co.uk/

Text and Drive Crash Video is Worldwide YouTube Hit

A graphically realistic car crash video about the dangers of texting while driving, which has been produced and directed by a lecturer, students and graduates of the International Film School Wales, is scoring more hits on YouTube than scenes from the new movie by ‘Titanic’ director James Cameron.

The video, ‘Cow’, made by award-winning Documentary Film-Making Lecturer Peter Watkins-Hughes in conjunction with Gwent Police and Tredegar Comprehensive School, has quickly become an international viral sensation with over a million hits.

The 30-minute video tells the story of fictional character Cassie Cowen, ‘Cow’ to her friends, whose life is changed forever after her friends are killed in a horrific crash caused because she sends a text message whilst driving. Since the film had its premiere in June, it has attracted attention from the BBC and it is hoped the film will become part of the core schools programme across Wales and the UK.
“We have been stunned by the coverage the video has gained – it’s a genuine internet phenomenon,” said Peter who originally poster a clip from the film on YouTube to share with a friend at the BBC.

“The idea for the film, which is based on one I made about joy-riding fourteen years, came from students at Tredegar Comprehensive School. Gwent Police then commissioned me to make it to be shown in schools around Wales.

“I engaged students and graduates from the Documentary Film-0making degree course at the University of Wales, Newport to work on the ambitious 30-minute drama which focuses not only on the crash itself but its emotional aftermath within the families and the wider local community.”

The film was enhanced with computer technology to depict second-by-second a multiple car highway accident to emphasise the message of what can happen when drivers are distracted from the road by a texting conversation.
To view the clip on YouTube go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8I54mlK0kVw

For details of all film-making and all other courses at the University of Wales, Newport contact the University Information Centre on 01633 432432 or visit http://www.newport.ac.uk/.

Out to Africa to make monkey movies

Met up with Cheryl Wagstaff, an amazing student film-maker who is going to Africa to help save endangered baboons by making educational movies for the internet.

Cheryl who’s studying Documentary Film and Television at the University of Wales, Newport, will be going to Johannesburg and Cape Town in South Africa to work for the charity The Great Primate Handshake.

She told me that chose to work with the Great Primate Handshake because it aims to help raise awareness of African primate sanctuaries and conservation programmes by harnessing the latest communications and multimedia technologies to broadcast their work to a local and global audience via the internet.

She wanted to give something back and decided this was the way to do it after finding out through the charity that 25% of primate species are close to extinction. She’ll be filming various primates to raise awareness about the problem. Apparently, the baboons in particular are in danger – the locals see them as a pest because they are moving into towns looking for food as deforestation destroys their natural habitat, and they are being killed. Working with teams in a fully equipped mobile workshop, Cheryl will be touring conservation areas and making films for the charity’s website.
She hopes the films she makes will educate people about the possible extinction of the baboons.

“Up to now my films have been about people so it will be a big departure making films about baboons!” she said.

Cheryl has so far raised £500 but needs another £1000 to be able to take part in the project. Anyone who would like to help her reach her target can email her on primatevolunteercheryl@hotmail.co.uk for details about the project, can visit http://www.primatehandshake.org/

For details of film-making and all other courses at the University of Wales, Newport call the university information centre on 01633 432432 or visit http://www.newport.ac.uk/

Newport Playgoers Scoop Seven Drama Awards

PICTURED: Members of the cast of ‘Pack of Lies' which won five prizes at the Gwent Drama League Awards: (back, left to right) Caroline Drewett-Mansell, Alex Wilson, Philippa Dixey, Eileen Symonds; (front, left to right) the play’s director Moira Mainwaring, winner of best actress award, Ruth Ferguson, and best supporting actress Dominique Flook.

Newport Playgoers Society received plaudits from judges for three of its productions when it scooped seven of the awards, including best production and best actress, presented by the Gwent Drama League.

In the senior section, the true life cold war drama ‘Pack of Lies”, by Hugh Whitemore, won five awards. Ruth Ferguson was presented with the Best Actress Award for her portrayal of Barbara Jackson, and her onstage daughter, Dominique Flook, took the best supporting actress award. It’s another feather in Dominique’s cap as she has recently been awarded a place to study drama at Kingston University, London.

Moira Mainwaring, who directed the play, was given the Adjudicator’s Prize and the production also won Best Décor. “Pack of Lies” also won the overall prize for the best production and will now be submitted for possible inclusion in the National Drama Association’s British All Winners Festival in Woking, Surrey.

Professional judge, Sally Noble, of the Guild of Drama Adjudicators, praised the high standard of the productions included in this year’s competition, “The direction was intelligent and sensitive, and is one of the reasons why Wales leads the field among non-professional companies in the UK”.

NPS’s Dolman Youth Theatre group also won two awards with Best Supporting Actor and Actress trophies going to Connor Corbett and Zoë Preece for their interpretations of Will Scarlett and Meg in their production of “Robin Hood”.

And the success doesn’t stop there! Playgoers member Cathy Morgan has won the Bob McTurk Bursary for Young People at the Gwent Festival of One Act Plays for her portrayal of Mel in “Shakers – Restirred”, which will allow her to attend the Drama Association of Wales week-long summer school.

To catch more outstanding theatrical performances from Newport Playgoers Society, don’t miss the last production of the season, “Brassed Off” featuring the talents of the Markham Colliery Brass Band. The play opens on Tuesday 16th June and runs until Saturday 20th June. Tickets are available by phoning Newport 263670 or 656757.

“Perfick”Production of Darling Buds at the Dolman!

Overflowing with a much needed dose of the ‘feel good’ factor, ‘The Darling Buds of May’ bursts onto the stage of the Dolman Theatre next week. Probably best known as the television series which starred David Jason and launched the career of a young Catherine Zeta Jones, the stage adaptation of the story is packed with humour and frolics as we follow the fortunes of the irrepressible Larkin family.

Audiences will love the antics of Pop Larkin as he wheels and deals to provide for his large family, his buxom wife, Ma, who ensures all are well fed, and delightful daughter Mariette as she woos tax inspector ‘Charlie’ Charlton with trips to the Bluebell Wood. It’s a journey back to a nostalgic past, when the darling buds of May were blooming in an idyllic country paradise and all was right with the world – at least in the Larkin family!

‘The Darling Buds of May’ by H E Bates is at the Dolman Theatre from 17 – 21 February 2009 at 7.15pm with an extra matinee performance on the Saturday at 2.30pm. Tickets are available by telephoning the theatre box office on 01633 263670 or 01633 656757. For information about joining Newport Playgoers Society phone or visit our website http://www.dolmantheatre.co.uk/

Research creates robot colonies – turning science fiction into science fact

I went along to the Robotics Intelligence Laboratory at Newport’s University to see researchers there working on the creation of a colony of mini-robots able to communicate with each other so they can perform tasks both individually and as and a group.

It was amazing stuff. The team, led by Torbjorn Dahl currently have eight mini-robots and soon hope to increase this to 30, making it the biggest collection of mini-robots in the UK. Torbjorn and his team are programming the mini robots – which one the researchers described as being “the size of muffins” - to exist together as a self-regulating society.

The aim is to get the robots to simulate the behaviour of ants in a colony so that they become a self-organising community that functions without top-down control. They will have built-in behavioural patterns that enable them to not only do tasks set them but also realise what else needs to be done, as worker ants do. Each robot learns how to work in a way that improves the group by filling the roles of others as well as the role they are assigned to do. It’s all amazing stuff that could impact upon the organisation of towns, villages and cities, as well as improving automation in manufacturing. Check out the video I made whilst there…

True Life Spy Drama at the Dolman Theatre

Imagine finding out that your close friends and neighbours are spies. That’s the real life story behind ‘Pack of Lies’ which Newport Playgoers are presenting at the Dolman Theatre next week (Tuesday 20 – Saturday 24 January).

Set in a London suburb in the early ‘60s, this chilling cold war drama opens with the Jackson family greeting their good friends and neighbours, the Krogers. However, events take an unexpected turn when a mysterious stranger called Stewart turns up and tells them there may be Russian spies on their doorstep.

PHOTO: Alex Wilson as the mysterious spy-catcher Stewart with Dominique Flook as the innocent girl caught up in a web of espionage and intrigue in Newport Playgoers’ production of ‘Pack of Lies’.

“The Jacksons are quickly thrust into the middle of an investigation that involves secret agents keeping watch from their daughter’s bedroom,” said Alex Wilson, who plays the role of the MI5 spy-catcher Stewart.

“Suddenly, even innocent actions take on sinister meanings as the family struggle with deception and lies - and choosing between loyalty to their country or to their friends. Hugh Whitemore’s drama, which deals with the role of the ordinary citizen in society, is a captivating story about extraordinary events in a seemingly ordinary setting,” he added.

‘Pack of Lies’ by Hugh Whitemore is at the Dolman Theatre from 20 - 24 January at 7.15pm with an extra matinee performance on the Saturday at 2.30pm. Tickets are available by telephoning the theatre box office on 01633 263670 or 01633 656757. For information about joining Newport Playgoers Society phone or visit http://www.dolmantheatre.co.uk/