Winter
Production 2014/15
"Maid
in China
The mystery of the Willow Pattern Plate"
Performance
dates & ticket availability as of 23rd January
Wednesday 28th January 2015 @ 7.30pm
FullDress rehearsal
~ Tickets just £4 each
Limited availabilty and sold on first come first served basis
Thursday 29th January 2015 @ 7.30pm ~ Some left
Friday 30th January 2015 @ 7.30pm ~ Some left
Saturday 31st January 2015 @ 2.30pm ~ Plenty available
Saturday 31st January 2015 @ 7.30pm ~ Some left
Tickets
available available NOW!
tickets@bucklandmonachorum.org.uk
01822 855336
Ticket
Price: £6 (£4 concession for Matinee only)
Download
the poster here: ~ (available
here)
Synopsis:
'Maid
in China ~ the Mystery of the Willow Pattern Plate' is based on
the following legend
Long
ago, a Chinese mandarin had a beautiful daughter named Koong Shi
whom he promised in marriage to a wealthy old merchant. But Koong
Shi was in love with her father's secretary, a handsome man named
Chang. Her father was furious and locked her in her room overlooking
the river while he hastened with the wedding preparations. Chang
wrote her a note declaring his undying love and floated it down
the river in a coconut shell. She sent back a note urging him to
take her away.
Chang waited until the eve of the wedding and in the confusion,
carried her away together with her jewel box. The father gave chase
and hence the traditional three figures on the bridge, Koong Shi
carrying her staff, Chang with the jewel box and the father with
a whip. They took refuge in the house by the river but in savage
temper the father burnt it down. But, just in time, kindly gods
transformed the lovers into a pair of turtle doves so they could
fly around the river for ever. That's the legend.
The truth
behind the legend?
In the
eighteenth- century England there was a young man named Thomas Turner.
Against his doctor father's wishes he apprenticed himself as a potter
to a famous factory in Worcester. When he had served his time he
set out as a journeyman potter and landed in Shropshire with an
old potter named Gallimore. He married Gallimore's daughter and
the took over the pottery. He introduced fine porcelain to the business
and following a visit to Paris he returned with some Chinese motifs
which he introduced onto his pottery. Thus an early version of the
willow pattern was created.
One of
his designers was Thomas Minton, who, when he left to start his
own successful business, developed the patterns from the original
copper plates. He sold the designs to a variety of factories who
each adapted the motifs, including the bridge, the figures, the
pagoda, the trees and the apples to their own taste. So, there is
no standard pattern. The willow pattern is an English creation!
And that's the true story.
Below:
Some of the cast at rehearsals around the piano.
************************************
The Village
Hall seats 99 in total ~ Audience is 90 (9 rows of 10 seats)
Evening
performances start at 7.30pm prompt (doors open 7pm)
There is a bar available for the evening performances
Langage ice creams will also be available at most performances
Drama
Group Productions: How are they staged?
The Drama
Group try to stage two productions a year. A play in the Spring
and a Pantomime or Comedy in the Autumn.
What's involved?
The 2011 Spring production (Driven to Murder) began with the planning
stage at the end of 2010, (what play, when etc). The Cast was selected
in January and rehearsals began at once, During February, rehearsals
took place twice a week, (for two to three hours) and, because of
a late cast change for this production, three nights a week later
in the month and throughout March.
The stage
in the Hall is a 'kit' stage and was put up on the evening of Friday
1st April and the set construction followed immediately on from
this (working all day Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd) and at various
times over the following days.
The cast
got their first opportunity to rehearse the entire play, on stage,
using the set with all its props, on Wednesday (6th). Rehearsals
also took place on stage all day on Sunday 10th April during which
the lighting and sound effects were worked in.
The full
dress rehearsal took place on the 14th April.
After the
last performance on the 16th, there was a cast party, and the following
Sunday morning, the set and stage were dismantled completely and
packed away until the Autumn.
Add to this:
Set design; costume creation; production of the poster for the play;
creating all the tickets (all 90 tickets for each night have to
be individually cut up!); selling the tickets; publicity; creating
(and printing) the programme and you can see that a huge amount
of work goes into each production.
So....if
you buy a ticket, please turn up! We would hate all this work to
finish with us playing to an empty Hall!!!
And yes,
we do ask oursleves why we do it!
Buckland
Monachorum Drama Group previous productions:
Spring
2014 "Natural Causes"
Autumn 2013 "Rampaging Rats and a Heinous Hound"
Spring 2013 (no production)
Autumn 2012: The Dancing Princesses
Spring 2012: A
Public Mischief
Autumn 2011: The Snow Queen
Spring 2011: Driven to Murder
Autumn 2010: Goody Two Shoes
Spring 2010: Ghosts at the Grange
Autumn 2009: Queen of Hearts
Spring 2009: Wanted! One Body
Autumn 2008: The Emperor's New Clothes
Spring 2008: No production
Autumn 2007: Robin Hood & the Black Knight
Spring 2007: Two Funerals and a Comedy
Autumn 2006: Humpty Dumpty
Spring 2006: Murder by Natural Causes
Spring 2005: Beware the Hungry Stranger
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