St Dunstan’s & St John’s Players

 

St Dunstan’s Players from Cheam and St John’s Players from Belmont have recently merged to form one larger drama society. They have been working together for years so this is just formalising a long standing informal arrangement!

St. Dunstan’s Players recently celebrated their 70th Birthday, having started as part of the congregation of St Dunstan's Church in Cheam Village. All productions were staged at the Parochial Rooms in Cheam until the mid-eighties when refurbishment took place and rendered the facilities inadequate. From then the Adrian Mann theatre became their home. Until recent years, the Players put on two productions a year, but they now concentrate all their energy and talent on their one production in November each year.

They have a particular bent towards comedy and farce, such as Ray Cooney's "Run for your Wife" and Alan Bennett's "Habeas Corpus" but also demonstrate their versatility with dramas such as "Pack of Lies by Hugh Whitmore, not to mention "Stepping Out" by Richard Harris which required the cast to learn to tap dance. Larger productions such as "Lark Rise" and "Oh What a Lovely War" have also been undertaken in recent years.

Although they take their drama productions, which are acknowledged to be competent and entertaining, very seriously, they also enjoy a very lively social programme, including theatre visits, games evenings, eating out, rambles and croquet afternoons. They always make sure that everyone involved enjoys the hard work required in producing a successful play. Why not join us?

The first production by St. John's Players was back in 1962 when they presented three one act plays in the old Church Hall. Since that time they have produced a wide variety of dramatic styles including Son et Lumieres, open air Shakespeare and original musicals.

Another regular activity enjoyed by the Players is the production of a Radio Soap called Castlewick Light. This is totally home produced from script writing to recording and production and is distributed on a monthly basis to a number of Talking Newspapers and Magazines for the Blind as well as some hospital radios'. This has been running for sixteen years and will be celebrating its 200th Episode next year!

 

For more information about St. Dunstan’s & St John's Players, please contact:

Cathy Kemp (Secretary)
Cathykemp1@gmail.com
020 8393 1768