Just a brief advance notice, which will be repeated once the festivities are over. Our first Club Night in the New Year will be on January the 6th, at The Place, and we're going to use it as an opportunity to talk about our recent trip to Africa with Daisy Pulls It Off. Plus, of course, a chance talk about Xmas. It's also an opportunity for anyone who might be thinking of joining the society, or who is at a bit of a loose end and wants something to occupy their spare time, to come along and see if drama ain all its forms is the thing. No charge will be made, no hassle either, and it's only £12 a year if you do want to join us.

Finally.. the webmaster has been failing to achieve a new look to the site for quite some time now, but at last, it's here. Now back to concentrating on the content, and getting the Archive up to speed.

As you may have noticed elsewhere on the site, we're running Daisy Pulls It Off at the Tacchi-Morris this week. Tickets are still available, but we've had a jolly super crit in the Gazette - if you can't get hold of a copy of the paper, it's downloadablehere. That's a 1MB PDF, by the way, so don't try it on dialup.

Our Spring Tacchi-Morris production is to be a dramatisation of Stella Gibbon's wonderful comedy Cold Comfort Farm, and Director Jane Burt has sent through the following:-
"Read through evenings:
There will be two informal evenings for a read through of the Cold Comfort script before auditions. So people can get an idea of what it’s all about before committing themselves!!!
Sunday 18th October 7.30 @ The Place
(Yes I know it’s a Sunday, but we are such a busy society - there weren’t many spare dates)
Wednesday 21st October 7.30 @ The Place"

Just to spark your interest, here are our nominations for the Somerset Fellowship Of Drama's Phoebe Rees Awards:
Actor in a Leading Role
An Ideal Husband BRYAN HALLETT as Lord Goring
Black Coffee DAVE GOODALL as Hercule Poirot
Actor in a Supporting Role
London Assurance TONY LEACH as Meddle
Actress in a Leading Role
London Assurance JANE EDWARDS as Lady Gay Spanker
Actress in a Supporting Role
Black Coffee ANNE DOWSEY as Barbara Amory
Cameo (Male)
London Assurance MARCK PEARLSTONE as Adolphus Spanker
An Ideal Husband TONY VENN As Phipps
Production
An Ideal Husband
Direction
An Ideal Husband SYLVIA FELGETT
Challenge Trophy
Talking Heads
London Assurance
Costumes
An Ideal Husband
London Assurance
Stage Management
London Assurance

A message from our new Secretary, Abi Vickery, to all members:
The Phoebe Rees Awards Presentation Evening 2009 will be being held at Taunton Racecourse on Friday 23rd October 2009. Drinks can be purchased from 6.45 at The Owners and Trainers Bar, with dinner starting promptly at 7.30 in the Paddock Gallery. Dress is glamorous/smart casual. I have attached the invitation which contains full details and directions.

Should you wish to attend, you will need to pre-order your main course. The menu choices are as follows;

Roast supreme of chicken served with a coarse grain mustard sauce
Marinated and braised beef with forest mushrooms, winter vegetables and pancetta
Vegetarian option

There will also be a cold starter and a selection of puddings.

Tickets are £20, which includes the three-course meal. If you would like to attend, please contact me as soon as possible with your menu choice (Friday 2nd October at the latest). Please make cheques payable to the Taunton Thespians and send to Nicola Dawson at 12 Great Mead, Bishops Hull, Taunton TA1 5HE. Or drop it into The Place - Nicola and I will be there most Monday, Tuesday and Thursday evenings for rehearsals.

Our very own Clive Linthorne has done his bit as a piece of art on that there Plinth. Follow the link above to watch. Well done, that man.

The webmaster apologises for the delay in updating all this, but he's a bit swamped by drama just now...
Daisy Meredith: Abi Vickery
Miss Gibson: Alison Jenkinson
Clare Beaumont: Amy Parker
The Music Teacher Angela Widgery
Mother & Mamselle Caroline Vaughan
Mr Scoblowski: Charlie Dorr
Monica Smithers: Charlotte Briggs
Alice Fitzpatrick: Chloe Stepney
Miss Granville: Karen Kerslake
Trixie Martin: Katherine Winter
Winnie Irving: Olivia Gentile
Sybil Burlington: Rhian Pugh
Belinda Mathieson & Dora: Steph Grafton
The more detailed stuff will follow as soon as possible...

Taunton Thespians are delighted to announce that we have received four nominations for the prestigious Rose Bowl Awards. These are:
Mark Dawson for the John Lewis Award for Best Actor for his role as Sir Harcourt Courtly in London Assurance
Dave Goodall for the John Lewis Award for Best Actor for his role as Graham in Talking Heads
Jane Edwards for the Eileen Hartly Hodder Award for Best Actress for her role as Lady Gay Spanker in London Assurance
Taunton Thespians on Tour for the John Coe Award for Best Dramatic Production for London Assurance
Huge congratulations to all concerned for these, and good luck on the night!
The Awards Ceremony takes place once again in the Winter Gardens, Weston super Mare, on Sunday October 18th at 7.00pm. The guest presenter will be Cameron Mackintosh. We have priority booking for seats at this prestigious occasion, at £25 per head, until 31st August. Details will be sent out to interested parties, but we do need to sort this out quickly. If you would like a ticket, please email the Secretary via the Contacts page

Emma Vickery is touring with the West Country Theatre Company this month, performing in Twelfth Night at the following venues:
Sat 8th August, Port Isaac, Cornwall, 8pm
Sun 9th August, Manor Gardens, Exmouth, 7.30 pm
Sat 15th and Sun 16th August, Kingskerswell, between Newton Abbott and Torquay, 7.30 pm
Wednesday 19th August Blackpool Sands, near Dartmouth 7.30 pm
Sat 22nd August Berry Head, near Brixham, Devon 7.30pm
Sun 23rd August Cockington, £7.30pm

If you want audition pieces for Daisy Pulls It Off, drop an email to daisy@tauntonthespians.org.uk and we'll get them to you. First audition is tomorrow, Tuesday 4th August, with further opportunities on the 11th, 18th and 25th, all at The Place in Wilfred Road, Taunton at 7.30pm

Sad to report, but our first entry to the British All Winners Final resulted in no awards at all for Taunton Thespians. A great shame, but we can be very proud of having reached the final at all. Here's to better luck next year!

To ease communication, we've now got a dedicated email address for Daisy Pulls It Off. This is daisy@tauntonthespians.org.uk. Nice and easy... So if you want any information on dates, times, auditions, tickets or whatever, just drop us a line.

As you may or may not be aware, our County Drama Festival winner, AP Herbert’s Two Gentlemen of Soho, has won a place in the All Winners Festival, being held at the Rhoda McGaw Theatre in Woking this Sunday, 19th July. We have hired a minibus to take cast and crew, and there are a few places available for members, if anyone wants to go but hasn’t got the transport. The bus is leaving The Place at 9.30 on Sunday morning, as we have a technical run at 1pm. So, if you fancy the trip, go to the Committee page and email Mike Gilbert – don’t just turn up, in case there isn’t any space. Tickets for the evening are £5 from the box office, either online at www.wokingallwinners.co.uk or at the venue. If you’re off under your own steam, the curtain goes up at 7.20pm, and we’re on second after a production of Pinter’s Dumb Waiter...

As per usual, please pass the word around to friends who might not have Internet access.