|
Monday 7th June 2004 STONE LITTLE THEATRE SCORES HAT-TRICK IN NSDA FESTIVAL
In a sparkling ‘Gala Night’ award ceremony held at Endon Village Hall, Stone Little Theatre members were nominated for a total of eight awards, all for ‘Yesterday Once More’. These included Gerry Clenton for Best Performance by a female, Neil Norman for Best Performance by a male, Chris Burden for Best Supporting Performance, Chris C Bell for Best Producer and Michelle Bruce for Best Performance Under 21 with a special mention for her choreographic talent. Commenting on their outstanding success, Stone Little Theatre Director, Chris C Bell, said “It’s always nice to be recognised for your achievements but this year, our success in the NSDA Festival has been quite remarkable. We are all absolutely thrilled.” Amy Bell (Chris’s Daughter) received the ‘Keith S Williams Trophy' for the Festival’s second place from Chairman of the Adjudicators, Peter Dutton, who commented that Stone Little Theatre had only missed out on the first place in the Festival to Centre Stage Theatre Company of Leek’s ‘Tess of the d’Urbervilles’ by 2 points, scoring an unprecedented 85 marks out of a possible 100. Stone Little Theatre’s February production of ‘Mother Goose’ was not all that far behind with 78 marks. Stone Little Theatre’s success comes at an exciting time for the Bibby Sports & Social Club in Tilling Drive, Stone, where the local group are based. The club’s main lounge is currently undergoing a complete renovation with enhanced bar facilities, furniture and fittings designed to make life much more comfortable for its members. Several new initiatives have also been put in place to take the club forward including regular Friday night entertainment and special themed events. Stone Little Theatre’s next production will be the third in a series of musical celebrations based on key decades of the 20th century. ‘Simply The Best’ will focus on the 1980’s and opens at the Bibby Sports & Social Club on Tuesday 26th October for a five night run. Yesterday Once More Named after The Carpenters 1973 hit, ‘Yesterday Once More’ is a musical celebration of the 70's and includes over 25 classic hand-clapping, foot-stomping hits from artistes including Abba, The Barron Knights, The Beatles, The Bee Gees, Edison Lighthouse, Elton John, Gloria Gaynor, Mud, The Rubettes, Showaddywaddy and Rod Stewart. The show also includes a bounty of classic side-splitting film and television comedy with live on-stage excerpts from ‘Are You Being Served’, ‘Fawlty Towers’, ‘Monty Python’, ‘Rising Damp’ and ‘Till Death Us Do Part’. There's also a generous helping of year-by-year news, views, nostalgia & reminiscences. There is a section dedicated to seventies musicals including ‘Jesus Chris Superstar’, ‘A Little Night Music’, ‘Godspell’, ‘Billy’ and ‘A Chorus Line’ and lots of interesting facts and news stories about the seventies including decimalisation, the rise to power of Edward Heath and the new Conservative Government, the Watergate Scandal and the appointment of Margaret Thatcher as Britain’s first lady Prime Minister. The famous broadcasts and speeches of Anthony Barber, Richard Nixon and Margaret Thatcher are also included. ‘Yesterday Once More’ is compiled and written by Chris C Bell.
|
|
Stone
Little Theatre’s 25th anniversary season was further enhanced on
Saturday night when their autumn 2003 production of ‘Yesterday Once
More’ was awarded second place in the North Staffs Drama Association
2003/2004 Festival. The Stone-based theatre company’s production also
received ‘The Pemberton Trophy’ for the most adventurous approach to
theatre and for writing, producing and directing the show, 