News

On Thursday 9th May, I attended The Lamproom Theatre Barnsley to watch The Lamproom MTC’s production of Priscilla Queen of The Desert. As usual I took a photo of the programme to post on Facebook, tagged the various members who are friends and put my usual “Break a Leg” message...

Joshua Slade was the last person to be hanged for murder in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, in a case dotted with twists and turns. Arrested for the murder of the Reverend Joshua Waterhouse in the nearby village of Stukeley, during a botched burglary, Slade initially looked likely to escape punishment for his...

A major source of reference has been Jim Harland’s books on The History of Blyth and, specifically, Trevor W Harder’s article on Beaconsfield Operatic Society. In the early 1920s, an enthusiastic band of singers in Blyth formed a musical group with possibly the longest title for such an organisation: The...

Stoke Youth Musical Theatre Company was originally formed as the youth section of the former City of Stoke-on-Trent Operatic Society in 1979. The youth section age range was 11 to 21 and it was governed by five members of the former society’s executive committee. Sadly, those five are no longer...

We know about the horrific end of life suffered by gay university student Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyoming, USA before The Laramie Project even starts. The hours of torture and finally, his death are not the climactic moments of the three-act play in which as few as eight actors portray...

Following the passing of Bert Lumsden on 20 June 2024, after a short illness, one word has been used by all who have paid tribute – gentleman. Bert was indeed a gentleman who devoted a significant amount of time and effort in supporting amateur theatre locally in Dundee, as a...

Bournemouth and Boscombe Light Opera Company - known locally as BBLOC, (pronounced B-block) started life as Boscombe Light Opera Company in 1954, and is Bournemouth’s largest amateur musical theatre company. BBLOC has often led the way with new shows - New Moon in 1962, Naughty Marietta in 1964, and The...

St Austell AOS was approached by Cornwall Libraries to enquire whether we would like to contribute to National Story Telling Week, which ran from 27th January to 4th February 2024. The book, chosen by Karen Burdon, was The Baddies by Julia Donaldson. St Austell AOS prides itself on working in,...

It’s been almost a year and a half since I became a NODA representative. I had no real idea what it involved. Each area is divided into regions and regions into districts. As a rep, I had 18 different groups. I had no idea there were so many and most...

In a village just outside Kendal, Cumbria a group of enthusiastic performers are beginning rehearsals for Gilbert & Sullivan’s Iolanthe. Staveley Amateur Operatic Society are celebrating their 70th Anniversary this year, and what better way than giving a comical nod to the election, by proving that fairies can influence parliament!...