May 8, 2025
By popular request, we’re embarking on another summer season of monthly pay readings!
For our first get-together in May we’ll be reading Arcadia by playwright Tom Stoppard, which explores the relationship between past and present, order and disorder, certainty and uncertainty. It has been praised by many critics as the finest play from “one of the most significant contemporary playwrights” in the English language.
Join us in the meeting room in The Victoria pub, Union Road, Lincoln LN1 3BJ on Tuesday 27th May at 7.30pm to read in or just listen. Buy a drink at the bar and then head for the stairs at the back of the pub! Everyone is welcome, whether you’re a member or not.
We aim to stage a play reading on a Tuesday evening once a month throughout the summer. If you’ve got any suggestions for plays to read, please let us know!
And remember, these are informal readings, not auditions, so don’t be shy!
Apr 29, 2025
Our annual meeting for 2025 will take place on Thursday 10th July at 7.30pm in the upstairs function room at the Victoria pub in Lincoln.
It’s your chance to discuss future productions and performance venues and elect a new committee for the following year.
If you’re new to the company it’s also a great opportunity to get to know us! Members and non-members are all welcome.
Mar 21, 2025
Directors Su Toogood and Martin Noble have announced their casts for A Brief Encounter with Noël Coward in October.
The two plays which make up our Noël Coward double bill are Still Life, which became Brief Encounter in the cinema, and Come Into the Garden, Maud.
Roles have been cast as follows:
Still Life
Alec – Anthony Sexton
Laura – Fraya Grove
Myrtle – Kate Bartlett
Albert – Jez Ashberry
Beryl – Holly Spiler-Bigley
Stanley – Charlie Seeley
Bill – Jack Tomlinson
Johnnie – Peter Hill
Mildred – Mya Taylor
Dolly – Gemma Howat
Come Into the Garden, Maud
Verner Conklin – Roger Saunders
Anna-Mary Conklin – Juliette Sexton
Maud – Anita Quigley
Felix, the waiter – Michael Church
A Brief Encounter with Noël Coward can be seen at the Broadbent Theatre in Wickenby on 9th, 10th and 11th October 2025.
Feb 1, 2025
Tickets are now on sale for our next production, The Father by Florian Zeller, in April 2025.
Now 80 years old, André was once a tap dancer. He lives in a nice flat in Paris and his daughter Anne visits with her husband Antoine. Or was he an engineer? And doesn’t his daughter actually live in London now with her new partner Pierre? André can’t quite remember; he can’t find his watch and he’s wearing his pyjamas in the middle of the day. And who put that piece of furniture there?
André is a man losing his grip on reality, but he still has all his faculties… hasn’t he?
Florian Zeller’s darkly humorous and deeply poignant play, translated from French by Christopher Hampton, is a tragi-comic mystery, a sobering and realistic family story, and an unsentimental, emotionally intense look at the world through the eyes of a man experiencing dementia.
In it we meet André, whose declining mental faculties lead to confusion, frustration and a loss of identity. His daughter Anne struggles to balance her love for her father and the need to care for him with the pressures of her own life. Through André’s eyes the audience experiences the confusion, dislocation, anxiety and vulnerability associated with dementia and the impact it has on family relationships.
Shot through with moments of heartfelt emotion, humour and beautiful, poignant language, Common Ground’s latest bold production stars Jerry Smith as André and Laura Turner as Anne.
It can be seen at the Broadbent Theatre in Wickenby from Thursday 10th until Saturday 12th April 2025. Performances begin at 7.30pm.
Tickets cost £13 (£12 concessions) and can be purchased online at https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/broadbent/e-belqjo. Some tickets may also be available on the door.
The Father was made into an Oscar-winning film in 2020 starring Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman. Anthony Hopkins won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of André.
Jan 31, 2025
Thanks to everyone who turned out last night (30th January) to audition for our Noël Coward double bill. It was great to see plenty more new faces!
We will be staging two short plays by Coward at the Broadbent Theatre in October 2025: Still Life, which was the basis for the classic 1945 film Brief Encounter, and Come Into the Garden, Maud.
It will take a while for all the parts to be cast, and we are still interested in hearing from people who would like to audition. If you would like to be considered, please email stoogood1946@gmail.com.
Here’s a reminder of the roles available:
STILL LIFE
Alec Harvey – mid to late 30s
Laura Jesson – mid 30s
Myrtle Bagot – 40s-60s
Albert Godby – 40s-60s
Beryl Waters – early 20s
Stanley – early to mid 20s
Bill and Johnnie – 20s
Mildred – early 20s
Dolly Messiter – mid 30s to mid 40s
Young man – any age
COME INTO THE GARDEN, MAUD
Vernon Conklin – 55, American accent
Anne-Mary Conklin – 50s, American accent
Maud Caragnani – 44, English accent (a few lines in Italian)
Felix, a waiter – 20s – early 30s, French (a few lines in Italian)
Jan 19, 2025
Our autumn production for 2025 will be A Brief Encounter with Noël Coward, and open auditions will take place on Thursday 30th January.
We will be staging two short plays by Coward at the Broadbent Theatre in October 2025: Still Life, which was the basis for the classic 1945 film Brief Encounter, and Come Into the Garden, Maud.
You are invited to audition for parts in either or both plays. Ages shown are for guidance only.
In Still Life, directed by Martin Noble, Alec and Laura meet and fall in love in a railway station tearoom. Their relationship is mirrored by the courtship rituals of two other couples. But Alec and Laura are both happily married – will they follow their hearts or bury their love forever?
Roles and playing ages:
Alec Harvey – mid to late 30s
Laura Jesson – mid 30s
Myrtle Bagot – 40s-60s
Albert Godby – 40s-60s
Beryl Waters – early 20s
Stanley – early to mid 20s
Bill and Johnnie – 20s
Mildred – early 20s
Dolly Messiter – mid 30s to mid 40s
Young man – any age
In Come Into the Garden, Maud, directed by Su Toogood, an American couple are staying in a luxury Swiss hotel. Anne-Mary is petulant and domineering, while her husband Verner is quiet and philosophical. Verner is drawn to a wealthy widow, Maud Caragnani, who pays the couple a visit. Will he take a chance on love, or remain stuck in his loveless marriage?
Roles and playing ages:
Vernon Conklin – 55, American accent
Anne-Mary Conklin – 50s, American accent
Maud Caragnani – 44, English accent (a few lines in Italian)
Felix, a waiter – 20s – early 30s, French (a few lines in Italian)
Auditions will take place at 7.30pm on Thursday 30th January 2025 at St Mary Le Wigford church hall, next to Lincoln railway station.
If you are interested in auditioning but unable to attend, please email stoogood1946@gmail.com.
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