Two short plays and two comic monologues with dinner

2nd-4th May 2008 Croft Street Community Centre, Lincoln

We staged ‘Food for Thought’, our first supper theatre evening, back in 2003 and it was such an enjoyable show that we often considered repeating it. We were pleased to return to Croft Street Community Centre to stage ‘More Food for Thought’ which this time featured two one-act plays and two comic monologues with a two-course supper. Su Toogood and Mark Scales sat in the director’s chair: Mark directed ‘Two Sides of a Square’ by Jack Booth, a clever depiction of a tempestuous relationship played out in two apartments on opposite sides of a town square, while Su staged ‘Meat and Two Veg’ by Paul Beard, which combined sexual tension with competitive vegetable growing. The plays were supported by two classic monologues: Vicky Ashberry gave a hilarious rendition of Joyce Grenfell’s ‘Music and Movement’ (“Don’t do that,George!”) and Jez Ashberry updated Bob Newhart’s monologue about the cheapest of all budget airlines – the Mrs Grace L Ferguson Airline and Storm Door Company. Once again Ian Smith took charge in the kitchen and produced another delicious supper: a vegetable pastitio (look it up) followed by fruit salad in a brandysnap basket with ice cream. The Lincolnshire Echo reported that “most performances hit the funny bone and were a credit to the Common Ground Theatre Company.”

by Charles Dickens
adapted by Sir John Mortimer

13th-15th December 2007
Drill Hall, Lincoln

To round off an ambitious and very successul 2007 we staged Sir John Mortimer’s adaptation of the Charles Dickens classic ‘A Christmas Carol’ to warm the cockles of our audience just before the festive season.

In choosing this play we expected to attract big audiences to the Lincoln Drill Hall but at the same time we also knew that a lot of hard work was in order: our production featured a cast of 20, almost all of whom doubled parts and some of whom ended up playing four different characters during the course of the action.

‘A Christmas Carol’ was not without its problems: our original director bailed out halfway through the rehearsal run and our ghost of Jacob Marley unaccountably pulled out 48 hours before curtain went up on the first night. But as is usually the way in the theatre everything turned out all right in the end, thanks to a phenomenal amount of hard work by the new director and assistant director, David Lintin and Su Toogood, and many others.

Most people think they know the story of Ebenezer Scrooge like the back of their hand so it was interesting to perform Mortimer’s faithful adaptation of the original novel, much of which is semi-autobiographical and which sheds light on how Scrooge turned from a lonely little boy into an embittered old skinflint in the first place.

Just like ‘Pygmalion’ before it, ‘A Christmas Carol’ broke audience records for Common Ground Theatre Company – the play was seen by 672 people over three nights and thankfully, in view of our perilous financial position a year earlier, the production made another reasonable profit.

by George Bernard Shaw

17th-19th July 2007
Drill Hall, Lincoln

We continued our run of ambitious productions at the Lincoln Drill Hall with ‘Pygmalion’, George Bernard Shaw’s well known tale of how a professor of phonetics transforms a cockney flowergirl into a genteel young lady in order to win a bet.

Su Toogood took on this challenging play and by scouring the city for the best acting talent assembled a very strong cast featuring a number of actors appearing in a Common Ground production for the first time – among them Aggi Gunstone (Eliza Doolittle), Tim Bradford (Colonel Pickering) and Irene North (Mrs Higgins).

Just as impressive as the cast was the stylish and ingenious set designed by Roy Simpson which lent elegant simplicity to the production, taking its inspiration from original drawings by Felix Topolski.

‘Pygmalion’ broke a number of records for Common Ground Theatre Company: it attracted our largest ever audience (almost 500 over three nights) and produced our largest ever profit; in fact, it would be more accurate to say that it was one of very few productions which made any money at all!

Writing in the Lincolnshire Echo Charlotte Orson described Aggi Gunstone’s portrayal of Eliza Doolittle as ‘feisty’ and admired the ‘strong cast, stunning costumes and stylish set’. The second half of the play was, she said, ‘quite captivating’.

by William Shakespeare

26th-28th April 2007
Drill Hall, Lincoln

Our most ambitious production to date was also our first collaboration with another theatre company: in April 2007 we joined forces with the Lincoln Shakespeare Company to stage Julius Caesar.

Our production was inspired by the American TV drama series The West Wing – in our Roman republic besuited senators (male and female) dashed here and there with a mobile phone in one hand and a take-away coffee cup in the other. Caesar himself was shot at close range by a fusillade of handguns; Mark Antony delivered his set-piece ‘Friends, Romans, countrymen!’ speech to an audience of journalists in front of a huge screen relaying his speech live; and our Act V battle scene was a mixture of sound and lighting effects and on-screen TV news footage by reporters in the field.

By combining the acting talents of two companies and by attracting actors from elsewhere we were able to field a very strong cast, including LSC regulars Chas Rodgers and Pete Came as Brutus and Caesar respectively, Richard Wood and Lindsey Slapp as Mark Antony and Cassius and Jo Hollingworth as Brutus’ wife Portia.

We also ended up with a cast of over 30 augmented by ten excitable but enthusiastic extras from the drama course at Lincoln College.

Writing in the Lincolnshire Echo Charlotte Orson saw parallels with Blair, Bush and the war in Iraq (which hadn’t occurred to us, if we’re honest) and described the production as ‘a triumph’.

by Mike Leigh

7th-9th December 2006
Broadbent Theatre, Wickenby

Maurice Raphael made his debut as a Common Ground director with a production of Mike Leigh’s quintessential 1970s tragi-comedy ‘Abigail’s Party’.

Again we returned to the Broadbent Theatre in Wickenby, where the show attracted reasonable audiences despite the inclement weather of opening night.

And again we were pleased to welcome new faces onto the stage: this show was a Common Ground first for Wendy Tenbeth, who was convincingly monstrous as Beverly, the hostess from hell, and Katie Greathead, who played Angela with marvellous naivety.

It was also good to see Martin Noble in a starring role at last!

Writing in the Market Rasen Mail Jo Hollingworth reported that the show ‘was oozing with 70’s kitsch and the audience lapped it up… at times you really felt like a voyeur at this cringe worthy social event.’