Updated: 28 May 2013

Tim Willis Artistic Director, Loft Theatre Company

Calendar Girls, as with shows such as Brassed Off, Stepping Out, The Full Monty and other popular fare is always going to be an audience favourite, and it would have been very easy to present a production that just simply traded off audience goodwill. However, standing ovations speak for themselves, and full credit therefore must go to director Gus MacDonald and his team for going the extra miles and delivering a production of quality that will be remembered for all the right reasons. A box office smash – our third show to play to well over 90% this season – it attracted a mix of new and experienced actors to our stage as well as many new and welcome faces to our audience. Here’s hoping they can be tempted back sometime soon – more than likely if the feedback I have received is anything to go by!

Next up – in complete contrast, and demonstrating how varied our programme can be – is William Wilkinson’s production of Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya, an enduring, ageless and rewarding world classic by the master playwright that balances comic scenarios with just the right level of melancholy.

Production announcements and auditions are now coming thick and fast. I am delighted to confirm that our October/November main house show will be April De Angelis’ adaptation of Emily Brontë’s classic novel Wuthering Heights to be directed by David Hankins, followed in mid November by a Douglas Ford Studio production of Harold Pinter’s Betrayal, which is to be directed by Sue Moore. Vanessa Comer directs Coward’s Private Lives, our December production, with Darren Scott getting 2014 under way with Terry Johnson’s Hitchcock Blonde, a play that goes some way to explaining the Master’s fascination for his peroxide muses! Gordon Vallins will then direct The Plough and the Stars, the third of Sean O’Casey’s epic ‘Dublin Trilogy’ plays. Details of auditions for several of these shows can be found here.

Following on from Calendar Girls, late May also saw the fifth and final Warwick University Drama Society outing of the 2012/13 season in the Douglas Ford Studio – a well-attended double bill of one-act plays from Harold Pinter and Caryl Churchill. Negotiations for next season are already under way, with plans for our first one-nighters also due to be confirmed shortly.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you wish to comment on or discuss what we are doing here at the Loft – I’m interested in what you have to say and am always willing to learn how we can improve on things.

You can call me on 07818 032752, or email ad@loft-theatre.co.uk.

Tim Willis
Artistic Director

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