Arundel Players still waiting and hoping

David Bennett, chairman of the Arundel Players, admits their Priory Playhouse home is a sorry sight at the moment with the set still in position for their production of Neville’s Island which was cancelled in March.
David Bennett, chairman of the Arundel PlayersDavid Bennett, chairman of the Arundel Players
David Bennett, chairman of the Arundel Players

But if all goes well, depending on whatever regulations will be in position at the time, it could well be Neville’s Island which sees the company return to action in November.

A lot will have to happen before then, David concedes. But the hope is certainly there.

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And in the meantime, the Players are looking at producing some monologues online as a way to maintain their presence and keep up interest.

Live action, however, as things stand, is looking completely unviable.

“One or two of us pop into our theatre from time to time to make sure everything is OK, and the last time I was in, I did a measuring exercise to see whether we could do some form of social distancing. But it would be extremely difficult.

“We have a seating capacity which is very small at 77, and with social distancing that would go down to 25, and that would just not be viable. And that wouldn’t take into account the fact that we couldn’t open the bar because that’s an area that people have to walk through to get to the auditorium… and then you have to ask what we would do with the cast.

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“You can’t socially distance on stage unless you have a two-hander with the two people staying the appropriate distance apart.”

The loos too would also be an issue.

“So at the moment, there is nothing we can do. We have lost three productions so far.

“Our Arundel Festival show has been cancelled (for August).

“We were going to do a production of Barnum, the circus musical. We like a challenge!

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“But we have postponed that for a year to put forward for our 2021 Arundel Festival production.

“Prior to that in late March/early April we were going to be doing The Ladykillers. That was cancelled.

“And before that we were going to be doing Neville’s Island which had been in Chichester a few years ago – and that obviously didn’t happen.”

But with the set still up and people having learnt their parts, the hope would be to stage Neville’s Island in November.

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“But we will be needing to take a decision on that in August. We can’t sell tickets for November and then find we cannot do it.

“ We will need to know in August. We have left a gap in our schedule for January in case we have to move back to another slot.”

But in the meantime, Arundel Players committee member Matt Bonner, a drama teacher, is putting together a monologue project: “It is no substitute for the real thing, but it will be a way of keeping people involved in the theatre.

“What we have done is we have invited any members that want to put a monologue together up to five minutes, and Matt will organise the production together and put it online.

““We have already got quite a good response.”

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As for the future, it remains a genuine concern with the company how quickly audiences will come back when they actually can.

“A lot of our audiences are quite elderly, and I can say that because I fall into that category myself!

“But I think a lot of people are going to be worried about going to places where there are a lot of people, and the worst example of that is the theatre.

“I think there will be a genuine concern.”

“But perhaps if we can work on something with social distancing, then that might actually address that at the same time. The two things might coincide.”

All the company can really do is hope for the best...

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