Sexed-up thriller stars TV's Sarah
Jun 13 2008 Amateur Stage
THE man who wrote Wallop Mrs Cox is about to bob up with a reworked, relabelled version of 3-1-6, the thriller with which he followed his big Brummie musical.
Euan Rose's 3-1-6, Sex Lies and Retribution will be pinning 'em in their seats at Bromsgrove's Artrix from July 15-17, with a three-strong company of Stephen Downing, Gail Graye and Sarah Manners, of TV's Doctors and Casualty.
The enigmatic figures in the title refer to the number of characters, the tragedy that is involved and the six days it takes to move the action from its contented beginnings.
Euan Rose wrote it and is directing it - eight years after he launched Wallop Mrs Cox at the Crescent - and it shows how lies that start small then grow in size and frequency until truth has virtually disappeared.
The retribution continues from beyond the grave and the sex is the cause of the trouble. Well, we never learn, do we?
* IT'S the time of year when some theatre groups take to the Great Outdoors, hoping that the patrons will top up the picnic baskets and follow them.
The Crescent Theatre Players embark on their annual al fresco adventure when they present A Midsummer Night's Dream at Birmingham Botanical Gardens from June 24-26. They move on for a single performance at Castle Bromwich Hall Gardens on June 28.
They will be at Hall's Croft, Stratford-upon-Avon, on July 5 and 6, and at Harvington Hall, near Kidderminster, from July 18-20.
Solihull's Union Theatre is also bitten by the outdoor bug for its production of Romeo and Juliet, which will be at the Manor House Gardens, High Street, Solihull, from July 2-5.
And it will be quite an adventure for the Queenborough family. Dad Marcus plays the Prince, son Ashley is Paris, daughter Gemma is Gregory, and young Abbie is her father's page. Mum Julie, meanwhile, is working on costumes.
* PART of the excitement attached to Birmingham youth group Stage 2 is that you can't imagine what kind of drama the youngsters will tackle next to give themselves a new mountain to climb.
This time around, the answer is William Golding's Lord of the Flies, adapted by Nigel Williams, which follows a group of young children alone on an island - and their transformation into barbarians. It will unfold at the Crescent Theatre from July 23-26.
And the Crescent itself has something out of the ordinary to offer, running from tomorrow until the end of next week.
Jonathan Harvey's play Beautiful Thing caused a stir in 1993 when it opened at the Bush Theatre in London. It is the story of a disruptive neighbourhood where two 16-year-old boys fall in love.
* Email amateur stage news to Johnslim47@aol.com
