Two shows in March

An early Easter means double entertainment in one month

Our next play, opening on Tuesday March 8, is the ever-popular John Godber comedy Bouncers, telling the story of a 1990s night on the town through the eyes of four doormen: Eric, Les, Judd and Ralph.

If you are on Twitter, you may have seen our short video clips of the four-man cast. If not, you can catch up with them over on our YouTube channel.

The show runs from 7.30pm each night up to - and including - Saturday March 12. There is also a Saturday matinee at 2.30pm.

The four bouncers play all the characters: the boys out on the pull, the girls out on the town, the slightly seedy club DJ and many more. It's bound to be a night to remember - and you'll laugh until they throw you out.

Tickets cost £10, with £9 concessions from Tuesday to Thursday only. All matinee tickets are £9. You can still book yours from the Brewhouse box office in person, or book and pay online at www.ticketsource.co.uk/littletheatreco. There's no extra booking or admin fee. 

Later in the month, from March 29 to Saturday April 2, our youth company stages the classic Andrew Lloyd Webber musical The Phantom of The Opera. Limited number of tickets are available for the five performances and a sell-out is likely before the show opens. So don't delay if you've not got your tickets yet.

Please note, there are no matinee performances of The Phantom of the Opera.

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LAFTA award winners

Looking back at 2015

At the start of January we held our Annual General Meeting followed by our LAFTAs - LTC Awards For Theatrical Achievement - a light-hearted, tongue-in-cheek awards event which nevertheless recognises achievements of the past 12 months. 

Our 2015 youth production Evita scooped the most awards, with leading lady Katie Ireland collecting five including the Adam Bates Award For Best Youth Performance, which Adam was able to return to Burton to present in person.

The list of awards and winners was:

BEST PRODUCTION - Evita

BEST ACTOR in a leading role - Phil Robinson (The Ladykillers)

BEST ACTRESS in a leading role - Katie Ireland (Evita)

BEST NEWCOMER - Ollie Last (Evita)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR - Matt Bancroft (The Ladykillers)
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BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS - Georga Ratcliffe (Evita)

BEST MUSICAL PERFORMANCE - Katie Ireland (Evita)

BEST ACTOR COMEDY - Mike Mear (The Flint Street Nativity)

BEST ACTRESS COMEDY - Elaine Pritchard (Fur Coat and No Knickers)

BEST ACTOR DRAMA - Rob Tunley (The Ladykillers)

BEST ACTRESS DRAMA - Katie Ireland (Evita)

THE ADAM BATES AWARD FOR BEST YOUTH PERFORMANCE - Katie Ireland (Evita)

BEST DOUBLE ACT - Matt Bancroft & Mike Mear (Fur Coat and No Knickers)

BEST ACCENT OR DIALECT - Rob Tunley (The Ladykillers)

VILLAIN OF THE YEAR - Pete Banton (The Flint Street Nativity)

BEST SET - The Ladykillers

TECHNICAL AWARD - John Bowness for direction (Evita)

BACKSTAGE AWARD - Katie Haywood and Manda Oakley for costumes (The Flint Street Nativity)

FRONT OF HOUSE AWARD - Geoff Thompson for photography in all productions

LTC GOOD SPORT PERSONALITY OF THE YEAR - Mike Mear for looking pretty (The Ladykillers)

LTC QUIZ CHAMPION OF THE YEAR - Homer Simpson

LTC QUIZ MOST NUMBER OF WINS AWARD - Berta

THE MIKE MEAR AWARD - Peter Clemson

ARTISTIC DIRECTORS AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING ONSTAGE PERFORMANCE - Katie Ireland (Evita)

ARTISTIC DIRECTORS AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING OFFSTAGE CONTRIBUTION - Katie Haywood for choreography (Evita)

MEMBER OF THE YEAR - Rob Tunley

Hosts for the night were Peter Clemson and Harley Pantall. Matt and Tilley Bancroft provided audio and video clips and Jack Hawkins also performed a number from The Phantom of the Opera.

A charity collection on the night raised money to help refugees on the Greek island of Lesvos, where Adam Bates volunteered late last year. 
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Thanks to Sam Pearson for the following images from the night.

Josh in Cats, Sophie in Oz

Latest professional roles for former members

Josh Andrews is currently on the UK and European tour of Cats, while Sophie Towns is playing Dorothy in a European tour of The Wizard of Oz. Break-a-leg to them both from all of us.




 

Edward singing in Burton

Soloist in Shakespeare concert

A few days before Christmas Edward Robinson gave a lunchtime recital at St. Modwen’s Church, which was a great success.

There's another chance to catch Edward when he is one of the soloists when Staffordshire County Chorus Sings Shakespeare at Burton Town Hall on Sunday February 28, in an event marking the 400th anniversary of the playwright's death.

Edward - who joined Little Theatre Company for our 2004 production of Oliver! - is currently in his third year of study at the Royal Northern College of Music. 

Tickets are £12 (£11 concessions) for balcony seats and £10 (£9 concessions) for the stalls. Children under 18 pay only £4. Tickets can be booked by ringing 0300 111 8030 between 8am and 4.30pm Monday to Friday.

Meanwhile, two of Edward's cast mates from LTC Youth's 2012 production of Les Miserables are teaming up again.

James Lane and Steve Waite are both 4^th year medical students at Edinburgh University and are busy working on the musical Bedside Story, an original creation and parody of the popular musical West Side Story. James will be performing and Steve is directing. If you should find yourself in Edinburgh between March 29 and April 2, you will find them at the Pleasance Theatre.

Pictured below: The 2012 LTC Youth production of Les Miserables

Dates for your diary

Keep them free!

Coming up, Little Theatre Company brings you:

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING : Tuesday 21st June to Saturday 25th June 2016 (including matinee on Saturday).
LTC FUNDRAISER : Saturday 3rd September 2016.
MONTY PYTHON'S SPAMALOT : Monday 14th November to Saturday 19th November 2016 (including matinee on Saturday).
AGM & LAFTAS : Saturday 7th January 2017.

Home-Start needs help

South Derbyshire branch looking for a Trustee/Treasurer

Home-Start South Derbyshire, a small charity that provides friendship and support for young families, is looking for someone who might be interested in taking on the role of Trustee and Treasurer.

The group holds monthly Board meetings in Burton and the Treasurer might expect to spend half a day a month in addition on the accounts. If he/she has more time available the charity can certainly use that!

They use a simple Sage accounting system. The ideal person would have some accountancy or book-keeping experience, but they don’t have to live in South Derbyshire. Their current Treasurer is retiring after several years service. For more details, contact Bethan Keirl at bkeirl@aol.com. 

Elaine organises networking lunch

Open to all women who work or volunteer

LTC member Elaine Pritchard is one of the leaders of the Burton group of Women In Rural Enterprise (WiRE) which welcomes women who work part-time, full-time, for themselves or as volunteers for charities and organisations to monthly evening meetings at the Brewhouse.

In December, Elaine was invited to meet Chancellor George Osborne at a national Small Business Saturday event in London where he praised the work of the WiRE organisation.

To raise awareness of the help and support WiRE can offer, Elaine and her fellow leaders are organising a one-off lunch on Wednesday March 2 at the Brewhouse. It costs just £8 to go along and hear guest speaker Fiona Davies (pictured below right) of the national WiRE organisation. There will also be stalls in the cafe bar area selling designer clothes, jewellery, cards, health & beauty products and a massage therapist will be offering 15 minute seated neck and shoulder massages.

It costs just £8 to go, including a buffet lunch, tea and coffee. Bookings must be made online before February 24 at www.wireuk.org/events/networking-lunch