Social Play Reading – Arsenic & Old Lace

While current production things are going on in the background, there is going to be an opportunity to read some plays.

The invitation is open for existing and new members, an excellent opportunity for those people who have expressed an interest in joining us, to meet some of the group in a social atmosphere and have a bit of fun reading. If you don’t want to read, but just want to come along and say Hi, that’s fine as well.

These are not auditions, but an excellent chance to experiment with characters, dodgy accents and suchlike. There’s no guarantee that DD will put this on as a play in the future, but who knows.

2nd March 2022 – 7:30pm at the Queen Victoria (Dagmar Rd, Dorchester DT1 2LW)

Trap for a Lonely Man

Daniel and Florence played by Seán Colledge and Cassandra Grindley

Daniel and Florence played by Seán Colledge and Cassandra Grindley

Trap for a Lonely Man – Robert Thomas

A gripping psychological thriller set in a French alpine chalet. A man reports his wife’s disappearance to the police but soon a woman turns up, claiming to be his wife, and makes herself at home. He insists he has never met her, she seems to know all about him and has evidence to prove it. What is the explanation? As the plot twists and turns a conspiracy unfolds and the tension and mystery build to the final moments.

Coming to a Village halls in Broadmayne, Moreton and Martinstown in early April.

Tickets will be available via the website and publicised links soon.

DD New year Social

In last couple of years, Dorchester Drama has not been able to hold any social events or parties. After all, No one is going to believe this is work…

However last night a few members got together for a new years social gathering to eat, drink, quiz and play a round or two of Werewolves & Villagers.

Dee, our wonderful photographer in this instance, was a little disappointed that she couldn’t be in the photos. But with a back catalogue of DD images from past productions and a few minutes in photoshop, I’ve cured that seamlessly I reckon. 😉

Happiest Days of Our Life

Too long has passed since we completed two sellout performances of “Happiest Days of our Life” without us posting some of the photos from the production. Not as many as I’d have liked, but it gets a bit busy on the tech desk at around the time the opportunity to take the best photos comes up.

Keep an eye out for news for our next production, Trap for a Lonely Man, scheduled for spring.

Happiest Days of your life – Update

Is it really nearly 2 years since our last production? We nearly had a go last year with ‘Trap for a lonely man’, but had to postpone that one and now we’re finally putting the finishing touches on ‘Happiest days of your life’.

During World War II, the all-girls St. Swithins school is evacuated from London to avoid the Blitz. Due to an administrative error, the female students and staff are relocated to the Nutborne Boys School, whose headmaster, Wetherby Pond, is alarmed. He and St. Swithins headmistress Muriel Whitchurch agree to keep their mixed-sex campus a secret to avoid disturbing the parents, but they find it hard to deceive visiting inspectors.

Performance of this play will be at the Dorchester Town Hall , High St East
Dorchester, Dorset, DT1 1HF

Friday 26th & Saturday 27th November 2021

Tickets will be available at the Dorchester Arts Centre

Dorchester Drama News update

As the country is continuing to adjust to the pandemic we had been hopeful to be able to provide a little bit of escapism from the chaos and put together a production. Sadly, our murder mystery and both of our productions this year have had to be abandoned, including Happiest Days of our Lives which we were hoping to perform in November
I wanted to update you all on what the committee’s suggestions are moving forwards.
Firstly, we are still very keen to be creative and sociable. We have a few suggestions and I’d be very keen to get your feedback on what you feel you’d like to be involved in. These are:

  1. A number of one off group read throughs of various plays using either Zoom or TEAMS. This would need to involve plays either in the public domain that are easily accessible or for people to purchase plays for their own use. There would not be plans to record or publish these (for rights reasons if they’re not in the public domain). If there are any suggestions of plays you’d like to read, please let me know – these can be as many “handed” as you want  – allowing for availability of other members
  2. For a “virtual variety performance”. This would involve members recording monologues, short plays, poems, sketches etc virtually. We would want these again to be free in the public domain as we would want to potentially publish these on Youtube or similar platforms to still give the group some exposure. If we get some decent interest for this, I’d be interested in speaking to anyone that has experience in video editing. I would be open for this to be combined with point 1 if anyone is brave enough to take ownership of the virtual recording and editing of a whole play, but I think asking people to record short clips and combine together is probably more reasonable!
  3. One off, or a series of role playing games which I’ve got experience in running. These are very popular at the moment on Youtube and other mediums (see Critical Role, Geek and Sundry and Dicebreaker on Youtube as examples) and there are some options that have basic rules and equipment requirements.

We also want to continue issuing a regular newsletter. If you have any personal news you want to share, or if you’re creative in other ways please email me or Fran with any suggestions for the newsletter.
I’m also very open for any other ideas that group members have that we can do safely in the meantime. I will of course keep you updated on our position in light of government advice.
Finally, as we mentioned before, any subs already paid for members and friends as of August 2019 remain valid, and there will not be an AGM this year.

Trap for a Lonely Man – Robert Thomas

Dorchester Drama will be proud to present ‘Trap For a Lonely Man’ by Robert Thomas.

A gripping psychological thriller set in a French alpine chalet. A man reports his wife’s disappearance to the police but soon a woman turns up, claiming to be his wife, and makes herself at home. He insists he has never met her, she seems to know all about him and has evidence to prove it. What is the explanation? As the plot twists and turns a conspiracy unfolds and the tension and mystery build to the final moments.

Performance of this play will be at the Dorchester Town Hall , High St East
Dorchester, Dorset, DT1 1HF

Thursday 30 July – Saturday 1 August 7.30pm plus Saturday matinee at 2.30pm.

Tickets will be available from the box office number, Dorchester TIC and on the website later.