Almond Blssom trip - February 18th

Our first trip of 2010 is to the delightful Genal Valley, part of the Serriana de Ronda, rightly prized as a National treasure in Spain.

This winter we have had one of our wettest in memory and rivers and lakes will be looking their best. The plant life will have benefited enormously too from winter rains so we can hope - as far as nature ever lets us - that the mountains, hillsides and valleys will be full of blossom and flowers. This usually encourages wildlife too and the valley is home to rare eagles and vultures, to deer and wild boar.

Around the white villages, and there are 16 of them in the valley, there are orchards with oranges, lemons, limes, plums and sweet chestnuts. These are used in the production of marmalades, preserves and sweetmeats. You will be allowed to buy!

So come and join us. The trip as always includes

1. a stop for tostado and coffee
2. lunch
3. Gina

We set off from outside the Solbank near the municipal market at 9.00 and hope to get you bak by 6 or 7 in the evening.

Will you see a Griffon Vulture?
  Find out on February 18th

Next Play

WARNING:

When I saw this play during its West End run I almost left in the interval!

My side was aching so much from laughing I wasn't sure I could manage another hour.

'Behind the scenes' plays are always popular. This one concerns a cast of professional but decidedly not good, actors who can't quite get it right to begin with but obviously manage it because the second part is set three months into the run of the show. By now they are beginning to get on each others nerves and you see what happens backstage before the audience see the smiles and sincerity out front. Finally we see them well into the run when confusion reigns where there ought to be smoothness.

It is really difficult acting an incompetent actor and Peter Brooks has assembled a cast of Salon regulars whose abilities of course bear no relationship to the characters they play, being famous for the sweetness, light and harmony they dispense wherever they go in our theatre.

Dates: Friday 22nd to Wednesday 27th January 2010 (so one extra night on the usual run of a play.

Box Office: 952 475 542

And don't forget the next FOTA lunch is on January 14th.

January Committee meeting

But first let me wish you a Happy New Year. For most of our members, whether in Spain or England (or even those who went to Florida - did you see those pictures on the news and You Tube of frozen iguanas falling out of trees?) the year hasn't begun too well weather wise. For us on the Costa del Sol at least all the rain means plenty of water in the summer but I am pretty sure that we are grateful not to be facing the snow and ice that those of you in England are dealing with.

We had a report from Sweelan Ford to tell us that we have sold 146 copies of the anniversary booklet and with freebies for the sponsors that only left 88 copies. The proposal put to us was to finance another 200 copies and this was agreed. It means that we have to sell 150 of these to break even so a total of 240 still to go. The anniversary party will be in June so there is time to shift them. If you want a copy then David Radford is in the theatre most days and can easily be persuaded to part with one in exchange for five euros.

Feedback on the Christmas Lunch was excellent and it seems the recession helped matters by limiting numbers, making for a better atmosphere. Next year we intend to keep to around 40 but fear not there will be plenty of warning so you can book. We continue with our usual lunches from February 4th when we return to Casa Rustica. Our last visit there was a great success and we intend it to be our venue for the rest of this season. We are organising a guest speaker and we hope that our first will be announced soon. Unfortunately I have to say that because our arranged speaker was to be Barrie Suart but he suffered a heart attack during his Christmas visit to England and can't fly back. We all wish him well and hope to see him soon.

Our trips have always offered incredible value for money and although it is getting more and more difficult to keep the prices really low a comparison with what is offered by travel agents will show that there is real value there still and the next one which we are calling Almond Blossom and Villages is no exception. I'll post a little more later but having been on a previous visit to the Genal Valley and the villages of Manilva and Gaucin I can assure you that a good day is in prospect. The suggestion in the press is that the recent heavy rains will produce some wonderful blossom and wild flowers and with our usual stop for coffee and tostado and lunch included 27 euros is a bargain. The date for your diary is February 18th

Future trips will be to Grazalmena and the cheese factory and to Guadix. Details later.

Our finances continue to be healthy. In December we handed over 1000 euros to the theatre and we confidently expect that this month we can hand over 3 to 4000 more. Much of this comes from the sales of our cards and the raffles and for that we must thank all who buy.

Finally I would like to ask for help. I want to make the blog more interesting and the FOTA noticeboard outside the theatre can sometimes be a bit boring. I don't get to all of our events so if I am not there (or even if I am) and you have taken some good pictures which I can use please let me know. You can e mail them to me at grahamcherry@hotmail.com. It is getting tricky getting good photos of places we are going to where copyright isn't an issue so a good start would be any nice Almond Blossom or ones of Manilva or Gaucin. If you send them I shall assume permission to publish or use them in publicity. Thanks.

Merry Christmas

The whole FOTA Board would like to wish all our members and their families a very Happy Christmas and a great 2010.
Since my last post we have had our Christmas raffle with most of the tickets being sold during the run of 'The Wizard of Oz'. If you haven't seen the show then the reports I have had suggest that you are missing something just a little bit special. Sufficient people saw the show and bought the raffle tickets for the total to be a little over 800 euros.
Then we had our Christmas Lunch and that was really enjoyable. 40 members turned up and contributed to a raffle take of 70 euros. Unfortunately the restaurant charged us an extra 50 cents ahead for the lunch so that made a bit of a dent in the funds but we were still ahead and what is always more important with lunches those attending had a good time.
So now the Christmas cards have been sent, those of you in England are going to get White Christmas, those in Malaga a wet one and I shall hopefully have some sunshine in the Canaries but wherever you are enjoy it and we shall look forward to seeing you at the FOTA desk in the New Year when our first event will be a lunch with hopefully a little surprise thrown in.

The Bazaar

Not a lot to say about this except thanks to all who helped and I promise not to take a copyright fee if you want to copy any of the photos. The final tally of the income for our funds will be posted as soon as I can but we are looking at a figure around 300 euros.

Father Christmas was ready to welcome the throng.

Norma and the two Helens prepare for the rush

Where would be be without Arthur and some woman I vaguely recognise

Margaret Whitters always does a splendid

cake stall

Our vice President and her bottles

December Board Meeting

The December Board meeting was held last Tuesday so things have moved along somewhat since then. We began with a major disappointment as the booklet with stories from the history of the theatre was not in a state where we could expect anyone to buy it. That meant that the bit of a do we had planned for the lunchtime following the meeting had to be called off. That was the least of it though because we had hoped that we could sell the booklet in the run up to Christmas as a stocking filler and this appeared to be unlikely to happen. Since then we have found a new printer and the proofs look to be very promising, certainly of a much higher standard than we had seen from the original printer and we are on course to have it by the middle of next week.
We then turned our attention to the more mundane work we normally get up to - what was that Chinese proverb - please don't let me live in exciting times - well the booklet has proved more exciting than we wanted!

Lunches are proving more popular this year and the one at Casa Dori went well with an excellent turnout. The raffle raised 52 euros. Our Christmas Lunch is at El Brujo where we have been so well treated in the past. We had fixed a provisional price of 20 euros for this lunch but the cost of the food has gone up - they buy fresh not frozen turkeys - and it will be 22 euros. Good value and a 'Cabaret Piece' is promised by our beloved President and his predecessor as a sweet delight (??) at the end of the proceedings. Cars parked on yellow lines are not an acceptable excuse for a quick getaway.

Our trips are still organised by Gina and the one to Granada booked so well we filled the coach. Even with a good stop for coffee and tostado and a more than acceptable lunch we turned a profit of 413.80 euros. Our future trips are:
February 18th - Almond Blossom and Villages
March 18th - Grazalema
April 15th - Guadix

Our Treasurer reported on our finances and it has been a good month. We handed over a further 1000 euros to the theatre with the expectation that at least another 2000 will be handed over next month.

Don't forget that one of our best fundraisers is the raffle that goes with some shows. Already tickets will have been sold during the run of 'A Christmas Stocking' (thanks guys, I enjoyed my evening even though I had a very drunk and noisy woman sitting behind me. Front of House staff did a good job for us all in getting her out before the first half was over so well done them too).

So now my next job is to report on the Bazaar. By a strange quirk of blogging you will probably have read that before you get here. It makes life quite confusing.

Christmas Bazaar

This Saturday December 5th we are holding our Christmas Bazaar on the forecourt of the theatre. (inside the theatre if it is raining)
We shall have all the usual Christmassy stalls. Margaret Whitters has her cakes, Pauline will be running a bottle stall( modesty almost stops me from mentioning the 15 jars of homemade marmalade in my kitchen using Seville Oranges from Pueblo Lucia in the heart of Fuengirola) and there will be a White Elephant stall, David's cards and Norma will be looking after a book stall. you can buy tickets for the current Christmas raffle too.
It occurred to me that some readers may not know who is on the Board of FOTA - sounds grand until you realise it means lugging the trestle tables and clearing up the mess! so this is a list of the Committee and what they do:
President: David Radford
Vice President: Pauline Naylor
Treasurer: Arthur Hill
Secretary: Graham Cherry
The members are:
Helen Young who handles publicity
Helen Tomlinson who organises our front desk rota
Norma Wilson
Pat Suart.
Noticeably not here is the name Gina Foster. SALVA have decreed that nobody can sit on our Board and their Board(sadly the reason we lost Lynn Halliday when she joined the SALVA Board) so Gina comes to our meetings as the liason between the two. That doesn't mean she sits quietly in the corner or that she has stopped organising our coach trips which are an important fundraiser.
anyway now you know come and say hello on Saturday and most of us are manning the desk on Mondays. Wednesdays and Fridays.

The Book

Well, I took my camera in to take pictures of all the beautiful people who belong to the Salon at the launch of the book but to no avail. Sorry beautiful people if you turned up but the print standard of the book was far below the level we had been promised by the printer and the whole batch of booklets were thrown back at him. A new printer is being organised and we now think that the booklet will be available before Christmas so keep a corner of the stocking free whenever you fill one up. I'll keep you posted ( as long as I am kept up to date) and we hope it will be just a little hiccup.

Booklaunch

The Booklet sponsored initially by FOTA with a history of the theatre prepared to celebrate ita twentyfifth anniversday next year will be launched at 1.30 after the Board meeting tomorrow morning, December 1st.
We hope to see you there. If you can't make it we will have it for sale at the desk and with David's cards in the theatre bar.

The Booklet - Latest news

Further sponsors have agreed to donate 100 euros to the publication costs of the booklet - they get five copies in return but this now means that with the advertising revenue we have covered the cost of production and the full revenue from each copy sold will go straight to our funds.
The booklet will be launched shortly and will be on sale at the FOTA desk and the Bazaar at a cost of five euros.
To the list of sponsors in previous posts should be added;
D.Evans
Christina Backlund-Wall
Marie Mason

The History Booklet

Great news. Individual sposors of the booklet (see main post below) have now increased to 9. The new sponsors are Terina Jager, Toni Devenish, Syd Wright and Brian Hindley.
We understand that the advertising revenue should reach 800 euros and this means that the cost of production has now been met so the full revenue from each copy sold will go to the theatre's funds.

November news

Since the last post was October 1st I had better start with news from the October meeting.

Fundraising and Social activities: We had an enjoyable lunch on the port at Fuengirola. As usual there was a raffle and that raised 41 euros . The trip to Selwo had to be cancelled. It seems that in practice we have a cost limit we must work to and the trip at 40 euros a head was just too much. Later on I shall post about our trip for November and the cost target there is 33 euros. If you look in the Costa del Sol News a similar commercial (but obviously not as good trip) is twice as much.

We discussed arrangements for our Christmas Bazaar and if you have a bottle or some item suitable for the tombola lurking at the back of a cupboard - or standing proudly somewhere prominent is OK too - we would love to have it.

Then we came to the Theatre History Booklet. Good progress has been made, we were told, in its preparation and it is on target for a launch at the end of November. More later.

During October our big fundraiser was the raffle we held during the run of Cabaret. It isn't a popular task to sell tickets for raffles but a willing team did a fantastic job with the help of all who bought tickets. We were overwhelmed with the result as we sold 1602.50 euros worth of tickets. With the cost of the prize and the tickets taken off there was 1500 euros left for our funds. Thank you so much for all the support that there was for this effort. We will be repeating the exercise and hope that we can continue to make a very significant contribution from this activity.
I am sure our efforts were helped by the fact that this was a superb production. I haven't heard anything but praise for the performances. Another Peter Mitchell triumph.

So to our November meeting. This time our Fundraising/Social looked to the future only. So get the diary out and mark off November 19th for our trip to the other Granada. Already bookings are so good that we are at break even point so there aren't too many places left for what should be a great day out. I am jealous that I can't go as we have the dress rehearsal of Habeas Corpus that day. I will post some more details for this trip as soon as I can tear myself away from the script and the trauma of learning lines. On December 17th we will have our Christmas Lunch at El Brujo restaurant. We've been there before and were very well looked after. Details from the desk which include how to get there - it's not difficult.

The Anniversary Booklet of the history of the theatre during its 25 years was the next item on our agenda. Since it was originally proposed that FOTA should sponsor the booklet the cost has risen and there were some concerns expressed at the October meeting. By November this had eased a bit as advertising had contributed 480 euros with the likelihood of more to come. Sweelan Ford told us that she hoped that individual sponsors would come forward and immediately the following agreed to sponsor the booklet for 100 euros each: David Radford, Gina Foster, Pat Suart and Norma Wilson to be followed by Sweelan herself saying she would do the same. With even modest estimates of sales this means that the Booklet is unlikely to take anything from Fota's funds.
Enough for now. See you at the FOTA desk on Monday, Wednesday or Friday. And don't forget to book your ticket for Habeas Corpus

the Buzz is back

Last Saturday saw the end of the hot sunshine, at least for the time being. My sunbed had been tucked away out of the rain. At journeys end I came up out of the station at Fuengirola and the sky was quite grey. The rain wasn't particularly heavy so I didn't bother with my umbrella. The theatre makes wet umbrellas unwelcome so I got just a little bit wet on my way the bar. First rains since May. The exit door was open and I could hear 'Cabaret' in rehearsal. Suddenly it seemed like Autumn had really begun. It was an audition day and lots of familiar faces were gathered round the table where Doreen Slater was keeping the chart for the aspirants as we trooped upstairs to be auditioned by Marie Legge. Time first though for a cup of coffee and catch up with the gossip (not a lot, very disappointing) and then the bar filed with a break in the rehearsal. It was good to see the regular musicals casts again as I don't do that many musicals but they are always fun when I do. Confidence was high and it seems that in Andy as the MC and Claire as Sally Bowles the general opinion was that the theatre had a winner on its hands. (October 9th - 18th). Of course there was still some reading from the script and undignified stumbles but at this stage that is both to be expected and was lower in quantity than usual. With the crowd from the stage, the slightly steamy atmosphere from the rain and the chatter and noise the theatre seemed alive again as it can't quite manage to do when it is really the summer sun and heat on offer. There was a distinct promise of Autumn and a theatre season to look forward to.
The feeling of being back in the swing continued when I came in to do the desk on Wednesday morning. This time a lot of old friends and former castmates (is that a word?) were rehearsing 'A Murder Is Announced'. Our Miss Marple will be Doreen Slater and the cast includes David Vincent and Lynn Halliday and other fine regular Salon actors. That will be 30th October to 3rd November. Sales of seats on our first trip of the season to SELWO and then Puerto Banus are not going as well as we had hoped. The cost of 40 euros is good value with the 'extras' that a FOTA trip provides but we have to acknowledge that in these difficult times it can be rather a luxury to spend so much and we are all a bit nervous about luxuries. We'll talk about it at the committee meeting on Tuesday next week and I'll let you know through this blog.
Well. the audition went well. You get the phone call which tells you that you've got the part and you think Mission Accomplished! and then it sinks in that there are going to be lots of hours spent learning lines and working on the character and going to rehearsals and taking deep breaths before stepping on the stage and Oh My God! So if you want to see how it turns out the play is Habeas Corpus by Alan Bennett and you should mark a date between November 20th and November 24th in your diary. The play had a good run in the West End with Alec Guinness playing Dr Arthur Wicksteed so I hope nobody can remember that. There is challenging and challenging! So it is back again this Saturday for our first read through. The committee meeting on Tuesday and I shall be back on the desk on Wednesday. There'll be a lunch for you to book and a trip to look ahead to. See you

Welcome Back

Something light to begin. I've just come back from London where I saw two very different shows. If you get a chance to go to the National Theatre to see 'The Pitmen Painters' grab it. A very funny and serious look at art and how it can help a person grow in ways not immediately obvious. We see it here in Fuengirola in the use of drama and theatre in helping young people (and some of us older ones too) learn a little more about ourselves and the world around us. If that sounds too serious it isn't meant to be because that is what a good play or film or even TV show does after it has entertained us and this play really was very entertaining.
Our other show was very different - 'Hairspray' - at the Shaftesbury Theatre. For both shows we bought our tickets in the hut in Leicester Square (useful tip) and for 'Hairspray' we got them at half price, although when we got there the theatre was very full. So from 'Hairspray' I thought we could cheer ourselves up with a song we used in panto a couple of years ago. Although I was in the lineup then I couldn't honestly say we did it better !!


September Committee so to start the serious stuff a report on our first meeting. We are looking for a progress report on the special cleaning of the dressing rooms. We offered at the end of last season to pay for an 'industrial' clean of the dressing rooms which were showing the effects of a busy season. This is to include replacing the floor covering which was way past its sell by date with a special rubberised one recommended by John Pyne, the resident Stage Manager. We are also paying for a new extractor system to cope with the cigarette smoke on the stairwell.

I like, and I think the rest of the Board like, the idea that we can point to specific improvements we can make to the theatre as well as the financial contribution FOTA has made in the past year which is now 25,000 euros. Without that contribution we might not be looking at the season ahead with, well - anything at all. Everyone who joins in with FOTA activities is helping keep the theatre going. Apparent successful shows often bring with them enormous costs in terms of royalties and charges.

Lunches Our first social event of the new year is a lunch at Ku Damm on the port in Fuengirola on October 1st. Whilst it is not my favourite restaurant I know a lot of you like it so I hope we can get the programme off to a good start.
Following that we have plans for Casa Dori on November 5th and El Brujo for the Christmas Lunch on December 17th.

Trips:

Our first trip of the season is to be to SELWO park on October 22nd. This very popular tourist attraction is just outside Estepona and we will stop at Puerto Banus on the way back to shop till our wallets are empty (won't take me long!). The trip will include our usual stop for coffee and tostado and will include lunch. Full details will be available shortly at the desk.

Now a Bribe

Help will be needed during the run of 'Cabaret' when we will have a raffle for our funds. So far these raffles have been pretty successful but we are sure we can do better. Help selling the tickets could add considerably as last season lots of people were never approached to buy a ticket. if you can do anything then please contact David Radford who is at the theatre most days and always on a Monday, Wednesday or Friday.
Here's the bribe. The great Liza herself (I saw her at Puerto Banus last year - wow!)

Condolences

Anyone who has ever gone to the theatre must at some time seen or bumped into Lizz Freeman, currently Vice President of SALVA and a very regular performer working now on 'Cabaret' and it is with great sadness that I start this seasons news blogs with the information that her husband David died last Friday. I am sure that all members of FOTA will join me in wishing her well at a difficult time.

A Visit to Ireland

An aprehensive group of six actors and two stage managers gathered in gate area C at Malaga Airport for the first foreign tour of a play from the theatre (unless you count Gibraltar). We had been invited to perform 'A View From The Bridge' at the festival in Dundalk in Ireland. The flight went smoothly (just as well since one of us had been up until 4.00 clearing his desk) and we were met by what turned out to be as hospitable a group of people as it is possible to imagine. Safely transferred to Dundalk we had a look at the theatre. A very different design to the one we are used to. From an actors point of view it meant remembering to look up rather

having the audience at your feet. Gloria and John were knocked out by the facilities and have come back with a long shopping list. Next season is going to be a busy fundraising one for us!.
Then again the actors noted with unconcealed jealousy a Green Room with TV (of the stage) as big as all our dressing rooms put together and still three further dressing rooms each suitable for a football team.
The theatre seats 350 and we were told bookings were going well.
Suitably humbled we were taken to dinner at the Riva restaurant before being sent to our lodgings. Forget stories about theatrical landladies and dodgy digs. We all spent a very comfortable four days. Even the weather was brilliant. The locals must have been very pleased we brought some Spanish sun with us. During the stay we had a brunch at Dundalk Golf Club which looked perfect with the sun showing off the work of the rain that preceded us. We almost forgot why we were there with that and a pre arranged visit to Carlingford

Local hospitality was centred around McGeoffs which serves a mean pint of Guiness and the pub opposite the theatre where we may have disgraced ourselves by beating the locals on the quiz night. Such hedonism was soon brought short when Matt Murphy appeared and reminded us why we were there. Immensely hard work by our John Pyne and their Tony was producing an excellent set but we needed to do some work. In these photos the set is nearly complete and the central cast members getting to know it.















Radio interviews done, shirts made suitably messy (nice clean car park but my shirt may never recover. Did longshoremen really get that mucky?) we had to face our audience. Some less eager than others
But I think the intensity of the play is better demonstrated - let's face it it couldn't be worse demonstrated - by this photo:












I think you can be proud of the audience reaction to the play (I should make it clear that my role was quite small and all the Kudos lies elsewhere). We were told that even the top Irish Theatre companies get one round of aupplause and are lucky if they get off the stage before the clapping stops but they called the cast back on. Here is a transcript of a radio critics report;

I was somewhat apprehensive about going to see the production of "A View From The Bridge" as one associates plays done in holiday resorts with stock amateur fare. Well this play presented by salva from Fuengirola made my doubts seem quite ludicrous.from the 1st words uttered to the wonderful climax it was completly riverting. The acting was sublime and the direction was just what we expect from Matt Murphy.the theme of jealously and obsession as a man loses his niece to an italian immigrant was fully realised. There was not a weak link, Bobbye Aaron and Brianna Mcpherson were terrific as they came to terms with Geoffrey Standsfield s mesmerising performance as Eddie Carbone. I have never seen a better played Marco and Radolpho -totally believable and Stephen Burns gave his usual assured performance as the story telling lawyer. Even the smallest roles were handled expertly. A lesson in what theatre should be all about! They will be welcomed back hopefully very soon and the many locals who visit the Costa del Sol will be looking out for "the Salon de Variete" harry lee

After the show we had supper in McGeoffs and all of us found the walk to the back of the pub a long one as the audience stopped us to chat. Harry may be right and we hope that both the Salon and Fuengirola will benefit from a connection with Dundalk.
Of course none of this would have been possible without the work of Matt Murphy who was a difficult taskmaster. At times not a kind word could be heard from the cast but we were all queuing up at the end to ask about his next piece at the Salon and presented him with a memento which we hope he will be putting in a proud place. Watching him from a corner are Stephen,Bobbye and Brianna















So it remained for us to get home for a reality check as we line up for auditions for the next time. See you there. But not in a Green Room:

Theatre Programme Autumn 2009

With so many of us flexible with our dates it was suggested to me that the Autumn Programme for the theatre should be somewhere on this blog so those who could only spend a short time here could plan their break. So, subject to change as they say, here it is:

18th -22nd September - Happy Birthday. This is a French farce which has been well received around the world

9th - 18th October - Cabaret. Peter Mitchell will be doing a workshop on this on Friday this week and auditions are on Saturday June 6th

30th October -7th November -A Murder is Announced. Peter Brooks will be holding Auditions on June 13th

20th - 25th November - Habeus Corpus

4th - 8th December - Christmas Show

18th - 21st December and 2nd- 5th January - The Wizard of Oz

22nd -27th January - Noises Off

5th - 9th February - Entertaining Mr Sloane

19th - 24th February - Old Time Music Hall

Well that takes us a bit past the Autumn but I hope you will find it useful.

AGM

Just to remind everyone that the AGM is on Wednesday June 3rd at 7.00 at the theatre.
I sent a news e mail to everyone whose email address I have - a few got bounced back so if you have given us your email address and think you should have had one let us know.

Picnic at Chorro

The trip to Cordoba is now full even with a bigger coach. Those who booked - have agood one.
What next? I hear you cry. Well we have a coach trip planned for June 4th to the Farmer's Market at Alora and then to the Lakes at Chorro.

Alora has a new attraction with it's Farmers Market which is set up at the Los Cabelleros restaurant. I have quizzed a friend who lives in the town and he goes especially for the pies from the Pie lady of Pizzara which are totally orgasmic. Who says the English can't cook. The idea is that you will be able to buy something delicious at the market for your picnic at the Lakeside, now much fuller of water than two years ago when these photos were taken

More on the Patios

I know it sounds like a cheap sales stunt but if you were thinking of coming to Cordoba with us you should book soon. We thought it might not sell so did some extra publicity and as of last Wednesday we have 40 booked for the trip which only leaves 14 seats to go. It is great that we should be able to add to our donations to the theatre by making a profit but I hope that we don't have disappointed members. See you on Monday or Wednesday. Who knows, Friday may be too late!