Forget the critics! Newbury theatre under woodworm attack
Woodworm you believe it? New Era’s under attack, the Wash Common theatre group’s Sally Hall tells the artsdesk...
“Woodworm Wars: not the title of the next play, but New Era Players’ current battle with a whole bunch of little critters who are munching their way through our wooden bits.
“We have a great deal of timber in our little old theatre, dating as it does from 1876, when it was St Luke’s, and the main church in Wash Common for 57 years before St George’s was built.”
They started noticing a few suspicious-looking holes in the seats, then, on examination, found that woodworm had been a silent but deadly presence around the stage, the backstage corridors and up above in the dressing room, costume store and lighting area.
“While we obviously wish no harm to any living creatures, it was either them or us in a battle to take over the stage and after some scratching of heads and consultation with experts, we have started a woodworm eviction programme that involves lugging everything we possess up and down the stairs as each area is professionally treated.
“We managed to stage our June production Waiting for Godot, but afterwards realised that we could not rehearse our September show in the theatre, as the treatment for woodworm is carrying on in stages, and the one stage that is out of action is the bit we need for rehearsals. With a burst of creative thinking, we decided to put on a bit of a different show for September and came up with Love Letters, a 1988 work by A R Gurney.”
This play has been nominated for awards and has appeared in the West End and on Broadway in the past, most recently revived by Martin Shaw and Jenny Seagrove in 2020. It is so simply staged that traditional rehearsals aren’t needed.
“Even as we speak, two couples of actors are running their lines on sofas in living rooms near you, because this is a two-hander, charting the lifelong relationship between two people, where the words are front and centre. It is a true epistolary work, as all the lines are read from letters the pair have exchanged over the years.”
If you would like to support New Era in their endeavours to raise enough money to defeat the woodworm (and possibly replace the roof in the near future) the company would love to see you in September for the next production.
“Come and join us to see this warm and poignant drama” from September 4 to 7 and 11 to 14 at New Era Theatre, Andover Road, Wash Common.
Tickets, £15, are available from ticketsource.co.uk/new-era-players
This amateur production is presented by arrangement with Music Theatre International on behalf of Josef Weinberger Ltd.
