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NEWBURYNEWS ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT n 2

Thursday, October 29, 2020 32

Newbury Weekly News

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Even if they were able to open, the limita- tions placed on the number of audience members means the production is likely to be financially non- viable. The Compton Players were established in 1947, and over the years have built up a loyal and steady following. Since 2015, we have received a NODA award every year – two for Best New Show and three Accolades of Excellence, the most recent being for our 2019 production of The Ladykillers. We hate to think that there will be no more productions, so are trying to keep the interest and support alive, but it is not easy. However, there are ideas in the pipeline, so keep your eyes peeled. LIZ SAXTON Compton Players Pictures: TheLadykillers,OneFlewOverthe Cuckoo’s Nest and TheEntertainer

being able to perform anytime soon. Not only do the current restrictions mean that performing live is almost impossible, unless the cast and crew of any production are in the same ‘bubble’, but many of our venues are not able to open at the present time because they cannot guarantee a Covid secure environment.

THERE has been much publicity in the media regarding support for the professional theatre during the Covid pandemic – quite rightly as people’s livelihoods are at risk. However, spare a thought for those of us who belong to the amateur theatre. We do not have salaries to pay, but for most of us there is little prospect of us

‘Compton Players were delighted to win the NODA (National Operatic and Dramatic Association) South East Region Accolade of Play Excellence Award 2019 for their production of Graham Linehan's The Ladykillers , a classic black comedy in which a sweet little old lady, alone in her house, is pitted against a gang of criminal misfits who will stop at nothing. Director Pete Watt and designer Helen Saxton faced a tough challenge fitting the complicated three-level set on to Compton’s small stage.’

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Shouot utforfestivedesigners THE mayor of Newbury and the Newbury Weekly News last week launched a search for a design for this year’s Mayoral Christmas card.

Each Christmas, the mayor sends cards to those they’ve worked with closely throughout their time in office, as well as charities, organisations, civic dignitaries and Newbury’s twin towns. Mayor Elizabeth O’Keeffe is calling upon the local community to submit entries for a competition to choose a winning design. She said: “Anyone is welcome to enter the competition, and as many entries as possible will be displayed in the printed Newbury Weekly News and online on @newburytoday.” There are three entry categories: age 7-11, 12-17 and 18+, with a prize for the winner of each category and one overall winner will be chosen from the three as the design to be printed and used for the Mayor’s Christmas card for 2020.

Entries can be emailed digitally to mayor@newbury.gov.uk or posted to Mayor’s Parlour, Newbury Town Council, Town Hall, Market Place, Newbury, RG14 5AA. The closing date is Sunday, November 15.

PerchancetoSleep LOCKDOWN has given Oxford’s Mandala Theatre Company an Zoomtheater

More innovative Zoom theatre, broadcast as part of Oxford science festival

Overseas he suffers from sleeplessness caused by jet lag. Even though she is a graduate, Nush is enmeshed in multiple portfolio low-paid jobs, her work worries causing sleep loss that was made worse by her split with Aisha and the loss of her father. Aisha’s brother Luis (Luis Ribeiro) is kept awake by his baby without the support of the mother. His tiredness is exacerbated by working night shifts. He gets panic attacks and chest pains. In the only scene where two of the cast are filmed together, Luis encounters Solomon on a floodlit street, bonding over cadged cigarettes and conversing about the worrying spate of muggings in the area. The drama surprises as each character finds extreme or novel ways to find to get to sleep. The hour-long play, which was rehearsed over Zoom with actors in separate locations, is coherent and gripping. With imaginative editing, and a fine track composed by Duotone, Small Hours will linger long in the memory. JON LEWIS

opportunity to explore an exciting new direction. With support from the IF science festival, the Oxford Playhouse and Oxford University’s Sleep & Circadian Neuroscience Institute, Mandala’s artistic director Yasmin Sidhwa worked with film maker Ben Johnston to broadcast a new play by Ava Wong Davies, Small Hours , on YouTube for the festival. With young people in lockdown struggling with mental health issues, the playwright presents four characters in their twenties who find it difficult to sleep. The actors produce mature, compelling performances with close-ups heightening nuanced glances and reactions to unexpected directions of conversations. It comes as a real surprise when one scene explodes into a surreal, heightened burst of dance that physicalises the swirling tiredness that fills the character’s head. Nush (Anusha Abbas) and Aisha (Akasha Daley) were lovers at university and are

uneasily exploring their relationship now they are apart in lockdown. Aisha confesses that she cannot sleep, staying up at night with the lights on. Nush gets bad news about her father. A month later, Nush is stalking Solomon (Nelvin Kiratu), a wealthy and confident financier who is constantly tired due to taking early morning flights from Britain to East Asia. Small Hours: Mandala Theatre Company, in front rooms everywhere, from October 18-25 The drama surprises as each character finds extreme or novel ways to find to get to sleep