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The uncut X-Beacon files May 2000
Royal Visit For Painswick After An Inspector Calls?
I am accosted on the streets of Painswick by a reader. “As soon as the Beacon arrives, I always turn to your
bit first.” she enthuses. “Really?” I strike a suitably modest but literary
pose. “Yes. Sets the tone for the whole mag. Thought last
month’s was particularly good…” “Thank you! …er… actually, I didn’t write a PaDS
column last month…” “Yes. Well, keep up the good work…” she finishes
enigmatically, leaving me wondering if there might be a hidden message somewhere. So why was the Beacon PaDSless last month? Well, to be honest, March was a bit of a slow news month for us. ‘Rehearsals for An Inspector Calls proceed really smoothly’ and ‘PaDS fails to beat WI in Beacon Quiz Night’ both come in the ‘Posh and Becks go shopping’ in terms of hot news value. (The shocking revelation that one of the WI quiz team had been tested positive for home-made raspberry jam came too late for the copy deadline.) Now that we know the jammy secret, PaDS is prepared! It’s
amateur jamatics for us all next year. Indeed, we went into serious training on
April 1st when we served scrumptious cream teas to follow Pauline
Foreman’s excellent Spring is in the Air presentation of prose and
poetry readings. A case of the eatable in pursuit of the speakable, as Oscar
Wilde might have said. Of course, this being April and England, no sooner was
Spring in the air, than it wasn’t. The Night of the Freak Blizzard turned the
Painswick Centre into a scene of positively polar desolation. Rehearsals for An
Inspector Calls (18th 19th 20th May)
became more a case of an inspector cools. But with all the grim
determination of a latter day Captain Scott, director Gill Cox drove her team
remorselessly on through the night, blissfully unaware that the Centre was
rapidly submerging beneath the snow. It was only when Chief Techie Jacek
Wolowiecz went out into the night muttering, “I may be some time…” and promptly
disappeared into a snowdrift, that the cast eventually mutinied and fled
homewards. They all turned up several days later, dishevelled, wild-eyed and
rambling. No change there, then. Seriously though, the production is on course to be a
great success with some memorable performances in a highly imaginative
interpretation. Intrigued? Then get your tickets - while they last - from
Painswick Post Office, Londis or Stroud Tourist Office (phone 01453-765 768). Finally, on the subject of Victorian Queens (which we
were, in a manner of speaking, a couple of paragraphs ago) I can reveal that
sources close to the Palace confirm that negotiations are at an advanced stage
for a suitably Royal Presence to open this year’s Victorian Market Day (8th
July). Her Majesty may well be amused by the genuine Victorian What The
Butler Saw machine, which will present a collection of dramatic vignettes
by the simple insertion of a coin of the realm. Mind you, Tony Gibson, who is
lovingly restoring the machine, tells me that some of the scenes are somewhat
risqué, so there is the chance that Her Majesty may not be so amused after all. Jack Burgess, Painswick Dramatic Society |
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