Sponsored by the Heart of England Co-operative Society

The Wheatsheaf Players Present

Who Dies Wins By Seymour Matthews

Welcome

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Welcome to the Co-operative Theatre for another night of mystery. We hope you enjoy the performance.

If you wish to be kept up to date with happenings at the Wheatsheaf then please speak to a member of staff and ask to be put on our mailing list.

For the safety and enjoyment of yourself and others while you are in the theatre, we kindly ask that you abide by a few simple rules.

Who Dies Wins

Wheatsheaf Players Committee

Secretary Mike Hooper

Treasurer Georgia Darlison

Artistic Director Heather Evans

Technical Director Stephen Hocking

Front Of House Manager Christine Rye

Publicity Manager Joanne Russell

Member Relations Manager Ruth Carver-Smith

Bar Manager Chris Evans

Director’s Cut A view from director Heather Evans

You can’t beat a good murder mystery. They are always fun to do, involve lots of people and are a good laugh. This one has been no exception! It isn’t always easy to find a good play – trolling through endless scripts to find something we can stage here at the Wheatsheaf can be a challenge in itself. Then there is casting a play – acting is the one area in life where age, sex, colour and creed are pretty much determined by the playwright. Finding the right people can also prove difficult! Fortunately, for Who Dies Wins, we have several new people treading our boards. A huge welcome and thank you to Tony and Wayne for joining us – we certainly couldn’t have done this without you! Also, well done to Anthony who is taking his first role with the adult group after being in the youth group here for many years. We also have some new people working backstage. Many of you will recognise Ryan, our box office manager, who is prompting for the play, as well as playing the policeman. Jennie, also a former youth group member, has been assisting with directing the play and our stage manager, Ethan, has also joined us from the youth group. Our perfectly finished set has been largely completed by Adrian and Dean – thanks guys! As always, Steve and the ever-expanding technical team do a marvellous job – they help to create just the right atmosphere on stage with their technical wizardry, none of which I understand! There is a huge amount of work involved in putting on a play – from the cast on stage, to the crew back stage and all the front of house and bar staff. Everyone helps to make it an enjoyable experience for us – we sincerely hope that you enjoy the play just as much.

Heather

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Cast Profile

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Tony O’Hagan – plays Raymond Brown A regular in his local church pantomime and an active member of Hall Green Little Theatre, Tony recently completed a successful run as 'Bobby' the camp nosey neighbour in 'Run for Your Wife'. He is currently learning to play the drums and is an avid West Bromwich Albion fan. 'Who Dies Wins' marks Tony's debut with the Wheatsheaf Players and we wish him well.

Anthony Wilkes – plays John Drummand ‘Who Dies Wins’ sees a step up for Anthony as he takes his first major role in a Wheatsheaf production. Although, having said that, you will probably recognise him from many youth group plays and for his work Front of House.

Christine Rye – plays Molly Drummand Chrissy takes to the stage again in this show, after her successful jaunt as the director of ‘Shirley Valentine’ earli-er this year. However, she is already planning directing again with the youth group play in November.

Phil Astle – plays Chief Inspector Plum Phil joined the Wheatsheaf Players in November of last year to play Gus in ‘Nobody’s Perfect’ but his last role was in ’Some Time Next Year’ at the Oldbury Rep. He is enjoying the challenge of such a different character to those he has played before and we are delighted to have him back on stage tonight as the bumbling Chief Inspector Plum.

Cast Profile

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Adrian Laing – plays Leon Winter Adrian has been absent from the Wheatsheaf stage for too long, and so it is great to see him back with a vengeance. He has been away for about a year after being involved in every Wheatsheaf production for several years.

Jo Russell – plays Abby Winter Jo has been absent from the stage for a while, but is taking the lead role in tonight’s murder mystery. She has been busy behind the scenes though - helping with continuity and front of

house.

Heather Evans – plays Sophie Brown As well as directing this play, Wheatsheaf regular Heather is also on stage. Last seen as Shirley in ‘Shirley Valentine’ in February, she certainly has less lines to learn this time!

Wayne Woolley – plays Piers Gerard It is a very warm Wheatsheaf welcome we give to Wayne as he joins us for his first acting role! You would never believe he has not been on stage before as he is a complete natural. (Although he bares an uncanny resemblance to ‘Turk’ on TV sitcom Scrubs…)

Ryan Randall – plays Sergeant Another Wheatsheaf Crew member, Ryan has moved to the adult group to take the role of the police sergeant. Although only a small role, he has his work cut-out for him as he is also providing the continuity for this play.

Programme

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Who Dies Wins By Seymour Matthews

Directed by Heather Evans Assisted by Jennie Jones

Act 1

A Friday evening in October, from 7.20pm

Interval

Act 2

Scene 1 Five days later, late afternoon

Scene 2

Immediately following

Who Dies Wins

Programme

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Cast

Leon Winter Adrian Laing

Abby Winter Jo Russell

Raymond Brown Tony O’Hagan

Sophie Brown Heather Evans

John Drummond Anthony Wilkes

Molly Drummond Christine Rye

Chief Inspector Norbert Plum Phil Astle

Piers Gerard Wayne Woolley

Detective Sergeant Ryan Randall

Crew

Continuity Ryan Randall

Stage Manager Ethan Flynn

Lighting Design Stephen Hocking

Lighting and Sound Operation Lewis Sykes Richard Taylor

Set Design Stephen Hocking

Set Construction Adrian Laing Dean Stevens-Mullis Wheatsheaf Wednesday

Graphic Design Chris Evans

Who Dies Wins

The Author

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Seymour Matthew’s first engagement after drama school was three years with the Royal Shakespeare Company and he was founding member of the Young Vic Theatre Company under Frank Dunlop when it opened on the South Bank in 1970. There followed a flurry of classical TV work including Howarth & Dickens of London, in which he played Edgar Allen Poe. There were also repertory seasons at Liverpool, Sheffield, Nottingham, Colchester and Bristol Old Vic. His first performance with the National Theatre was Thomas Putnam in The Crucible in 1990. He has subsequently appeared in over a dozen NT productions including Bishop of Ely in Richard III, Lawyer Hopkins in The Devil’s Disciple, Bardolph in Merry Wives, First Avocatori in Volpone, The Consultant in Remember This and Firs in The Cherry Orchard. He was Artistic Director of Frinton Summer Theatre for 20 years and Sherringham Summer Theatre for three years. Earlier this year he completed a round-the-world tour with Ian McKellen’s King Lear for the RSC. He has written three plays, all published by Samuel French. He has also written and performed a one man show entitled The Life and Loves of Edgar Allan Poe. Recent Films include Secret Passage and Angel.

A Profile of Seymour Matthews

The cast busy at rehearsals

Who Dies Wins

Wheatsheaf News

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We have had a busy time over the summer with lots of changes being made to the theatre. We started off by finishing the paintwork in the bar – a fresh coat all round has left the place looking very bright and cheerful. Next we tackled the woodwork in the auditorium. All the panelling has been re-edged and stained, more panelling has been completed – if you look closely you will see that the whole of the back wall has now been done. Safety has also been improved with the introduction of ankle-level lighting on all the walkways through the auditorium. These have the added bonus of looking fab too!! Next we moved on to the toilets – completely revamping the area to match the bar colour scheme and replacing the old sinks with rather snazzy new ones. Over the summer, there has also been set-building, the installation of a new lighting bar and general tidying and sorting of furniture and props. We have also planned the new season and sent out our rather splendid new leaflets. Phew! I am exhausted just thinking about it all, but I hope you will agree that it is all worth it. A big thank you to everyone who helped out! There is always more to do here, so if you want to get involved with anything from acting to directing, tiling to painting why not join us? Pop along on any Wednesday evening from 7.30pm for our ‘Wheatsheaf Wednesday’ or have a chat with any member of staff. And don’t forget, if you haven’t already done it, sign-up to our mailing list for details of all our forth-coming productions.

A round-up of happenings here

Who Dies Wins

Bill Heslop

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Our friend Bill Heslop passed away on 9th May, 2009 aged 66. Many of you will know Bill from the hundreds of plays he did here at the Wheatsheaf. He was a director and actor with the best comic timing you could hope to see. Although he loved Shakespeare, he was known for putting on farces – ‘Fish out of Water’, ‘Not Now Darling’ and ‘Run for your Wife’ to name but a few. He often took roles in our Murder Mystery plays and enjoyed serious roles as much as the comedy. One of his most memorable roles was the playing the dame in the pantomime ‘Silly Billy and the Giant Rabbit’. Although his first panto, he stole the show and looked wonderful in full make-up and wig!

When not on stage, Bill was always ready with advice and help for new directors and actors. He had a way of giving a little look that said you were doing great or a little comment that got you back on track. He was diplomatic and kind and often the peacemaker at the theatre.

Bill was a big part of the theatre and he will be sorely missed by us all.

Bill’s daughter, Samantha, would like to thank all the members of the Wheatsheaf for their messages of sympathy and good will.

During dress rehearsal for Run for your Wife

Watching (and directing) As the Dame in Silly Billy

Coming Soon

The Wheatsheaf Crew bring you an evening of two halves...

Emotions

This set of short plays will really showcase the ability and talent of the Wheatsheaf Crew. Each play is for four actors or fewer, playing a mixture of adults and children, and intended - as you might deduce from the title - to demonstrate emotions.

The Suitcase Kid

This is the play of the novel by former Children’s Laureate Jacqueline Wilson. Andrea is the ‘Suitcase Kid’, travelling back and forth between her separated parents houses. She has to learn to live with step parents and step siblings, two different houses and two different bedrooms - neither of which is her own.

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