FESTIVAL BOX OFFICE: THE STEYNING BOOKSHOP • 106 HIGH STREET • 01903 812062

SATURDAY 23 MAY TO SUNDAY 31 MAY. See visual arts exhibitions page
EXHIBITION OF THEATRE MODEL BOXES, CHATFIELDS

SATURDAY 23 MAY AND 6 JUNE, Starting Jarvis, Jarvis Lane, 11.30am and 2.30pm, approx 1 1⁄2 hours, £12.50.
Please book early as these events sell out fast.
GERT & DAISY AND THE IRISH AFFAIR BY SUZI HOPKINS - NEW SITE SPECIFIC PLAY FROM THE COMPANY
Following the success of last year’s ‘Glucksteyne’, The Company returns to Steyning Festival with an exciting new site specific theatre piece.

Charles Stuart Parnell and Katharine ‘Kitty’ O’Shea were married at Steyning Registry Office on June 25th 1891, ending Parnell’s glittering career as ‘the uncrowned King of Ireland’. Their tragic love story will be recreated by Gert and Daisy, Steyning’s own music hall double act, who will lead the audience around the highways and homes of the town, filling the streets with songs, laughter, and bad moustaches!

Please be prepared for inclement weather as parts of the performance take
place outdoors.

SUNDAY 24 MAY, 11.30am until approx 3pm, meeting at Bonnington, Jarvis Lane, £16 including lunch
THEATRE TRAIL 1 PRESENTED BY THE COMPANY
The Company returns with its popular rehearsed readings of unperformed plays by local playwrights. Each play takes place in a different Steyning venue chosen specifically for the play. Lunch is part of the deal, and there will be a Q&A session at the end for you to ask questions and discuss the plays with the writers, actors, and directors. Please book early as these events sell out fast.

11.30am: ‘One Marriage in a Boat’ by Andrew G Marshall, at Bonnington, Jarvis Lane ‘Rowing the Atlantic...it’s the perfect recipe for saving a marriage.’

12.30pm: ‘Barabbas’ by John Collings at Chez Joel, 96 High Street ‘Why do people like Barabbas always get away with things?’ Winner of the West Sussex Gazette Playwrighting Competition judged by Sir Arnold Wesker and supported by West Sussex Gazette.

Lunch at Chez Joel (Meat or Vegetarian Lasagne and salad), 96 High Street, Steyning

2.00pm: ‘Cormorant’ by Hilary Cooke and Sarah Hutchings at Bonnington, Jarvis Lane
‘How do you catch a cormorant? It’s not easy....not at all.’

SUNDAY 24 MAY, Steyning Grammar School Theatre, 8pm, £8/6 concs
AN EVENING WITH... CHARLES COLLINGWOOD IN PLAYING AWAY
When you’ve played the J.R. of Ambridge, Brian Aldridge, in The Archers for over 30 years, you have some stories to tell.

In his new solo show ‘Playing Away’ Charles will guide you through his colourful life with personal anecdotes, excerpts from shows and some surprising impressions, rounding off the evening with a Q&A, where he’s game for almost anything! Rest assured when you go home you will know at lot more about his life in The Archers, the world of entertainment and a fair amount about Charles’ personal life as well!

TUESDAY 26 MAY, Steyning Grammar School Theatre, 7.30pm, £8/6 concs
FESTIVAL PREVIEW FIRST NIGHT OF NEW SHOW LEGACY PRESENTED BY THEATRE OF ANGELS, WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY MARTIN SHARP
Legacy tells the inspiring true-life story of Dorothy Whitney Elmhirst, confidante of some of history’s great heroic activists including Gandhi and Eleanor Roosevelt, and herself a tragic and compelling heroine. Having lost both parents as a child, followed by her husband in WW1, Dorothy embarked on a remarkable quest, co-founding the Dartington Hall creative community, and giving birth to a future Oscar-winning actress and Soviet spy along the way. In Legacy, Dorothy has come to the Bahamas to write a memoir, but the appearance of a stranger leads her to confront much more than she’d expected.

WEDNESDAY 27 MAY, St Andrews Primary School, 2.30pm, £8/6 concs; £3 children’s only workshop
CHILDREN’S EVENT AND WORKSHOP
THE GORGON’S HEAD AND THESEUS AND THE MINATAUR presented by Light Fantastic
A magical combination of shadow puppetry and storytelling for the 6- 12’s.
Two Greek myths in one fabulous show with music, song and full participation. Devised by storyteller and puppeteer Jeanette Hodgson and Gaetan Boyer, puppeteer and performer. The show will be followed by a workshop making shadow puppets for a group storytelling performance for friends and family at the end of the session. Workshop numbers limited so advance booking essential.

WEDNESDAY 27 MAY, Steyning Grammar School, 7.30pm, £8/6 concs,
The Ornate Johnsons present THE OCTOBER REVOLUTIONS by Brian Mitchell
Fogeyish scriptwriter Philip and eager, young art student Kath hover frustratingly in that awkward region somewhere between friendship and love. He is twenty-nine going on forty, and she a nineteen-year-old with far more experience and wisdom than her years. Over the course of three meetings in three parks over three Octobers, they jockey, vie, scheme and battle for position, with comical, and sometimes brutal, results. Can the romantic setting of the Blue Peter Italian Garden bring the outcome Philip so ardently desires? Or will his hopes remain sunken?

Described as “A Private Lives for the 21st Century,” (The Brighton Argus) The October Revolutions is a touching, hilarious and often cringe-inducing portrayal of just how rubbish humans can be in the pursuit of love. Written by the acclaimed comedy writer, Brian Mitchell (chief writer for BBC4’s The Ornate Johnsons, winners of The Brighton Festival Award for Best Comedy, and the Perrier-Nominated Joanna Neary Is Not Feeling Herself), and starring Lloyd Thomas (Queen Of The Slaughter – Prodigal Theatre) and Laura Corbett (Red and Love and Understanding – Other Place Productions).

“A superb two-hander, both funny and moving, written with unflinching honesty and a great generosity of spirit.”- Philip Reeve, Carnegie-Medal-winning novelist.

“Two brilliant actors, sharp dialogue and spotless writing and direction make this a highly entertaining, very funny production.” - Rachel Pegg, Latest 7

FRIDAY 29 MAY, St Andrews Primary School, 2.30pm, £8/£6 concs
RAPUNZEL & THE TOWER OF DOOM Theatre of Widdershins
Following the enthusiastic response to Elves & the Shoemaker last year, here is Theatre of Widdershins’ new show. Tangles? Split ends? Its hard enough having a bad hair day but pity poor Rapunzel spending her life in a tower with a wicked witch using her captive’s locks as a step ladder! Puppeteer Andy Lawrence takes this Grimm tale with its dark roots and styles it into an enchanting show which promises plenty of volume and loads of highlights. Make an appointment – because you’re worth it!

FRIDAY 29 MAY, Steyning Centre, two showings one at 6pm and one at 9pm
Steyning Film Society Members FREE, £5 for non-members
Indian snacks 8.15pm - 8.45pm provided by The Maharajah in Bramber. Tel: 01903 814746
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE (CERTIFICATE 15)
A Mumbai teen who grew up in the slums, becomes a contestant on the Indian version of “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?” He is arrested under suspicion of cheating, and while being interrogated, events from his life history are shown which explain why he knows the answers. Winner of 8 Oscars

SATURDAY 30 MAY, Strivens Barn, 2.30pm, £8/£6 concs
Not suitable for under 10’s.
RANDOM ACTS PRESENTS PLAYBACK THEATRE
With some astonishingly spontaneous group improvisation Playback offers both entertainment - some beautiful physical theatre, often humorous, with a strong element of the surreal - and a personally enlightening experience. This is theatre and storytelling with a difference – people in the audience contribute their stories which the actors mirror back to them in an instant performance, with a sensitive perception that can offer some unexpected insights.
‘Sell out successes at Edinburgh & Brighton Festivals’

SATURDAY 30 MAY, Doors/bar 7.30pm for 8.30pm, Steyning Centre, £8/£6 concs, Early booking essential.
After last year’s fantastic sell out show, Comic Jam is back for another dollop. The wonderful Lee Hume will compere a new showcase of stand up comedy’s rising stars from the London and Brighton circuits. So if you’re in need of a tickling of comic jam come along. Just don’t tell your dentist !

THURSDAY 4 JUNE, Cuthman’s Field, 7.30pm, See ticket options below.
FESTIVAL PREVIEW FIRST NIGHT OF THEIR NEW SHOW
MOTHER SWEETAPPLE presented by Rude Mechanical Theatre Company
It’s Tuscany in 1340. A girl in a powder blue dress wanders in the scorching sun through a field of sunflowers. A hot headed young man attempts to seduce her. Years later, now a rich merchant, he returns home. In his path is a woman, Mother Sweetapple, who has been locked in a garden for 21 years.

Part fairy tale, part detective story, the play gradually reveals who she is and how time like sleep changes our perceptions and values. Hilarious and bawdy, but poetic and challenging, too.

Ticket prices: Adults £11, Senior Citizens £10, Full-time students £9, Children £6, Family ticket £28 (2 adults and 2 children), Group Ticket £9 each (10+). Please note there is no credit card facility for this production.

SATURDAY 6 JUNE, starting Jarvis, Jarvis Lane, 11.30am and 2.30pm, approx 1 1⁄2 hours, £12.50.
GERT & DAISY AND THE IRISH AFFAIR BY SUZI HOPKINS - NEW SITE SPECIFIC PLAY FROM THE COMPANY See Saturday 23 May. Please book early as these events sell out fast.

“If I had known it was going to be this good I would have brought the neighbours!”
Mrs Goldfinch after seeing “Off the Buses, by The Company” at the Amberley Working Museum

SUNDAY 7 JUNE, 11.30am until approx 3pm, meeting at Horseshoes, corner of Newham Lane & Laines Road £16 incl. lunch
THEATRE TRAIL 2, PRESENTED BY THE COMPANY
The Company returns with its popular rehearsed readings of unperformed plays by local playwrights. Each play takes place in a different Steyning venue chosen specifically for the play. Lunch is part of the deal, and there will be a Q&A session at the end for you to ask questions and discuss the plays with the writers, actors, and directors.

11.30am: ‘The Man in the Attic’ by Richard Vincent, at Horseshoes, corner of Newham Lane & Laines Road ‘When you buy a dream home...it should be empty!’

12.15 pm: ‘The American Hotel’ by Jacqueline McCarrick, in the snooker room at the Chequers Inn, 41 High St ‘Why would you want to go back in time...?’ Buffet Lunch at the Chequers Inn

2.00 pm: ‘We Welcome Your Comments And Queries’ by Marian Kilpatrick at Total Computer Support, Tanyard Lane ‘A man, a woman, a call centre – a tale of attraction, heartbreak and frozen pizza.’

‘Push the Button’ by Judy Upton ‘Two enemy soldiers meet...but who exactly is pushing their buttons?’