a message from our president...

Dear Members and Friends.

I know that many of you have been wondering what is happening with the Players and I must apologise for not following up on my email on 29 July 2020, especially to those who were good enough to respond to it.

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I wake up every morning hoping that Covid 19 has just been a bad dream and that we can all get on with our lives as before. But then I switch on the TV or radio, the newspaper arrives, reality takes over and another day goes by. One result , as you can imagine, has been the difficulty for your committee to make any sort of plan for the future.

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We have, of course, already ruled out “live “ readings, rehearsed or “cold”, before the end of the year and I suspect that we will have to extend that until the end of the 2020/2021 season unless a miracle happens. We will keep this under review.

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For the moment, however, we have only planned a programme to take us up to Christmas. Following the success of Table Manners last year we have chosen 2 more Alan Ayckbourn plays, but for production differently. Both are taken from the his work “Confusions” which consists of 5 interconnected plays within the play, adapted for the Players by Peter - thank you Peter - and take place in a London Hotel in the 1970’s.

They are :
1. “ Wishful Thinking” ( originally “Drinking Companion”) which charts the amorous antics of a married man with single ladies he meets in the bar - but where will they lead? This play is to be recorded by a group of our finest actors, who live in or about Nerja, with music and sound effects and uploaded to YouTube in due course, so that we can all enjoy it. Peter is in the process of recruiting the cast and ( Covid permitting) recording is to take place when it can be assembled ( suitably clad with masks etc), hopefully on Tuesday 3 November.

2. “Between Mouthfuls” takes place in the dining room where the waiter overhears conversations from 2 tables and it emerges that there is a connection between the occupants. This is to take the form of an on-line reading by Zoom, at 7 PM ( Spanish time) on Tuesday, 17 November, and will be open to, well, anyone who can operate Zoom, whether you live locally or, like me, you are still far away and not quite sure when (if?) you will get out to top up your reserves of vitamin D, except of course that we will all be sitting in our own homes in front of screens! It will, otherwise, be very similar in format to what we have known hitherto as “cold readings” but which the committee prefers to call “play readings”, with people signing in on the night and being cast as we go along. 

We have purposely chosen a play with a small cast as, at the moment, we have only some idea of how many people may be interested and so that, hopefully, readers will outnumber the characters, in which case we will chop and change as we go along.
Participants will, of course, need scripts and the technical experts are turning their minds to this. Joining instructions will be issued to participants in advance - so all you need to do is be signed up to Zoom on the eve of the reading.

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Also, anyone who just wants to watch or even to say hello is more than welcome to be involved, without participating.

May I ask you please to let me know by using our RSVP link here, if you intend to sign up for the on line reading and, if so, as active participant or audience, no later than Friday 23 October.

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I may say that we are treating this event as an experiment which, if successful, will certainly be repeated.

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Nearly there ! Next, we have pencilled in the evening of 17 December for the annual Christmas dinner, time and venue to be arranged, so could I also ask you, please, to indicate (again by 23 October) if you would like to attend this , with numbers, so we can decide if there is sufficient interest for it to go ahead and, if so, make arrangements. (RSVP link here)

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Finally, may I take the opportunity to intimate that, sadly, for reasons I have explained to the Committee, I will not be able to get out to Spain until January at the earliest, and even that depends on Covid and/or if, by then, I am allowed out of my cell by our esteemed First Minister of Scotland, and, if any of you know of an insurance company which will cover a 70+ year old for medical expenses arising from Covid if I travel to a country to which Foreign Office advice is to travel only for essential purposes I would very much welcome hearing from you!

Please keep safe and well.
With kind regards
Alasdair