Mark Wheeller's news page for 2001

Antony Audenshaw has been nominated as Best Newcomer for his role of Bob (in Emmerdale) in the forthcoming National Television Awards. Antony has been a key figure ion the ongoing success of both Too Much Punch For Judy and Legal Weapon. He gained his Equity Card through his involvemnt as an actor in Punch and went on to direct a number of national tours of both plays. It is great to see Antony achieving this level of national recognition... well done and good luck!

I have been invited to "deliver" two practical workshops at next year's National Student Drama Festival (NSDF) in Scarborough... 23 - 30 March 2002. The provisional titles for the workshops are Human Pyrotechnics (looking at an approach to staging seemingly impossible scenes - such as the car accident in Too Much Punch For Judy). The second is Reality Theatre which explores Documentary Theatre an alternative approach to playwriting.
The NSDF is an incredible festival. The list of professionals who gave their time and skills to last years Festival was very impressive and included: Michael Attenborough, Sir Alan Ayckbourn, Clare Venables, Alain Boublil, Claude-Michel Schonberg, John Caird, and Jatinder Verma. I have attended the NSDF many times and also had a production (Chunnel of Love) selected many years ago. To find out more about the Festival please follow this link ... tickets are already on sale.

Eastleigh Borough Youth Theatre's performances of GRAHAM - WORLD'S FASTEST BLINDMAN went down a storm at this year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe. I have included on my plays page three reviews I have come across. If anyone finds any others I would be delighted to hear from you. Two other groups have already expressed interest in presenting the play next year.

The TIE tours of Why did the Chicken Cross the Road (StopWatch Theatre Company) continue to book out a year in advance... this academic year sees an increase in bookings and sees the 3000th performance of the play in it's short 9 year life... if it wasn't for Too Much Punch For Judy (which has been performed over 3500 times in its 13 year existence) I would be claiming that it was the most performed play in modern times!!! Punch, being performed by Ape Theatre Company in England and Wales is also receiving record bookings. Ape are also touring Legal Weapon throughout England/Wales and will, later in the year present the 1000th performance in its six year life. Baldy Bane are touring this play extensively in Scotland over the next month or so.

The new version of Hard To Swallow (published by dbda) has been selected by Edexcel as exemplar material for the courses it is running for the new GCSE spec. A scheme of work has been devised by Gillian Emmett which will illustrate a new section in Paper 1 (Unit 2).

I hope that with the Xmas period approaching you will take a serious look at The Most Absurd Xmas Musical In The World... Ever! on my Musicals page Having said that some groups are proving that it is even more absurd to present this outside the Xmas period... I still think Xmas is when it should be performed!

Finally my most popular Musical of 2001, Wacky Soap is available (from dbda @ Ł6:95) as an illustrated storybook. The illustrations by Geoffrey Greiggs are fantastic as can be seen by the cover illustration reproduced here with kind permission of dbda.

The storybook is a wonderful accompaniment to the play and will offer many ideas for costumes and settings if you are planning to produce the Musical. It is also an ideal way of introducing the Scheme of Work included in the full script.

I am really pleased to be able to announce that SchoolPlay Productions are planning to publish a 15(ish) minute pop cantata called KING ARTHUR (ALL SHOOK UP) due out in Autumn 2001. More detailed information about it will appear on the main Wheellerplays site in July when the chart is updated.

It is ideal material for Key Stage 2 & 3 as classroom work, a concert piece or a (very) small scale production. One of the Gang Shows have also had a look at it and are very interested to produce it in the not too distant future!

KING ARTHUR (ALL SHOOK UP) is a comic re-telling of the King Arthur legend. Entirely "sung through" is I am particularly pleased as it has brought my song writing to the fore again.

I hope that the success of this will lead to an (ALL SHOOK UP) series. Currently I am having fun listening to lots of Off Broadway "sung through" musicals (one amazing one about the Boston Strangler!!!) to inspire what I hope will become the second in the series... ICARUS (ALL SHOOK UP).

Eastleigh Borough youth Theatre are to be congratulated. The premiere of Graham was superb.... utterly wonderful!!! The Southern Daily Echo were there to review the play and an extract from the review (which was excellent) appears under the main Graham entry.

They have also been successful in obtaining sufficient sponsorship to take the play to the Edinburgh Festival (Fringe). They will be performing around lunch time (if such a thing exists during the Festival) at Venue 40 the Quaker Meeting House August 6th to 11th. It really is worth seeing please support them if you are planning a visit.

There is a full page advert on the back page of the April edition of Amateur Stage (sponsored by Graham's family) offering a 15% discount (on the cost Ł5:50) on advance orders of the script being made during this month. The script should be available very soon... watch this space!

Wildern School are planning to perform my (little known, but NSDF selected) bi-lingual play Chunnel of Love and are entering it for the BT National Connections competition... good luck to them... it would be amazing to see that on at the National Theatre!

Congratulations to Jamie Godfroy, who was awarded "Best Newcomer" by the Southern Daily Echo Curtain Call Awards for his comic portrayal of King Huff in Oaklands Youth Theatre's production of Wacky Soap. The production was nominated for an further three awards including Best Production of the Year. OYT's production of SWEET FA was received with great enthusiasm... well done to all of the cast... and good luck to them at the Totton Drama Festival in March.

I am looking forward to Eastleigh Borough Youth Theatre's premiere of GRAHAM - THE WORLD'S FASTEST BLINDMAN on the 16th February. I hope that it will generate some reviews which can be posted onto he site next month. They are hoping to take the production to this years Edinburgh Festival (Fringe)... funds willing! If you would like further details on the production please contact Christine Farleigh on 023 8062 7806 or by emai

Just a personal thank-you to the students and teachers at the Baycroft Special School for the very special performance they invited me to of my number 1 musical WACKY SOAP. It was a very special performance.

TESTO (the professional Company in Norway) have been invited to perform at the international festival (ASSITEJ in Kristians) with the new Number 1 play in the Wheellerplays chart... Too Much Punch For Judy. Well done to them... they are obviously doing a great job with it! The poignant review I have included below is from one of the TESTO performances.

My name is "Olav". I watched your play in Hamar a while ago. When I was 18-21 years old I used drugs when I was driving. I drove off the road sometimes, but my friends and I never got hurt. I think your play makes people think a bit. I did. It was very emotional for me. Your play made me think back to my accidents and what I would have done if I killed some of my friends, and that made me sad. I hope many people see your play and learn from it.
"Olav", 24 years old from Tyrili Senteret, Norway.

Oakland's Youth Theatre in Southampton (of which I m the director) are to present the premiere of SWEET FA (the play) on Feb 1st & 3rd. We will then go on to present the play (together with THE BALD PRIMA DONNA by Ionescou) at two local One Act play Festivals. We were delighted to hear that our performance of WACKY SOAP last year has lead to four nominations for the region Curtain Call Awards... including best production of the year. We are all putting on our gladrags and attending the "glittering" (their description not mine) award ceremony on Feb 2nd.