I have listed the items that appear, as you may want to scroll down to the ones that interest you.

1/ Too Much Punch for Judy performed 5000 times!

2/ Wheellerplays on tour.

3/ Kill Jill and Wheellerplays Exemplified DVD published Down Under

4/ Blackout/King Arthur .

5/ Wheellerplays Yahoo group

6/ Wheellerplays performance in recent GCSE/GCE Exams

7/ Suicide dot com

Too Much Punch For Judy's 5000th performance!

I claim that at 5000 performances it is one of the most performed contemporary plays in the world… I would love to know if anyone can officially ratify it to be THE most performed play!

Southampton City Council Road Safety Department have been good enough to book Ape Theatre Company's performance of Too Much Punch for the week where I am celebrating its 5000th performance.   Big thanks to Carol Bagshaw who has organised the tour for the week.  The 5000th performance will be officially marked on the opening performance of the tour which will be at my Oaklands Community School on Monday the 24th September. 

Ape Theatre Company is responsible for most of the five-thousand performances as they have been touring constantly two-termly every year since 1988.   It is a stunning production and has in the last twenty years become a favourite in schools across the country.  The fact that it is still doing so well is a testament to that… it has 120 performances booked this term alone!  

Too Much Punch for Judy is an amazing success story (and completely unexpected) somewhat similar to Joseph in that is began as a twenty minute end-piece to a play about alcohol abuse called Quenchers which my Epping Youth Theatre took to the Edinburgh Festival in 1986. 

I then extended it for the following year where the Epping Youth Theatre production of it was short-listed to be presented at the prestigious National Student Drama Festival.  

Shortly after this it was published by the Institute of Alcohol Studies who surprisingly chose not to take up the option to publish it once the original print run was sold out. This was even more surprising when you consider that by this time Ape were touring it incredibly successfully.   I submitted it to pretty much all the major publishers who rejected it.  It remained unpublished until 2000 when dbda took it on (following the success they had achieved with Chicken) and have managed to get it into schools where it has become a much appreciated part of many drama departments curriculum.   It is great to see it begin as a play for schools… to be taken on by professional who have taken it into schools so that now they can be aware of it and perform it.  In the last three month period twenty five schools (that I know about!) put on productions of this play.

Gail at Maverick (who publish the play for the Australasian market) recently had a lovely reaction from a school who have just put this play on Down Under… here it is:

"Our Production of Too Much Punch was a tremendous success.
Audiences were strongly affected, with many students in tears (an ex-student died from drink driving during the rehearsal period). It helped that I managed to get a 4m wide remote-controlled screen which glided into place above the actor's heads and showed the accident slides in huge detail.
Some Year 11 boys who saw it told us that 'you get the drink-drive message all the time and it's a bit boring but this was really powerful and drove the message home in a way that really jolted them out of their comfort zone'. The contrast between the 'Bob & Nob' scene in the wine bar and the 'change of gear' scene was stark and really effective.
As a Year 12 teacher I really appreciated the huge acting opportunities it gave our cast (I used 7 students to play the roles between them) and certainly the moderators got a really good chance to assess their abilities on stage. The use of slides/ music/ lighting also gave our off stage students plenty to do and be assessed on.
One of the best things I've ever put on.
That's pretty good eh?

Thanks to Ape in particular… the members of EYT who gave the play such a good start in it's life and all those who use the play and have given it a life beyond the 30 or so people who saw the original EYT performance!

Wheellerplays on tour

Too Much Punch for Judy, Legal Weapon II are on tour this term presented by Ape Theatre Company (www.apetheatrecompany.com)   I have posted the dates of their tour in the files section of the new Wheellerplays Yahoo Group. (See below for details of this group.)    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Wheellerplays/

Arson About (which has taken over the top spot in my chart this month) and Chicken! Are on tour with StopWatch Theatre Company and details of their tour dates can be found on their web site:

www.stopwatchtheatre.com

Kill Jill

My Antipodean customers will be pleased to hear that they will now be able to get hold of both Wheellerplays Exemplified dvd and my latest play Kill Jill as they have now been published by Maverick. 

http://www.mavmuse.com/musical.asp?MusicalID=133

http://www.mavmuse.com/musical.asp?MusicalID=140

respectively.

Kill Jill is available for UK purchasers from dbda I have put a dbda mailer in the files section of Wheellerplays Yahoo groups so details and special offers can be found in there!) and is to be reviewed in this months edition of the magazine Amateur Stage. http://amstage.cvtheatre.co.uk/index.php?pg=2

Wheellerplays Exemplified is available from eg products here in the UK and can be puirchased by e-learning credits.

http://www.egproducts.co.uk/pages/wheellerplays.html

Blackout/King Arthur!

SchoolPlay productions are moving to downloads (gradually) which should be very exciting for my musicals with them.   I am also really pleased to let you know that both Blackout and King Arthur (All Shook Up) will have backing tracks available before the end of the year… so schools without music departments will be able to present these musicals without a band.   Stewart Blackmore (who is arranging the music) is also writing band parts for Blackout.  This will be a real steep in the right direction for both of these Musicals.   He's doing a grand job.  Today I heard the rough cd… it sounds amazing!

Wheellerplays Yahoo Group

I have set this up so that anyone who wants a more interactive experience of Wheellerplays can join and see others experience of using these plays.   I quote my introduction to the group:

A group for anyone who wishes to discuss the plays of British playwright Mark Wheeller. Mark moderates this group so there is an opportunity for FAQ's to be dealt with here (which may later prove to be a useful resource for students having to write about these plays) and also (Mark hopes!) for people who have used any of his plays (acting, directing, or exams) to offer specific recommendations or pitfall warnings for those of you who don't know the plays so well.
If anyone wants to leave schemes of work that relate to Marks plays then please feel free to do so in the files area.

If you would like to join please go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Wheellerplays/

Exam results

There have been more successes for Wheellerplays this year and once again Too Much Punch for Judy is listed as one of the most studied plays in the Edexcel GCSE examinations.  It was also much used in the GCE A/AS level.

One teacher who had used this for his A/S levels wrote to me saying this:

"We used TMPfJ for our As Unit 2. Three of my 6 students were marked in the A grade range for Unit 2 – and ALL of them got their best marks for that Unit. Thanks, Jules."

Along with those of Berkoff, Brecht and Godber my plays are listed as being the most performed in the performance section of the G CSE exam.   I heard from one teacher who used The Rise and Fall of Eed Sud and the Luminous Earwigs… from Thornbury who was delighted by the reaction of both his students and examiner to the piece.  Before the results came out he said:

"The kids loved it, we had great fun - I plan on using it again! It's perfectly structured for Paper 2 and allows the gifted students to hit top marks. Can't wait for the results

… and then when the results came out…

The structure of the play allowed students to achieve really high marks in a very structured way.  Older Shakey did really well as did Shakey's sister.  I think the play is ideal for supporting G&T students in achieving higher marks. It also helped bump some B grade students up to A grades.  Well structured plays for paper 2 may well be the way forward!  I will certainly be using it again!

Thanks Daniel to be brave enough to use a play that was only published this year.  For those of you who don't know this can be downloaded from Maverick's site and half of it can be read without you making any commitment… so do have a look!

http://www.mavmuse.com/musical.asp?MusicalID=121

At my school the group who did MISSING DAN NOLAN achieved very high marks with one student (who plated Pauline) achieving 40/40… but I have to take my hat off to Danny Sturrock's play Gagging For It (published by dbda) this year.  All 7 in the group (and that includes the technician) were awarded 40/40!   I should say that this was Johnny Carrington's group and not mine!  Staggering!

Well done to all our students… in fact to all students who do this incredibly difficult GCSE… and thanks to anyone who has used on of my plays!

Suicide dot com

Danny Sturrock 's amazing new play will now premiere at Oaklands in January 2008.  Watch this space for further details.

Wheellerplays August News

I have listed the items that appear, as you may want to scroll down to the ones that interest you.

1 GRAHAM play (unsurprisingly) wow’s in the NDFA Final!
2/ New commission
3/ The Oaklands Plays… and Oaklands.
4/ JAMIE IN THE LAND OF DINNERSPHERE previewed.
5/ Oaklands Youth Theatre Reunion

Graham – World’s Fastest Blindman

Therfield School Leatherhead wowed the adjudicator at the National Drama Festivals Association Finals in Wales on 18th July at the Albert Hall Theatre Llandrindod Wells (Wales)   
This remarkable production was the runner up in the Youth Section (by one mark) and Joe Newton, who playsed Graham, walked off with the award for The Most Promising Youth Participation.  Well done Joe… it was a most impressive performance which confirms my contention that this role offers a young actor in either exam or Festival a real opportunity to shine!
More details on: http://www.ndfa.org.uk/
Meanwhile our OYT rehearsals for this production are progressing well… and I should say the Therfield production has served as a superb inspiration for me to take a look at this afresh.  I am so glad I took the time to go! 
One of the most exciting things about our new produciton is that Danny (Gagging For It) Sturrock is taking a fresh look at the original Epping Youth Theatre songs and using edits from them is creating an amazing score which we will premiere in our production on the 28th February – 1st March 2008 at Oaklands Theatre in Southampton.

New Commission

Talking of Danny… he and I have been commissioned to write a new play about antisocial behaviour on the buses.  The commission has come from the London Borough of Havering and is very exciting as it will bring together my documentary style with Danny’s more visual and multi media approach.  It is a commission we are both really looking forward to getting our teeth into… we aim to have the play completed by March 2008.  Thanks to Mike Lane for all his work in making this commission possible!

The Oaklands Plays.

Danny and I are also collaborating on another project to celebrate the Oaklands years.  Many of you will know that our magnificent school is to be closed by the Southampton City Council in July 2008.  A change in the demographic profile has prompted a re-arrangement of the schools in our area.  Under very new legislation it seems that schools can not just merge (even if they are like ours “successful”) but have to be put up for competitive tender. 
There has consequently been a “competition” to see who should run the New School West which will rise up in place of Oaklands.  That competition has just been “won” by Oasis  (http://www.oasistrust.org/uk/) who will set up the new school as a City Academy.  Obviously there is much uncertainty about what this new organisation will mean for all of us at Oaklands but we all hope that it will prove to be an exciting moment in the history of the area and that the outstanding work done in the performing arts will be built upon.  There are some incredibly exciting aspects to their bid… so here’s hoping for an even brighter future! 
However it is very important to both Danny and I to remember how much Oaklands did for both Danny (who was an ex-student and now a staff member) and I in our respective careers… so we are naming our forthcoming project after the school.
The Oaklands Plays will be a set of (probably four) plays written by Danny and myself in conjunction with an experienced group from OYT.  The plays will all be purpose built for use in examinations.  The will be for casts of 3-7 and will last between 20 and 35 minutes. We premiere each of them at various times throughout this, the last year of Oaklands as and when they are ready for presentation.  I will post details of these performances on this site.  We will also aim to DVD them so that others who live beyond our region can access these original productions. 
We hope the scripts will go on to be published as a monument to Oaklands late in 2008 and will be taken up by schools as ideal examination pieces.

Jamie in the Land of Dinnersphere

Our previews of this new play worked really well.  Johnny and I have had some great ideas from Adrian New (from StopWatch Theatre Company) who is currently writing an interactive workshop which will innovatively work as part of the ongoing narrative of the play itself.  It looks as though it will be a very exciting project. 
Should you be interested in a pre-publication copies I can sell you one as a word document and will be updated until the date of publishing agreement at a cost of £34 which includes a within institution photocopy license.   This offer may well be limited as we already have interest from publishers.
Our N-Richment group will be touring the full program to local KS2 classes from October 2008…
Oaklands has a particularly busy final year ahead of it!

Oaklands Youth Theatre Reunion

We are planning to have an OYT Reunion in June/July 2008 to mark the closure of Oaklands. 
If you are a former member of the Youth Theatre please make contact with me so that I can let you know of the details as and when they become formalised… I am keen to have as many people as possible from all different periods of the Youth Theatres history from 1982 until the present day!

Wheellerplays July News

I have listed the items that appear, as you may want to scroll down to the ones that interest you.

1/  Sir Bob Geldof in dbda take over!

2/ GRAHAM play wow's Festival… and Sir Michael Caine… and now are through to the Final of the NDFA

3/ JAMIE IN THE LAND OF DINNERSPHERE previews announced.

4/ New and improved StopWatch web site up and running.

5/ Courses.

Sir Bob Geldof in dbda take-over!

Not a headline I could ever have predicted.   Ten Alps the company Co-founded by Bob Geldof have bought out dbda. 

Dbda have had tremendous faith in my plays (where mainstream publishers did not) from the early days ( Chicken was the first they published back in the early 90's when it first toured) and really taken them to schools across the UK .  

I found out a couple of weeks ago… and to be honest don't know much about it other than that my contact at dbda tell me it will mean more coverage for the plays… great news… I hope!   So BIG congratulations to Dawn Boyfield (the DB of dbda)… finally all her amazingly hard work and vision pays her dividend!!!

The following is taken from the TEN ALPS recent press release ( http://www.tenalps.com/news.php)

Ten Alps Plc, the factual media company, announces the acquisition of the multi award winning educational and corporate social responsibility business, DBDA for up to £3.3m.   DBDA will strengthen the Group's credentials and operations across these sectors.

The acquisition of DBDA will enhance the development of a dedicated corporate social responsibility programming arm to Ten Alps' TV production companies, at the same time other Ten Alp Group services will become available to DBDA clients.

Alex Connock, Chief Executive of Ten Alps Plc, said:

"Dawn Boyfield spotted impressively early that corporate social responsibility would become a major growth area. We are delighted to have the opportunity to work with people who have such reputable expertise, and to join in taking this forward."

Dawn Boyfield, Managing Director and founder of DBDA said:

"This is an amazing opportunity for all the DBDA staff and clients. DBDA has an incredibly dedicated staff, who all believe in making a real difference for all our clients.  Joining such a vibrant team as the Ten Alps Group will provide an excellent platform to grow and develop DBDA even further, as well as enhancing the services we can offer.   We are all tremendously excited and enthusiastic about the future."

Graham – World's Fastest Blindman

Therfield School Leatherhead were you will remember from last month winners of the Leatherhead Festival and as such they have now been invited tomay be invited to the NDFA finals in Wales 18 th July at the Albert Hall Theatre Llandrindod Wells (Wales)   

More details on: http://www.ndfa.org.uk/

It was a truly remarkable production and I can't wait to hear how it all goes!

New and improved StopWatch Web site up and running.

StopWatch who tour both Arson About and Chicken have recently undergone some major developments have also re-developed their web site.   Should you wish to take a look please follow this link:

http://www.stopwatchtheatre.com/

Jamie in the Land of Dinnersphere

Tucked away under productions on the StopWatch web site you will see they now make mention of the above production as coming soon.   I am delighted that they have such confidence in this new play that they have commissioned some art work for it.  We have finally completed the rehearsals of the first draft of the script and have previewed the performance to selected Year 8's at Oakland's and will, on the 17 th July be performing it in two primary schools in our area.  Following that the cast will be working with Adrian from StopWatch who is developing a workshop fro them to deliver and then next term they will take it out on tour to local Primary schools… we can't wait to see what the reaction is… our Year 8's predict it will be a big hit!!!

Should you be interested in purchasing e-copies of this script please contact me on

wheellerplays@gmail.com and I will be happy to do the deal!  All pre-publication copies are provided as a word document and will be updated until the date of publishing agreement at a cost of £34 which includes a within institution photocopy license.    This offer may well be limited as we already have interest from publishers.

Courses…

The success of these courses (the A* one was sold out well in advance of the actual date) has led to them all being offered again in the new Philip Allen season.   I have also added another A* workshop this time looking at the delivery of Paper 1 from the Edexcel GCSE   Details will soon be appearing on the Philip Allen Website… I will advise you of when this is.   Meanwhile thanks to all of you who came and for some fantastic feedback… that's always much appreciated!  It was also great to offer one for the London Drama group at the Central School for Speech and Drama… an excellent evening with some wondrous work produced… particularly the imaginative staging of a scene from Kill Jill.

Wheellerplays June News

1/GRAHAM play wow's Festival… and Sir Michael Caine.

2/ Wheellerplays Myspace.

3/ Courses – later in the year, where you can learn about the ways in which I work with young people in School and Youth Theatre.

Graham – World's Fastest Blindman

"A mesmerising production of "Graham" - it was extraordinary. I haven't seen, anywhere, such a moving, funny, professional and beautifully-staged production for a long, long time. Thank you - it was a great evening."

Parent  of a cast member Therfield School Production

Readers of my news pages will know well that I regard this as probably my best play (along with Missing Dan Nolan).  You will also know that my own Youth Theatre are to present this play as our finale in March 2008.  So imagine my interest when I was invited to see what transpired to be the best production of it I have seen… I include my own previous attempts.   Directed by Cathy Hudson it was performed by Year 10 & 11 classes at the Therfield School in Surrey.  The bar was set very high as I met my new cast for a read through the day after.

Daisy, Me, Cathy Hudson (Director of Graham and Sir Michael Caine. (Photography courtesy of http://www.andynewboldphotography.com)

So what was so good about it?  So good that afterwards Sir Michael Caine (the patron of the Festival) said…

"It wasn't an ordinary play was it?  It was extraordinary!"

I hope those of you looking at this on my web site will enjoy the photo of me, Cathy Hudson (the director) and my daughter Daisy with Sir Michael.   So… the production… well to start at the beginning… the opening impression was "quality".  

All the actors were dressed (execpt Graham who was in white) from head to foot in balck with contrasting white gloves.   All were knelt in two lines opposite each other facing the audience casting the beams of slimline torches along the floor to mark out a running track.   Immediately some magnificent symbolism and an arresting visual image of darkness brioken by small beams of light.  From that moment on I knew it ws going to be both highly imaginative and of a VERY high standard.

The only props they used were two white sticks.  An excellent example of how they were used was in the scene where Harry is testing baby Graham's sight.   Two people knelt facing one another just infront of Harry and held the two sticks at head height (when knelt) and Harry peered between them to see the (invisible) baby.

They used body props imaginatively… a tricycle which morphed effortlessly into a two wheeler brought a spontaneous round of applause from the packed (House full signs up at the front) 500 strong audience.

They intermingled contemporary dance sequences into the edited script (running time about 40 minutes)   to tremendous effect.  These sequences reminded me of the work Danny Sturrock does (most recently in his new SUICIDE.COM production - www.danny-sturrock.co.uk/suicide). The highlight of this was the re-telling of the incident where Graham is the only witness to a hit and run accident.  Fantastic.

Graham played by Joe Newton won the award for Best Youth Actor.  It was easy to see why. By the way Cathy Hudson was nominated for an award for her direction as was Ella Simms for her sensitive portrayal of Marie).  Joe's timing was impeccable.   He "sold" Graham's one liners with skill illiciting laughter from the packed audience every time.  People empathised with him fast and were from the beginning rooting for him bog time!   I thought his was a perfect documentary/reality play performance where you could see the shadow of the real person across his presentation… but there was a clear brechtian-ness in his presentation… I learnt at the end of the performance that he was only in Year 11 at school… I thought he was at least college age if not University!

I always like to offer a suggestion for the group to consider… until the final scene I had none!

Cathy Hudson and her troupe had discovered much in the presentation that I'd never found (e.g. and I could have chosen many e.g. moments(!) the Rolling Stones section really liftd the performance). 

However, in the final scene… Graham's final victory in the 400 metres… I felt the editing of the script meant that it had not been set up to be exciting enough.   There must be the thought that Graham may not win in order for his winning to be exciting.  I reckon that's simple for them to reslve and if not… come back to me I can do that!   More importantly I felt the staging of the race itself was based too closely on what I had described in the script.  I felt their contemporary dance/Berkoff style movements would be well suted to this scene and would be more in keeping with the (fantastic) style of their produciton.  

I mention this as I know the group have plans to take this to Edinburgh… lucky Edinburgh… and that as winners of the Leatherhead Festival they may be invited to the NDFA finals in Wales (July).  

It was a truly remarkable production and I am really glad I was there to witness it.   It is always fantastic to see a supremely talented director work with a fantastic cast to make more of moments in my play than I have ever managed to achieve!   The audience obviously appreciated it hugely as they gave it a standing ovation!

Wheellerplays Myspace page

Thanks to Danny (Gagging for it) Sturrock I am now up and running with a myspace page!

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=181123140

Do give it a visit and also become a "friend"!

Courses…

I am doing a number of courses very soon.  I am delighted to say that Guiding students to A* performances in Drama – The Directors Cut (with Tim Ford director at the Birmingham Rep) is full!!!  PhilipAllen will be running this again next year and have asked me to do another based on Paper 1 Unit 1 & 2 next year to compliment it provisionally entitled: Guiding students to A* performances in Drama – The Teachers Edit.

Here are the details for anyone who fancies making a late booking

18th June (University of Manchester) & 12th July (Thistle Kensington, London) Igniting Drama at Key Stage 3 & 4 (with Andy Kempe)

For course details please follow this link:

http://www.philipallan.co.uk/pdfs/teadrag3.pdf

Tuesday 19th June 2007 Hilton Olympia (London)

Guiding students to A* performances in Drama – The Directors Cut (with Tim Ford director at the Birmingham Rep)

For course details please follow this link:

http://www.philipallan.co.uk/pdfs/teadrag2.pdf

25th June 2007 (London Hilton Hotel Hyde Park)

Pupil Friendly Ways to Improve Performance in GCSE Drama.

For course details please follow this link:

http://www.philipallan.co.uk/pdfs/teadrag5.pdf

For details of Too Much Punch For Judy and other plays by Mark Wheeller please visit: www.amdram.co.uk/wheellerplays

If you would like to leave the Wheellerplays Mailing list hit reply and put "Remove" in the subject box.

Thanks, Mark

Wheellerplays May News

I have listed the items that appear, as you may want to scroll down to the ones that interest you.

1/Kill Jill play script out now in the UK!

2/ Ordering Wheellerplays online!  A word of advice!

3/ The Gate Escape Horseshoe Theatre Company in Cambridge professional production.

4/ Wacky Soap Hollybrook Junior School.

5/ The Most Absurd Xmas Musical IN the World… Ever!  Australian premiere!

7/ Courses – later in the year, where you can learn about the ways in which I work with young people in School and Youth Theatre.

Kill Jill

Finally Kill Jill is available… well in the Uk!!!  Dbda sent me a first edition copy of Kill Jill last week and it looks great!  

Also… great news… I have worked out a way in which it can be used in the GCSE exams.  The play can be equally divided into two parts… the first half, Section 1-6 can be done by a cast of 5 (2m/3f).  (25 – 30 minute running time approx) It could be preceded by a version of the “deleted scene” should you be concerned that any of the candidates do not have enough to do!

 Section 7 (the thriller section in the castle) can be performed as a stand-alone section by a cast of 5:  2m/2f & 1m or f.  (20 minutes running time approx) It could also be preceded by a version of the “deleted scene” should you be concerned that the candidates do not have enough to do!

Should you wish to perform the play (for One Act Play Festivals it can be performed in it’s entirety by a cast of 5 (2m/2f & 1 m or f) or without doubling by a cast of 11 or more (3m/3f & 5 m or f).
Kill Jill has been in my mind for a long time and came to fruition following a commission from Tim Ford at the Birmingham Rep Young Rep.  I am utterly delighted with the resultant play and those who have seen it have also praised it. 

Very impressive… containing so many styles/ideas/cameos (all brilliantly realised) to have such a strength of purpose and focus... pythonesque without being meaningless. A contentious theme dealt with sensitively yet with conviction and commitment. A fantastic close. Entertaining and accessible yet still thought provoking.

Written in response to the Birmingham Young Rep production.

What a great script!  Wonderful stuff!
The playfulness with style and wide range of reference points with an  'anytime, anyplace, anywhere' theatrical freedom… the banter goes to some strange places too - perhaps a Python influence?  The build up of tension in the visit to George's castle put the end of the  play in firm thriller territory! !!!!   Kill Jill is a very fizzy ride!   Paul Mills: Head of Drama Westgate School in Winchester, written in response to reading the original script.

The version in the book is somewhat developed from the one the Young Rep presented a year and a half ago.  It is, I feel a significant improvement on the original and is perhaps my most “original” play.  It has lots of stylistic ideas for Drama teachers and their students to mess around with and also a climatic final scene which is more naturalistic than my other plays!  I look forward to hearing how schools get on with it.

I have also signed contracts with Maverick (in Australia) who publish amongst other things Sequinned Suits and Platform Boots  http://www.mavmuse.com/musical.asp

and it will be appearing on their site for overseas customers to purchase as an e-script… I will publicise this when it is released.

Ordering Wheellerplays online… some advice!

I have had a number of  people getting in touch with me to let me know they have been having problems getting hold of my plays from Amazon who say they are hard to source… Amazon are wrong!  They are easy to source… I do not understand why Amazon are making it so complicated… 4-6 weeks delivery is quoted!!! .  This is mainly about the dbda and SchoolPlay productions plays.  These are easily available from dbda themselves info@dbda.co.uk  or by phone 0870 333 7771 & the SchoolPlay production plays are available at the click of a button on www.schoolplayproductions.co.uk   

Alternatively try the bookshop at www.stageplays.com who I think are really reliable. 

Samuel French Theatre Bookshop are also able to source them all easily!

I hope this is useful information!

The Gate Escape… a new professional production.

Thank you Horseshoe Theatre for inviting me to your outstanding new production of The Gate Escape… I REALLY enjoyed it!

http://www.horseshoetheatre.co.uk/aboutus.htm

Toby Parsons directed the play with complete understanding of what I was after and managed to find much more comedy in it than I was ever aware of! 

Although there was only a cast of 4, the cast doubled up amazingly well and came up with some superb cameo characters… for example Peter Performer (Nick Huntington) made me laugh out loud… the section where the planner is requested was also greeted with much laughter from the two audiences I was part of… clearly something they related well to! 

The audience, in the question and answer session following the play, commented on the range amazing faces Alison Larder was able to pull in her cameo roles. It really was an exemplar production in terms of really finding motifs to differentiate the cameo roles. 

The two main roles Chalkie (Christopher Tembey) and Corey (Sarah Hunt) were also played brilliantly and again the differentiation of the four characters in the cotch were well realised.  The opening sequence, where they are all there bunking worked particularly well.   I loved the way the different truancy stories were incorporated into the opening section and again made hilarious… particularly the blueberry muffin robbery and the motorbike boys! 

Unlike Solent People’s Theatre’s version (which split the play into four parts and interrupted it with audience discussions) they ran the play as a whole and in my view it benefited from this… and also allowed me to see it as a complete play. I think it made it easier for the actors to get a hold on the characterisations as well… which benefited the presentation.  

Fabulous… and thanks for inviting me.  I hope that Horseshoe will decide to make it available to other schools… I know we’d book it down here in Southampton… here’s hoping!

Wacky Soap Hollybrook Primary School in Southampton

It was great to see a BIG CAST production of this musical last month.  It was amazing.  I’d not seen the short Primary school version (in the yellow book with the music) of this before… and it really worked well!

The cast was enormous!  Everyone from Year 4 and 5 was involved… and I mean involved.  Again like the Horseshoe production (above) much attention was paid to the cameo roles and there was much out loud laughter from the packed audience I was part of… I reckon the Monty Python-ness of it was really appreciated by all the mum’s and dads!

There were some fabulous individual performances… but I am going to single out two of the smaller roles for special mention… The Silly Guards!  What amazing performers these guys were… absolutely entered into the spirit of the performance… and really went for it in the musical numbers.

A fab performance… thanks to all who were involved in this excellent performance!

The Most Absurd Xmas Musical In The World… Ever!

This is having it’s Australian premiere… in Kimberley Park State School

Queensland on 27.11.07.  Excellent news and good luck with the performances… aren’t they organised well in advance down under!

Courses…

I am doing a number of courses in towards the end of this school year… here are some details of three which are open access…

25th June 2007 (London Hilton Hotel Hyde Park)

Pupil Friendly Ways to Improve Performance in GCSE Drama.

For course details please follow this link:

http://www.philipallan.co.uk/pdfs/teadrag5.pdf

18th June (University of Manchester) & 12th July (Thistle Kensington, London) Igniting Drama at Key Stage 3 & 4 (with Andy Kempe)

For course details please follow this link:

http://www.philipallan.co.uk/pdfs/teadrag3.pdf

Tuesday 19th June 2007 Hilton Olympia (London)

Guiding students to A* performances in Drama – The Directors Cut (with Tim Ford director at the Birmingham Rep)

For course details please follow this link:

http://www.philipallan.co.uk/pdfs/teadrag2.pdf

Wheellerplay April News

I have listed the items that appear, as you may want to scroll down to the ones that interest you.

1/Too Much Punch For Judy – even more Festival success… in Scotland!

2/ StopWatch Theatre Chicken! and Arson

3/Copyright and performing rights a personal note.

4/ Wheellerplays Exemplified Dvd to be released in Australia

4/ Oaklands Youth Theatre (Southampton) Open Auditions Graham – World’s Fastest Blindman - & other plays… 19th April 6 – 8.30pm at Oaklands Theatre…

5/ OYT (006) Young Writers production… THROUGH MY EYES by Stewart Blackmore through to the divisional Final…

6/ Courses – later in the year, where you can learn about the ways in which I work with young people in School and Youth Theatre.

Too Much Punch For Judy

What a month for Too Much Punch!  I have always said what a great play it would make for an adult amdram group.  Well… the first adult amdram group to present it at a One Act Play Festival has had outstanding success with it.  The Carnoustie Theatre Club won the SCDA  'Jessie Milne Quaich' for 2nd place (by one mark!!) in the Northern Divisional round and will represent the Northern Division in the Scottish Finals which take place in Greenock Arts Centre 26th to 28th April.  Too Much Punch is being performed on Friday 27th.  If you live nearby… please go along I’d love to be there… but apart from the distance I shall be supporting my own group… see below!

This is not all.

Too Much Punch was also presented by  Perth’s Unmasqued Drama Company and they won the trophy for  Best Youth Play in their District Festival.  They proceeded to the Divisional Festival in Blairgowrie and were pipped to the post by… guess who… Carnoustie Theatre Club Junior team performing one of my favourite plays… Wayne Denfhy’s Is It Time Yet Dad?

Ian the director of Unmasqued had this to say:

“We were extremely pleased with the way our cast performed and  they held the audience spellbound - at one point we thought they had all stopped breathing!  I think it is the best thing we have ever done.”

They had an outstanding adjudication, which included the following:

“The opening scene was splendid… full of vitality and capturing the youth mood and full of imaginative business. The imagery of the car crash was fine and the stillness of Jo excellent. The ability to switch from action to the narrative of the addressing the audience was effective.  Judy gave a remarkable performance.  Her use of pauses and speech rhythm were splendid.  This was a tour-de-force by a talented team.

Brian Marjorbanks (I think… his writing was very hard to read!)

StopWatch and Arson

Wow!  This term I have been fortunate enough to see the best productions of both Arson About and Chicken! That I have ever seen.  Director Adrian New has really found the key to both these plays and injected significant portions of humour and energy into both!

I saw Chicken! in Oxford.  It was the first time I’d seen the new script with the mobile phone twist in it and numerous other developments.  I was delighted to see that they all worked and made the performance much more powerful.  

Julie Jones one of the Oxford RSO’s was obviously in agreement with me as she sent the following to Adrian:

“In the 5 years or so that I’ve managed it, this was the best Stopwatch tour ever.  I see promising futures for Alex, Bryony, Sam & Paul.  Please pass on my thanks for a great job in bringing the play’s messages up to date.  In addition to the mobile phone message, I particularly liked the fact that it demonstrated how much Chris’s life was changed as a result of Tammy’s death (not going out and wanting to move house/school)”

It really was a major step forward for this production and one I was not expecting to be so big!  I was particularly pleased as playing Chris was ex-OYT award winning actor Alex Chalk who was utterly superb and brought so much energy and humour (Alex is a natural comedian which makes him the performer he is) to the part…

Last week I saw a different StopWatch cast performing Arson About.  It proved to be a similarly big step forward… really lively, really funny and in the end really dramatic!   As many of you will know I have always said that Legal Weapon is my favourite of my touring productions… I have to say now that these two productions have caught up… I don’t anymore have a discernable favourite… they are all really fantastic!  I hope the quality of future casts and productions can match these high standards. 

I’d be interested to hear from any of you out there who have seen these productions to know what you think of it.

Copyright and performing rights

I am delighted to see (a few) more schools choosing to put on Wheellerplays and WheellerMusicals.  However… this month it came to my attention that one school in the East of England had put on a production of Wacky Soap and not chosen to inform my literary agent about it!  This is only the second time this has happened (to me).  It is very disappointing, dishonest (they were even charging for tickets!) and I find the whole thing awkward as it makes it seem that I am being awkward asking for the performing rights payment.  I am lucky to have Sophie who does this for me… some writers don’t!

You may wonder what happens when a school doesn’t go about things the right way… well now I know… they get fined!  This school did… and I have to say I am really pleased that this action was taken. 

People often ask me how long does it take to write a play.  Anyone who has worked with me will know my answer is “ages”.  I try to make each play as good as it can be and make constant changes to it before (and sometimes after) it is published.  It is a lot of hard work.  I can’t say how many hours I honestly don’t know… but it is loads!  More often than not I am not paid to write plays… though that is changing nowadays (thankfully!).  These payments (together with a small amount of book royalties) represents all of my earnings from writing. 

The self same school were planning to do a performance of Too Much Punch For Judy as part of their exam work.  For the exam performance they do not have to pay for the right to perform any play as long as it is solely done for the purposes of examination… but if it becomes a dual function… i.e. an exam and an “entertainment” for the parents this does become royalty bearing even if the school is “choosing” not to charge for the performance… that is the schools decision not mine!  This schools answer to this problem was that they wouldn’t allow their students to perform to their parents.  This is a shame not only from my point of view… but from the students as well.  I wonder how this change of plan will be “sold” to the students involved… I imagine that some mean playwright won’t allow his play to be performed.  Not true.  My spin on this would be that the school were unwilling to pay for the right to do just that… in this case a reduced fee was being charged as the group were only performing an extract.  Surely parents would be prepared to pay to see their offspring perform… even if it is exam work.  I cannot imagine this drama teacher goes to the bookshop and asks for a play and when told they each cost £5 or more demands free copies.  It really isn’t very different!

We do the same exam presentations at our school and when we choose to perform in front of parents we pay for five or six play extracts and either charge a small amount to the parents to come and see which covers the costs or fund it from our department budget.  It has never been a problem and my school is not in a particularly affluent area.

I hope that no school students are ever told that I have prevented them from performing my plays… I can assure you it is not the case… or at least it is not the full story! 

Wheellerplays Exemplified dvd down under

I am really delighted to announce that Maverick have taken on sole distribution rights in Australasia for the very popular and incredibly useful Wheellerplays Exemplified dvd.  If you are in the UK you will be able to buy this from:

http://www.egproducts.co.uk/pages/wheellerplays.html

If you are in Australia or somewhere near there… you should look at:

http://www.mavmuse.com/news.asp

I have just spotted this review for the dvd on EG’s web site… brilliant… again!

"Just been viewing the DVD from EG products using Mark Wheeller's play extracts to exemplify various techniques used in his plays.... mint! Very useful and well structured and produced. I can see that some of my rather recalcitrant Year 11 and Year 10 students will be able to learn a great deal from this - energy in abundance for one thing! Precision is also an important aspect of using stylised theatre techniques - either verbally or physically and this DVD will also be very useful to illustrate the effect on their work of paying attention to these aspects of their performances."
Gill - As posted on Drama UK

OYT (open) auditions:

When I started at Oaklands Youth Theatre in 1987 I put on a production of RACE TO BE SEEN.  For the final OYT production I am putting on the new version which I have not yet directed.  Auditions open to all who are able to attend rehearsals in Southampton will be held at Oaklands Community School on April the 19th at 6pm.  (until 8.30pm)

This production will be the final OYT production before Oaklands is taken over by whoever takes it over (we should know by the end of the month… apparently!)… it will be a very special production and we will enter various One Act Play Festivals with it… we hope to do really well and put this play on the map!

On the same evening I shall be auditioning another group who will be performing Us And Them by David Campton which will be performed much later on in the year.  I will also be working with a group of young people to develop some short plays for use in GCSE/Btech examinations.  This will be really useful for any young person interested in honing their devising skills and who wish to have some stake in a Wheellerplay!

Through My Eyes by Stewart Blackmore

Stewart and his group continued the tradition of picking up an award… Aaron Dadd and Amy Barnett (with some assistance from Danny Sturrock) won the Best Technical achievement.  Kimberly Cooke was nominated for Best Supporting Actress.  The production is going forward to the divisional Final in Shaftsbury on the 28th of April, which will be in Shaftsbury.  It will be the first performance on that Saturday afternoon which is excellent as we will be able to relax and enjoy the rest of the Festivals entrants without any more worry about our production.

A massive well done to Stewart and all involved… a superb achievement!

We will be doing one more celebratory performance on Thursday April 26th 7.30pm in Oaklands Theatre for anyone who missed their first performance…

Here’s what Stewart has put on his flier:

Caught in the past and the secrets that lay therein, Johnny is both isolated and

troubled. The demons of his mind and his family dictate his life, his happiness and his love.

This is an innovative and thought provoking play that looks at how lies and secrets can lead to a life of isolation and seclusion.

Of course it’s only a matter of time before the secrets of the past become exposed…

Courses…

I am doing a number of courses in towards the end of this school year… here are some details of three which are open access…

25th June 2007 (London Hilton Hotel Hyde Park)

Pupil Friendly Ways to Improve Performance in GCSE Drama.

This intensive, one-day workshop is designed for Key Stage 4 Drama teachers wishing to use a range of practical skills to motivate and encourage students to work independently and create imaginative performance work.  The course is also suitable for those teaching in Key Stage 3 to assist with continuity and progression.

The day focuses on Paper 2 of the Edexcel GCSE specification but is equally applicable to any GCSE exam where the candidates are expected to perform.

http://www.philipallan.co.uk/content.aspx?Page=TWS66:

18th June (University of Manchester) & 12th July (Thistle Kensington, London) Igniting Drama at Key Stage 3 & 4 (with Andy Kempe)

Designed by successful playwright and teacher Mark Wheeller and university lecturer and author Andy Kempe, the course has been specially formulated so that tutors can access a lively range of ideas to help their students explore the form and content of texts.

Techniques explained and explored through the day will include using games, imaging character development and building body props.  This intriguing workshop will also focus on Mark’s recently published exciting and imaginative play, ‘Arson About’.  A complimentary copy of the complete text, which is suitable for use across Key Stages 3 and 4, will be given to all participants.

On arrival all delegates will receive a folder containing detailed notes and materials for the day, which will be of immediate practical benefit in the classroom.

http://www.philipallan.co.uk/content.aspx?Page=TWS66:

Tuesday 19th June 2007 Hilton Olympia (London)

Guiding students to A* performances in Drama – The Directors Cut (with Tim Ford director at the Birmingham Rep)

This intensive, one-day workshop is designed for Key Stage 4 Drama teachers wishing to enhance their director/devisor skills to improve their student’s performance work for both examinations and school productions.  The course is also suitable for those teaching in Key Stage 3 to assist with continuity and progression.

The day focuses on Theatre presentation and is equally applicable to any course where students are required to perform.

·        A day where cutting edge practical skills will dominate

·        A new toolbox of ideas and techniques to raise standards in all presentation work

·         Imaginative ideas from the professional arena to augment schemes of work

·         Hands on practical experience enabling students to constantly improve their work by providing a range of “take-away ideas” for students to use in any rehearsal period

On arrival, all delegates will receive a folder containing detailed notes and materials for the day, which will be of immediate practical benefit in the classroom.  It will also include a useful resource list for both scripted and devised work.

http://www.philipallan.co.uk/content.aspx?Page=TWS66:

I have also been booked to present workshops for teachers in London (London Drama) and Yorkshire.  Both will happen in June/July.  These courses will both focus on performance skills and how to make the most of your school production in assisting your curriculum Drama.  I will post details of these nearer the time.