Witney Dramatic Society would like to invite you to the readings for their next production of two one act plays to be performed in October.

‘Trapped’ by Michael Green & ‘Bags and Browning’ by Liz Carroll

Readings will commence Monday 6th June 2022 at 19.30hrs in the Mary and Martha Room which is upstairs in the new building behind the Witney Methodist Church,40 High Street, Witney OX28 6HG and will continue on the 9th, 13th, 16th, 20th and 23rd June 2022. The readings are open to both members and non members however you will need to be a paid up member of Witney Dramatic Societyin order to take part in a performance. Both plays will be directed by Wendy Lodge. A synopsis of each play and list of characters is below:

‘Trapped’ by Michael Green - In a send up of a traditional English Thriller, the cast find themselves not trapped when the over energetic lead actor knocks down doors that were meant to be locked. Adding to the fun is a corpse that walks onto the stage because it cannot fall out of a jammed cupboard door and a stage manager who has to read in a part at the last minute. This is a short but fast paced play with a lot of ‘visual’ laughs.

Characters:
Major Thompson - sporting a poorly stuck on moustache he has borrowed his accent from an old black and white film. Alas everything he touches goes wrong often due to his over-enthusiasm.
Mrs Thompson - fancies herself as one of the company's leading lights. Her performance is rather over-intense. She speaks in what she thinks is the voice of a rural aristocrat.
Braithwaite - Solicitor and rather inept villain who is just as accident prone as Major Thompson
The Stage Manager - female who comes on as the male policeman at short notice.
The House Manager - female - leads the play with the announcement of the non arrival of one of the cast
Cousin Sheila - one of those delicate creatures who will never allow themselves to be anything but elegant on stage. She has been playing all her roles in exactly the same way for many years and is not going to change now
Cousin Freda - gives a ‘robust’ performance. She is more used to shouting at horses than acting
The Maid - puts on a stock working class accent, the one she used as char lady in the last show, unfortunately traces of her own accent show through
Cousin George - can't understand why he never gets large roles - in this non speaking part he thinks he saves the show when as the corpse he enters via the french windows with a knife sticking out of him.

Bags and Browning by Liz Carroll - Mary is a homeless woman known as the Bard of the South Bank for her recitations of 'Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came' by Browning. But someone has heard she might have a valuable manuscript, and is willing to kill for it.

Characters: (The ages are a guide only given by the author)
Mary - Homeless female - East London accent - older female
Charlie - Mary’s partner and only seen by her and the audience - rich refined older voice.
Sue - Police officer - described as Welsh mid 20’s
James - 30’s cultured voice - turns out to be Charlie’s grandson.
Holly - mid 20’s London accent
Radio announcer - offstage or can be pre-recorded.
The rehearsal and performance dates are as follows and the cast must be available for these dates:
Technical set up: Saturday 22nd October 2022 - 10am till late - this is an all day event for setting up lighting and we will usually do two run throughs of each play with sound and lighting.
Dress Rehearsals: Tuesday 25th October 2022 and Wednesday 26th October 2022 from 1800 hrs
Performances:Thursday 27th October, Friday 28th October and Saturday 29th October 2022

If you would like more information or have any questions please email Wendy Lodge at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Thank you!