Unsung team who make summer shows special

With summer season in mid-flow Sheringham Little Theatre director Debbie Thompson highlights the work of the behind-the-scenes stars.

The mood has shifted from madcap musketeering to spooky spinechilling as our summer season moves to its second play.

After the breathless comedy of the Three Musketeers rollicking romp that opened the four-play season we are now in the ghostly world of Turn of the Screw, where spectral shapes and simmering secrets centre on orphaned children in a country house.

Our cast mixes professional adult actors with four local children to tell the tale – but the drama also shows that the stars of such productions are not just on the stage.

The behind-the-scenes team plays a vital role in creating the atmosphere and setting for our players to perform in.

Take the amazing puppets made by our friend Mark Williams. These two brilliant creations by Mark, who has previously made panto props for us, are Victorian figures played with by the children, but also hint at two characters living in the house.

Eerie, spooky sound has been added by composer Jon Baker from The Voice Project in Norwich to set the mood, alongside atmospheric lighting effects by our talented technician Tom Kelly. Set designer Kees van Woerkom has made scenery which morphs from a sunlit country mansion paradise by day to a darkly sinister Gothic house by night.

All of that, and costumes from Libby Henshaw and Jenni Randall, is the hard, often unsung work which makes productions really special, so I wanted to ensure those involved had their moment in the spotlight.

In the third play, It’s Her Turn Now, it’s a sticky sash window which takes centre stage in the Westminster-set farce. And, for the first time ever, our set team has had to half build a set in a drama studio at the high school so the actors can rehearse with it!

When my husband Simon, the director of that show, and I were in London recently to meet a theatre company we dropped by the Houses of Parliament to do some research, which also shows that comedy can be a serious business!

We need to get it right because the man who wrote the play, which is a twist on a Ray Cooney original, is coming to Sheringham to see it. No pressure!

If you need a reminder Turn of the Screw is running until August 14, It’s Her Turn Now from August 16-24, and the final comedy Aslan Ayckbourn’s Relatively Speaking from August 27-31.

Sandwiched in the middle there’s a chance to see some of our adult amateur actors at the town museum bringing local history to life on August 10 between 11m and 3pm.