APRIL 2008

THEATRE

Wednesday to Saturday
2nd to 5th April at 7:30pm
 

SAC MUSIC AND DRAMA GROUP’S
SPRING PRODUCTION

A PENNY FOR A SONG

by John Whiting

Directed by Alan Knight

An amateur production by arrangement with The Peters Fraser & Dunlop Group

This is a whimsical comedy about a family of eccentric Dorset gentry in the year of 1804, when the threat of invasion by Napoleon's army was imminent. Sir Timothy Bellboys is obsessed with defending England against the "Corsican fiend" and has devised a mad plan to repel and defeat a French assault on the Dorset coast, single-handedly. Lamprett, his brother, neglects his family in pursuit of his one true passion, his fire engine, which he lovingly tends and polishes, all the time hoping for a big fire to happen. Hallam Matthews, an exquisite dandy, arrives from London seeking peace and quiet in the country - some hope! A mercenary soldier, back from the fighting in Europe, brings news of the bloody horror and reality of war. He meets Dorcas, Lamprett’s daughter, and she becomes infatuated with him. Meanwhile, her mother, Hester, announces that she is off to join the Amazon Corps to defend England against Napoleon. To add to this mad mix along comes a Dad's Army platoon incompetently led by George Selincourt. Their military manoeuvres bring chaos and confusion. It is a play full of memorable characters, delightful dialogue and thought provoking ideas on love and war, deftly combining farce with satire. It promises an evening of frantic and frivolous fun!
 

Tickets £9.50
SAC Members £7.50
Under 18s £5.00

Tickets from the Box Office 01747 854321 or the Tourist Office 01747 853514 and online at http://www.goldhilltickets.co.uk

FILM SOCIETY

Friday and Saturday
11th and 12th April

Start: 8:00pm End: 10:10pm
 

THE WIND THAT SHAKES

THE BARLEY (15)

Dir: Ken Loach, Ireland/UK, 2006, 127 mins

Cillian Murphy, Padraic Delaney

A sympathetic look at Republicans in early 20th-century Ireland and two brothers who are torn apart by anti-British rebellion.

Powerful and disturbing.

Winner of the Palme d’Or 2006.

Guest Tickets £5.00, SAC Members £4.00
Tickets from the Box Office 01747 854321 or the Tourist Office 01747 853514 and online at http://www.goldhilltickets.co.uk

Saturday 12th April - 11:00am to 2:00pm

SOUPER SATURDAY

Come for coffee. Linger over lunch

 
CHILDREN’S FILM SOCIETY

Saturday 12th April
Start 2:30pm End 4:40pm

RATATOUILLE (U)

Huge Pixar hit about Remy, a young rat in the French countryside who arrives in Paris. He makes an unusual alliance with a restaurant's new garbage boy, then culinary and personal adventures begin. Peter O’Toole and Ian Holm on voice duty.

Tickets £3.00, Adults £5.00
 

THEATRE

Saturday 19th April at 2:00pm and 7:00pm

All-England

Theatre Festival

Southern Division Final

Adjudicator
Tony Rushforth G.O.D.A

Teams from the Dorset Drama League and the Totton Drama Festival competed in two separate events in the first round of the Festival in March.
The Southern Division Final is the second round of the All England Festival. Both winning teams from the first round automatically go forward to this round as do the three teams with the next highest scores.
Three plays will be performed during the afternoon with two performing in the evening followed by adjudications and awards. The winner will go forward to the Western Area Final at The Hub Theatre at Verwood on 17th May.

Ticket prices have yet to be advised and tickets will be on sale at the Box Office from late March/early April.

 

AIDS Presentation

Shaftesbury Arts Centre

Have you ever wondered what AIDS is? How it is and is not spread? Where it occurs in the world by continent and country? How charities exist to prevent or treat AIDS?

If you are interested in these and other similar questions, and would additionally be enlightened by a case study of an AIDS charity in South Africa, then do go along to the presentation on “AIDS and AIDS Charities” at the Shaftesbury Arts Centre in the Phoenix Room on Friday 25 April 2008 starting at 8 p.m.



After 34 years in the Army, Robin Miller recently retired, now devotes his free time voluntarily to the Keiskamma Trust, and has prepared this one-hour presentation to raise money for the good cause.

Refreshments will be available. All proceeds divided equally between the SAC and the Keiskamma Trust. Tickets £6, SAC members £5. Book early on 01747 854321
 

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FILM

FREEBIRD (15)

8pm on Saturday 26th April

The Sun – 25/01/2008 - Simon Cosyns

THREE lovable, lairy, leather-clad losers on bikes, white van loads of mind-altering substances and one of the guiltiest pleasures in rock history.

These are the essential ingredients of a new British film comedy that has “future cult classic” written all over it.

There’s a whiff of the anarchic humour of Withnail & I, a homage to psychedelic road trips such as Easy Rider and even a send-up of Zulu with fearsome warriors replaced by less than fearsome Welsh bikers.

Freebird tells the story of Grouch, Fred and Tyg, fortysomething motorcycle messengers who embark on a weird weekend to Wales in search of a cannabis plantation. They get horrendously, hilariously stoned but end up finding themselves.

The title comes from the daddy of all biker anthems, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s epic Freebird, and stars Phil Daniels (last seen suffering a gruesome death in EastEnders), boxer-turned-Hollywood actor Gary Stretch and that whiskery stalwart of British cinema, Geoff Bell.

Inspired cameos come from Peter “To The Manor Born” Bowles as ageing gangster The Chairman and Arthur Brown as a dope-planting New Age oddball. (Yes, that’s the same Arthur Brown who once scored an unlikely hit in the late Sixties with the insane Fire.)

Thirty years ago, Phil Daniels was seen cruising around Brighton on a scooter as Parka-wearing mod Jimmy in Quadrophenia. He jokes: “I don’t think I’ve been on a bike in a film since then. I’ve gone from mod to rocker!

“It’s nothing against my fans who are mods. I just thought it would bring things full circle to go from sitting on a little scooter to riding a big bike. I also thought it would be fun to grow a big beard . . . to get hairy.” Freebird is the brainchild of director John Ivay, who originally presented it as a play and then got a film script together. Layer Cake producers David Reid and Adam Bohling helped bring his big screen vision to life.

Phil says: “I think it’s based on John’s past. It’s about three blokes who haven’t grown up. They agree to do something together and then come of age.

Memorable

Another key factor in Freebird’s success is the real bikers who act out a stand-off between rival gangs from England and Wales

Phil is only too happy to acknowledge them. “We couldn’t have done it without all the biker clubs taking part. They did it for nothing, really, a couple of drinks and a hog roast. They were good sports. Bikers are good people.”

Which finally brings us to the music, brilliantly scored by Martin “Youth” Glover (best known for co-producing The Verve’s Urban Hymns) with all manner of nice touches and including a suitably ramshackle punked-up rendition of Freebird by Towers Of London to close the film.

“Freebird is the ultimate air guitar song,” says Phil. “Even I get to play it on a twig.”

So go see Freebird — low budget British film-making at its best.

Tickets: £6, SAC Members / U 18s & those in receipt of state or unemployment benefit: £5

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