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Newsletter no.6, March 1999

To all members and friends of the Revelation Drama Group,

My last newsletter was dated 29th October, a little over four months ago. During that time, we have rehearsed and presented "Simeon", determined our plans for 1999, looked ahead a little more to 2000, and created a web site for Revelation. So much to write about!

First, a summary on "Simeon".

This is a musical by Roger Jones, and concerns the Nativity as seen through the eyes of Simeon (Luke Ch 2, v25-39). Members of Revelation, principally Mike Thomas and Steve Hunt, wrote the script, and several others "chipped in". This was probably our largest production yet, with a full choir, four soloists, two narrators and a crowd.

Presentations were held on

6th December, at Aldershot Methodist Church
24th January, at Ascot Baptist Church
7th February, at St. Andrew's, Bracknell

Just to add to our nerves, on the last presentation Roger Jones was in the audience. I'm pleased to say that he seemed to enjoy the presentation hugely. Roger gave the address at the end of the presentation, and it was both fascinating (and embarrassing) to hear his reaction to how we had interpreted his material. Of particular interest to myself was his message that we should all be more like Simeon: trust in the Lord, and do His will, even though we may feel hesitant or nervous about it. Very encouraging and inspiring for us thespians.

The cast were as follows…
Soloists:

Chris Williams (baritone), as Simeon
Dennis Wildman (tenor), as Joseph
Patricia Reeves (high soprano), as Mary
Joan Wilkins (alto), as Anna

Narrators:

Derek Finch, as Narrator 1
Dianne Clemison, as Narrator 2

Crowd:

Graham & Valerie Turner, and their daughters Jenyth and Joanne, plus Lucy Brown and myself.

Dancers:

Jenyth, Joanne, and Lucy
Choreography by Bridgette Nicholas-Gibbs, who was not able to take part due to her studies.

My heartfelt thanks to all who took part. Well done everybody, and a warm welcome to Derek Finch and the entire Turner family, whose first tour with Revelation this was.

Looking ahead in 1999 - Summer : "Burning Questions".

In June we shall be giving presentations of "Burning Questions". This represents a new challenge for Revelation. First, it is written by Dr. Rob Frost and his team, and the music is a very different style from Roger Jones' material with which we have grown familiar. Second, there is a lot of work in it for the drama group, as it contains many sketches (for 2 or 4 people each), and one monologue. Most of the material is comedy, but there are two pieces of drama: the monologue and a 4-part sketch for voices.

The only date I can give you so far is…

Saturday 17th April, 2-5pm, St. Peter's church hall, Cranbourne - Drama Group read through & auditions session.

If you need directions for getting to the church hall at Cranbourne, please get in contact with me.

The rest of the diary for "Burning Questions" looks like this…

??th May - Workshop
June/July - Presentation
June/July - Presentation
June/July - Presentation

Do come to the read-through & auditions; bring a friend or two. You will kick yourself if you don't take part in this show. It is great fun for both the audience and the actors. The show can be done by a minimum of four people (I've seen it done), and this is an exciting way to do it, but why should they have all the fun?

For one sketch in particular, I would like a large army of people just sitting or standing silently on-stage, wearing a dark suit & tie and dark sunglasses. No acting ability required. All ages, races, etc welcome. Know someone who might have a go at that? Do you know of a man sized potted plant (cheese or rubber) that would like to audition for a part?

Intrigued? Then come along, bring some friends (or plants), and find out more. With a total of 19 parts available, there is a role for everyone who turns up … not to mention one lucky plant.

Looking ahead in 1999 - Christmas : "The Carpenter's Saga".

We have done this show before. It was the first production that Revelation ever presented, and took place at St. Bartholomews Church, Reading, on the 6th December 1997.

It's a modern version of the Nativity. Mary & Joseph travel from Preston in Lancashire, to the Kings Cross district of London, and in small room in the Star of Bethlehem pub Mary gives birth to a son. What unfolds next is equally up-to-date, and just as surprising as the original version.

The show is a mixture of comedy and drama, with a good dose of moving inspiration thrown in. I know; we had some excellent feedback from the congregation last time we did this.

Again, there are parts for anyone who wants to take part. The show can be done with a minimum of seven people: 4 women and 3 men, which was the line up in 1997. One of the women has to be able to pass for a teenager, to play Mary. But we don't have to stop at seven actors. With thirteen named parts in the script, there's a role for everyone who volunteers.

Looking ahead to 2000 - May-Day : "Hopes & Dreams".

This brand new show is also written by Dr. Rob Frost, and his team, and is a good sequel to "Burning Questions". It follows the same sort of format: it has music, sketches (7), poems (2), a monologue, and prayer links (6). To quote from the introduction to the script, "…[the show] explore(s) many facets of what is probably the best known prayer in the world". Each section of the show is based on a part of the Lord's Prayer.

As I write, Rob Frost is currently "on tour" with this show. Perhaps you know someone who has seen it, or is about to. I attended the opening night at Maidenhead, and enjoyed it greatly.

Revelation has been asked to lead a presentation of "Hopes & Dreams" for the Yateley Area Churches Together (Yacht). This is to be a part of the area's Millennium Celebrations, and will take place on or near May Day at St. Swithun's Church, Yateley, Hampshire. Being a local celebration, it is intended that the majority of people taking part will be from the local area, and the local churches are currently seeking commitment from their members. Revelation has been invited to provide the technical know-how and leadership to produce the show, and could involve many members.

Revelation will probably be giving its own presentations of "Hopes & Dreams" show during that year.

Looking ahead to 2000 - "Snakes & Ladders".

Roger Jones has now completed his latest musical "Snakes & Ladders". This promises to be vast in scope, covering all history from the Creation to the birth of Christ. The "Christian Music Ministry" Spring 1999 newsletter describes the show this way…

"Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up." (John 3:14) The musical "Snakes and Ladders" follows the ups and downs of God's people through history - slithering down in sin and disobedience, and being lifted by God's grace. Starting in the Garden of Eden, where the serpent lurks, the story unfolds - in Roger's inimitable style - right through Old Testament history (Noah's Ark, Abraham & Isaac, Jacob's Ladder, Moses) to the death and resurrection of Christ - the only ladder by which we can reach the end of the game.

The show is going through the final polishing now, and Roger Jones will take it on tour in 2000. A booking has already been made for a presentation at High Cross Church, Camberley Surrey, on 1st April. You can be sure that members of Revelation will be involved in that - our members have been singing in Roger's tours for some years, before Revelation was formed. To be honest, it remains to be seen whether there will be any scope for drama group involvement; Roger normally brings his own soloists and actors. Perhaps we may be asked to provide some crowd scenes? However, there will be Revelation's own presentations of the show to look forward to later on - there has already been some discussion about Revelation presenting it at Yateley in July 2000.

The Revelation web site.

Revelation has joined the modern information age, by creating a web site publicising our activities. For those uncertain what this means, imagine reading a magazine from a computer screen - and the magazine is always up-to-date. We started the web site at the end of November last year, and the content has grown continuously over the last three months.

At the time of writing, the web site currently covers the following areas:

Basic publicity: who we are, what we do, past achievements, a welcome from the chairman;
Our activities: diary of events, future plans;
The Revelation groups: More details about the music, drama, and dance groups;
The magazine section: photos from our presentations, thought provoking articles, Christian jokes;
Christian links: other sites & resources on the World Wide Web.

To our surprise, our web site has proved more popular than we expected. We thought that it would only be of interest to people within (say) 20 miles of Bracknell (Berkshire, UK). To date, nearly 400 people from all over the world have dropped in for a read, and our "readership" has grown from nothing to around 40 or more every week. We have also started to develop links with other Christian performing arts groups in North America.

If you have access to a web browser, why not drop in at this address? The latest news about Revelation is posted to the web site almost "as it happens". The content is updated weekly. I think you'll agree that's an improvement on the frequency of these drama newsletters!

http://members.tripod.com/~Douglas_W_Brown/RevIndex.htm

I apologise for my name appearing in the address. The web host where we store our web pages would not allow us to have the name Revelation in there instead; it had to be a person's name. Perhaps one day we will get a better address.

That's all for this newsletter. I hope to see many of you at the read-through and auditions on the 17th April. Do come; it should be a lot of fun!

Yours in Christ,
Douglas Brown

Revelation Drama Co-ordinator

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