Red Demon by Hideki Noda - South London Theatre

The Magazine of SLTC Ltd & the SLTC Members’ Club - March 2011
backstage@southlondontheatre.co.uk
Red Demon
by Hideki Noda
Tues 2 nd – Sat 5 th March, Bell Theatre
A storm
rages at sea. The survivors of a
boat wreck are washed up on the shores
of an isolated fishing community; a
young woman, an outcast from that community,
her brother Tombi and Mizukane, an affable
grifter. Rescued and revived by the villagers, two
days later, the woman dies. Her brother thinks he
understands why and so Tombi tells 'The Story of
My Little Sister who was Killed by Eating a Bowl
of Shark's Fin Soup'.
Hideki Noda's play, translated from the original
Japanese and first performed in the UK at the Young Vic in 2003, explores themes of
xenophobia and jealousy in an unusual and humorous manner.
Combining shadow puppetry, live percussion, and elements of Noh theatre, this
promises to be a unique and highly entertaining production.
That Woman - Katie Patrick
Red Demon - Stanley Myers O Mulley
Tombi - Jacob Hedberg
Mizukane - Pierre Evans
All other parts are similarly played by members of the South London Theatre Youth
Group.
Directed by the Youth Group facilitators.
Peter Stevens

Dick Barton: The
Tango of Terror
by Phil Willmott
Tues 15 th - Sat 19 th March, Prompt
Corner
Daphne “Oh Jock!”
Jock “Oh Daphne!”
Daphne “I feared you wouldn’t recognise me”
Jock “Why of course I do bonny lass. Its
Daphne Fritters. Only daughter of our Minister
for Rationing, Sir Stanley Fritters.”
Daphne “Oh Jock can you forgive me for
breaking your heart so cruelly two episodes
ago?”
Jock “Och, of course I can. A fortnight’s a long time in light entertainment.”
Daphne “And you and your chums were so brave rescuing Daddy and I from the
clutches of EFIL. Thank heavens you’ve forgiven my cold hearted ingratitude.”
Jock “Och, forget it. It’s not as if I’ve stayed up night after night trying to cry myself
to some kind of tortured sleep, day after day after day of hoping you’d just return one
of my phone calls.”
Daphne “I’m so glad we can put it behind us”
Jock “Agony after agony every time the doorbell rang praying that maybe one day
you’d respond to my letter, that one day your butler would let me wipe my rough
working men’s boots on the doorstep of your heart.”
Daphne “Its best to move on, isn’t it.”
Based on the classic 1940’s radio serial this is a truly hilarious send-up of all things
frightfully British, gung-ho jolly hockey sticks and putting Johnny Foreigner well and
truly in his place.
A ruthless Latin lothario has set his sights on the women of London. No gal is safe
from the swarthy continental’s sultry seductions as he cha-cha-chas his wicked way
into their boudoirs and jewellery boxes. But have no fear, square-jawed British hero
Barton and his team are on hand to save the day.
This is a play with songs but is definitely not a musical so if you fancy a right royal
giggle come along and enjoy it.

Main characters are as follows but the cast all play a host of other totally camp and/or
eccentric/outlandish characters as well.
Characters
Jack Barber - Dick Barton / EFIL Stranger / Margarita
Matt Moore - Juan El Bigglesworth / Colonel Gardener / Yvette
Donna Marie Ward - Daphne / Genevieve / Wilco / Maureen
Kevin Leech - BBC Announcer / Snowy / Cassandra
Fiona Daffern - Mrs Horrocks / Conchita Horrocks / Rodger
Steve Imrie - Jock / BBC Floor manager
Jack King, director
SIGN LANGUAGE INTERPRETATION
AT THE SLT
Over the last year, since the production of Cleo, Camping, Emmanuelle
and Dick, you will have noticed that several shows are now advertised
as offering a sign language interpretation of the show on at least one
night of the run. Who can ever forget Paul Michaels’ very entertaining addition
to the fun of Saucy Jack and the Space Vixens with his lively signed interpretation?!!
However, serious plays can also benefit as well. Bibi Lacey-Davidson
has also been seen signing for Enchanted April. They are both trained interpreters
who attend a number of rehearsals before the performance, in order to make
their interpretation as accurate as possible.
This is the latest way that we are trying to make our shows as inclusive to
everyone as we can. Once the director has decided to offer this service, (and
that is their choice), they are given a list of deaf groups to contact, who might
like to visit the SLT on those particular nights. Obviously the groups need as
much notice of the particular nights this is available as possible, in order to be
able to book their seats. Baron Bolligrew contacted some schools as well.
If you know of any individual or group who would like to know that we are
offering this service, please contact me, so that I can add them to the contact
list which I give to the directors. Please get in touch with me by phone or by
email on j.hoile123@btinternet.com
Thanks.
Jeanette Hoile (Publicity Director)

South London Theatre Centre Ltd. A.G.M.
Notice is hereby given that the 44 th Annual general Meeting of the South London Theatre
Centre Ltd. will be held at 8pm on Thursday 26 th May 2011 at 2a, Norwood High Street, for
the following purposes :-
1. To receive the report of the Theatre representatives for the current season.
2. To receive the report of the Directors and accept the accounts for the year ending 31 st
December 2010, along with the report of the auditors.
3. To elect auditors and fix their remuneration
4. To consider and, if thought fit, pass any resolutions. (see below)
5. To elect Directors.
By order of the General Council
G.Lill, Company Secretary.
Eligibility: Only Ordinary and Honorary Members are entitled to attend and vote. A membership
check will occur, so please remember your membership cards.
Proxies: A member entitled to vote may appoint a proxy to attend and vote in his/her place.
The proxy must be a member. Proxy forms will be printed in Backstage and will be available
from the Members' Club Bar notice board. Duly completed proxy forms must be deposited in
the Box Office in the foyer at least 48hrs before the commencement of the Annual General
Meeting.
Nominations: Nominations for the eleven elected members of the General Council must be
made in advance. Forms will be printed in Backstage and will be available from the Members'
Club Bar notice board. Nomination dates are Friday 1 st April to Thursday 12 th May inclusive.
All nominations must be submitted to the Box Office by Thursday 12 th May 2011.
The Offices available are :-
Chairman, Deputy Chairman, Training Representative, Membership Representative, General
Secretary, General Stage Manager, Public Relations Representative, 4 Theatre Representatives
& Representative Without Portfolio.
Resolutions: Any member may submit a resolution for consideration by the Annual General
Meeting. Any possible amendments to our rules or bye-laws must be notified to all members.
Consequently the closing date for receipt of resolutions in the Box Office is Sunday 8 th May.
Please enclose two copies (one for Backstage, one for the General Secretary) and address the
envelope to the Backstage editor.
S.L.T.C. Members' Club A.G.M.
Notice is hereby given that the 37 th Annual General Meeting of the S.L.T.C. Members' Club
will be held on Thursday 26 th May 2010 in the Members' Clubroom following the completion
of the S.L.T.C. Ltd. Annual General meeting (8pm, Bell Theatre), for the following purposes:-
1. To receive the reports by the General Committee and the accounts for the year ending 31 st
January 2011.

2. To elect Officers and Committee Members for 2011/12.
3. To discuss any resolutions.
Proxy forms and nomination forms will be printed in Backstage and will be available from
the Members' Club notice board.
The Offices available are:- Chairman, Deputy Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer, Bar Manager,
Social Administrator and up to 10 other Committee Members.
All resolutions to change Rules and Bye Laws of the Members' Club should be notified to all
members, closing date for resolutions is therefore Sunday 8 th May 2011.
Caroline Doyle, Secretary.
COME TO THE NORWOOD EXPO ON
SAT 5 th MARCH AND PROMOTE THE
SLT
We are going to be involved in a very exciting event at Elmwood School
very soon. This is a new school in Elmcourt Road, which is near the SLT.
It is organised by the Crystal Palace Development Trust and the theme
this year is Families and Culture, which is where we come in!
The event is called People First Norwood Expo and is providing a venue
at which local groups can advertise their wares. It will also be a fun day
with lots of activities, workshops, music performances and refreshments
– a bit like a mini Lambeth Country Show.
It will be on Saturday 5 th March from 11AM until 4PM.
We will be letting everyone know about their local theatre and promoting
membership, of course, as well as providing information about our
forthcoming shows. So please sign up for a shift and help us get some
more new members, (and audiences) while advertising our lovely theatre.
The rota is on the discussion board. I have included set up times as well
as closing down times, so the shifts run from 10am until 5pm. We need
at least two people for each shift please. It would be great if you could
sign up and join us. If you do not access the Discussion Board, please
give me a ring on 020 8689 8999 and I will add you to the list. Thank
you. See you there!

Present Laughter
by Noël Coward
Auditions
Sun 6 th , Mon 7 th & Tues 8 th March, 8pm
Performances
Tues 5 th - Sat 9 th July, Bell Theatre
Garry Essendine, a rather attractive yet self-absorbed actor, is about to
embark on a tour of Africa, perhaps to stave off a mid-life crisis. As he tries
to tidy up his affairs in preparation for the trip, he has to throw out a
wide-eyed fan, deal with his long suffering secretary, placate his ex-wife and escape
the attentions of an aspiring playwright. A fast-paced whirl of intrigue, love affairs
and thwarted ambition, Present Laughter is Coward at his most autobiographical —
and irrepressibly funny.
Characters
Garry Essendine - a famous actor (male, aged 40-50)
Liz Essendine - his estranged wife (female, 35-45)
Daphne Stillington - a young admirer (female, 20s)
Morris Dixon - Garry's manager (male, 35+)
Henry Lyppiatt - Garry's producer (male, 35+)
Joanna Lyppiatt - Henry's wife (female, 30-40)
Monica Reed - Garry's secretary (female, 25-40)
Roland Maule - an aspiring playwright (male, 25+)
Miss Erikson - the Swedish housekeeper (female, 40-60)
Fred - Garry's valet (male, any age)
Lady Saltburn - a lady whose niece has been promised an audition (female, 50+)
For more details, please contact :- Dave Hollander, director
SOCIAL SCENE
T he March Film Club Night will feature “King Kong” (1933) on Sat 12 th .
The usual Thirsty Thursday Thoicial will be on the 24 th , come along and
try “Pod Luck”.
The Bar Committee, despite the recent VAT increase, will endeavour to keep
the current prices as long as possible. This will depend on suppliers increases
and the upcoming budget.

Review from “Sardines” Magazine
Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh
society: South London Theatre
performance: 16 Nov 2010 | Prompt Corner, South London Theatre, West Norwood
reviewed by: Paul Campion
In 1993, Irvine Welsh’s tale of Scottish low-lifes and heroin addicts gave British cinema
an almighty kick up the backside. It was dangerous, yet exhilarating – rather like heroin
itself. Could SLT’s theatrical adaptation have the same impact?
The evening didn’t start well. We arrived on a bitterly cold night to find the building in the
grip of a power cut. To make matters worse, when power was restored we trooped into a
chilly auditorium with nowhere to sit apart from a handful of seats. Things didn’t look too
promising. How wrong we were.
Advance publicity billed this show as a ‘promenade’ performance; a rather polite term for
a remarkable piece of theatre that thrust the audience headfirst into the squalid world of the
junkie.
The acting didn’t take place on a stage, it happened all around the audience as we stood in
the space. The cast - including a team of extras who doubled as mime artists - mingled and
moved freely among us, even barging past if we were in the way. The set - which occupied
the entire space - surrounded us with smashed-up TV screens, discarded beer cans, filthy
mattresses and walls splattered with blood (or worse) making it feel as if we had somehow
strayed into a council estate drug den.
The effect was to make the audience nervous, unsettled and totally involved - a brave
approach which in lesser hands might have backfired. But thanks to Peter Stevens’ expert
direction and his superb cast, it all seemed thrillingly – and often frighteningly – real.
As ‘Begbie’ Steven Imrie was every inch the intimidating and violent psychopath, right
down to the tattoo on his neck. If we’d had a street to cross to avoid him, we would have.
Holly McFarlane’s ‘Alison’ went from drug-addled desperation to sassy swagger and
showed expert comic timing in her improvised asides to the audience. As ‘Tommy’ Karl
Gibbons put in a moving performance and also had the unenviable task of appearing stark
naked – no mean feat on a winter’s night in Norwood! And then there was Alan Brown’s
short but effective portrayal of a drunken down-and-out. I swear I could smell him.
With such quality on display it seems unfair to single anyone out, but special mention must
go to Tom Hancock’s ‘Renton’ who had us at once laughing and wincing at his tales of
scatological bedroom ‘accidents’ and the difficulties of retrieving anal suppositories from
the depths of a blocked public lavatory. All delivered – like the rest of the cast - in a perfect
Leith accent.
Full marks too for the beautifully-timed (and specially-shot) sound and video sequences
which lulled us into a drug-like stupor, only to jolt us brutally back to reality.
So thank you, SLT for one of the most memorable evenings I have ever spent in a theatre.
You may have had a power cut, but this show was positively electric.

March Diary
Tues 1 st - Sat 5 th
Red Demon
By Hideki Noda
Bell Theatre 8pm
Sun 6 th , April Backstage copy deadline
Sun 6 th , Mon 7 th & Tues 8 th
Auditions for
Present Laughter
by Noël Coward
Sat 12 th
Film Club Night - King Kong
Members’ Club Bar 8pm
Tues 15 th - Sat 19 th
Dick Barton: The Tango of Terror
By Eddie Coleman
Prompt Corner 8pm
Thurs 24 th
Thirsty Thursday Thocial
Members’ Club Bar 8pm
Backstage is published by the South London Theatre, 2a, Norwood High St., West Norwood,
London, S.E.27 9NS. Box Office 020-8670-3474; Clubroom 020-8670-4661.
www.southlondontheatre.co.uk. Please send copy for publication to
backstage@southlondontheatre.co.uk, or by post to the address above marked “Backstage”.