Flying the Next Stage Youth Flag High at the Mid-Somerset Drama Festival!

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On Tuesday 12th March members of Next Stage Youth Theatre Company took to the stage to perform their challenging extracts as part of this year’s Mid-Somerset Drama Festival. Now in it’s 118th year, the Festival saw a record number of 5000 competitors over 16 days. This year Next Stage Youth entered 5 groups across 2 acting classes in the competition. The extracts in class 57, Year 9 and under were from Alan Ayckbourn’s Invisible Friends and Simon Stephen’s award-winning The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. In the Senior class, 19 years and under, the 3 extracts were from Sue Townsend's, The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole aged 13 3/4, Simon Stephen’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time and Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman. All 5 performances were outstanding and friends and family watched from their seats in admiration as Next Stage's talented youthers competed with other groups, sometimes made up of much older children. 

After much deliberation, the results were in! Taking 1st place in the Senior group were Next Stage Youth Group D with Curious Incident whilst in the Juniors Next Stage Youth Group A achieved a distinction and second place with the same extract. The remaining groups all gave solid performances and scored between 84 - 86 marks earning commended certificates. Thanks and congratulations to all the NSY Tutors who helped their groups achieve these results and well done to all competitors, you worked very hard and delivered at your best.

Judge’s Remarks:

“Clear and well defined...the cast were very mature in their handling of the material and told the story with care and compassion.”
— Group A
“The cast worked hard at demonstrating strong relationships and a good sense of togetherness. There were some wonderful facial expressions and reactions...”
— Group B
“A great deal of physical focus demonstrated by all members...the narration skillfully developed the ebb and flow of the scene.”
— Group C
“The diction and vocal interpretation was very clear and crisp...there was a strong sense of theatrical ebb and flow.”
— Group D
“Excellent relationships between the couples...the part of Adrian was played earnestly and with conviction by Max.”
— Group E

Plenty of Excitement for Next Stage Theatre Company

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Sir Dave Hare, Next Stage Theatre Company's Patron since 2000

Sir Dave Hare, Next Stage Theatre Company's Patron since 2000

Next Stage Theatre Company has enjoyed the patronage of Sir David Hare since 2000. Hare is one of Britain's leading playwrights and it has been a pleasure for Next Stage actors and directors to have worked on and produced a number of our patron's highly-acclaimed works over the last 25 years. 

In keeping with this tradition, and as part of the company's Silver Anniversary celebrations, Next Stage Director Alison Paine is bringing to the stage of The Mission Theatre, the company's production of Plenty written by David Hare in 1975 and widely regarded as one of his best plays. It will be performed by a talented, 11-strong cast of both new and old members. Full of passion, contrast and cutting humour, it is (as ever with Hare) an accessible and entertaining insight into British politics, equally scathing and satirical. Although it was written in 1975, Plenty's themes of political chaos, betrayal, moral outrage and a country searching for a new identity could not be more topical. It is fascinating in 2019 to note the modern resonances throughout a play written 44 years ago - notably Hare's take on the political confusion and duplicity of Suez, which culminated in international humiliation and the resignation of the prime minister. If you see no other, this must be the one play you see in Brexit week!

Marc Bessant as Raymond Brock, Hayley Fitton-Cook as Alice Park and Liz Wilson as Susan Traherne

Marc Bessant as Raymond Brock, Hayley Fitton-Cook as Alice Park and Liz Wilson as Susan Traherne

Next Stage Theatre Company first produced one of their patron's plays - The Secret Rapture in 1995. Following this the company went on to perform Hare's iconic Skylight in Bath, September 1999, before touring the production to The Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough, March 2000. Before Next Stage opened in Scarborough members of the company had had the chance to meet and talk with Alan Ayckbourn, then Artistic Director of the SJT, and David Hare. Next Stage's production of Skylight was the first David Hare play to be produced at the SJT. 

Artistic Director, Ann Ellison and members of Next Stage with Alan Ayckbourn and David Hare in Scarborough (1999)

Artistic Director, Ann Ellison and members of Next Stage with Alan Ayckbourn and David Hare in Scarborough (1999)

Skylight (2000)

Skylight (2000)

In December 2001 Next Stage produced Amy’s View; in September 2004, The Blue Room and in September 2014, The Judas Kiss .

As Next Stage Theatre Company approaches it's 25th Birthday on May 18th 2019, Artistic Director Ann Ellison BEM was delighted to receive the following from Sir David Hare:

“All best wishes to the wonderful Next Stage on its 25th Anniversary, and most especially for its production of Plenty.
I send congratulations.
David Hare”

Thank you Sir David for all your support and your acknowledgment of what Next Stage has achieved in the last 25 years.

Robert Lindsay to become Silver Anniversary Patron of The Mission Theatre’s resident Next Stage Theatre Company

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Next Stage Theatre Company, which created and runs The Mission Theatre, is about to celebrate its 25th birthday in May 2019 and is delighted to announce that Robert Lindsay has agreed to become its Silver Anniversary Patron joining the company’s other Patrons: Sir Alan Ayckbourn, Sir David Hare and Dame Harriet Walter.

Bath-based audiences have just had the chance to see Robert Lindsay in a critically-acclaimed performance as Sebastian in Jonathan Church’s brilliant production of Terence Rattigan’s In Praise of Love. Anyone lucky enough to have seen the play in the last month will know how thrilled the Next Stage Theatre Company are to have won the patronage of such a luminary of stage and screen.

Robert Lindsay has been delighting his public since graduating from RADA in the early 70’s. He has been seen in TV comedies, Hollywood films and West-End and Broadway shows with seasons at the RSC and The National Theatre. A versatile and charismatic actor, Robert is perhaps best known for such memorable shows as Citizen Smith and GBH on television, Richard III for the RSC, Me and my Girl (London and New York), The Entertainer, Onassis and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels on stage.

Next Stage’s Artistic Director, Ann Ellison BEM has followed and admired Robert’s work since the 1970’s and in particular was inspired by him and Derek Jacobi when they appeared in Bath in Becket in 1991. When she knew Robert was coming to Bath with In Praise of Love, a play that Next Stage had produced in December 2016, Ann approached Robert to become the company’s Patron in its 25th year.

On Monday November 12th, Robert Lindsay emailed as follows:

“Ann Ellison asked me if I would give my patronage to Next Stage Theatre Company as it approaches it’s 25th birthday. I was impressed at the volume of work that the company had achieved in the last 25 years - nearly 200 productions - and struck by the range and ambition of many of the plays. The fact that Next Stage obtained and converted a small 200 year old Chapel 15 years ago and turned it into The Mission Theatre - a thriving community theatre - also struck a chord. In this day and age, the struggle for any arts organisation to survive and prosper is a challenge and if my patronage can help in some small way I should be delighted. By endorsing Next Stage’s work with both its adult and youth theatre companies I hope they can look forward to continued success in the next 25 years!”
Robert Lindsay as Sebastian - In Praise of Love (2018)

Robert Lindsay as Sebastian - In Praise of Love (2018)