The Roses Review Winter/Spring 2020
Welcome... Welcome all to our winter review. As things are cooling down outside, the same can’t be said for inside the theatre. We are really heating things up this season with a raft of exciting changes to the theatre and a brilliant programme of live entertainment and film. First up is a revamp of our upstairs bar that will open on Saturday 30 November the opening night of Aladdin - as Eric’s Bar. Not only will it be a homage to the late, great comic genius Eric Morecambe, whose final performance was famously at The Roses on the night he died, but will also celebrate the 45 year history of The Roses and its importance to our lovely town of Tewkesbury. We are hugely grateful to Les Copestake of LPC Painting and electrician Colin Green for generously donating their time and skills to the redesign of the space. You are all invited to join us on opening night. If you are able to attend please email jessica.brewster@rosestheatre.org The New Year for The Roses means new seats for you! We are upgrading our seats to cinema standard - more news on that overleaf. While you lean back on comfy head rests with your glass of wine safely held by a cupholder, we will be providing some excellent entertainment including a bumper season of film throughout January, a brilliant line up of musicians including the thigh-slappingly good Country Superstars, Fairport Convention and the hilarious Vampires Rock. We’ve also secured some of the best comedians in the business: Count Arthur Strong, John Shuttleworth, Joel Dommett and Andy Parsons. Next year we will also be relaunching our Youth Theatre, providing bigger budgets and the opportunity to perform at the Edinburgh Festival in 2021. We are looking for support for this as part of our Christmas Three Wishes campaign, which you can find out more about on page 5 of your brochure. As always we are hugely grateful for your support and love for the theatre, and wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
The Roses Board of Trustees
New Trustees
Two new Trustees have been recently appointed to The Roses’ board.
Booking Dates Booking dates for this brochure are as follows: Patrons & Benefactors: Thursday 14 November Friends & Seat Donors: Monday 18 November General Public: Thursday 21 November
Geoffrey Rowe has many years experience as a Theatre Director and many of you will know him best for leading Cheltenham’s Everyman Theatre for over a decade. He also stepped in as Interim Director here at The Roses for a spell in 2018. Lara Chaplin is a Senior Lecturer in Marketing and Advertising at Coventry University, with extensive commercial experience in the UK cinema industry. She has been in the education sector for the last 11 years but keeps up to date with the industry by acting as a consultant for a wide range of marketing issues as well as operations improvement.
Patron Points Just a quick reminder that many of you have have accrued Patron Points from being a regular film goer and member. Every time you buy a film ticket you earn 80 Points, so after 5 films you get the sixth ticket absolutely free! So next time you book a film remember to ask our Box Office team to use your available Points towards free tickets.
Backstage Pass
Martin Worrall
New Seating We’re delighted to reveal that in January we will be installing new seating throughout the auditorium. When a colleague at Cinema UK mentioned to us that a multiplex in Newport were refurbishing, and had several hundred seats in very good condition that were looking a for a new home, we investigated further.
Martin, what’s your role at The Roses?
We visited the site and brought back some samples, and it was immediately obvious that they were vastly superior in quality and comfort to our existing ones, that are reaching the end of their lifespan.
I’m the Technical Manager.
We’d like to thank the George Cadbury Trust for generously donating the funding that has allowed us to both purchase and install our new seats.
What is your favourite part of the job?
If you’re in the theatre over the coming weeks you can try out the new seats as R1 - R11 have already been replaced (pictured right).
I do enjoy busking (improvising) the lighting for live acts, usually bands.
And your least favourite?
The long days. Sometimes we can be here for 15 hours - it can be very tiring both mentally and physically! But it’s all part of the job.
Where would you like to see The Roses in 5 years? I’d like to see it have a bigger audience with a wider age range.
How would you improve The Roses if money was no object?
I’d love a more up to date lighting system, better acoustics in the auditorium, and an office chair that doesn’t squeak.
How do you switch off from work?
I play a lot of chess, a lot of board games, and piano. I also design board games.
Finally, what are you most looking forward to at work? 2020 will feel like a new start for The Roses, so I’m looking forward to being a part of that. As well as the new seats, we are hoping to install new LED stage lighting.
Thank You This year’s pantomime, Aladdin, is kindly sponsored by Thomson & Bancks Solicitors, who have branches in Tewkesbury, Pershore, Cheltenham and Stratford-upon-Avon. Our trustee, Paul Johnson (a Managing Partner of T&B), pictured above (we’ll leave you to work out which one he is...) jumped at the chance to star in a sketch alongside Abanazer, a local traffic warden (both pictured) and a live camel, who we borrowed for the day in order to film a scene that will be included in the pantomime. To see Paul’s cameo, head over to our or T&B’s Facebook pages. We’re incredibly grateful to Paul and Thomson & Bancks for their generous support, and also for allowing us to take over their office for the morning. If you have need of legal support or advice, visit them online at www.tbsolicitors.co.uk
Staff Picks
Kate Shaw Box Office
“I love Lakefest so was really excited to see Battle Of The Bands in the new brochure. It will be great to see a whole new audience coming into the theatre, and wow! what a great prize”
Caroline Lawrence
Marketing / Programming “I think that Jeeves and Wooster in Perfect Nonsense is going to be a fantastic production. It’s nice to be supporting work from other local theatres”
Liz Ryan-Smith Coffee Shop
“I adore Lindsay Martin and love singing in The Roses choir, which she leads, so for me it has to be the performance she’s giving with her band in February”