The Inn Theatre Company

It all started some years ago, 2002, if we're being precise, when a group of friends thought it would be a great idea to put on an open-air Shakespearean production, and Dartmouth Castle seemed to be the ideal setting.
Of course, one of the most important decisions that had to be made was: What would they call themselves? So they ordered another round of drinks at the bar of The Cherub Inn (can you see where this is going?) and put their not inconsiderably endowed heads together.
Thus was born The Inn Theatre Company

Little did they know!

Paul Wonnacott & David Fallow as Sir Andrew Aguecheek and Sir Toby Belch from the very first Dartmouth Shakespeare Week production: Twelfth Night. ( 2003 )

Such was the success of that first show, Twelfth Night (2003), blessed with fantastic weather ( a very important ingredient for any open-air production! ) and enthusiastic audiences, that the organising team decided they would try again the following year. That was six years ago.

There followed The Taming of the Shrew (2004), which was not blessed with such
fantastic weather - the rain came in horizontally - and it was a near financial
disaster. Thanks to several of the dedicated people, for whom The Inn Theatre had
become a true passion, putting their hands in to their pockets, the show, as they say,
did get to go on!

The word was out! The Inn Theatre Company now had a reputation to uphold and needed a year when the weather was a deal kinder and the production grew in strength. We managed to get both, in 2005, with 'The Merchant of Vencie'.
As a company, we were attracting interest from a wealth of talent from all over South Devon, in both the acting and backstage fields.

The sun shone that year and the audiences came in their droves; something that has, thankfully, happened each year since.

Max Brandt as Shylock - from an original painting by David Fallow - in the 2005 production.

Never a Company to rest on its laurels, 2006 saw us stretching ourselves ever further with 'Romeo and Juliet'. We gathered to us an extraordinarily talented group of young actors for the lead roles, many of whom have gone on to study with, and perform for, some of the leading theatre company's in the land. And, we are more than happy to say, some who have, even while doing this, remained and played in our later productions.
We employed the services of an Hollywood fight-arranger and swordmaster for the fight sequences and what a spectacle was that! This was also the first year we had the cast singing live in the opening scene, with the able, and patient, assistance of Mike Welsh, father of that year's Director, Sarah Welsh.

It was between the 2005/2006 Dartmouth Shakespeare Week's that we began to think a little more deeply about us as a Company. We had a core of enthusiastic, truly talented actors and all the backstage expertise we could wish for - why not, we thought, make more use of them?
We had, we felt, become almost synonomous with Dartmouth Shakespeare Week and, whilst that in itself was no bad thing, we felt it was time to show that the Inn Theatre Company had so much more to offer.
The result of our deliberations was 'Revealing Briefs', an evening of three, one act plays that not only displayed our talents to the full but gave the theatre going public an evening of entertainment that laid bare the the dark and comedic side of air travel, relationships and goldfish!

The success of 'Revealing Briefs' spurred us on to explore the opportunities offered in the one-act scenario. One of the plays in 'Revealing Briefs' was by George MacEwan Green, called 'Ritual for Dolls'. This production was taken to the Teignmouth One Act Play Festival where Monkey (a non-speaking, drum playing part!) was nominated for the Best Actor Award. We're not sure what that says about One Act Play Festivals!
It's a medium we enjoy, but we have plans to do so much more! That being said, we have recently seen three performances of our latest foray into the world of one act plays with 'Joining The Club' by David Tristram, which was performed at The Dart Drama Festival, The Teignmouth One Act Play Festival & The Exmouth One Act Play Festival.

Having stretched ourselves with 'Romeo and Juliet', we decided to really put ourselves on the rack in 2007! And, as it turned out, our production of
'A Midsummer Nights Dream' was the most resounding success; we couldn't have dreamed of having a more enjoyable, sumptious or thouroughly spectacular show.
More and more people were joining the ranks of The Inn Theatre Company, and it was everybody's hard work that made 'The Dream' the triumph it undoubtedly was.
Titania's faerie cohorts were drawn from the ranks of a local dance school and Linda Goss (ex Bolshoi Ballet) choreographed the spectacle. Lizzie Burby, ex-professional ballerina, led the faeries and captivated everyone with her grace.
Productions like 'The Dream' would not be possible without all the volunteers who rally round and give of their time so generously and freely.

Kelly and Jacqui of 'Ethera', in Dartmouth, whose knowledge, and skill in costume making, so enhanced the world of Faerie for all involved; Eve Wignall, whose work you can see in films such as 'Lord of the Rings', helped to create the hair and make-up; all the parents of the faeries and, lest we forget, the entire backstage crew, the front-of-house folk and everyone who cleared up afterwards.

We were, quite frankly, amazed (and obviously gratified!) by the audience response to our efforts to entertain. We sold out every night.
And so we look forward to 2008; not, as you can imagine, without a little trepidation.

The interesting thing about The Inn Theatre Company, amongst so many, is that it is run by the people that you see on stage and those who beaver away out of the limelight.
And every single one of them gives of their time and talent for nothing...well, we say nothing but we like to think that they get as much from being part of such a fantastic project as the audiences do from seeing the fruit of their collective labours.
Amateur in status, if you will, but a truer group of professionals you would be hard pressed to find anywhere else.

Everyone who is involved with the Company comes from all over South Devon, sometimes travelling miles after a hard day's work, to attend rehearsals, meetings and, of course, the odd social event. And they can be...very odd!

If we thought the rack in 2007 was as far as we could go, we were wrong. This years production is 'The Tempest', and it promises to be as different from last year as 2007 was from 2006.
We have great plans; we're rehearsing, almost as you read this, and we're looking forward to it as much as ever. Some would say even more.

Dartmouth Shakespeare Week have their own website, which you should be able to get to via the above link. There you can find out more about that event.

Living and working in the South Hams, as the majority of the Company do, we felt it only right that we should try to put back a little of that which has been afforded us by the people who support us; whether that be audience or sponsors or volunteers.
To that end, we decided to take a percentage of our ticket sales and make a donation to a specific charity every year. The donation in 2007 was sent to The Rowcroft Hospice.
We also made donations to other local bodies, amongst them The Dartmouth Film Society and St.Petrox Church.

But we're branching out in other directions too. Some of our friends who live in a nearby village, were dismayed to discover that the young people's arm of their local dramatic society was going to disband; primarily due to lack of funds and the departure of the couple who had run the venture.
The Inn Theatre Company stepped up to the oche - is that right? - and made a donation to pay for rehearsal space and volunteered some of their members' services to get their 2008 February production up and running.
'Olivia' was a wonderful experience, for everyone involved, not least, of course, for the youngsters. We're doing it all again this year.

And that experience got us thinking...and we now have our own Education Officer looking after that side of things. We're always on the look-out for new projects...

So much has happened in the last six or seven years, it sometimes seems a little overwhelming; but we don't want to stand still, now that we have started down this road.
We have a number of exciting new projects in the pipeline and are currently planning 'Revealing Briefs 2' (it's a working title), something that is in the capable hands of our newly appointed...actually, he doesn't have a title, but he's beavering away looking for scripts.
We're also in the process of writing - or at least attempting to write - a one act play of our own devising, with ideas for others bubbling under.

Busy, busy, busy. We will be adding more pages to the website when time, and the rehearsal schedule, allow, but if you want to get involved, in any capacity, please, get in touch!