Red Spider is Back for 2022 with a Play Reading 24 May 2022

In the autumn of this year, Red Spider Company will complete 25 years of presenting amateur theatre in Lewdown, Bratton Clovelly and neighbouring villages. The range of activity covered in this quarter century is enormous and has included community plays, musical theatre, revues, children’s theatre, puppet and shadow theatre, not pantomime perhaps but a purpose written fairytale which was as good as any pantomime, and of course a number of special presentations written by members of the Company. We have recorded plays on radio, presented outdoor theatre, supported other companies such as The Common Players in their presentations in our area, presented special events to mark notable occasions such as the Centenary of The Battle of the Somme in 1916 and most memorably, created a celebration of the life of Sabine Baring Gould with an orchestra, a choir and 130 participants of whom 110 were on stage in a production at Bratton of Ron Wawman’s 39 scene play “Like a Buoy” in 2007, which attracted a National Lottery Grant of £25,000 as well as international interest.

This record of activity was brought to a temporary close by the onset of Covid19 and the first lock down which began in March 2020. The Company’s last production, a notable success, was a presentation of J. B. Priestly’s period play “Dangerous Corner” at Lewdown Victory Hall in April 2019. Following this production, there was some activity with a series of workshops on Ron Wawman’s play “The Wheel of Life”, based on Baring Gould’s later years. Sadly since then, the restrictions of the Corona Virus have made it impossible for the Company to continue with any kind of associative meeting, future planning or social activity. As a result, at the present time, we do not even have an executive committee elected by members. Some of our members no longer live in the district and the list of our supportive enthusiasts has diminished for other reasons.

With the summer months ahead, it seems a good moment to do what we can to relaunch Red Spider Company as a worthwhile feature of our local communities. Before contemplating any attempt to mount a major production, we believe it would be wise to organise a series of social activities to bring existing friends together once more, and enable us to recruit new members who might like to participate in a growing programme of activity by Red Spider Company. To this end, we would like to invite all those who have had contact with and perhaps participation in Red Spider Company in one way or another in the past to get in touch with one of us and let us have their contact details. This letter goes to all identified former members in the hope that they might still be interested when the time comes to lend us their support.

In order to get things going once more, Amanda Greenhalgh, Martin Perry and Alan Payne have arranged a play reading evening:

If this event is well supported, we would like to go on to organise similar evenings through the summer in June, July and August. Please let us know if you would like details of the May and subsequent events. It would be helpful if you could also suggest others whom we may inadvertently overlooked, who should be sent an invitation.

It would be our intention to judge the level of interest in a renewal of Red Spider activity and in the light of our summer meetings, establish a new working committee and begin to plan in the autumn for new activities by Red Spider in the coming year.

We do hope that you will want to be associated with this move to rejuvenate an activity which we believe has been of value to our communities in the past and which we believe might still enrich them in the future.

Yours sincerely,

Amanda Greehalgh
Alan Payne
Martin Perry

Telephone Numbers:

Amanda 07484 672353
Martin 01409 221376
Alan 01837 871367

Wanted! New Actors, Singers, Dancers, Stagehands, Painters, Needleworkers, Musicians and Directors.

Red Spider Company are looking to build upon our existing amateur dramatic group. We need you!

Update: New location urgently needed for Costumes

Update: RSC have sited the lorry body at Dingles. Thank you to all involved who helped with the location and moving of the costumes.

The local Amateur Dramatic Society, Red Spider company are in urgent need of a location for their costume collection that is containerised in a Lorry Body 24 feet long.

Our current location is being redeveloped and we need to move the collection as soon as we possibly can.  We do not require a large area just sufficient for the lorry body and we only access same two or three times a year.  Anyone who has a suitable site please contact Amanda on 01566 784218 or Martin on 01409 221376.

Red Spider are willing to pay a suitable rental if required.