SHORTS – the Franklin and Friends one act play festival was a huge success this year. Although the group from Limpop had to pull out at the last minute due to their actor being in a car accident, the festival was a great success overall. Thanks to our two great judges – Clara Taub and Thorston Wedekind without whom a competetive festival of this nature is simply not possible. We were joined by two external societies – Roodepoort Little Theatre (RLT) and director Julius Radebe from Duduza, near Nigel. Thanks for travelling all that way and we hope to see you again next year!

Congrats to the following winners:

Best Play: My Middle name is Angry

Runner up to best play – Naked!

Best Director – Ashley Nader for “My Middle Name is Angry”

Best Set – Naked!

Best Actor – James Chisholm

Best Actress – Shikara Clay

Best Supporting Actor – Wolfgang Schroeder

Best Supporting Actress – Claire Demmer and Mia Pienaar

Best Cameo – Kenyan MacMurray

Best Original Script – Ashley Nader for “My Middle name is Angry”

Best Newcomer – Dane Slattery

Best Novice – Esther Machitekla

Best Solo Performance – Hennie Geryvenstein for “Guy meets Girl”

Best Lighting – The Mysterious Death of Christine Wilde

Best Music – Growing Up

Best Poster – Anna, alone

Best Ensemble – The tale of Duduza

Honourary Mention – Mervin Lowe

Merits for acting – Traci Scerri, Taryn Brehm, Ilonka Badenhorst, Thulani Mthethwa, Graham Shirley, Caitlin Coxon, Marguelette Louw

FRIDAY 16TH

VARIETY IS THE SPICE OF LIFE – with guy meets girl comedy, a heart in your mouth thriller followed by a drama

Fiona Nay in "You do love me, don't you?"

SATURDAY 17TH

LIGHT AND DEEP – Two hilarious comedies dealing with the issues that confront us everyday!

SUNDAY 18TH – Drama and a murder. A murder mystery that keeps you wondering, a comedy drama about being stuck between life and death and a local drama

FRIDAY 23RD – DRAMA NIGHT!!! For those who like their entertainment deep and thought provoking.

Ilonka Badenhorst, Traci Scerri and Mia Pienaar in Anna, alone

SATURDAY 24TH – COMEDY COMEDY COMEDY!!!! If you just want to laugh and laugh, these three comedies will do just that.

Mervin Lowe and Wendy Brehm in "The Golf Lesson"

Congrats on a great show guys! The reception from the audience was fantastic and everyone enjoyed the show thoroughly!!

Sleeping Beauty, THE pantomime was a modern day version of the classic fairytale, featuring an IT nerd hero, a Greenpeace activist for a Princess and a suitable evil Augusta Stern, recently fired from Castletech, the biggest corporation on Sandton Square. On the Eve of Aurora’s (the daughter of the chairman of the board of Castletech) 21st birthday, Augusta plans to poison the lovely girl using a ten tiered birthday cake that her nitwit sons managed to bake at home for the occasion. Featuring “The Dame” – journalist Gwen Gil, this panto had audiences giggling throughout the show.

Director:  Chris Esterhuyse

Musical Direction:  Candice Taylor

Production Secretary:  Claire Demmer

Scriptwriter: Claire Demmer

Choreography:  John Atkinson

Sound and Lighting and Backstage: Darren Fourie, Robert Cunningham, Delaine Cunningham

Makeup:  Lianne Gill

Starring: Taryn Brehm, Els de Bundel, Marius du Toit, Claire Demmer, Delia Leopold, Candice Taylor, Wendy Brehm, Katharine Forsyth, Carri Lyons, Chris Esterhuyse

All That Jazz

Franklin Does Broadway was our 3/4 year show, featuring all the best and well known Broadway songs from the past 60 years! Directed and produced by Mandy McMaster and choreographed by Kumo Konopi-Segaole, this show was put on stage in just 6 short weeks, but thanks to hours of practice, and a very talented, dedicated cast, we put on a decent show!!

Cat does Janet's "Toucha Toucha"

Our 3/4 year show is never set in stone – it is more of an experimental platform in which the directors or producers of a show can put on a show of almost any genre. It is also a platform to bring new blood into Franklin, as well as using talented performers from other shows who may not have necessarily been selected to do our big mid year acting piece.

How do you solve a problem like Maria?

Candice and James do "Mungo Jerry and Rumpleteaser"

Starring: Candice Taylor, James Chisholm, Joy Alexander, Cat Coxon, Tina Fraser, Kat Forsyth, Selina Dhlamini, Claire Demmer, Traci Scerri, Taryn Brehm, Wendy Brehm, Alex Hattingh, Owen Swart, Johnathen Bester, Teri Goldberg, Li-att Mayer, Carri Lyons, Kumo Konopi-Segaole, Clezzo Dhlamini, Mervin Lowe

Producer: Mandy McMaster

Choreographer and Stage Manager: Kumo Konopi-Segaole

Production Secretary: Wendy Brehm

Backstage: Mervin Lowe and Clezzo Dhlamini

Set: Hennie Greyvenstein and Spencer Rowley

Props: Carri Lyons

Sound and Lighting: Des and Robert Cunningham respectively

Thanks to Robert Cunningham for his stunning intelligent lighting that he loaned us for the show.

A visit from the "Coo Coo" Pigeon Sisters.

2011′s dry comedy of the year! Well done, guys, for a fabulous mid year production. Despite lower audience numbers due to the Walk the Talk, shockingly cold weather and everybody being down with the flu, we had a great run. Everyone who saw the show said that it was excellent and some came back twice! Great job!

The Odd Couple, by Neil Simon, follows two men who have recently become divorced who decide to become room mates. Unfortunately, the one is an obsessive compulsive neat freak and the other a total slob. Hilarious combination of two opposite personalities!

Tensions start to rise

Director: Dewan Demmer

Assistant Director: Ana Holmes

Production Secretary: Wendy Brehm

Props and Backstage: Carri Lyons

Starring: Hennie Greyvenstein, Spencer Rowley, James Chisholm, Stephen Watkins, Daniel Oosthuizen, Mervin Lowe, Traci Scerri and Shirley Tique.

The guys meet for a not so friendly poker game!

"Pals" - Best Novice Production

This year’s play fest featured six Franklin plays, and it ran over two weekends, giving the actors a chance to stretch their legs on stage before they would be adjudicated the following weekend. All the performers thoroughly enjoyed themselves on stage. Thanks to our three great adjudicators, Steven Feinstein, Anthony Fridjohn, and Charlotte Butler and to Mark from Starlight Creations for the layout of the hall, it looked magnificent.

Dylan and Cat busy with sound and lighting for "Pals"

Congrats to the following winners:

Best Production: A slice of Cheesecake

Best Director: Ashley Nader

Best Actress; Shikara Singh

Best Supporting Actress; Jenny Schmidt

Best Actor: John Atkinson

Best Supporting Actor: Stephen Watkins

Best Newcomer: Joe Gouws

Best Cameo: Wendy Brehm

Best Script: The Gold Locket by Ana Holmes

Best Novice production: Pals by Cat Coxon and Pension Thursday by Hennie Greyvenstein

Runner up to best production: Pals by Cat Coxon

Best Set: Pension Thursday

The Gold Locket

Director: Marinela Pereira

Choreographer: Cathy Rowley

Starring: Taryn Brehm, Shikara Singh, Kathy Clayton, Teri Goldberg, Grant Prinsloo, Stephen Watkins, Cathleen Limerick, Carri Lyons, Lays Bammesberger, Ryan Julyan, Cathy Rowley, Alice Bester, Chelsea Rowley, Monique Grobbelaar, Candice Taylor, Elit Ben-Attar, Jenny Schmidt, William Davis, Jamie-Lee and Jessica Smerkovitz, Demi-Ray and Gino Pereira, Chloë Raubenheimer, Cameron and Daniel Rowley

Cast of Shriek in Finale

Shriek is a Fairytale about a beautiful princess, her three not so ugly sisters, a wicked witch, an even wickeder witch, and a foul plan to take over the magical kingdom on the eve of the Princess’s sixteenth birthday.

Director: Candice Taylor and Claire Demmer

Choreography: Cathy Rowley

Starring: Cathleen Limerick, Heather Walker, Katharine Forsyth, Candice Taylor, Ana Holmes, Alex Hattingh, Grant Prinsloo, Carri Lyons, Dimitri Liountris ,Daniel Oosthuizen, Stephen Watkins, Dave Morgan, Seb Hattingh, Daniel Rowley, Cathy Rowley, Sibusiso Makama, Nthabiseng Chauke, Wendy Brehm, Taryn Brehm, Heather Murch, Kim Blanchard, Dane Blanchard

Act II - Silence Backstage!

Noises Off! – a farce in three acts, by Michael Frayn was 2010′s big mid year production. With a huge revolving double storey set in three parts, and a cast of nine experienced actors, this show was the highlight of 2010. It is one of the most difficult farces to stage, as it is literally a story about a play within a play and most of Act 2 involves very little dialogue, other than what you hear in the background, and it is entirely actions that the audience see. Congrats to Franklin for pulling this one off with style!

The Cast Of "Noises Off!"

Director: John Atkinson

Assistant Director: Chris Esterhuyse

Production Secretary: Wendy Brehm

Props and Backstage: Carri Lyons

Starring: Spencer Rowley, Claire Demmer, Ricky Veale, Taryn Brehm, Jeremy Forsyth, Cat Coxon, Danielle Blanchard, Jai Sewram and Hennie Greyvenstein.

The Sardines? The sardines.

Charnelle DF, Teri Goldberg and Jacques Scholtz in "Stirred, not Shaken"

Congratulations to the Following Award Winners:

Best Production: Stirred, not Shaken

Runner up the Best Production: Mickey Kannis caught my eye

Best Director: Claire Demmer

Best Actor: Ricky Veale

Best Actress: Charnelle DF

Best Supporting Actor: Gavin Barron

Best Supporting Actress: Ana Holmes

Best Cameo: Teri Goldberg

Best Newcomer: Tom Cronje

Best Novice Director: Ashley Nader

Best Original Script: Stirred, not Shaken, by Claire Demmer

Best Set: Mandy McMaster for Fawlty Towers

Merits: Cat Coxon, Lianne Gill, Wendy Brehm

Fame!

2009 saw our Big Bang musical “Babes on Broadway” take to the stage. Featuring a female only cast, and songs from Broadway shows from all time. Favourites included songs from the show “Wicked” which is still running on Broadway to well loved tunes from “My Fair Lady” and There’s no Business like Show Business! The aim of this show was to put on a show of professional quality, despite being an amateur cast, and, as a cast member, I can truly say that Sean and Paul worked us hard in order to achieve this goal. Congrats on a slick, professional show, guys!

Director: Sean Redpath

Producer: Paul Redpath

Starring: Kathy Clayton, Marinela Pereira, Cathleen Limerick, Candice Taylor, Claire Demmer, Alex Hattingh, Taryn Brehm, Wendy Brehm, Li-at Meyer, Terri Goldberg, Cat Coxon, Carri Lyons, Anita Jack, Cathy Rowley

There's no Business like Show Business