The Finn-Brit Players is now inviting proposals for festival entries. Depending on the number and duration of the accepted plays, each play will received three or four showings at different times throughout the festival week.

Please only make a proposal if you intend to direct and stage the play. Proposal forms are available here.

Carefully read the guidelines below and return your electronically completed form to fbp@finnbritplayers.com by 1 July 2012.

Proposal guidelines
- All plays must be in English.
- They should run for approx. 25–60 minutes with no interval. (Several shorter pieces may be combined to form a longer entry.)
- Find out the cost of the rights and make sure they are available before submitting your proposal. (Rights don’t need to be obtained until after a proposal is accepted.) Original and out-of-copyright works are also welcome.
- Please avoid complicated sets, special effects, or other technically challenging aspects.
- Set, costume and prop budgets should be minimal. If you require any advice on budgeting, please contact zoe@finnbritplayers.com.

The committee will decide on the proposals by 1 August 2012, and will announce which plays have been accepted shortly afterwards.

Auditions will be held in late August. More details to come once the festival programme has been finalised.

WHAT:

Not everyone will have experienced a Eureka moment as pivotal as Archimedes’ bath-time epiphany, or have famously called themselves a jam doughnut like John F. Kennedy – but we have all had insights and misconceptions.

So join us for poetry, monologues and music exploring all variety of ‘Understandings and Misunderstandings’. With Lucie Niemelä on piano and vocals.

Free entrance.

See the full programme here:
www.zoechandler.com/2012/04/22/understandings-and-misunderstandings/

Well we are just over the halfway mark of the run of Single Bride.

The shows have been going quicker and quicker each time. And now we are down to our last three.

It is also the point where my “normal” accent is severely affected by my character’s accent.

Milton too will make an appearance sometimes in my daily life. At this point he’s like the “friend” who has come to visit eats all your favorite things and won’t leave. Once he gets going it’s hard to put him
away.

The worst of it started so subtly right after our last run through in our rehearsal space(two days before our Tech Run) when I was speaking to Madame Director and she pointed out several times that I was saying many words with a British Accent. Deep inside it did worry me as I did not realize ( Ha! My US English spell checker!) while speaking that I was doing it.

People at home and work who had thought that they had met me before were suddenly confronted by someone who looks like me but doesn’t talk like me and has a propensity of answering questions with a resounding, “Natcherooo!”

Those most directly affected are my family.

For my boys the fun and novelty of the “new” voice for me had worn off weeks ago. And now I feel their pain as it slips back into my normal speech during this run.

At first it was, “Dad, why are you talking like that?”

Now it’s my oldest pulling me aside and in a stern yet imploringly manner saying, “Dad, please stop. Please….it’s annoying.”

At the shops it turns to a rather father-like tone commanding me, “Dad you’re embarrassing us, would you go wait in the car!”

My wife hasn’t spoken to me in weeks for fear of bringing Milton out.

I was confused at first, but through looks and other non verbal gestures it has become clear that Milton is an unwelcomed guest.

I do try to contain him. To hold him back. Honestly, I do. But no matter how hard I try, like a freshly greased pig he kicks and squeals slipping his way out of my clutches.

Ah, what a release it is to be on the stage where I am released from my struggle of containment. Milton can be free. All of which I am trying to contain and stifle during the day can be brought out and shared.

And I am encouraged to do so.

I dare not think past this coming Saturday when the run is over. Will Milton go? And if so, where?

Article source: http://www.finnbritplayers.com/blog/2012/04/29/423/

Oooooh. Tonight’s the opening night!

It is a theatrical tradition and superstition that dress rehearsals aren’t supposed to go too well. Because that will bode ill for the actual opening night…

Last night’s dress rehearsal was ok but not too good, so we all have a strong feeling of wanting to kick ass tonight and don’t feel too sure about ourselves. Complacency has no place on stage or anywhere near it.

My personal dress rehearsal cock-up favourite was definitely me getting so overwhelmed because I got to wear my actual bridesmaid’s dress for the first time on stage (provided by the good people of Suomen Pukuvuokraamo) that I forgot to take my bag with me for the final act – and that bag contains PROPS. So I had to make a run for it during a blackout… And Meredith has that bag on her at all times! How could I forget!?

So here’s hoping I remember that bag tonight, and that legs will break! All in all, I think we’re all just raring to go. Exciting!

SQUEAL!!!!!!!

Article source: http://www.finnbritplayers.com/blog/2012/04/19/opening-night-jitters/

Hi there players, my first blog ever. One week till opening…aargh Alf is getting nervous. Great to be back with the players once more

Article source: http://www.finnbritplayers.com/blog/2012/04/12/404/

At the end of Bouncers I said that I would be having a break from the next Players production; maybe two. I had another commitment and I wanted to concentrate on several time-consuming work-related things. Come auditions for Single Bride, and much to everyone’s surprise, I held fast to that decision. A month after rehearsals had been proceeding apace I stopped thinking about the show in the secure knowledge that all was fine. I had made a very small concession by taking-on lighting for the show. Actually, I believe I casually mentioned to Zoë that I might be interested in helping back stage. At some point shortly afterwards (perhaps five seconds) I found myself doing lights!

Then one fateful Saturday whilst enthusiastically shopping with my wife (read: being dragged around Kamppi), I received a call from Zoë informing me that a cast member had inconveniently dropped-out of the show due to something he considered more important than his commitment to the show, the other cast and the future audience. I won’t go into that more than to say that my opinion of people who do this isn’t very high and that death is usually the only justifiable reason for dropping-out of a principal role once committed. Anyhow, I was informed that the situation was grim and that the fabric of the universe was tearing and would collapse if I couldn’t step-in. That may not have been the exact wording but, being Zoë, it was almost certainly something equally eloquent . As I am a Players committee member and true thespian (that’s a T, H and P), I could see the immense guilt lurking on the horizon should I refuse. So, four weeks into rehearsals and five weeks until opening night, I found myself being Jez. I should add that the bribe of Jelly Babies and Aventinus played no part in my decision, which was based entirely upon professionalism. The Jelly Babies have still not materialised…

Five weeks is something of a record for me. My previous best from read-through to opening night was six weeks for Arms and the Man. My first rehearsal was ‘books down’ for the rest of the cast; I felt the pressure. I’m pleased to report that everyone was very kind and patient with the noob! I vividly remember looking back through a 5am haze at an excellent ‘cast bonding’ evening after one rehearsal. I’m almost (but not entirely) positive that I got to know all the cast well that evening. I think. There was certainly a photo of Riikka trying vodka for the first time and none (that I know of) of me being a cock, so it must have been good!

Last Sunday, having returned from a three day bachelor’s ‘weekend’ in Northern Norway (character research, honestly), I surprised myself (and those who know me) by being off-book after just three weeks; one less than the rest of the cast!  I wish it to be noted for future reference that it actually is possible for me to learn lines quickly sometimes…

As for Jez: he’s pretty laid-back about it all and looking forward to eating cakes, keeping a close eye on his whiskey and the hinted-at meeting with President Obama.

In “Single Bride”, I am cast as “all the weirdoes”. Now, before you say anything, I have already had my [highly beloved] fellow actors go through various comments such as “yes, fancy that” and “it will be such a stretch for her”, so don’t you even start.

Thing is, [rumour has it] I may actually be a bit weird myself, but being cast as half a dozen specific weirdoes is quite a challenge regardless. How to keep them all distinct? How, as in what manner, are they each weird in their own weird fashion? Are they, in fact, all weird at all? And wait, please remember they do not find themselves weird. None of us do [including yours truly]. How to be a weirdo who thinks themselves normal? [No, don't start with the "just do what comes naturally, Anna".]

Half a dozen different characters mean half a dozen costumes, half a dozen bodies, half a dozen walks, half a dozen reasons for being there – and in true method style, I cannot accept “because the director told me to” or “because the author wrote me so” as the reason. There is a within-the-reality-of-this-play reason for each appearance, and I need to tease it out, so as to better support the action and the fab stuff the others are doing onstage.

Supporting roles – be they weirdoes or straight men – are there precisely to support: the action, the main characters, the storyline. In this play, I approached it with the idea that my characters are there to heighten the comic effect of the scene they appear in. Picking this idea apart, I decided there were times when my character indeed was the weirdo…and then others when my character is there to pose the question “so who’s the weirdo here”. Once we are onstage, see if you can spot which is which.

Article source: http://www.finnbritplayers.com/blog/2012/04/03/no-such-thing/

There are many aspects to a theatre production and many of them need to be done well in advance of the opening night.  I thoroughly enjoy being on stage and being part of a production but at the same time I have now discovered a new passion and a new way to express my creativity… Set Construction!

For the previous play, it was a slighly easier affair with the main part of the bar that was required for the show already being available and in the right dimensions.  Funnily enough, this bar will officially on opening night have appeared in more productions with the Finn-Brit Players than myself!  Go figure…

This time the director and stage manager presented a couple of new challenges. I keenly wrote down the details of these requirements and present to you my “patented” 4 and 1/2 step process to creating custom made sets:

Step 1. Design. Start thinking about design from the start.  I did, happily driving to work and back every day with Single Bride set requirements running in my head.  This is probably the least labour intensive part of the process, relying on more creative aspects like what material is the best to use and where will it be sourced.

Step 2. Sourcing the Material. Although quite fun and given time constraints a little stressful as measurements were calculated at the same time as the wood was being cut into its finals dimensions, I would recommend anyone doing this part to reserve as many hours as possible.  While choices are endless, its getting through all the available choices that takes time…and patience!

Step 3. Collecting the tools.  One thing I can only emphasise is one must have the right tools.  That makes this part a lot quicker than relying on natural strength.

Step 3 and 1/2. Beverages.  I would not be a set builder without my “beverages” at this stage.  It also made my work “better.”  Hence, the “patented” process.

Step 4. Construction.  This is the fun part as everything comes together.  Again, plenty of time is needed and re-working is always required as even though the designs are always brilliant, there are always a few challenges along the way.  And leave plenty of time at the end to double-check and test that everything works as the director and stage manager want it to work!

All I can say at this stage is that the attached picture is from the early phases of something that makes an apperance in the Single Bride play.

So all you need to do now, is book your ticket and come see if the set works as it is supposed to work and what became of the wood set out nicely on the table….if anything at all :)

Article source: http://www.finnbritplayers.com/blog/2012/04/03/discovering-my-inner-builder/

From this weekend onwards, we’ll be rehearsing in full costume. As our costume budget is limited – is there any part of our budget that isn’t limited? – we source most of our costumes from second-hand shops and the actors’ own wardrobes.

The weird and the wonderful – like historical clothes and the (in)famous tree costume – usually get sewn for free by a crew member. Personally, I think I must have made about a hundred costumes for the Players over the past nine years, covering the 15^th, 16^th, 17^th and 19^th centuries….

But this play is set in the future! (Okay, okay, only seven months in the future to be precise, but it’s still the future.) There were only a couple of more difficult items to acquire, but luckily Suomen Pukuvuokramo is sponsoring the play.

So me, the bridesmaid, and the brother-of-the-bride stopped by on Friday to pick out a snazzy morning suit and non-vomit-inducing bridesmaid’s dress. That part was achieved quickly and successfully, but faced with all those racks of chiffon and taffeta, the bridesmaid couldn’t resist trying on a lot of other dresses after that.

Here she is, as Satu brings in yet another delight:

Ooo, a fascinator!

Rumour has it, she didn’t leave until 9 p.m…

Article source: http://www.finnbritplayers.com/blog/2012/04/02/do-you-want-glitter-or-lace-on-that/

Now that the lines are starting to come out fluently (emphasis on starting to) and the blocking is pretty much set in my head (emphasis on pretty much), the process of becoming Gloria is reaching the stage of focusing on details; finding the little things that make Gloria the glorious person she is.

I’ve always found this part of acting most interesting and fun, when the practicalities are not bothering you anymore. With becoming Gloria, this part is especially challenging though, since there are a few key characteristics that make us so different. No, I am not unfortunately talking about her attention seeking tendencies or the underlying bitchiness. I don’t have to dig very deep to find source material for those :).

The challenge is to find the older woman and especially the mother in me. With becoming old its more about the physical things – how does an older woman talk, how does she walk, how does she sit etc. For these things I have found observing (almost like stalking, but not quite) people at eg. public transport very useful. However, figuring out how much does being a mother affect your personality as a whole and in what ways, is trickier.  How much does being a mother define you, especially when you don’t have any other profession? As you will soon see on stage, there is also a clear difference between how Gloria treats her son and her daughter. Why does she do that? Finding the answers to these kinds of questions is more about who Gloria is on the inside, and that’s what makes it tricky. It is also essential to have thought about these things, so that Gloria feels real, which is my ultimate goal.

A little while back, we had a character development session, in which we began figuring out the answers to these kinds of questions together. A lot of things became clearer to me, but there is still some thinking work to be done. For the end result, you just have to wait until the shows in April :).

Article source: http://www.finnbritplayers.com/blog/2012/03/28/becoming-gloria/

For the past couple of weeks our actors have been rehearsing ‘off book’, which means they think they know their lines. Or, at least, they assure the director that they know them.

I then am tasked with being ‘on book’, which means I keep them on an even keel when they think they have lost it. I have to say though they aren’t losing it all that much, which is great. We even seem to be over the phase of me being eyeballed by the actors during a scene as I will, inevitably, look up at the person in question when they are late coming in with their line. It seems my head movements are a brilliant cue for lines- but my head will not be available to give line cues during performances so I am slowly weaning them all off it.

As always happens with plays when lines are becoming more familiar during rehearsals, we all develop our favourite quotes. This is happening to me at the moment as there are many hilarious one liners in the script. The only downside , for me, to the actors knowing their lines so well is that they call on me for a line less and less- and so the chances of me being able to say my favourite lines are also becoming less and less. There is one in particular that I am dying to be called for but I guess you’ll just have to come see the play to try and figure out which one it is

Article source: http://www.finnbritplayers.com/blog/2012/03/23/thats-my-line/

This spring, the Players will be staging the brand-new comedy Single Bride.

What do you do if your boyfriend won’t propose? If you’re Scarlett, you decide to have a single wedding!

But her plans go wrong from the start. She accidentally ends up with her boring, bossy colleague as bridesmaid. Her father is recovering from a stroke and her mother is coping the only way she knows how: by trying to ruin and upstage her daughter’s plans.

Scarlett’s boyfriend wants nothing to do with any of her nonsense, but ends up being dragged out on a surprise stag night by Scarlett’s mollycoddled brother.

We follow their stories through the disastrous stag and hen nights, and on to the wedding ceremony itself…

WHEN: 19, 20, 25 & 27 @ 7 PM; 22 April @ 4 PM; 28 April @ 2 PM & 7 PM

WHERE: Tunturikadun vierailunäyttämö, Tunturikatu 16, 00100 Helsinki (Map)

TICKETS: EUR 12 (at the door), EUR 11 (paid in advance), EUR 10 (groups of 10 or more, paid in advance)

READ OUR PRODUCTION BLOG!!

Carol Norris will lead a reading of Bruce Norris’ Clybourne Park, winner of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

This topical satire, set in current-day Chicago, puts a modern spin on issues of race relations, property, and dreams of a better life.

In 1959, a white couple sell their home for a knock-down price, enabling the first black family to move into the neighbourhood. In 2009, the same property is bought by another white couple in what is now an all-black neighbourhood. Discussions about renovations and zoning rules soon degenerate into talk about racial issues…

‘Painfully sharp, appallingly funny’ – Time Out

Free entrance. Bring a bottle and a friend! Remember that play readings are not performances!

One of the problems of amateur theatre is that people have lives outside the play. I know, inconsiderate or what? So rehearsals have to be scheduled around people’s work and family commitments. We cast this play a bit on the late side – yes, I still class a week before the start of rehearsals as ‘a bit’ – which meant that some people had already made commitments for February.

After much cursing and comparing of spreadsheets, I finally had a rehearsal schedule in front of me – only to realise that I would not get the whole cast together until mid-March…

At times, it felt like I was directing a zany romp by the Marx Brothers or Albert & Costello. When someone did in fact ask, ‘Who’s on first?’, it was only with great restraint that I did not reply, ‘Yes’.

And then, when everyone was finally scheduled to be together, we encountered the next ‘minor hitch’, as Milton would term it. That is, however, a topic for a whole other post, so I’ll leave you in suspense until then…

But for the detectives among you, here’s a snap from that rehearsal. Now whatever is going on here?

Article source: http://www.finnbritplayers.com/blog/2012/03/17/whos-on-first/

It’s always good to get a mention for the show in the press, even if it’s not the main story!

(Click for full size)

Article source: http://www.finnbritplayers.com/blog/2012/03/14/its-a-girl-thing/

Learning to love your character… Well, that’s what’s happening to me. This week, we’re doing character work. Zoë gave us all a list of things to think about. Main personality traits? Parents? Major past events in life? Hobbies?

Meredith, the bride-to-be’s bossy, socially slightly inept, possibly autistic colleague who claims the role of bridesmaid… Well, the truth is, I love her to bits. I think I did from the word go.

Why? I think she’s the only healthy female in the play. She has boundaries and she’s very clear about them. Yet she’s able to bend those boundaries when necessary. A person who knows what she likes and doesn’t like, what she wants and what she’s willing to put up with, is a wonderful thing.

And she is always “100 per cent honest”. Some of my fellow actors say she’s “rude”. I just think she’s a bit unaware of social rules or then she simply chooses to ignore them because she’s never been too good at sussing out situations anyway. She’s incredibly tolerant of other people’s idiosyncracies – although she will point them out immediately. And don’t get her started on cheese. Other than that, she’s a lovely gal.

Moreover, I’m guessing she’s sexy. In a weird, nerdy, dominating way. She knows how to get guys. She’s realistic and straightforward. She’s not so good at making friends and dancing that little dance we call female friendship, however…

But, as with everything she takes on, she is determined to get female friendship and the whole bridesmaid business right.

Oh, and she bases her ideas of what people do in given situations on what she’s seen in movies. In that, we are very similar.

Article source: http://www.finnbritplayers.com/blog/2012/03/13/the-greatest-love-of-all/

Our theme this spring is ‘Understandings and Misunderstandings’, so we’re looking for pieces about all kinds of insights, epiphanies and agreements, and misconceptions, deceptions and disputes. And not only poetry, but also monologues, dialogues, and ‘flash fiction’ prose. All pieces must either a) be your own work, b) be out of copyright, or c) have performance permission from the author. Please bring all the pieces you’re considering to the audition, including copies for the director.

The performances are on Wednesdays 2, 9 & 16 May at 7 p.m. Rehearsals will start on 21 March and will mainly be on Wednesdays evenings. (Weeks 16 & 17 are an exception and the rehearsal day, probably Monday, will be confirmed later).

If you have any questions, please contact the director, Zoë (zoe@finnbritplayers.com).

I have been writing music for the Players for a few years now and every production presents its own set of challenges and problems. I am immensely proud of some of the work I have done, and intensely embarrassed about some of the other pieces – but it is always fun, and always a learning process.

Today I sent Zoë a demo for a piece that actually has very little musical content, it is mostly made up of loud samples, some archive radio and me pretending to be warning some aerial chums. You have no idea what I am on about, do you?

All will become clear. Now I have to get back to some generic trance.

Article source: http://www.finnbritplayers.com/blog/2012/02/18/press-play/

by Zoë

There was far more space in my head. The chairs were a lot smaller in my diagram – and the actors didn’t have inconsiderate sticky-outie things, such as elbows.

After measuring and marking out the area of the stage in the rehearsal space – and then filling it with set, props and actors – I realised one very important thing: size might not be everything, but with this stage, we’re going to have to work hard!

As our five-and-a-half-hour rehearsal motored on, trying to realise the blocking I had envisioned in my head became more and more like a game of live Tetris. The blocks kept falling, but the gaps were suddenly the wrong shape – or already filled with actors and their silly elbows – and time was running out…

When we eventually reached the last page, I was so relieved that I forgot we’d started a bit later than usual and accidentally let the cast go half an hour early. Don’t worry – that won’t be happening again!

Article source: http://www.finnbritplayers.com/blog/2012/02/16/live-tetris/

Article source: http://www.finnbritplayers.com/blog/2012/02/14/learning-the-lines/