STAGESTRUCK: THE FINAL!

The Stagestruck Final is here!

For the past few months, eight amateur theatre groups from across the UK and Ireland have been competing in a major competition launched by Sky Arts to find the best amateur theatre groups in the country and one group, above all, worthy of the ultimate prize: the chance to open a play in London’s West End. We have seen them perform classic Ibsen and Chekhov in the quarter-finals and dramatic scenes from Shakespeare’s King Lear in the semi-finals.

We are now down to just two remaining amateur groups and on Sunday 15th January they will battle it out on stage at the beautiful Theatre Royal Windsor, in the shadow of Windsor Castle, for the West End prize, which will be produced by Bill Kenwright himself, our lead judge and the impresario behind Blood Brothers, Dreamboats and Petticoats, Festen, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, A Man For All Seasons and Cabaret.

The theme for this round is comedy, and the groups – one from Scotland and one from Dorset – will both perform an extract from Joe Orton’s dark comedy, The Erpingham Camp, set in a 1960s holiday camp. The judges will then retire to deliberate before Bill announces the winners live on stage.

Please come and be in the audience to cheer them on. Tickets are free of charge (though if you choose to have them posted to you rather than collecting in person there is a charge of 50p) and you can book them through the Theatre Royal Windsor’s box office: 01753 853 888.

This event will be filmed as part of a series that will be broadcast on Sky Arts HD in 2012.

Hope to see you there!