BY the time this issue of the Crediton Courier hits the shops there will only be a mere seven days until CODS begin the “get in” for this, our latest production.

Lines and moves will have been rehearsed over and over again. The cast will be eager to use the performance space at QE Upper School site in Western Road, to get into their various costumes and to prepare to perform to their first night audience when the curtain rises at 7.30pm on Wednesday, October 28. 

Alan Ayckbourn wrote  A Chorus of Disapproval for the Summer Season 1984 at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough. The theatre itself has quite a history, beginning in 1955 in the Public Library.

It then moved to the local Odeon cinema which was closing down. Today it is a two auditorium building with a 400 seater “in the round” space and a more conventional “end on” space which is also used as a cinema.

Alan Ayckbourn was the Artistic Director there for many years and almost all of his plays had their first outings in this building.

More than a hundred plays later, his latest work Heroes Welcome recently opened in the “in the round” auditorium this July.

So, from the famous SJT in Scarborough, to the somewhat more humble drama hall at QE Upper School in Crediton.

A Chorus of Disapproval  is a very funny play. The Pendon Operatic Society are presenting John Gays Beggars Opera. It begins as the final performance of the opera comes to its triumphant conclusion...then takes you back to the first early days of the production.

The seemingly shy and self-conscious Guy Jones meets the company for the first time. He has come to see Dafyyd Ap Llewellyn, the somewhat obsessive and overbearing director of the show, and as Welsh as his name sounds. 

Guy’s arrival causes a lot of interest, particularly amongst a number of the ladies of the group. As he becomes more and more involved, the problems seem to become more complicated and Dafyyd becomes more and more bellicose. Anxiety levels increase, tempers rise, and confusion abounds, with hilarious results. 

As the cast rehearse the Beggars Opera the audience begins to realise that John Gay’s opera of 1728 more and more reflects what is actually happening amongst the cast of the Pendon Operatic Society! 

And possibly any other Operatic and Dramatic society in the land. But of course, never in Crediton! 

A Chorus of Disapproval runs from Wednesday, October 28 to Saturday, October 31 at QE Upper School site on Western Road.

Tickets are on sale at Olivia James Design, 27 High Street, Crediton or telephone 01363 777968 or can be purchased via CODS website: www.codsonline.com .

MP