SADLY 2020 is likely to be a very different year for CODS for obvious reasons, with “Sister Act”, our musical at Easter time postponed.

A huge amount of work has already gone into this in all the aspects of production.

Hopefully Easter 2021 will see it hit the stage with all the usual CODS energy and enthusiasm.

Almost everyone who already bought their tickets has simply transferred them to next year. Thanks to you all for that.

We are hopeful that our September Evenings will, for this year, become October Evenings with the theme “The Best of British”.

This means there won’t be a play this time round. Compared to our usual activity 2020 is going to be a quiet year for us, though no doubt something innovative will keep us all going. In closed groups online there are already impromptu performances appearing, attempts at quizzes, and even Zoomed committee meetings.

However by contrast 2019 was an extremely busy and productive year with no less than five very different productions.

The first of these was Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Carousel”, followed by a production in Crediton Parish Church celebrating the end of the Great War entitled “The Men Who Marched Away”.

Our September Evenings recreated “The Sounds of the 60’s” and shortly after we presented our play “Key for Two”, written by John Chapman and Dave Freeman. To end the year in style we presented “Aladdin and His Magical Lamp”, a sell out which we couldn’t help noticing seemed to have many more adults watching than children. Oh yes it did!

All these events were also watched by a representative from NODA, that is the National Operatic and Dramatic Association. (With the exception of the Panto where our local rep was unfortunately poorly).

NODA works nationwide with all amateur organisations who wish to join. It is divided into five regions and in ours, the South West Region, there are 16 districts with a staggering total of 256 societies from Swindon to Penzance and even the Isles of Scilly.

There are literally thousands of people engaged in musical and theatrical performances of one kind or another.

These enthusiastic folk create entertainment of many varieties in all kinds of venues. From the modest surrounds of local village, school, and church halls to the available professional theatres in our towns and cities, productions are staged with anything from shoestring budgets to small fortunes.

Just imagine all this talent, throughout the year meeting and rehearsing, doing their level best to stage productions for their local followers and the general public in their respective areas. And of course, this is repeated nationwide with goodness knows how many societies in a huge variety of venues. Fantastic!

So the question is ... how do you compare performances? How do you evaluate shoestring performances in tiny village halls and large scale productions in fully equipped theatres with all the facilities they may have to offer.

It’s a difficult one to get one’s head around, perhaps “Courier” readers may have thoughts and opinions on this?

The awards are divided into a number of categories, for example as well as obvious ones like “best musical” and “best play”, there’s an award for the Best Company Singing, the Best Movement and Dance, the Best Technical Achievement etc.

There are a total of 19 awards, for which there are something in the region of 140 or so nominations. It must be quite a job to compare and judge across the whole range of productions seen by the NODA representatives.

However that being said, all the Societies look forward each year to the announcement of the nominations. They will all have put their hearts and souls into their work, and so to see even just one nomination gives a good feeling that their work has been appreciated and rated amongst their fellow societies.

So for CODS Crediton we appear once again to have featured in the roll of honour. There are two of our 2019 productions nominated in different categories.

“Carousel” is nominated for the SW Councillors Best Show Award and “Sounds of the 60’s” for the Best Concert and Compilation Show.

Rodgers and Hammerstein’s classic story “Carousel” was given a very fresh appeal with CODS “in the round” style of presentation.

As far as we know CODS is unique in producing shows in this way. The proximity of the audience gave a real tension to the relationship between Billy and Julie.

The drama of “You’ll Never Walk Alone”, and the comedy of Mr and Mrs Snow and all their children, were all the more vibrant for the nature of the setting. There was some great singing and stunning dancing featuring the many younger members in CODS. The visual effects were pretty special too.

Congratulations to our three directors as it was their vision that underscored the overall show. Amy Charles brought some lovely and lively and moving choreography, and in addition a good few new young people who train with her in her Dance Academy.

Allan Fouracre most ably led the musical production of the show, and particular congratulations must go to Ben Edgecombe for his hard work as the show director.

Ben started with CODS when he was just 12 and this was his first major production as director some 20 years later. Well done Ben.

“The Sounds of the 60’s”, our 2019 September Evenings, were as usual sold out weeks in advance. They are an ever popular part of the CODS calendar.

Very capably led by our choir master Mike Canning, who guided the chorus and soloists through their numbers with much needed patience and humour.

The singers were supported by our magical band consisting of Dean and Frazier Morgan, Phil Williams and Allan Fouracre. The evenings were a chance for us all to go back to a famous musical decade.

They featured a good number of Choral arrangements of this popular music with plenty of cabaret items ranging from Sonny and Cher, Elvis, The Beatles and many more. Two very dynamic evenings enjoyed with enthusiastic support by our audiences.

Sadly there won’t be an awards presentation evening this year with NODA, it has had to be cancelled.

So unfortunately no opportunity for members who want to attend to dress up, have a nice meal and meet lots of fellow performers and crew from many other societies. The Awards will be announced on May 9 via the SW NODA website. Not quite the same, but hopefully things will be back to normal next time around, though sadly there may not be many productions to judge.

But win or not, it’s not the most important part of what CODS, and for that matter all the many other societies do. Our pleasure comes from working with likeminded friends, younger and older alike.

Some with huge talent, on or off the stage, some with less talent but huge enthusiasm and commitment that make rehearsals, “get ins” and production runs such great experiences.

This is particularly poignant at this time when we are unable to create, to rehearse and perform together. We do miss it such a lot, just as many people miss their sport, their fitness classes, their book clubs and so many other activities that they enjoy. Such strange times for everyone.

And while it is of course very special to win an award, the real value of what we do is perhaps illustrated by Baron De Coubertin’s famous words, “it’s not the winning, but the taking part”. And that is indeed the very best bit!

You can view selections from CODS “Carousel” and the “Sounds of the 60’s” September Evenings by looking at our website: codsonline.com .

Just use the drop down menus and you will find these and many of our previous productions. There are lots of short videos and many photographs to browse through while we are all home isolating.

Finally may we say a huge thank you to our Friends, Sponsors and everyone else for supporting us.

We’ll be back!

Mike Palmer

See more images in the current issue of the Crediton Courier.