AS reported in our last article in the Courier, CODS members are having a very busy time at present with rehearsals simultaneously for two productions.

Witchfinder rehearsals began on November 1 and for the next few weeks we will be working towards the auditions. We were delighted to see a few new faces at the first rehearsal but would still welcome more people to join in and enjoy this glorious show.

It really is an epic story with majestic choruses and moving solo work.

If you have ever thought of being in a CODS production we really urge you to come and find out more, this would be a very good time to join us. Everyone is at the beginning of the journey and it is going to develop into a very rewarding experience for all concerned.

More of the story when our articles on the show move into “publicity” mode but briefly, it is a historical musical on a grand scale.

Many Courier readers will have seen the recent BBC programme Gunpowder on the events leading up to and after the Gunpowder Plot.

Witchfinder is set just seven years later in the reign of James 1 of England. The suppression of Catholics continues and James’s Privy Council persuade him that one way to demonstrate his presence and power in the far off reaches of his kingdom is to persecute the so called “witches” of Pendle.

But this show is far from an account of political power in the court of the King. This is an immensely personal story of real people affected by the events of the times.

Cunning and treachery compete against love and hope. Above all it is an emotional and uplifting production. Please join us if you can.

PANTO

And so to the Panto, oh yes it is! Snow White and the Six and a Half Dwarves.

Well what can you say? Rehearsals are in full swing and everyone seems to be really having a good time!

For example, take seven adults, age range between their 20’s and 60’s, and have them reading the script as Dwarves (with names such as Scratchy, Itchy, Burpy, Snobby, to name just a few) and within less than a minute, there they are behaving as seven five-year-olds! And boy, do they enjoy themselves!

But to digress for a moment, we would very much like the help of some of the long-standing families of Crediton, whose memories of the town will go back a long way.

Can you answer this question for us please? Is the CODS production of Snow White and the Six and a Half Dwarves the first actual pantomime to be staged in the Old Town Hall?

With help from the Crediton Museum we discover that the Hall has a rather chequered history. The idea for the Hall was conceived possibly as far back as 1832. Building started 20 years later when the foundation stone was unveiled by James Wentworth Buller.

The building was used for public meetings and concerts before it fell into disrepair some 40 years later. For many years it housed the local fire engine and then, in the 1920’s the Crediton Electric Cinema had film shows three nights a week.

In both World Wars it was used by the military, and for a number of years after the Second World War it was a venue for shows, parties, dances and dinners. Many Kirtonians may well recall some of these times.

Then for a period of time, the building was in commercial use as a furniture showrooms, before coming back into public hands, initially as a Tourist Information Centre.

Happily today it is the home of the Crediton Museum and the public rooms are used regularly by a number of organisations including CODS, who rehearse there every week.

The Society staged a Music Hall on the stage in 2009, but this is our first Pantomime.

So the question is ... “Is it THE first ever panto to be staged in the Hall?” We would very much like to hear from you. If anyone has any photographs or programmes we would love to see them.

Snow White and the Six and a Half Dwarves is on from December 20 to 23 starting each evening at 7pm.

Tickets are on sale at Olivia James in the High Street and from the Box Office link on the CODS website: www.codsonline.com .

Mike Palmer