Playlist for St Mark's Players compiled by David Church
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2002 |
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A Valentine Card The Day of Reckoning & Last Panto in Little Grimley |
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2001 |
2000 |
1999 |
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The Schoolhouse Murder Breezeblock Park |
Millennium Masquerade Cards, Cups and Crystal Ball & Last Tango in Little Grimley No Room for Love Separate Tables |
Bums on Seats The Bear, The Evils of Tobacco & The Proposal The Haunted Through Lounge and Recessed Dining Nook at Farndale Castle |
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1998 |
1997 |
1996 |
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Caught on the Hop! & Fluff Confusions Dangerous Obsession
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The Little Evenings & Interior Designs Witness for the Prosecution The Mumberley Inheritance The Cherry Orchard |
Come into the Garden Maud After Magritte Abigail's Party To Boldly Go - A Space Oddity And a Nightingale Sang |
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1995 |
1994 |
1993 |
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Black Comedy Dangerous Corner Womberang & After Magritte Tomb with a View
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A Respectable Funeral Night Must Fall Hiss the Villain & Nellie's Nightlights The Heiress |
The Big Cats & Darling you were wonderful We Found Love and an Exquisite Set of Porcelain Figurines Aboard the SS Farndale Avenue Random Harvest |
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1992 |
1991 |
1990 |
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Erpingham Camp & A Good and Faithful Servant Absurd Person Singular Dirty Work at the Crossroads When We Are Married |
A Bedful of Foreigners The Actor's Nightmare Wait until Dark Through the door - An evening of Magic Ladies in Retirement |
Outside Edge Under Milk Wood The Farndale Avenue ....Murder Mystery Blithe Spirit |
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1989 |
1988 |
1987 |
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Move over Mrs Markham Deadly Nightcap Streuth, The Cherry Sisters & Monkey Business at St Marks A Dolls House
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Don't just lie there, say something Arsenic and Old Lace What did you do in the war, Daddy? Lord Arthur Savile's Crime |
Not now Darling The Bear Murder with love Murder at the Manor Pygmalion |
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1986 |
1985 |
1984 |
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One Wild Oat Shop for Charity Nightwatch Dark Deeds at Swan's Place or Never Trust a Tatooed Sailor The Importance of Being Earnest
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Chase me Comrade The Monkey'sPaw Spiders Web Deadwood Dick or The Game of Gold Barretts of Wimpole Street |
Semi-detached The Mumberley Inheritance Relative Values Dear Octopus |
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1983 |
1982 |
1981 |
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Pool's Paradise The Edge of Darkness Hobson's Choice
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Flat Spin Coarse Acting Shadow in the Sun You Never Can Tell |
Will any gentleman Coarse Acting Waters of the Moon Pride and Prejudice |
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1980 |
1979 |
1978 |
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The White Sheep of the Family Ten Little Niggers The Noble Spaniard
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See how they Run Trespass When we are Married |
The Chalk Garden Diplomatic Baggage The Ghost Train |
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1977 |
1976 |
1975 |
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The Brides of March Mystery at Blackwater Separate Tables
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Breath of Spring Bell Book and Canle After my fashion |
I'll get my man Murder Mistaken The Chiltern Hundreds The skin of our teeth |
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1974 |
1973 |
1972 |
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The Late Edwina Black Down came a Blackbird Ladies in Retirement
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To Dorothy a Son Dear Octopus The Heiress |
Lady Audley's Secret The Shadow of the Eagle The Constant Wide The Love of Four Colonels An Inspector Calls Dry Rot |
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1971 |
1970 |
1969 |
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Gaslight Ring Round the Moon Rebecca The Grass is Greener
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Relative Values The Vigil Cat on the Fiddle |
The Chalk Garden All for Mary The Sacred Flame |
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1968 |
1967 |
1966 |
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Key Witness Hocus Pocus Random Harvest
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The Paragon Waters of the Moon Blithe Spirit |
Pool's Paradise Waiting for Gillian |
St Mark's Players is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, dramatic society in the Borough. We believe it began before the Second World War although the earliest productions that we can trace are:
And ye are Witnesses - March 1947
The Old Man of the Mountains - November 1947
Christ Crucified - March 1948/9/50
Obviously the roots of St Mark's Players stem from the church and the members of the congregation who began the Club in order to convey the gospel message through dramatic interpretation, and the material performed reflected this religious background. Most plays were performed in the old church hall which stood on the site now occupied by Kirk House offices in Alma Road. Sometimes plays, such as 'Murder in the Cathedral' would be performed in the church itself.
By the 1960s the Rev Neville Martin was president of St Mark's Theatre Club - as it was known - and it was normal for any proposed play to be scrutinised and selection approved by the vicar before any final decision was taken. A report in the local press in April 1964 reviewing the production of 'A Letter from the General' gave an indication of the difficulties the Club faced in using the church hall. 'After a drab beginning the play did not warm up quickly enough and drooped in parts. Maybe that was because of a starling which had entered the hall on Friday through the rafters and distracted much attention! Leaks in the roof of the hall and other problems the ambitious players have had to face has given them greater incentive to reach the £25000 target for a new hall. The figure now raised in the parish is £17000.'
By the mid 1960s the group was able to use the fine new hall and with these excellent facilities widened its range of plays, increased its audience and attracted new acting talent, as you can see from the playlist above. Gradually the pattern of plays evolved into a farce for January, a straight play or thriller around April, then in October a period or costume drama. In 1981 the Summer Supper show was added to this calendar of events and proved to be a real money-spinner for the group and a popular lighthearted evening for our patrons. By the mid-1980s we also started entering the Betchworth Drama Festival (a competition for one-act plays) and over the years we have had many successes with several awards for best actor and actress, set design and placing in the competition with 'After Magritte' winning second place in 1996.
St Mark's Players has entertained countless numbers of people and given immeasurable pleasure, interest, and friendship to those people who have acted or been involved in the Club. This new century sees us with an updated image (our old logo of the lion of St Mark can be seen in the tapestry at the Harlequin Theatre in Redhill) and exciting challenges in prospect.