Welcome to The Over Players
An amateur dramatics group based in the village of Over in Cambridgeshire
Previous Front Page Items . . .
Rod Dundee
We were very sad to hear of the recent passing of Rod Dundee, who was a very popular member of The Over Players.
Rod was well known in the village of Over, as for a while he was in charge of the village Post Office. This provided him with his very own fan base, who would come to see his antics on stage at every opportunity.
His last appearance with The Over Players was in 2012, playing one of the ugly sisters in Cinderella.
We send our condolences to Rod's family. He will always be remembered by The Over Players family as a fun loving man, and his various photographs on our website will keep him in our memories.
Please click here to read more about Rod.
Dave Warren
We would like to pay a warm tribute to Dave Warren, a long time friend, member and supporter of the Over Players, who sadly died in January 2021.
Dave was the very stuff of what "being part of the community" means and a tremendous role model for getting involved. This humble kind man was known, and liked, by so many people and a bit of a "legend" to many (not so) young people in Over and beyond.
To Julia, his sons, grandchildren and extended family we send our condolences.
Dave was an absolutely lovely man who will be genuinely missed by many people, including
The Over Players.
Please click here to read more about Dave.
CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC
Unfortunately current regulations continue to prevent us from carrying out our normal activities, both in terms of meeting for rehearsals and in terms of staging performances in front of a live audience. We continue to monitor the situation with a view to resuming normal activities as soon as possible, and we are looking forward to hopefully being able to return to staging live productions later in 2021
Please watch this space for further updates, or Subscribe to Our Mailing List.
Meanwhile . . .
Our members continue to meet regularly (via Zoom) to carry out a number of virtual activities, including read-throughs, quizzes and creative projects.
If you would like to join the group and participate in these activities
please contact membership@overplayers.uk
Some previous Shows and Activities . . .
(Please visit our Shows Page for a full list of productions with links to individual show pages, photo galleries and more.)
Panto 2019: 10th - 14th December at Over Community Centre
Our 2019 pantomime was 'Aladdin', written by Ben Crocker and directed by Jack Stinton.
Please click here for more information regarding the production. We would like to thank you for your support and we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!
Meanwhile, whilst we chill out and recover from the success, we would like to wish you . . .
A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year too!
Please watch this space for news of our 2020 spring production.
Quiz Night: 25th October 2019 at Over Community Centre
Thanks to all who attended our quiz night and thank you to Candy for preparing a challenging set of questions to keep everyone on their toes!
2019 Drama Festival entry: 'The Play's the Thing' by Kirsty Smillie
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Our Drama Festival entry 'The Play's the Thing' is a one-act play written especially for The Over Players by Kirsty Smillie.
It was recently performed at the Cambridge Drama Festival at the ADC Theatre in Cambridge, Sawston Drama Festival, where it was awarded the Bonner Trophy for Best New Play, and the Welwyn Drama Festival, where it was nominated for a national award. The Derek Jacobi award is given to an unpublished play and in particular to new playwrights. Although it will be some time before we hear how she's done, The Over Players would like to wish Kirsty the very best of luck and here's to a bright future.
Synopsis: It is Drama Festival time and tensions are running high - what play to take to the Festival? Should our local amdram group go with an old familiar - safe but boring - or do they try out something new? The problem is, every time they try to perform something new, their rival drama group somehow steals it from them and submits it first.
2019 Drama Festival Progress Reports:
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What a week! A small team of Over Players have had a great time performing a brand-new play "The Play's the Thing" at the 54th Sawston Drama Festival. We are absolutely delighted that Keith Phillips the Adjudicator awarded the Bonner Trophy for Best New Play to author Kirsty Smillie for her very first play. As well as providing very helpful feedback on our performance and staging, he highlighted the individual performances of Chas Barclay and Matt Sweeney at the award ceremony. We couldn't be happier and thank the Chairman and organisers for their hard work in putting the festival together.
Dame Agatha's Greatest Case (June 2019)
Our 2019 spring show was the spoof country-house murder thriller 'Dame Agatha's Greatest Case', written by Robert Sheppard and licensed by Stagescripts. Performance dates were Thursday 6th June to Saturday 8th June at Over Community Centre.
Sir Redvers Brandling and his wife are hosting a jolly weekend at their country house. Among the guests are a Cabinet minister and his wife, a Hollywood starlet, a well-known playboy and old school-friend of Lady Bertha's, Dame Agatha Crustie, along with her travelling companion.
Also making an appearance are a notorious criminal with his henchman, and the Brandlings' charlady who has a penchant for mis-quoting Shakespeare. As the party assembles, a web of tangled relationships is revealed and the atmosphere becomes increasingly fraught, culminating in the murder of one of the guests.
The above intrigue, along with well known Gilbert and Sullivan tunes throughout the play, made for an entertaining evening.
Please also check out our Interview Page where we spoke to some of those involved in the production and discussed their background.
Stop Press!
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What a week! A small team of Over Players have had a great time performing a brand-new play "The Play's the Thing" at the 54th Sawston Drama Festival. We are absolutely delighted that Keith Phillips the Adjudicator awarded the Bonner Trophy for Best New Play to author Kirsty Smillie for her very first play. As well as providing very helpful feedback on our performance and staging, he highlighted the individual performances of Chas Barclay and Matt Sweeney at the award ceremony. We couldn't be happier and thank the Chairman and organisers for their hard work in putting the festival together.
Other Recent Productions . . .
'Beauty and the Beast', directed by Jack Stinton (December 2018)
For more detail visit our
Beauty and the Beast page,
or check out our Interview Page
to find out more about those
who were involved.
The Art of Coarse Acting: Part Deux! (June 2018)
Our Spring 2018 production comprised a group of three short comedy plays in 'The Art of Coarse Acting' genre. Performance dates are Thursday 14th to Saturday 16th June 2018.
The show is a side-splitting collection of three short comedy plays, two of which are from the 'Coarse Acting' series of plays written by Michael Green, plus a third, written especially for The Over Players several years ago by John Lamoon.
All are designed to portray the am-dram 'try hard but never quite succeed' situation where things never quite go to plan and the set may well fall down! If you have ever seen 'The Play That Goes Wrong' you will have enjoyed
The Art of Coarse Acting.
Christmas Panto: 'Cinderella' (December 2017)
Cinderella has the purest heart but lives in a cruel world filled with evil stepsisters and an evil stepmother out to ruin her life.
With the help of a Fairy Godmother she magically gets to attend the Prince's ball, but when midnight strikes, will she find her true love, or continue her life of poverty and service?
See our interview page where we chatted to those who were involved in the production to find out about their background.
'My Fair Lady' (June 2017)
By arrangement with MUSICSCOPE.
Book and Lyrics by ALAN JAY LERNER,
Music by FREDERICK LOWE.
We were one of the first groups in the U.K. to perform this glorious musical in 6 years, as no-one has been able to obtain the licence – until now! The Cinderella story about the Cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle and the appealingly arrogant Professor Higgins is an endearing tale that charms audiences with its vivid characters and unforgettable songs, including "Wouldn't It Be Loverly", "On the Street Where You Live", "I Could Have Danced All Night" and "Get Me To The Church On Time".
Dick Whittington (December 2016)
A traditional pantomime by the award-winning professional writer Peter Denyer and directed by Alex Turpin.
Congratulations to Alex and to all involved for another enjoyable and successful production. We have received a lot of positive feedback from audience members.
Who Killed the Director? (September 2016)
'Who Killed the Director' is a comedy mystery play set in the quiet village of Finkleton Fold featuring the fictional 'Powder Keg Players', with the murder investigation being carried out by Detective Inspector Angood.
Thank you to all who attended and those who helped us to put on this sell-out event. Apologies to those who had to wait while we found extra tables, but in the end a good time was had by all and there was plenty of food to go round!
Twelfth Night (June 2016)
We were hoping for good weather, and it was not to be, but that didn't stop the audience turning out in the pouring rain and it didn't stop the cast turning in a brilliant performance every night!
Luckily the rain did stop after about half an hour each evening, so we didn't get completely drenched!
Well done to all involved and to Charlotte for an excellent first production for The Over Players!
Jack and the Beanstalk (December 2015)
A traditional pantomime written by award-winning professional writer Peter Denyer and directed by Alex Turpin.
Congratulations to Alex for a very successful first production, to all involved for their hard work and commitment, and of course to our audience for supporting us!
A good time was had by all!
Murder at Hangman Hall,
Thank you to all who attended our fundraising event held in September 2015.
The play, written and directed by Sean Baker, provided an engaging and amusing evening of entertainment, which was accompanied by light refreshments organised by Olive Swain.
Well done to Sean, the cast and everyone else involved in the production.
Fiddler on the Roof
Our 2015 Spring Show, Directed and Produced by Christine Turner and Olive Swain, was staged from Tue 26th to Sat 30th May 2015 at Over Community Centre.
Well done to Christine, Olive and all involved for putting on another successful and enjoyable show!
For further information see our Fiddler on the Roof page.
Very Sad News . . .
It is with great sadness that The Over Players had to announce in January 2015 the loss of their Chairman and biggest ever contributor to the group, John Lamoon.
John was always the backbone of The Over Players, appearing in 60+ productions, and he will be missed tremendously by everyone who knew him.
Click here to read more about John and his involvement with The Over Players.
Some other Productions . . .
(click here for a complete list)
The Pantomime Adventures of Pinocchio
Our Christmas pantomime, written and directed by Phil Norton, was staged from Tue 9th to Sat 13th December 2014 at Over Community Centre.
Well done to Phil and to everyone involved for another great production!
Music Hall at Over Community Centre
Following the success of our Music Hall at Great Stukeley, we staged a follow-up performance at Over Community Centre on 17th October 2014. Thanks go to all, not least the audience, for making it another great success. Watch this space to find out how much we raised.
Music Hall at Great Stukeley Village Hall
Our Music Hall performance at Great Stukeley Village Hall on 20th September 2014 was a great success, combining a wide selection of material with an enthusiastic cast and an enthusiastic audience, with the result that a good time was had by all! Thanks go to Stuart Bell for producing and directing the show and to the Stukeley Hall Committee for making us very welcome and providing some excellent food.
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30th Anniversary Celebrations
We had a very enjoyable 30th Anniversary meal at the Meridian Golf Club on 9th March 2014, so thanks go to Olive for organising that, Steve for hosting it and John and Alex for spending many happy hours creating various video compilations of previous shows for us to watch.
Those who attended will have seen the booklets that Olive produced for the occasion, and downloadable versions of these are now available - please refer to Olive's email for details.
Ebenezer - The Panto
This show, staged in December 2013, was a resounding success and achieved record audience figures!
Well done to all those involved, and particularly to Phil Norton, who not only wrote the script, but also produced and directed it (. . . oh yes he did!).
This was Phil's first major production and he should be very proud of his achievement - as we all are!
Very Sad News
The Over Players were sad to announce in 2013 the passing of Graham Ramsden, a loyal member of the group who was our resident lighting expert and also the original creator of this website. For more information about Graham and his many contributions to the group please click here.
Other News
The Over Players won an award from NODA for their 2012 pantomime, Cinderella. There are 14 districts covering the whole of East Anglia, and the Players received the best panto of 2012 award for their area, East District 4S. Well done all those involved.
If you would like further details of our group please see our About Us and our Contacts page.
Page last Modified 01/03/24 14:16
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