About
Background
After much deliberation, C.A.D.S. seemed a fitting name for our
dedicated acting troupe, even if it does conjure up memories of Leslie
Philips’ philanderer or Terry Thomas’ bounder. And so, last summer
(2004), the notion of brining light hearted drama to the wider community
of Chorleywood was turned into a reality.
The thought of setting up and running such a group was both daunting and
exciting, but where to begin? I knew there was no way I could do it all
alone, so building a team of committed and talented individuals had to
be the starting point, along with sounding out those who might wish to
participate.
Local advertising fliers were placed in shop windows, and the Watford
Observer ran a piece about the intentions of the group. The response was
favourable, and quite a number of people expressed an interest in either
acting or helping out backstage.
Building The Team
Being fairly disorganised myself, it was crucial to recruit someone with
excellent skills in co-ordinating, fund raising and generally chivvying
others along to carry out the necessary tasks. My friend and close
neighbour Vanessa Harker fitted the bill perfectly, after my wife put
out word on the Chorleywood grapevine, and she volunteered to get stuck
in.
Other friends and neighbours also offered to be involved….Gordon Graham,
an advertising director with mind-blowing creative skills, offered to do
all our adverts and fliers and came up with the idea of the letter
heading. His colourful placard was our standard bearer on Medieval
Village night, when we raised nearly £200.00 towards the mounting
setting up costs.
Joe Silman’s experience of putting no professional shows both in
Chorleywood and on the London stage was invaluable, and Mark Crumpler
assisted greatly with the choice of material and organised the very
first night of sketch readings.
Two of the biggest hurdles were being able to find a suitable and
qualified set designer, and artistic director. Mike Campbell, a
qualified carpenter, who was there pretty much from the start, was more
than suitable, having already built fantastic sets for Detonate, a local
children’s church group. Eventually our prayers to find a director were
answered when Derek Wakefield (fellow ex-Chorleywood Player) came to one
of our committee meetings and Derek offered to direct our first
production. He has appeared in over eighty productions, and also done
some professional acting too.
Social C.A.D.S.
The intention, when Vanessa and I started the group, was to run it with
two main objectives in mind; one to have lots of fun through a social
club, and two to put on good entertainment to a high standard for the
benefit of the local community. So far, fingers crossed, it is working
to plan! As part of the first aim, we joined forces with a local
restaurateur, Sam (Sam’s Bistro) who, like us, had been going only a
short time. The idea was to fill the restaurant on a night when it is
normally closed, and have an evening of sketches over a subsidised meal
and drink, initially for members (and their spouses/partners/friends).
With some 40 attendees and a restaurant fit to burst with people, energy
and entertainment, we toasted an official launch of CADS with our
newfound friends.
First Production
Initially we were keen to put on Peter Shaffer’s ‘A Black Comedy’ which
is an hilarious one-act play, but Derek felt that we should start with
something that would not present too many technical hurdles; that
particular play involved clever lighting effects and complicated
furniture manoeuvres. So finally we agreed on Derek’s suggestion of Alan
Ayckbourn’s Confusions, a set of five one-act plays. We chose to do what
we consider to be the best two of the five; ‘Between Mouthfuls’ set in a
restaurant with two couples who have a shared history and ‘Gosforth’s
Fete’ involving a tent in the middle of a field, in which a local fete
is not going according to plan. See LINK: Past Productions and LINK:
News & Reviews for more details.
Richard Berman
C.A.D.S. Co-founder