From Colnbrook Village Hall to the Royal Albert Hall

The Story of CAST: 1991–2003

Every theatre company has its stories.

There are the shows everyone remembers, the performances that brought the house down, the lines that disappeared without warning, the scenery that nearly did the same, the friendships that began backstage and the moments that became funnier with every retelling.

CAST has rather a lot of them.

Our story began in 1991 with a home-grown production called Yet Another French Connection, written by two of CAST’s founders, Kay Smith and Viv Howard.

The very first lines ever spoken in a CAST show were delivered by Steve Parkyn — who would go on to become one of the most familiar names in CAST history. An still "treads the boards with us today".

Nobody standing on the Colnbrook Village Hall stage that night could have known quite what had begun.

Within a few years CAST would be staging major musicals, creating its own shows, taking productions into larger theatres, performing for charity, developing pantomime into a village tradition and, remarkably, taking to the stage of the Royal Albert Hall.

And along the way there would be spaceships, revolving scenery, a disappearing bed, dangerous windmills, a flying stable wall, an enormous nest, an audience singing a number the cast had never learned — and more sausages than any respectable theatre history probably ought to mention.

Finding Our Feet

CAST’s second production, in July 1992, was a considerable step up in ambition: Grease.

Murray Lloyd played Danny opposite Olivia Hutton as Sandy, while the production brought several people into CAST who would remain part of the company for many years, including Francis Batt, Tim Cole and Ruth Carrod — now Ruth Cole.

The local press loved it, describing the show as fabulous fun and praising the ensemble singing and dancing.

For show number three in 1993, CAST went back to its home-grown roots with A Spanish Imposition — or A Flash in the Pan, written by Nigel Garraway, Paul Garvey, Viv Howard and Kay Smith.

Set in the mythical Spanish resort of Casi Nova, it featured two feuding families, the Farquharsons and Grommetts, and introduced Jonathan Heastie as the flamboyant holiday rep Justin and Laura Elson as Consuela.

It also produced one rather important off-stage development.

During the show, Tim Cole asked Ruth Carrod out on a date.

The rest, as they say, really is history.

CAST’s next planned production was The Pajama Game, but when circumstances meant that could not go ahead, the company did what it would become very good at doing — improvised.

Instead came CAST in Gold, an evening combining the comedy George with a musical revue. It included an appearance by Australian friends Don Jarmey and Angela Kitzelman, and the week surrounding the show also saw the very first CAST Quiz Night, hosted by Tim Cole and Steve Parkyn.

That little social event is still part of CAST life today.

Into Space… and Other Unexpected Places.

Early 1994 brought perhaps one of CAST’s more unusual choices: Dazzle — A Musical Space-tacular.

Ken Howard turned the Village Hall stage into the bridge of starship Sunburster One, transporting audiences into a world populated by Captain Sam Galactic, First Officer Speck, Big Olga, Dazzle Star and an Irish astral pirate called Slimebag the Haemorrhage.

The musical numbers were equally restrained, with titles including Come Ze Glorious Evolution, Velly, Velly Tastee Too and The Slimey Swampers Stomp.

One night, Elaine Barratt’s script fell from her lectern. She said the wrong line, every other cast member faithfully continued from it — and an entire song simply vanished from the performance.

CAST discipline was perhaps a little more relaxed in those days.

Even stranger was The Greasers Gavotte. The Musical Director had decided the Greasers would not sing it, so imagine the cast’s surprise when a section of the audience suddenly did.

It transpired that the Rainbow Players from West Drayton were rehearsing the same obscure show. They had seen CAST’s advertisement and came along — twice.

That chance encounter was to have a lasting impact. Several Rainbow Players later joined CAST, including Andy Jones, Karina Lusher, Steve Oakes, Emma Seely, Dave Beale, Nicky Lawty, Penny Stewart and John Milne.

Five months later came Terence Frisby’s The Bandwagon, a domestic comedy involving three simultaneous pregnancies and eventual quintuplets.

The show was also responsible for another CAST legacy. Having been cast as a woman twice her real age, Laura Elson experienced an early attempt at ageing make-up which was memorably described as making her look like a cross between a panda after a hard night and Alice Cooper.

Rather than being put off, Laura became interested in stage make-up and went on to develop considerable skill in it.

Becoming A Class Act

In February 1995, CAST produced its first major musical revue, A Class Act.

Sequences from West Side Story, Buddy, Blood Brothers, The Boyfriend, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoatand Les Misérables were linked by a story set in a school drama studio.

The production marked CAST debuts for Andy Jones, Karina Lusher, Steve Oakes, Emma Seely and Rachel Cox, several of whom would become hugely important to future productions.

A Class Act also travelled beyond Colnbrook.

On 2 April 1995, the group performed at the Planet/MGM Theatre in Slough at the invitation of the Mayor of Slough, marking Colnbrook’s move from South Buckinghamshire into Slough.

Around 400 people attended and more than £1,000 was raised for charity.

Later that year, CAST’s planned production of Murder on the Colnbrook Express had to be postponed because writers Tim Cole and Jonathan Heastie had not quite got around to finishing it.

So Viv Howard and Kay Smith, with Mark Hastings as Musical Director, stepped in and pulled together South Pacific.

The first rehearsal was on 22 May 1995.

Opening night was 19 July.

CAST had just eight weeks.

Somehow they did it.

Helen Barrett played Nellie Forbush, Jonathan Heastie played Emile de Becque and a young Kelly-Marie Gibbs made her CAST debut as Liat.

What had begun as an emergency replacement became a triumph.

Murder, Musicals and New Generations

Murder on the Colnbrook Express finally arrived in February 1996.

The idea had originally been devised by Tim Cole and John Mathews, before Tim and Jonathan Heastie later developed it during long late-night writing sessions at the Slough Express offices, fuelled by doughnuts, kebabs and games of Subbuteo.

Unfortunately, the script was enormous.

So was the second draft.

By dress rehearsal, the run-through finished at midnight.

The following lunchtime, emergency cuts were made in the pub before the first performance.

Despite its chaotic creation, the show was a success and became the first CAST production to make more than £1,000 profit.

That milestone would not be repeated until Aladdin in 2002.

Summer 1996 brought Reflections of a Class Act, with musical sequences from Billy, Oliver!, Evita, Elvis, Sunset Boulevard and Grease.

The Oliver! section proved particularly significant because it was the first time children appeared on stage with CAST.

Among those youngsters were Jade Wells, Sian Oxley and Amy Puglia, names that would become familiar within the company in years to come.

The show later transferred to the MGM Theatre in Slough and again raised money for the Mayor’s charities.

Then came a major artistic leap.

In October 1996, CAST presented John Godber’s Bouncers & Shakers, directed by Marcello di Virgilio and Steve Parkyn.

It is also believed to have been CAST’s first supper night.

The NODA review simply said:

“Take a huge bow — I can say no more.”

The production earned a regional nomination for the Ron Kench Shield for Drama.

CAST was beginning to be noticed.

A Remarkable Year

If Bouncers & Shakers raised expectations, 1997 took CAST to another level.

My Fair Lady, directed by Sharon Mansfield and Sandra Allan, introduced Kellie Ryan as Eliza Doolittle opposite Steve Parkyn as Henry Higgins and Francis Batt as Colonel Pickering.

Kellie received a standing ovation.

NODA admitted to having doubts that such a large musical could work in the confined space of Colnbrook Village Hall — and then happily admitted CAST had proved them wrong.

A few months later came A Slice of Saturday Night.

NODA called it:

“One of the finest amateur productions of this type of show I have ever seen.”

The cast was small, but the show was electric, and the on-stage band — Mark Hastings, Dave Cox, Andy Jones and Dave Beale, performing as The Trends — became an essential part of the action.

Songs from Slice would later find their way into two hugely significant CAST events: the Royal Albert Hall gala and Songbook.

CAST also stepped outside the Village Hall in September 1997 for The Coming of the Canal, part of the Slough Canal Festival.

Working alongside Iver Heath Drama Group and Evreham Youth Theatre, CAST performed one section of Bricks and Barges by Rib Davis.

The audience walked a circular route along the Grand Union Canal and surrounding countryside, stopping at four locations to watch performances.

For once, CAST’s stage really was the great outdoors.

And then came Rock Nativity.

CAST has never been a company afraid to laugh at itself, and Rock Nativity later won the dubious honour of Worst Show at the first CAST Oscars.

There were still plenty of good performances and new members — including Sally Fox and Ray Fraser — but the production also became famous for its confusion of modern and traditional styling, an unpredictable chorus and one glorious disaster.

Waiting in the wings, Harry Finnis lost his balance and went straight through the side of the stable, landing beside the crib in full view of the audience before being hauled back behind the tabs.

Not every great theatre memory comes from a great show.

Sometimes the disasters are far more entertaining.

The Royal Albert Hall

In April 1998, CAST staged Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Melodies, featuring songs from State Fair, The King and I, Carousel, South Pacific, The Sound of Music and Oklahoma!.

It was the first show produced and directed by Phil Excell and Lisa Grima and included some wonderfully inventive costumes — including Von Trapp outfits created by Ruby Leader and her team from old curtains.

But only a few weeks later came one of the proudest moments in CAST history.

On 4 May 1998, CAST took to the stage of the Royal Albert Hall for the Cancer Research Campaign 75th Anniversary Royal Charity Gala.

Quite how Viv Howard managed to get CAST onto the bill remains something of a mystery.

Most organisations were given a single song.

CAST got three.

And they appeared close to the top of the bill.

The gala was organised by Verna Mann MBE, and preparations included a rehearsal trip to Wolverhampton Civic Hall and an overnight stay in London.

When CAST finally ran onto the Royal Albert Hall stage, things began well.

Then the band stopped.

CAST carried on.

For a few worrying moments it looked as if their Royal Albert Hall debut might become an entirely a cappella performance, before the musicians burst back into life.

Ten minutes later it was over.

For a group that had begun only seven years earlier on the Village Hall stage, it was an extraordinary achievement.

Witches, Cowboys and a New Millennium

December 1998 brought Terry Pratchett’s Wyrd Sisters, directed by Laura Oakes.

A huge Discworld fan, Laura adapted parts of the script to make the story easier for non-Pratchett audiences — changes which had to be submitted for approval.

The reply was apparently rather grumpy.

Then, shortly before the production opened, CAST members had the chance to meet Terry Pratchett himself at a book signing in Windsor.

When Laura mentioned her changes, he reassured her that many groups put those bits back in anyway.

He also admired the costumes.

The show was a success and encouraged CAST to return to Pratchett in later years with Mort and Carpe Jugulum.

In June 1999, CAST moved back towards classic musical theatre with Calamity Jane.

Directed by Steve Parkyn, the show brought several new performers into CAST and gave young dancer Henry Perkins additional specially written moments to showcase his talent.

Henry later went on to study at the Royal Ballet School.

The production also featured Laura Ryan singing The Black Hills of Dakota as a solo and received another strong NODA review — the first of many visits from reviewer Barrie Theobald.

The end of 1999 was less straightforward.

A new concept called CAST Green Room had been proposed for smaller productions. Forever Plaid was cast but postponed.

The Sound of Music was also intended for late 1999 but never reached the stage.

Eventually CAST moved into its tenth year with Godspell in March 2000.

Directed by Steve Oakes and Tim Cole, the production nearly became a television documentary when a production company began filming rehearsals for a fly-on-the-wall programme.

Naturally, they pulled out just before the real drama began.

One principal stopped attending rehearsals and quietly posted her script back through the Village Hall letterbox one evening.

The actor playing Judas went home to South Africa — and never returned to the show.

CAST adapted.

Again.

Steve Oakes stepped into the cast, and Godspell reached the stage with an ambitious desert-island setting, a shipwrecked boat centre stage and its mast transforming into the cross for the crucifixion scene.

The reviews were outstanding.

One local newspaper wrote that CAST’s amateur status belied a production that could have been knocking on the door of professionalism.

Pantomime Arrives

Summer 2000 brought A Class Act 2000, another ambitious revue featuring Jesus Christ Superstar, Miss Saigon, The Blues Brothers, Cabaret, Fiddler on the Roof and a Mamma Mia/Saturday Night Fever hybrid.

The Slough Express called it:

“A pacy, sexy, loud, groovy, wild, spectacular romp.”

Then, in December 2000, everything changed.

With the Brookside Players no longer staging the village pantomime, CAST inherited the tradition.

Its first panto was Cinderella.

Luisa Andrews, newly crowned Colnbrook Millennium Queen, made her CAST debut in the title role.

Rob Ingham and Jonathan Heastie became CAST’s first Ugly Sisters, while Steve Oakes played Buttons.

Francis Batt began a long relationship with panto royalty as the King.

And Yvonne Oakes created Dobbin the pantomime horse, the first of many wonderfully eccentric creatures she would make for future shows.

The production contained pyrotechnics, transformation scenes, audience participation, songs, improvisation — and a running time that crept towards 11pm.

On the final Saturday, the Ugly Sisters’ ad-libs became sufficiently adventurous that future CAST pantos would eventually develop an Adults Only final-night tradition.

The Village Echo praised CAST for successfully taking on Colnbrook’s long-established pantomime mantle.

The tradition had been handed over.

CAST ran with it.

Boeing, Beds and Titanic

In March 2001, CAST finally staged its first — and ultimately only — official Green Room production, Boeing Boeing.

Directed by Reg Poulton, the farce featured seven doors and a sophisticated backstage lighting system telling actors when it was safe to make their entrances.

The set was regarded as one of CAST’s finest single-set achievements to that point.

The Green Room title did not survive, but smaller plays became a regular part of CAST’s programme.

Summer 2001 brought one of the company’s most ambitious musicals: Sweet Charity.

When Kelly-Marie Gibbs suggested it for her directorial debut, Steve Oakes reportedly thought she was mad.

There were 18 scene changes, an eight-piece band, a bridge over a lake, an elevator, a suspended Coney Island Ferris wheel car and a king-size bed which folded into a reception desk because there simply wasn’t room in the wings.

It also gave birth to a piece of CAST folklore.

Faced with nowhere to put eight musicians, Steve Oakes and Ian Tapner built a huge two-tier wooden platform downstage right.

It became known as:

Titanic.

The name stuck.

A lighter aluminium version eventually replaced the original, but “Titanic” became part of the CAST vocabulary.

Puss, Dragons and Turning Stages

December 2001 brought CAST’s second pantomime, Puss in Boots.

Neil Howlin made his directorial debut, while Sam Dowie made hers in the title role.

Jonathan Heastie became Widow Marzipan, and the production somehow managed to squeeze 22 songs into the evening.

Its windmill had fully rotating blades.

Unfortunately, cast members still had to get through the door while those blades were turning.

Every entrance therefore contained a little more jeopardy than is usually recommended in amateur theatre.

The show also featured pyrotechnics and one particular riverside sequence that became one of the funniest scenes CAST had staged.

Then came 2002.

CAST contributed heavily to the Golden Jubilee Charity Show at Colnbrook Village Hall, even though it was not technically a CAST production.

Later that summer, Nightlife and Limelight became Sam Darcy’s directorial debut, with Damian Mellor serving as Musical Director for the first time.

The production included selections from Fame, Dirty Dancing, The Commitments, Cats, Chicago and The Rocky Horror Show.

It also featured Ian Tapner’s illuminated staircase, which apparently remains tucked away in the CAST store waiting for some brave future director to find another use for it.

Aladdin — Bigger Audiences and Bigger Ideas

By December 2002, CAST pantomime had already grown considerably.

Aladdin, directed by Rachel and Jonathan Heastie, saw a major change in publicity and promotion.

CAST wanted to raise more than £1,000 for Upton Park Hospital, MedicAlert and DEBRA, so the company promoted the show in Slough town centre, hung banners around the village and produced professional-quality flyers.

The result was CAST’s biggest audience to date.

Debbie Bentley played Aladdin, Jade Wells was Princess Lotus Blossom, Rob Ingham became Widow Twankey and Phil Excell played Abanazer.

Steve Bold’s Ali Genie took inspiration from Staines’ most famous fictional son.

There was a full-size Chinese Dragon and another Ian Tapner technical creation — a revolving turntable for Abanazer’s grand entrance.

The turntable worked beautifully.

Attaching the scenery to it in the dark was less reliable.

During one performance, a flat almost landed on the front row, resulting in a quick trip to the corner shop for chocolates and wine as an apology.

Puppets also made their first appearance in a CAST show, with Laura Oakes hidden beneath a barrow operating Beansprout and Noodle the Crocs.

The show opened with All Night Long.

Unfortunately, the title proved prophetic.

The local press loved the production but politely observed that it was perhaps a little lengthy.

And Aladdin was also the first CAST panto to formally advertise the last Saturday performance as ADULTS ONLY.

It sold out.

Naturally.

Drama in the Round

Spring 2003 saw another complete change of direction with Christopher Hampton’s Dangerous Liaisons.

Directed by Neil Howlin and produced by Keith Hughes in his first producing role, it became CAST’s first and only production performed in the round.

A raised stage was built on the Village Hall floor, some audience members sat on the normal stage, and cast members entered through the main hall doors.

Ian Tapner’s engineering talents were again called upon to create Valmont’s bed, which rose from beneath the stage and disappeared when not required.

The production also featured CAST’s first on-stage sword fight, choreographed by Chris Warwick.

The Slough Express described the whole production simply as:

“A Real Achievement.”

And Then Came Honk!

In summer 2003, CAST staged a show that would become more important than anyone could have realised at the time.

Honk!

Based on Hans Christian Andersen’s The Ugly Duckling, the musical carried a message about tolerance, difference and acceptance.

Phil Excell played Ugly, Kelly-Marie Gibbs was Ida and Reg Poulton played the Cat.

The production was directed by Steve Oakes, with Tim Cole as Co-Director, Ruth Cole as Co-Producer, Matt Richardson as Musical Director and Kelly-Marie Gibbs and Laura Ryan responsible for choreography.

The stage was transformed with trees, a giant video screen and Maggie Pie’s news broadcasts.

And Titanic became an enormous nest containing five giant eggs from which the ducklings hatched.

But Honk! mattered for another reason.

It was the first major CAST production to involve a significant number of youngsters in important roles, including Donna Othen, Georgina Tindall, Melissa Taylor and Craig Woodley as Ugly’s siblings.

It became another step on the journey that would eventually lead to the development of CAST Academy (now called CAST Youth Theatre).

The Slough Express called it a top-quality show enjoyed by hundreds.

CAST would go on to perform Honk! more often than any other show in its history.

Jack, Jill, Vera, Ethel… and the Sausages

The story takes us finally to Christmas 2003 and Jack and the Beanstalk.

Written and produced by Steve Bold, it marked Rob Ingham’s first production as Director, despite programme notes suggesting it might also be his last.

History proved otherwise.

Laura Ryan led choreography for the first time, supported by Kelly-Marie Gibbs, while a cast of 37 filled the stage.

Phil Excell became Widow Hyde, Debbie Bentley played Jack, Lucy Clarke made her debut as Jill, and newcomers continued to join the company.

The show also featured one of CAST panto’s most legendary double acts.

Tim Cole and Jonathan Heastie returned as Vera and Ethel, whose purpose was ostensibly to entertain the audience while major scene changes took place.

What actually happened was rather less predictable.

Werther’s Originals appeared.

So did pizza deliveries.

And sausages.

Lots of sausages.

Some evenings, Director Rob Ingham was reportedly laughing so hard on the sound tower that he nearly fell off.

The production also continued CAST’s growing involvement of younger performers, helping build on the foundations laid in previous shows.

The reviews were excellent and nine new members joined the company.

By now, the CAST pantomime tradition was firmly established.

More Than a List of Shows

Looking back at these first twelve years, what stands out is not simply the number of productions.

It is the way CAST grew.

People joined for one show and stayed for decades.

Others met through CAST and built lives together.

Youngsters stepped onto the Village Hall stage and grew into established performers.

People who began acting became directors, choreographers, producers, technicians and designers.

New ideas appeared constantly.

If there wasn’t enough room for a band, CAST built Titanic.

If a bed needed to disappear, someone made it disappear.

If the show needed a windmill, it had moving blades.

If a stable wall got in the way, occasionally somebody simply went through it.

There were triumphs.

There were disasters.

There were outstanding reviews, standing ovations, strange costumes, disappearing songs, collapsing scenery, last-minute replacements and scripts posted quietly through letterboxes.

There were performances in Colnbrook, Slough, beside the Grand Union Canal and, incredibly, at the Royal Albert Hall.

And underneath all of it was something far more important than scenery, reviews or applause.

People.

The performers on stage.

The crews behind it.

The musicians, costumiers, builders, choreographers, directors and producers.

The people selling tickets and welcoming audiences.

The families and friends who returned show after show.

And the generations of CAST members who took what had been created before them and carried it forward.

What began in 1991 as a small group staging Yet Another French Connection at Colnbrook Village Hall had, by the end of 2003, become something much bigger.

A theatre company.

A community.

A collection of stories, friendships and traditions.

And this was only the beginning!